October 19, 2018

Review: Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) 
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Pages: 664
Format: Hardcover/Own

In the next installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, follow Chaol on his sweeping journey to a distant empire.

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

*Small spoilers about the ending in the last paragraph*

Review: So I was incredibly hesitant heading into this book because I know a lot of people were not fans of it being heavily Chaol. And so many people made it known they didn't enjoy it as much because of it. It made me go really slowly in the beginning of it. However, I actually came to really enjoy the book overall. It's definitely not my favorite of the series, but it was good and a vital part of the story none the less. And it was definitely needed as this would all feel out of place had it been a part of Empire of Storms. Plus it would have made EoS a monster. So definitely good for it to be its own book. 

Ok, let me talk about my favorite part of this. Yrene!!! I knew we'd see Yrene since so many others from Aelin's Assassin's Blade stories popped up in EoS. So I knew Yrene would play a big part in this since they were heading for the Torre Cesme. And I loved it! Yrene definitely had her own battles to overcome in this book. When she was first assigned to healing Chaol, she wanted absolutely no part of it due to the fact he served the former king of Adarlan who killed her mom. And she didn't really see Chaol as a good person because of that. And it took her some time to start getting to know him and realizing that he wasn't actually a super awful person who just blindly followed the king. I thought Yrene's growth was beautiful. She came to realize that not everyone under the former king was bad and to not judge everyone from Adarlan the same way. And I loved getting to see her growth as a person from her short story to who she's become since being in Antica. She grew from a girl that could barely fight to one teaching others how to defend themselves, and to being the heir apparent to the Torre Cesme because of her skill with healing. It was beautiful. I love that her being able to go to Antica paid off for her in such a big way that she was able to develop such strong healing skills. I'm also glad that as the story went on, she found that she had more strength than she thought when it came to battling the echo of darkness inside Chaols wound. And I also thought it was really great when Yrene finds out she's not the first of her family line to end up at the Torre. That was a beautiful little moment for her. I just loved Yrene and she was honestly my favorite part of this book. 

Lets get to Chaol himself. Ok, so I was not super thrilled in the first half with him. He was such a grumpy, stubborn, jerk to Yrene whenever she tried to get him to open up or help him with anything. He was just so stubborn about everything. And he took so much of it out on her when she was literally trying to help him heal, both physically and mentally/emotionally. He grated on my nerves so much for a while. And then his "loyalty" to his "relationship" with Nesryn. Ok, first of all, they didn't actually state they were ever trying it again. It was literally just assumed instead of stated. Second, the note Nesryn left was literally like her way of saying I know things with us will never happen again. So his guilt and loyalty about the "relationship" was annoying because I literally don't know how clear it could have been that there was none. Hell, I knew right from the beginning there was never going to be another relationship with them. They were just each others comfort when everything went to hell. I wasn't a super big fan of Chaol until he started actually being nice to Yrene. It was like once he finally stopped with the attitude with her and gave her a chance, he became such a different person. He started being nicer, working with her easier, accepting her help, caring about what happened to her, even listening to her stories. Chaol was so much better once he was nice to Yrene. And I love the bond that grew between Chaol and Yrene once that happened. They both went through some pretty awful stuff when they were younger. And talking to each other about it helped them heal and grow and built the bond with them. It was beautiful. I was actually happy for Chaol seeing him finally confront his demons and his past with her at his side. He's held onto so much hatred and anger for so long that it was good seeing him let it go finally. I think Chaol grew tremendously in the second half of this book. And I'm not as angry with him now as I was by the end of Queen of Shadows. I did kinda feel bad for him by the end. Going through all his healing and being close to what he could to before only to have it snatched away from him. 

And Nesryn. She pretty much went on the trip to Antica just to help Chaol get healed, but her story turned into so much more. And it was beautiful. She deserved to have her own story and not just be Chaols shadow. And her story in growing close to Sartaq not only was great for her moving on from the not really a relationship with Chaol, but also in helping find more allies to fight against Erawan with. And Nesryn is actually the one who comes across one of the biggest pieces of information regarding their enemies. So her story starting from being Chaols shadow turned out incredibly huge and fruitful for her. And I was glad to see her grow into a big character. I'm also super thrilled with her ending with the Ruk. Sartaq pretty much commands the Ruk armies in Antica and tells her Nesryn all about the Ruks and their riders. And I thought it was so nice that Nesryn went to take the lonely Ruk whose rider had died while it was so young for herself. It was beautiful. I knew when the little story about how it was just lonely and waiting there was told that Nesryn was going to go back for it after spending so much time riding Sartaq's Ruk. 

Ok guys, lets start with the Khagans family. I really liked Sartaq. I also didn't think Hasar and Kashin were too bad either. Clearly Kashin was a bit angry with Yrene leaning towards Chaol over him, but other than that, he didn't seem bad. And despite Hasar and her thinking about the future ideas, wasn't bad either. Duva I didn't really get much of a read on and surprisingly, she is the one who played a bigger role than expected regarding the suspected Valg in Antica. Angry Arghun is the one I had an issue with the whole book. Constantly acting like Chaol and Nesryn were lying about everything and that they didn't need help from another kingdom. Acting as if Erawan had no interest or part in anything happening in Antica. And the worst part, at the end, acting as if his sister acted no differently and nothing was wrong with her when literally everyone else around them said otherwise. Seriously thinking every single bit of this was lies and scheming. I'd swear the idiot was somehow scheming with Erawan himself with the way he fought everyone. There is no way someone can be that dense. He just gave me bad feelings throughout the entire book with how he constantly fought everything. The Khagan himself wasn't bad, I just think he was incredibly hesitant to commit forces to a war he wasn't even sure they could win and leave his own kingdom unprotected. 

Ok, lets get to the other stuff. What we find out about Maeve and her relationship to the Valg and her lies and schemes to get the power she holds now. Good freaking lord. I've constantly been saying Maeve is evil and what we learn in this book 100% confirmed it for me. There is no way she could be a normal Fae and be like she is. Nope. And the fact that Yrene was pretty much destined to play a big role in everything. How her power is bigger and more important than she ever would have imagined. I kinda feel bad for her. She wanted to go home and help with the war, but I don't think she ever wanted her role to be as big as it is now with fighting the Valg. And AHHHH. Chaol and Yrene! *SPOILERS* They get married. I actually think they are a good match. They bring out the best of each other. And I didn't expect to see Chaol come out of this book a married man. So this one actually surprised me. I think it'll be interesting once Yrene finds out Aelin is the girl who helped her years ago and I think it'll be a good surprise on both sides to the other finding out Aelin and Rowan are married (yes I'm holding on to hope neither die in KoA) and that Chaol and Yrene are married.