With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear."
This book felt a lot like a chess board with how it strengthened every player and moved them into the right position before the final battle of the next book. So it might not be the most gripping story as a whole, but it did an amazing job of building an impressive lineup of characters. I NEVER expected to care this much about Lorcan?! I loved how the most unexpected characters paired up for different missions and how everyone’s different stories wove together at the end.
I was surprised by how much of this story is carried by the POVs of other characters instead of Aelin. That decision makes total sense in the end, but I was initially wondering why I wasn't connecting with her as much as I had in previous books. She spends most of the story making her own secret plans behind the scenes while everyone calls her out on not clueing them in until the continual big reveals. Seeing her through other characters often made her seem a bit distant, callous, not focused on the bigger picture, and pretty much back to her Celaena persona. But by the end it all makes sense and she was still the incredibly brave, determined, selfless character we love. She gets even more complex and mature in this story and her whole journey is wonderful.
So that decision to make the development of so many crucial plot points happen off-screen (off-page??) made the reveal at the end more emotional, but also made me kind of frustrated in the middle with how I couldn't get a strong sense of where on earth Aelin’s head was or where the plot was even going. Because we didn't get such a strong look into Aelin's mind, her relationship with Rowan didn't have much emotional impact for me. I love them both as individual characters and do care about them together, but I'm just not very invested. So I did enjoy this book overall, but wasn’t super emotionally attached like I was in Heir or Fire or flipping through the pages like I was in Queen of Shadows.
HOWEVER THE CHARACTERS ARE SO AMAZING. They’ve all grown so much since the first book! I said in my reviews of previous books that I wanted to see more of Manon, Aedion, and Elide and I was not let down. The amount of character development that secondary characters got here makes me so happy. I have no clue how Maas juggles all of these characters so well and make them all unique and interesting.
I liked Elide in Queen of Shadows, but can we talk about how she becomes the most amazing character ever here. Her POV and everything that happened in it was the most unexpected part of the book (and also maybe the best).
Other random things I loved:- MANON. Manon and her Thirteen. Manon and Abraxos. Manon and learning to hope.
- Lysandra being stronger and more badass then before!!
- Maeve just got bumped up past Umbridge level of loathing
- The Rowan + Dorian bonding scenes
- How amazing Maas is with her mythology references (like how Fenrys is a wolf haha)
- Aelin’s court. How much they’ve done for her and are willing to do for the bigger picture.
- Aelin calling Rolfe “his Pirateness”
- Elide adopting characteristics from Manon & Asterin and working with what she has
- the sheer scope of the phenomenal worldbuilding
- How the big reveal gave the previous books WAY more depth
- Seeing Dorian and Aelin referred to as the King of Adarlan and Queen of Terrasen
- Dorian still eats like a fine lady
Now I know that a ton of people were losing their minds over the sex scenes in this book before it was even released, so let me just take a minute to weigh in on that. The main thing I heard was that they were graphic and unnecessary. Personally I agree with that, it really didn’t need them. They didn’t really fit the tone and even felt a bit forced into the story in several places. I defended ACOMAF because the plot built up to those scenes and it meant something in the context of the story, buuuuut I’m really not feeling that here. I wish the page time had been spent elsewhere. (So basically, YES, you can skip them and it won’t affect anything which I exactly what I did).
Because I the afore mentioned scenes I would say mature 14/15+.
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