Ttitle: Tower of Dawn – A Throne of Glass Novel

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pub Date: September 5, 2017

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

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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.

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The first part of this review will be spoiler free, just my general reaction to the novel.

Sarah has done it again!

I was kind of on the fence about this novel, not really being a fan or interested in Chaol’s story. I’VE NEVER BEEN SO GLAD TO EAT MY WORDS. I LOVED this book. The world that Sarah has created for these characters – the amount of detail is astounding. I wish it were possible to visit Antica, The Eridun Aerie, The Torre Cesme and basically every other place in The Southern Continent.

I loved Chaol. I loved Yrene. I loved Sartaq. I loved Nesryn. Basically I loved all the main characters. I loved how Choal and Yrene had the “enemies to lovers” relationship, and I loved how Srataq was basically a fanboy of Nesryn.

I just thoroughly loved this book, and I never thought that I would be excited to read an entire book in this world without Aelin & Co. featuring heavily. Waiting for the final book has be dying in anticipation and drowning in dread for how it’s all going to come to an end.

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Okay, so here comes the spoiler-y part of this review!

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Last chance to look away!

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THIS BOOK. I regret waiting until this month to pick it up, but I guess that just means less of a wait for the final book.

While by the end of the book I did love all the characters, at the beginning I often found myself wanting to skip over the chapters on Nesryn. It sounds bad, I know, but I just wanted more Chaol and Nesryn. By the time Nesryn and Sartaq left for the Eridun Aerie I couldn’t decide which story I wanted to read more.

The rich world that Sarah created blows me away every time I read one of her books. Antica felt like such a lively magical place that would be so interesting and fun to visit. I could easily picture the busy, crowded, spice scented streets. I wanted to be able to visit The Torre Cesme – it had a slight almost Hogwarts vibe. A place to learn how to use magic (to heal people), but still a place to learn how to control a magical gift? Sign me up!

Back to Chaol and Yrene – oh my god did I love them. I loved them when they were constantly at odds. As much as I loved them when they finally got together, I loved the tense moments between them. I felt so bad for him the first time Yrene brought him to the Torre, and I can understand why she didn’t see anything wrong with teaching the young girls. Their exchange after, when he’s silently furious, and she doesn’t understand is probably one of my favorite scenes, because of the emotion and the hurt and the misunderstanding, and the pain. Yrene clearly didn’t mean to make Chaol feel inferior or incapable, but it happened, and it allowed for Chaol to open up about emotions that he most definitely didn’t want to acknowledge, let alone talk about. For a guy who laid around almost naked for weeks, bearing his emotions was more revealing and painful, and it made my heart ache.

I loved seeing them open up to each other, and grow. They had ups and downs, and leaps and setbacks like any two people will, and it was wonderful.

Oh my god, can Sartaq be any more amazing? A legend himself, and he’s enamored with a girl from Erilea, before he even meets her. Nesryn is more than a myth or legend to Sartaq – she’s his equal, his counterpart, one of the few people Sartaq seems to trust his life with. For Nesryn, Sartaq is that myth and legend, but it doesn’t take her long to realize that he is all those things, but he’s also just a guy. He’s everything that she has envisioned her home to be. Having grown up in Erilea, with a father who hailed from the Southern Continent, Nesryn has stories upon stories of Antica, and The Khagan and his children. Sartaq opens up the Southern Continent.

The RUKS! I want one! How cool is it that the ruhkin ride giant birds? Sarah never ceases to amaze me with the unique and fantastical elements that she weaves into her stories.

My heart swelled and broke so many times during this book. I feel deeper in love with so many characters, and grew to love new characters. I’m so glad that both Chaol and Nesryn found their counterparts and are happy – for now, because we all know that they are coming back to chaos.

Lastly, THAT FINAL CHAPTER. YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.

FIREHEART.

FIREHEART.

FIREHEART.

I was so excited when I saw it. I was thrilled, because it’s been awhile since Empire of Storms and we still have to wait until October.

Then I read it.

And then I was screaming.

NOW I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL OCTOBER TO FIND OUT HOW IT ALL ENDS.

I had come to terms with the fact that the final book would be a ways off, and Tower of Dawn would just have to tide me over in the mean time. WELL NOT AFTER FIREHEART. I’m looking at the chapter now, since the book is open next to me, and oh my god – I cannot wait for the final book. It will probably kill me, but I cannot wait.

If you couldn’t tell, I really loved this book, and if you haven’t yet, you should definitely read it and fall in love with Chaol, Yrene, Nesryn, Sartaq and the Southern Continent.

And if you’ve made it this far, and haven’t picked up any of these books, sorry about the spoilers, but you were warned, and GO READ THE THRONE OF GLASS SERIES.