Okay...

When I found out this book was a parallel timeline to what happened in Empire of Storms I was not happy. I even thought about skipping this book entirely and going right into Kingdom of Ash. Instead I read a few reviews by people whose opinions I trust, and reviews by people I didn't know, and made the decision to just read it and get on with it.

Well...I have super mixed feelings. I liked it. There were some really great moments, plot points, relationship and character development. But most of the time I was just so frustrated that I was reading about this side quest (if you will) and not where the main action was. Especially after that cliff hanger!!! To the people who waited years between release dates, I commend you. Wow.

It doesn't help that at almost zero point in the first five books did I care about Chaol or Nesyrn...and this entire book is just their POV's. I honestly can't say that I care for either of them much more after reading Tower of Dawn. I have slight happy feelings towards them, but not much else.

I will give credit where credit is due. There were parts that had me on the edge of my seat, and even flipping ahead to see what happened, so kuddos for that. Sarah sure knows how to tell a story. But this gets only 3 stars from me because I probably won't read it again in my next reread of this series. Maybe KOA will change my mind somehow? And I'll want to come back to this for the origin story of relationships, etc.