I apologize for how long overdue my review for Tower of Dawn is. Especially because this installment is the most fascinating in the Throne of Glass series so far. Seeing Maas write a story somewhat removed from her typical character types was illuminating and I’m not surprised to say Tower of Dawn is my favourite in the Throne of Glass series because of that.

Tower of Dawn, sees Chaol and Nesryn travel to the southern continent. Their mission is to convince the Khagan, monarch of the Southern continent, to aid Terrasen by any means necessary. Chaol also hopes to regain use of his legs with the help of the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme after the injury he suffered in Queen of Shadows. After their arrival Chaol and Nesryn find themselves embroiled in a palace mystery after the suspicious murder of a healer. The two suspect foul play from Duke Perrignton's forces and hope to uncover his plot before their plans to court the Khaganate are upended.

As a long-time fan of Chaol as a character, it's unsurprising that I liked Tower of Dawn more than most. His flaws make him much more interesting than the unbearably pristine characters in the series. Because of that, I found the moments in the novel where we sat with Chaol and reflected on his choices and mistakes across the series engaging. However, that doesn't mean he was completely free from the frustrating characteristics Maas inserts into her characters. Not even he escaped the aggravating possessiveness Maas seems to adore infusing in all her male characters.

However, liking the protagonist of this book made its central romance more palatable than the previous books in the series. Tower of Dawn sees Chaol fall for Yrene, the healer charged with helping him regain the use of his legs. If there’s one thing Maas is good at it’s writing convincing chemistry. The romantic tension between these two was palpable. That’s not to say I loved everything about Yrene and Chaol’s romance. The enemies-to-lovers component of their romance was underdeveloped. Maas didn’t spend enough time unpacking Yrene’s hatred of Adarlan and showing how she grows to love Chaol despite her fraught history. I also found the messiness of Chaol and Nesryn’s romantic relationship that developed in tandem with Chaol and Yrene's love story largely unnecessary. That thread of mutual emotional cheating was convoluted and poorly explored.

Despite that, Nesryn’s arc in Tower of Dawn overall was compelling. Seeing her unpack her relationship with Adarlan as a child of immigrants and rediscover her cultural roots in the Southern Continent was easily the best character work in the book. Nothing Sarah J. Maas does will ever wash the bitter taste of the despicable way Nehemia was treated by the narrative, but her handling of Nesryn’s character does display some growth in her ability to write women of colour.

We also see Nesryn’s romance with the Khaganate Prince, Sartaq. Their romance definitely got less page time than Chaol and Yrene but it was solid nonetheless. Sartaq is probably Maas’ best male love interest despite his lack of page time and POV by virtue of being the least overwhelmingly alpha of the bunch.

While the characters and romance in Tower of Dawn were a significant improvement from previous installments in the series, its plot was, unfortunately, just as overblown and padded. Despite this book being about Chaol acting as an emissary for Aelin and Dorian’s courts and attempting to win allies, he spends hundreds upon hundreds of pages doing literally nothing to achieve this goal. It's honestly laughable how little effort Chaol makes in this regard. While the plot of the series is ostensibly about war and politics Maas continues to be dismally bad at writing about war and politics.

Despite its dismal plot I generally enjoyed Tower of Dawn. Its characters were interesting and the romances weren't half bad either. This book really illustrates the appeal of Maas books. If you can connect with her characters her shaking plotting and worldbuilding are much easier to digest.