“Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen, knew the time would soon come to prove just how much she'd bleed for Erilea.”

Stars (Out of 10): This book made it’s own scale entirely, it’s so good it doesn’t even apply to it

Overall Thoughts: Oh my ever loving gods, THIS BOOK! I waited so long for this book, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. Yes, it took me a whole month to finish this book, and yes it has been a long long while since a book has (actively) taken me this long to finish, but that was just because I didn’t want the waiting to begin, didn’t want to lose one of my favorite series (tied with ACOTAR) again for another year. Every single thing in this book surprised me in the best way possible. Everything has begun to come full circle, and all this build up from the series is starting to mean something. This book made me love almost every character more for many various reasons, and the world was revealed to us in a million more stories and flashbacks, and I am so ready to see where this all leads. Sarah J Maas is, without a doubt, my favorite author of all time, and this book only solidified that position.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Good: Everything, everything, everything. Since I do explain more in depth below, I’m not gonna go too specific in those characters though. Something that definitely goes into this category is just how Maas writes in general. She balances emotion and fact, and has mastered the art of keeping me interested even if the scene isn’t necessarily “exciting.” I love how she writes all varieties of scenes, from emotional, to action, to tactical, to romantic.

The Bad: The fact that I need to wait a year for the next book with an ending like that torturing me!!!

The Characters: I did not think it was possibly to love these characters more than I did. I’m amazed with how skilled and tactical Aelin has grown, and how much she has matured over this series. I love the bonds we see between her and everyone, from Rowan to Lysandra to Aedion to basically everyone. I also loved all the old characters we saw again, especially from the prequel book. I also absolutely fell in love with Lysandra, and the strength we see from her in this book. And just the sea dragon she became!!

The Plot: I loved both the plot of just this book, and how the entire plot of the series has progressed! We see every single thing Aelin has done come back to build her empire, from Ansel and the Silent Assassins, to Rolfe, to Galan, and to every other little thing. She is no longer the scared of power Celaena we saw in TOG and COM, but has evolved into a strong and tactical queen, ready to sacrifice everything. She was smart, planning every step and every move,

The Favorite Character: Can I actually just put everyone? Because basically everyone was amazing (except you know Maeve and the evil guys that I would rather put in a hole in the ground than anywhere near this category! >:( )

Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Buy it! (and everything by Sarah J. Maas in general)

This review can also be found on my blog: https://paragraphsandpages.wordpress.com/