The Laughing Listener
October 2018
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Elizabeth Evans
Length: 25 hours & 18 minutes

Story Rating: 4.5 Stars
Performance Rating: 5 Stars
Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars

Ohhhhhh boy. How do I even begin to unpack this monster book?? I’m sitting here staring at my computer and I don’t even know where to start. It was AWESOME. And heartbreaking. And wonderful. And complete torture. SJM really knows how to hit a girl in the feels.


Actual footage of SJM shattering my soul.

Okay, first of all, THE SHIPS. Damn does Sara J. Maas know how get me on a bandwagon. I am so here for all these ships and I loooooooved seeing them all develop!! Aelin and Rowan are FREAKING ADORABLE. Aedion and Lysandra are adorable. Manon and Dorian are… Well, not adorable, but definitely badass. And hell, I don’t even like Lorcan (more on that later) and I was still shipping him and Elide together. All these relationships are giving me LIFE and I can’t wait to see where they go in the next one. *Bites nails nervously because everyone probably won’t make it*

It was also suuuuuuper cool seeing so many little things in the past books come back around full circle. Stuff from The Assassin’s Blade and Throne of Glass came into play once more and I love how it’s all connecting together! I already want to reread the books when this is all over to try and catch things I missed.

That being said, I HAVE FEELINGS. LOTS AND LOTS OF FEELINGS. (Very minor spoiler coming your way).

I’ve discovered that Fenrys is actually a sarcastic marshmallow and I LOVE HIM. That ending on the beach absolutely WRECKED ME and my badass Queen Aelin and my Fenrys BETTER BE OKAY DAMMIT. Seriously guys, I was reading the ending of this at 3am the other night and crying like a baby.

And Elena?? Oh my god, FREAKING ELENA?!?! I feel like I’ve been Dumbledored, except worse because I hate Elena now. The Betrayal!! I can’t handle it. And Lorcan. Uggggggggh Lorcan. I’m riding the struggle bus with his character. My hatred for Maeve runs so deep in my soul that I genuinely can’t understand how he could love her at all. He almost hooked me when he was with Elide because they were super cute together, but then the ending happened and all that progress was RUINED. I can’t with him. WHAT AN IDIOT. WHYYYYYYYYYYY????







The only sort-of negative comment I have is that it kind of felt like this story floundered a little?? In the past books there was a clear character arc for Aelin and I didn’t get that as much this time. It seemed like she ended where she began. HOWEVER—before you all throw vegetables at me—I know that SJM did this on purpose. The whole time I was reading this, it felt like there wasn’t a clear direction. We were just following these characters as they bounced around from place to place. Aedion kept making comments like “What are we doing?? We’re wasting time!” and I would think, man, he’s right. What’s going on? After six freaking books you’d think I’d learn my lesson and trust in Aelin a little more, but I didn’t. Instead I was a bit frustrated and puzzled and the extra length of this book didn’t help.

Of course, there’s a big reveal at the end where everything comes together. Aelin (as always) had her secrets that she couldn’t tell anyone else, which means the reader couldn’t know either. So there WAS an arc, but it was hidden??? I have conflicting feelings about this now because I understand why it was necessary. I just wish there had been a way to let the reader in on what was going on a little. It felt like Queen of Shadows toed this line well by letting us see parts of Aelin’s schemes while still hiding the rest for dramatic effect and I wanted more of that in this one.

FINAL WORD

THIS. BOOK. WRECKED. ME. I love seeing all these amazing characters come together and now I’m DYING to know what happens in the next book. I’M SO STRESSED Y’ALL. I NEED EVERYONE TO BE OKAY.

#0.5 ↦ [b:The Assassin’s Blade|18243700|The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384362444s/18243700.jpg|25691778] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧
#1 ↦ [b:Throne of Glass|7896527|Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495278054s/7896527.jpg|11138426] ↦ ✦✦✦✧✧
#2 ↦ [b:Crown of Midnight|17167166|Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391580481s/17167166.jpg|21581860] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧
#3 ↦ [b:Heir of Fire|20613470|Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460846511s/20613470.jpg|25128502] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#4 ↦ [b:Queen of Shadows|18006496|Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441230104s/18006496.jpg|25272067] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#5 ↦ Empire of Storms ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#6 ↦ [b:Tower of Dawn|31450852|Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1497973101s/31450852.jpg|51681900] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧
#7 ↦ [b:Kingdom of Ash|33590260|Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)|Sarah J. Maas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1531922609s/33590260.jpg|25272014] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦