Soooooooooo, I definitely thought this was the last book in the series while I was reading it. But NOPE. I’m not sure I’ll read more, though. I mean, there’s more story there, for sure, but it also felt kind of…complete. I’m not sure I even want to read any more.
I’ve enjoyed these books but I’m not sure I’m tied up in them enough to continue. Reading the reviews of this book on Goodreads only cemented that fact. People over there are REALLY REALLY into these books and I’m just not feeling it, which makes me kind of sad. Like I missed something.
In any case. This book picks up the threads from the last book, and expands on some stuff I was concerned about in the previous book. Celaena Sardothien is back, but she’s now going by her true name, Aelin Galifianakis. I found the name swap to be…odd. I get it, she’s going by her real name now but it created this weird dissonance between the character from the first few novels and this one. Which I realize was sort of the point since the idea is that Celaena is dead, and the more queenly, understanding, competent Aelin has taken her place (with fire powers!) so that’s why the name change. I get it. But it kept throwing me.
Anyway. Aelin Galifianakis is back to defeat the evil king and save Dorian, who has been enslaved to a demon living inside his body BUMMER. Except at first she wants to kill him? Without really knowing whether or not he was still in there somewhere? It’s kind of irresponsible. But whatever, no one is supposed to question Aelin because she’s perfect and has all the answers and is totally capable and needs no one.
There’s still no magic allowed in the realm, it’s under lock and key, so Aelin is at a disadvantage because she can’t use her fire powers against the evil king. Which sucks because fire power is cool. It also means that when her boyfae Rowan shows up, he doesn’t have access to his magic, either. It’s weird because he’s still super fast and strong because he’s an elf so he has regular elf powers but no magic powers? Seems inconsistent but JUST GO WITH IT.
Also, Chaol’s there but no one seems to care because they blame him for basically…everything? But he’s being kind of a dick to Aelin, so I guess we don’t need to worry about his feelings. What really got me was when he blamed her for being off gallivanting with her magic friends while the kingdom was going to shit, but, like, he was the reason she wasn’t there? Because he sent her away? Seems inconsistent but JUST GO WITH IT.
There are some fun, newish characters but don’t get too attached because if Chaol is any indication, they could become wildly unlikeable or be forgotten at any moment by the next books.
I feel like I’m being hard on the book but I didn’t hate it. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it. It was a looooooooong book and it seemed like the characters were kind of stumbling around without a plan for much of it. Like. They figured out how to get magic back pretty early but it took them FOREVER to actually do it (spoilers).
In any case. I wouldn’t recommend NOT reading this. The ending was satisfying, so if you decide not to read any more, it has a nice sense of completion even if there’s more story to be had. And even though I just spent this entire review saying I’m not going to read anymore, I probably will (if only to enjoy the inevitable Aelin/Manon team-up), which is wildly inconsistent I KNOW JUST GO WITH IT.