Hello! It’s my President’s week break right now, and my goodness, this break was necessary. However much I love the craziness of school and general life, I am so glad to be calming down for a week. I hope your life is going well, whenever you’re reading this. Enjoy this review and recommendation!

Why, I must say that I have had a long, and wonderfully satisfying relationship with this series. It is quite spectacularly magnificent and I absolutely and truly love the series. Sarah J Maas, the author of this heptalogy. (yes I did look up that specific word for this) Anyway, there are going to be six official books in the series, as well as a set of novellas, and an accompanying novel (that may count as a seventh?) to be released September 2017. The first five books have been released, as well as the novellas, and we’re all just waiting for the next two!

It starts off with Throne of Glass, then Crown of Midnight, then Heir of Fire, then Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, and the untitled sixth one. However, there is a novel about one specific character that lies parallel to Empire of Storms that will be released in September. Its title is Tower of Dawn. The set of novellas has been compiled into one book, called The Assassin’s Blade, which includes the five novellas. Sarah J Maas has also written a separate series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which I will be discussing further in a different post. Well, now that the overview is done, let’s get into the series!

~ This review is just a basic overview of the series, and will NOT contain any spoilers. (except for two that are mentioned beforehand, sorry) I will most likely post a more in-depth review of the later ones in the future.

Throne of Glass (book one):

My Goodreads review just after I read the book on March 23, 2015:

I absolutely loved this book. My favorite kinds of books have strong main characters, (preferably female) plot twisters, aspects of every genre, and evoke some kind of physical reaction. (crying, laughing, shouting, or even throwing the book- I have been known to do this) Check, Check, Check, Check. The Throne of Glass fulfilled my basic requirements and beyond. I had to physically stop myself from finishing it in a a hour, because I only had 2 books for a 6 hour drive.I found this book by a Goodreads recommendation, and then a friend told me it was her favorite book. I truly enjoyed the Throne of Glass, and I can’t wait for Crown of Midnight!

This is basically still how I feel. Even though it’s been almost two years (my god it feels like yesterday that I started this series), I am eternally grateful to my friend who persuaded me to read it. However, this first one is very cliche and while it’s written well, and has a wonderful background, the plot is a bit flat, and the love triangle is nothing innovative. It was still a great book, but trust me, the later ones are so absolutely magnificent that this one pales in comparison.

Crown of Midnight (book two): 

My Goodreads review just after I read the book on April 11, 2015:

I loved loved loved it!
The story continues with the same eloquence, amazing use of words, and beautiful storyline. Then I proceed to go on a rant filled with spoilers, so I’ll just omit that from here.  Definitely read because it is a fantastic continuation of the first!

I have a difficult relationship with Crown of Midnight. I still love the book, and it was 10 times better than the first in all the ways I mentioned above. The book was not cliche, boring, and the plot became infinitely more complex. Yet, my problem with this book was the love interest. I can’t say much without spoiling anything, but the love triangle was resolved in it, and I do NOT support it. If, and that’s if, the main character had to choose a man, I fully and completely think it should have been the other guy. Oh well. To be clear, that’s not against the book itself, just the relationship of the characters. This one is a little more teen rated, so beware younglings 🙂

Heir of Fire (book three):

My Goodreads review from April 19, 2015:   I loved it so much.
Aelin’s tale of heartbreak, loss, despair, and power is so meaningful.
Sarah twisted the story perfectly, with gripping parts that made me reading them over and over again. (spoilery section)
This book was one of the best I have read in a long time!

Here is where I think the series really picked up speed and started to be noticed by the media and a larger audience. I remember being one of the few people who shipped Rowan and Aelin together, and (spoiler alert)- was so happy, and a little proud, when they finally got together in the next book. Like I said (over two years ago!) Heir of Fire was so emotional, but not in a romantic way, which was great. We got to learn about Aelin’s past, and watch her explore the breadth of her power, and that was just honestly so cool. It has been a while since I’ve read it, but I still remember loving this book and being unable to wait for the next one.

Queen of Shadows (book 4):

For this book, I apparently did not write a review of it directly after reading, which is very unfortunate, but I do remember it quite well. I reread this book all the time, but I do wish I had written something when my first emotions were clear. (spoiler alert) I do remember feeling shocked at the reunion between Chaol and Aelin. I expected a romantic reunion, and instead got bitter insults and lots of drama on Chaol’s part. I already disliked him intensely, and his spite towards her did not help his case. Queen of Shadows was a fantastic book, and I sincerely loved Aelin’s scheming and wondrously perfect plans. Sarah J Maas manages to create intricate and near impossible ideas without them seeming utterly ridiculous. The new characters here are so interesting, and I found myself feeling for them even more than Aelin. In sum, I loved this book and it certainly is the best of the lot so far.

Empire of Storms (book five):

Unfortunately, I also could not master my emotions enough to write a review when I finished the novel on Goodreads, but it is still quite fresh in my mind. Empire of Storms isn’t the kind of book you can just forget. The ending was absolutely stunning and so incredibly heartbreaking. I was in tears for the last five chapters. I must say though, that the rest of the book, especially the beginning, weren’t all that interesting. While I still enjoyed it, the beginning and parts of the middle were sometimes boring or just too slow. Specific parts were just fantastic, and in between those sections just fell flat. I love how this author can make people have such strong emotions towards her characters. Every single one is so complex and interesting, but the story is never confusing. So, while I must say I enjoyed Queen of Shadows more, this book ended on such an epic cliffhanger that I literally cannot wait for the next one.

Tower of Dawn (book 6? but also not?):

Tower of Dawn confuses me. This novel was supposed to be a novella of what Chaol and Nesryn were doing during Empire of Storms, and then Sarah wrote too much and it became a full blown novel. Basically, the timeline here is parallel to EoS, but solely focuses on Chaol’s story. I don’t really love Chaol, so I am admittedly quite apprehensive about this book. It will be released in September of 2017.

Untitled (book 7):

This is the final Throne of Glass novel, and will be published in May of 2018. I cannot wait to read this one!

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy YA novels. The author’s writing only improves throughout the books, and her characters are amazingly complex. Let me know what you think of the series in the comments below!! I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading! 

~Varsha V.

P.S. I also finally finished this review like 3 months later, so sorry for the wait!