The Assassin Queen Claims Her Throne

Sarah Toole

Empire of Storm
Sarah J. Maas

This the fifth book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. The story is told from 3rd person omniscient view, and three storylines are alternated throughout the entire book until they all meet.

Aelin Galathynius, former assassin and princess, arrives at her home country Terrasen at the beginning of the book after freeing the Adarlan people from the corrupted king and giving the crown to the crown prince, her friend Dorian. She and her court arrange a meeting with powerful allies, but the meeting goes poorly and no alliances are formed. They set off for a coastal city to free it from Adarlan occupation. Meanwhile, the witches in the mountains are ordered to sack Rifthold, the capital of Adarlan, to get it for Erawan, the main bad guy in charge. Manon, the wingleader of her coven and all covens in the Morath mountains goes to the palace and ends up killing a Yellowlegs witch and saves the king, Dorian. This goes against all witch law, and she knows she will be doomed when they make it back to Morath because she will have the scent of Witch Killer. The third storyline is of Elide and Lorcan. Elide is a duchess of Terresan, and is the same age as Aelin. Her quest is to find Aelin, her queen, and serve her. Lorcan is bloodsworn to the Fae Queen Maeve, and he was tracking down the Wyrd Keys when he found Elide. They come to a mutual agreement: Lorcan brings her to Terresan as safely as possible and Elide tells him what she knows about what happened at Morath, where she escaped from with the help of Manon a week or so prior. They join a carnival troop to hide as they travel because Elide is being hunted by her uncle. Each storyline develops and the characters grow, and finally, at the end of the book, every character meets.

I really liked this book and the previous four books in the series. The books are fairly long though (about 400-600 pages, depending), and high fantasy; "Aelin went for her magic". The plotline can get a little confusing, but as long as the reader is actively paying attention, they should be able to keep up. This can be a positive or a negative, so I recommend this book to patient readers, who can make it all the way through, or fantasy readers. Also, the protagonist was a former assassin, "your queen is an assassin" (56) and she still kills people, so if you’re squeamish or don’t like gruesome details, these books might not be for you. And these books have a few somewhat explicit sexual scenes, so that might be a big turn away for some readers. On the other hand. Aelin is a really strong female character with flaws different from many contemporary heroines. She is very arrogant and sure of herself, and she knows she’s beautiful and smart, which is very funny. As one of her court tells her, "who else would be able to get under Erawan's skin? Never underestimate the power of that insufferable swagger."






Map of Erilea