This is the fourth book in the Throne of Glass series that I compulsively binge-read all this month.
This book starts off where the third book left off. Celaena returns to Rifthold to wreak vengeance on Arobynn and the King of Adarlan, who destroyed her childhood.
Book Synopsis
The queen has returned.
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s finally returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…
She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.
She will fight for her cousin; a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.
~ Synopsis from goodreads
My Review
Writing this review without any kind of spoilers whatsoever is going to be an arduous task. I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, though.
What I can tell you, though, is that this series so far is a milder version of A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R.Martin. It’s got the twists and turns, the larger-than-life characters, very similar kinds of character arcs, and so on. It’s no surprise, then, that I also love this series.
That said, this is the book in the series where I read slowly enough to note some flaws.
Poor dialogues? I guess it was the slow start and the too many dialogues, but I realized just now, in the fourth book of the series, that Maas doesn’t do dialogue particularly well. Action, yes, but not dialogue, particularly emotional dialogue.
Whereas a GRRM book’s dialogues would have me chuckling along or teary-eyed while reading, here I was speed-reading the arguments between Chaol and Aelin, the friendly chats between Aelin and Lysandra. Basically, I speed-read through the first half of the book breathlessly, anticipating the action in the second half.
But the action there totally makes up for the slow beginning and the inconsistent dialogues and characterization.
Inconsistent characterization? Well, that’s another flaw I am beginning to see in the series. Especially with Aelin. What I loved about her in the first 2-3 books was that she was vulnerable, tough but vulnerable, and she had her weaknesses. Also, there was the whole underdog factor of her being a nobody battling against the king. Now that is all changed. She’s Queen Aelin, and suddenly she is no longer a loner. There’s a whole bunch of people willing to fight for her and with her, and she and her friends are now all these super-powerful beings with superpowers. This change is acceptable, and I don’t mind it, but it should have been done a little less bluntly. The first time she and Chaol met, I expected her to show some feelings, but she came across as really cold and harsh, and it seemed like the old Celaena was just gone and buried. And it just doesn’t seem right. I miss the older, softer Celaena.
The new Aelin just seems odious, boastful, and not very scrupulous:
She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph.
I know Maas was going for the Daenerys Targaryen effect with her characterization of Aelin, but it doesn’t work, in my opinion. All said and done, Aelin is no Daenerys, doesn’t even come close.
But when the action starts, oh boy! I loved all the drama then. Here is a taste of one of the action sequences:
Behind them, across the hall, the dancers shattered their roses on the floor, and Aedion grinned at his queen as the entire world went to hell.
Those sequences are when she comes to save Aedion, the incredible fight between her and Manon, the final confrontation between Aelin and Dorian, and Aelin and the king. They were simply mind-blowing!
Maas fares a lot better writing her second protagonist – Manon. She first appeared in Heir of Fire, and I thought she was pretty boring in that book. All that changed in this book and how. Manon turned out to be the best character, and all those sections from her viewpoint were the book’s most substantial portions. I look forward to reading more about Manon in the upcoming books.
Annoying men? Another irritating thing is how the men in the book suddenly deteriorate into complete idiots. Chaol spends most of his time fighting Aelin, Aedion and Rowan, who are supposedly tough guys, turn into Aelin’s yes-men jealously competitive with each other. Also, the romance between Rowan and Aelin? Urgh!
After Heir of Fire, I expected Rowan and Aelin to take their relationship further and morph into lovers. But the way that happens is just not that great. As a comparison, I think of Chaol and Celaena’s relationship in Crown of Midnight and how it was written – so believable and touching. Rowan and Aelin’s relationship is so cold in comparison. They felt like siblings or an old married couple sleeping together. I mean, where was the chemistry? Dorian is the only male in the book who comes out of the story with his dignity intact. Sure, he is possessed by a demon for most of the book, but at least he doesn’t become another Aelin fanboy in the end. His story in the book ends with a very interesting (and romantic?) twist, and I can’t wait to read the next book and find out if what I am wondering will come to pass.
Why the Ice and Fire similarities? This series’ resemblance to A Song of Ice and Fire doesn’t stop with Aelin’s characterization. Dorian’s magic is ice in nature, Aelin’s is fire, Aedion is often referred to as the wolf of the north, and other tiny little things like that. These similarities brought down the tone of the book, and prevent this series from being a long-running classic.
But these are all just nitpicks. When a Fantasy story is this good, this addictive, and entertaining, I can ignore these issues. In another less entertaining book, I might be a lot more critical.
Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me this review copy and hooking me on to a new Fantasy series.
