Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Empire of Storms

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

14 reviews

irene2160's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I feel lied to.
This is nothing like ACOTAR. Like ACOTAR is so much tamer than this.
And every time you think that there is a flaw in the plot or some plot hole etc. SJM proves you wrong and makes you cry whilst she does it.
I feel bad for anyone who doesn't make it past the first book in the series. The idea that they never get to this book and get to read how everything is coming together ughhh
SJM must have written Aelin as herself because the way she hides things from the reader and reveals them at the perfect point in the book is just insane.

Poor Aelin, poor Rowan omg poor everyone I actually can't.
Also, I did NOT see Lysandra pretending to be Aelin from a mile away.
The ending with the silent assassins and the note that Aelin sent to the Ashryvers is just so typical of Aelin that you can't help but laugh despite what she's currently going through.

And when she's getting whipped on the beach omg....
And Manon's thoughts of hoping Aelin survives this just so she can then die at the time she's supposed to... It's giving Harry Potter but higher stakes and much more brutal.
FINDING OUT THAT MAEVE MANIPULATED ROWAN INTO THINKING LYRIA WAS HIS MATE...
Maeve making Aelin bow on the sand...
F*cking Lorcan man - I thought he had finally semi-redeemed himself but nope!!
Poor Fenrys...
I get why Aelin doesn't tell anyone her plans because she's afraid they'll try to stop her or she's worried they won't go to plan but the way that she only tells Lysandra about the fact that she's going to have to die and that she wants Lysandra to pretend to be her... and have Aedion's kids and pretend that they're hers and Rowans... that's dark man. Like imagine being Rowan and having to live pretending his mate is alive but it's actually Lysandra, and omg and not even consulting with Aedion - Has this flirting between Lysandra and Aedion not been true this whole time?
When Aedion realises all the people that Aelin has called debts back from to save Terrasen after he had shouted at her...
And I was so happy to finally see Rowan show off his power/skill to then have him just kneeling on the beach once Aelin was taken is just so heart breaking...
And the fact that they had gotten married two days prior...

I get why everyone is saying that SJM needs to leave poor Aelin alone and hope she doesn't come back in any other books because if she gets through this man...

Considering there's a whole other book it's pretty obvious that Rowan gets Aelin out but omg the reunion if they do
And then it's all just for Aelin to die anyways ://///

I think I got a little too into this review and could definitely talk about this for a good hour or more
5 starts - Nothing less for an SJM book

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aksmith92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I read Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn as a tandem read, as requested by most BookTokers I've seen out there. Many recommend this because they love Aelin and Rowan and didn't want to be a part of them for one whole book; plus, there will ALWAYS be Chaol haters. I honestly don't care much about Aelin and Rowan (sorry!), and I am notoriously known for thinking there is more than meets the eye with Chaol. But, I will admit it: the tandem read slightly improved my experience with my Throne of Glass journey. While reading nearly 1400 pages, give or take, seemed daunting, I did fly through this read (these reads?).

Set up: The main characters are thrown into every direction as war breaks out between citizens and the infamous Vlag. Empire of Storms follows Aelin, Rowan, Dorian, Manon, Lysandra, Aedion, Elide, Lorcan, and others we know and love. Tower of Dawn follows Chaol and Nesryn as they trek to the southern continent to, hopefully, gain support from the kaghan there in the upcoming war. Also, to see if they can get Chaol walking again. In this book, we meet Yrene again after briefly meeting her in The Assassin's Blade.

What I liked: Lysandra. I also enjoyed Elide's and Lorcan's characters. I liked their romance. Theirs didn't feel forced per se, but their POVs were sometimes redundant. Finally, I was invested in this plot. I wanted to see how SJM wove in all the moving pieces and how it would end. I was invested. I didn't see TOO many plot holes. This is some decent high fantasy plotting.

What I didn't like: Aelin. Always. She's so annoying, even if she spouts some funnies occasionally. I didn't enjoy Rowan and Aelin either. "Just bang!" I would say throughout this novel, and THEN they did, and I was underwhelmed. Something about velvet-strapped steel also just....yuck.

"She really tortured them, she realized, by shoving her way into danger whenever she felt like it. Perhaps she'd try to be better about it if this dread was at all like what they felt." LOL, yeah, AELIN.

This (these) book(s) also did teeter on the ROMANCE scale so much. I was finally glad not to have a love triangle anymore, and thankfully, those (kinda) went away, but everybody is paired with somebody. I'm not sure why it annoyed me because I've read other books where this happens (Roots of Chaos - Samantha Shannon), but I don't think anybody quite hypes it up and makes it a considerable plot point like SJM. I also wished I counted how many kisses characters gave at the "corners of mouths."

"She thought of the new, delicate scars on his back - marks from her own nails (*cough* sex *cough*), that he'd refused to heal with his magic, and instead had set with seawater, the salt locking the scars into place before the immortal body could smooth it over. Her claiming marks, he'd breathed into her mouth the last time he'd been inside her. So he and anyone who saw them would know that he belonged to her. That he was hers, just as she was his." WHAT. First. What? Second. How would people look at his back and be like THOSE ARE FROM F'in! Third. What. Fourth. The dramatics. Fifth. What. Lastly, they can do that with salt water? Since freaking when? This internal monologue was also the start of a BATTLE IN WAR. Lol. Just lol.

Lastly, there is a plethora of toxic perseverance and the glorification of war, which is something I must get used to with SJM writing. In addition [I'm putting a spoiler on this just in case],

but
kind of healing Chaol's injury wasn't done super well in my opinion. He was disabled and then "magically" healed, yet still tied to Yrene's life and it can still go wrong? It's honestly a cop out of him being healed enough to still be mr macho man yet then things can go wrong? I don't know, it didn't quite sit well for me.

Overall, though, it was fine. This was a solid read (reads). However, I have officially decided that my TBR is too long for any more SJM. I will finish this series with Kingdom of Ash, and I will stop reading her works. Fated mates, toxic perseverance, and unnecessary romanticism of war simply isn't for me and I will officially put the books down after.

Content Warnings

infjkiki's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

lizziewilson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Favourite book in the series so far - everything starts "clicking" together! Sometimes the sentence structure was a bit confusing to follow and I found myself re-reading. Loved the POVs of all teh characters in this one.

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undecidedpersonality's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

tanvi45's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sierrabowers's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The ONLY reason I did not give this book a 5 star rating is because the majority of the book was very slow. Of course in Sarah J Maas fashion, the last 100 pages were INSANE!!! I was literally talking out loud to myself because I was in such disbelief. There was NO WAY I could have predicted what happened in the end. I have to read the last part of Tower of Dawn in order to finish the tandem read, but WOW. What another great installment in the Throne of Glass series. All I can say is screw Lorcan and Maeve!!! Aelin is the strongest character I have EVER known in any series, and that is an understatement. I cannot even imagine what SJM has in store for the last bit of TOD and Kingdom of Ash!!!!! WOW!!!!

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annabeth_jackson's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Content Warnings

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Love continuing to chart the growth and development of the characters. Felt like the magic system/general conflict got a bit looser/murkier.

</I felt the horrific brutality of the cliffhanger was not in service of the plot or character development but will be happy to be proven wrong in the next installment. It just felt repetitive. Aelin has suffered! She has demonstrated feeling worthless and willing to sacrifice herself for her loved ones and Kingdom. I did not need this characterization graphically depicted AGAIN./>

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yanny77's review

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

The ending of this book is deeply upsetting, and not in a way to compels me to read on.

Content Warning & Spoilers

I have never read a book before where the female main character was pro-rape and forced breeding.

I have never been so hurt by an author’s choice before in my life and frankly, I’m shocked and disappointed that SJM would write this.

Content Warnings

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