Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

147 reviews

juliapatt2007's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

 We get to meet new characters (my head is still spinning trying to keep track of them all) but overall they fit into the story alright.

Lorcans betrayal (while somewhat surprising) didn't bother me. Elide is pissed when she finds out what he did and I understand but ultimately he did it so she could be safe. Was it the best choice to potentially sacrifice a kingdom to save her? Probably not but still sweet and shows a rarely seen caring side of Lorcan. I really think that Lorcan and Elide will recover as Elide

sees that Lorcan betrayed them out of love for her. Maeve has already implied that they may be mates so I'm excited to see where that goes. I loved the triumphant ending of all of Aelin’s old contacts rallying around her even as she was locked in the coffin.

I'm interested to see where Lyssandra's impersonation takes the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Aelin and Rowan have clear sexual tension from the get go. Eventually they find out that they are mates and have fairly descriptive sex on the beach. Their sexual adventures don't stop there with several other implied moments and several sensual conversations. Elide and Lorcan have a moment as well before joining the rest of the group in the marsh. While their moment leads to nothing fully physical it's clear their relationship is heading there. Dorian and Manon have some tension as well and this has carried over from previous books. Their sex scene while not as descriptive as Rowan and Aelins left a very clear mental image. I can see their sexual adventures heading toward anything but vanilla and time will only tell if Maas gives us more if this pair. Aedion and Lyssandra continue to flirt throughout the book with Aedion confession that he is bisexual.

As far as language there were a few new works but nothing that doesn't come with the sexual territory (Bitch, Shit, Horse shit, Tits, Cock, Asshole).

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

Wowza. Ok. Ok. Ok.

I gotta wait till tomorrow to finish Tower of Dawn cause I need to process the fucking shit show (said as a term of endearment) that went on in the Empire of Storms. 

AELIN GALATHYNIUS YOU COME BACK RIGHT THIS INSTANT SO HELP ME GAWD! 

This book had some stellar moments. Wyvern attack on the capital, Manon attacking her mean Grandma, Elide and Lorcan on the run, Lysandra kicking ass in Skulls bay, Aelin blasting all those ILKEN SHITS outta the sky, finding out what Elena did, and the END!!!!!  Crazy stuff, man. 

Sadly, the gang is unfortunately splitting up AGAIN *sigh* and all of my fav ships are SINKING!!!! 👎

Rowan’s Queen got shipped away in the bad box by the bitchiest UPS worker ever known to man. Elides pissed at Lorcan, and rightfully so (I am too, I have a very strong love/hate relationship with this dude). Aedion is being a man baby about Lysandra doing what she was told to do by THEIR QUEEN. Dorian and Manon are still rockin though 🤘good for those lil emos! 

Something cool I realized in this book though was that each of the mains have one of those jerkface gods kind of pulling the strands of their fates together which is neat! Like Hellas with Lorcan, Annieth with Elide, and Mala with Aelin and Rowan. 

Im very stressed. I’ll finish tower of Dawn tomorrow. I need a nap.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, War, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Animal death, Body horror, Misogyny, Death, and Kidnapping

keriberiii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Torture, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

mrsalexisrjones's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

Aelin knows who she is and what she has to do. Now is the time to gather the troops because war is coming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Blood, War, Torture, and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Stalking, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Child death

gsrath's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-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? Yes

3.75

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, and War

spatterson7's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, and War

Moderate: Torture, Cursing, Grief, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Confinement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Slavery

aksmith92's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Slavery, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy and Toxic relationship

shadeslayer327's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

You’re telling me you guys had to wait two years for the next (well, chronological) book.

**Since I'm leaving a review, please be aware of content as this book fully shifted into the adult genre**

This is by far my favorite so far. It's chonky, but the pacing was incredible, and I couldn't wait to get back it. I think I listened to it in 2,3 days? There were so many epic scenes. It was amazing. 

I fully intended to do the tandem read but decided not to at the last second, and I think I'm glad I didn't. Unfortunately, I already knew (the major plot point) of how it was going to end so I can't imagine reading it and not knowing. Also don't know how the people reading the books as they came out lasted for two years until the final book released. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

bi_n_large's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, War, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Rape