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5 stars! This review will be spoiler free, but will contain spoilers from the previous Throne ofGlass novels!
*I apologize in advance if my thoughts are super jumbled*
Synopsis:
This is the second novella, seventh book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas and this novella surrounds Chaol and his story after the events in Queen of Shadows. Chaol, the new hand to King Dorian Havillard, with a shattered spine and broken spirit, is on a ship to the Southern Continent along with new Captain of the Guard Nesryn Feliq. He hopes to convince the Great Khagan of the Southern Empire to lend his armies to aid the Northern Continent against the Valg, but Chaol is also on another mission, one for himself. He seeks a healer from the Torre Cesme, home to the greatest, most skilled healers in the world to heal his back so that he may walk again. What Chaol and Nesryn don't expect is to gather more information about their enemies than they could have ever imagined.
Initial thoughts:
It took me a very very long time to get over this book after finishing and now I feel like I can finally write a non-biased review. I seriously loved this book (and yes, i'm one of those people who went into this book just because Sarah J Maas wrote it and NOT because I like Chaol because I really didn't). This is CHAOL'S REDEMPTION. I was one of those who felt like Maas just tore his character apart and was going to leave him mostly in shambles, but his development in this book is astounding. It was a struggle, it wasn't easy. And it's because of that that this book was even better. I'm glad Maas didn't make Chaol's "recovery" (no better word for it without spoilers) a simple one. In addition to that we LEARN SO SO SO MUCH. There were CRAZY twists vital to the main plot of the series that I wasn't expecting to be revealed in this book at all. That made the book all the more engrossing just wanting to know everything that they find out while in the Southern Continent.
On the down side, I felt like the romance was a bit much. We all known Maas likes to have all her people paired up and tied with nice bows, but it's getting a bit old now. Even for a complete romance trash reader like me. Don't get me wrong though, VERY VERY SATISFIED with the turn out. The who with who I have absolutely no issues with, I guess it's just the lack of time for the un-development of previous feelings and lack of time for the development of new feelings. Another thing I wasn't 100% into was the fact that I didn't really care for the khagan or khaganate or any of the royals. I grew no attachment to them. I like that Hasar is in a f/f relationship though. All for that. But seriously they were kinda just there to confuse the crap outta me with all their weird names.
Altogether, SO WORTH THE READ. Again, wasn't a Chaol fan to begin with, but now I feel like he has been redeemed and in the greatest way I think Maas could've done it.
RECOMMENDATION: If you are having second thoughts about this book, please read it anyway. Maas's writing has clearly improved in many ways and Chaol becomes worth the read in this novel. Also, VITAL information guys. Things you NEED to know for the rest of the series are revealed. NEED TO KNOW. Just do yourself the favor and DOOOO ITTT.
Plot:
A lot happens in this book. The plot takes just a tad bit longer than preferred to get the ball rolling, but it’s very much worth it. Chaol is very much a stubborn brute and Nesryn is 100% boring and irrelevant in my mind, so once Nesryn and Chaol went to go “do their own things” to help with the mission, things definitely got spicier. Everything before hand is mostly getting introduced to the royals, seeing the layout of the Southern Continent, meeting new and not so new people from the Torre Cesme, and so on. Lots of groundwork has to be laid out, so be patient!
Try not to think of this book as the Chaol novella like Maas had previously claimed. This book is definitely like a companion to EoS, there are a ton of characters and a ton of things that happen in the Southern Continent alongside what’s going on in EoS.
Going into this book we already know a few things:
ONE. Chaol is in need of some serious healing both to his ego for losing his legs and his actual physical legs and back injury. Having read Assassin’s Blade you know that Celaena sent a girl name Yrene Towers to the Torre Cesme to learn and obviously she’s going to be the one to heal Chaol. The healing was a rollercoaster. Every time you think they’re making some head way something pulls one or the other back and the healing process mentally and physically is a long and hard journey. This made everything feel much more realistic. I felt that Yrene’s stern yet caring personality fit so well with Chaol brutish, stubborn one. Yrene became exactly what Chaol needed. The outcome of this part of the book was better than I hoped for. My expectations were fully met and then some. I seriously wonder how this ending is going to play out in the last book because it really complicates some things.
TWO. Nesryn and Chaol need the support of the Southern Continent’s military if they are going to have a chance at defeating the demons in the North. So lots of political manipulations. Lots of sneaking around. The suspense of jumping from Nesryn’s POV to Chaol/Yrene’s POV, leaving chapters off right before huge reveals, is infuriating in the best way. Not to mention we get little tidbits of what’s happening in EoS from the royal’s spies and since we already know everything that’s happened up there, this adds even more suspense to the plot. While Chaol and Nesryn have no idea what’s going on or what Aelin & gang are doing, we know everything and I often was like “omg nooooo don’t think that” or “omg noooo don’t say that.”
THREE. The royals have to have some sort of importance otherwise Sarah wouldn’t have made up learn so many complicated names. I am living for the Sartaq and Nesryn ship. I’m completely for it especially if it means we don’t have to have Nesryn as part of the main group’s courts in the North because she utterly bores me. If she stays in the South with Sartaq then her end of the story will be wrapped up in a nice little bow.
The story gets most intense when a “suspicious thing” starts hunting our dear Yrene. The moment this happens, the ball is ROLLING. We can guess the obvious that it’s a Valg, but who is it?? Who is it inhabiting? We learn quite a lot about the Valg, the Fae, and the history of it all in this book. So much relevant important history that just make you wonder “HOW TF IS THIS GOING TO PLAY OUT NOW?!” Or at least that’s what is going on in my head now.
The world building in this book was likely my favorite aspect aside the plot since I didn’t have the strongest attachment to the new characters. I love how we get to explore more of the Southern Continent. We get to see Nesryn’s roots. We get to see the Torre Cesme. We get to understand a new government, the khaganate! Not to mention the royal many many different aspects of the military. And the HISTORY. There is so much history to be learned here.
The representation in this book is something new I experienced from Maas. I personally have no personal experience in a wheelchair, but my mother has spent time unable to walk, so I have some feeels about it. I love how Maas showed that healing is not just a physical process, it requires attacking your emotions and your healing mentally as well.
The ending is so so so satisfying too. I definitely was not expecting the “who was who”, nope, not at all. I really thought it was someone else. Sadly I was wrong, but I’m so satisfied with how everything play out including the political moves, the relationships & friendships, AND THE EPILOGUE.
THAT LAST CHAPTER KILLED ME. IT WILL KILL YOU. BE PREPARED.
Characters:
CHAOL I thought that I didn't even really care for this character. Oh how wrong I was. Memories of how much I shipped Chaol with Celaena came back to me. Memories of how sweet this guy was when he was oblivious to his wrongdoings. And now he much learn to face the consequences. Chaol probably has the BEST character arc in this series next to Celaena/Aelin. I'm sad it took my until this book to realize how much he had grown and struggled to grow. Almost like Mathias from the Six of Crows, he had to overcome prejudices he grew up learning. Chaol had so much to overcome mentally/physically in this book too. I'm just so proud of him.
NESRYN is.... kinda boring. After some time after finishing QoS, I realized that I didn't actually care for her and I didn't care for Nesryn+Chaol's ship. They just didn't match because I felt like Chaol needed a vibrant, stern, almost bitchy girl by his side. Then the rest of her story was kinda flat. I never understood why she too was someone who HATED the king and yet she served him. It made more sense after getting to know her more in this book buuuuutttt... I still don't really care for her other than the fact that she's a badass with a bow.
YRENE is exactly how I wanted to her to. She is strong. She is chosen. She takes no back lash. I LOVE it. I cannot wait to see how her part plays into the next book. She just adds a whole like of fire to this book and I feel like she'll stir up even more suspense and flame in the last book.
HASAR and RENIA are the F/F representation for this book. I thought it was a little over done? Still I liked it. I loved it when I realized Renia did not feel Hasar at all.
KASHIN is a pushover. He's literally pointless. I wish he didn't have feelings for Yrene at all. I wish they could've been like best friends or something.
ARGHUN is an ass.
SARTAQ is flighty (literally and figuratively). He was the epitome of INSTAlove in this book. I thought he was a charmer and smooth talker at first then he said some stupid stuff later in the book in a time of peril and I'm just like.... no. Still so so so happy with his ship.
Overall:
This book blew my expectations out of the water. If you were ever on the fence about this book you MUST read it. Not only is it actually a good book with a decent plot and more worldbuileing but it also has some MAJOR secrets and reveals! More so than EoS even! Definitely read this book. I mean you probably can't read the last ToG book without it.
*I read this book using Audible once again! The narrator, Elizabeth Evans, has not disappointed me! She is the reason I started using audiobooks. I've listened to her for all the Throne of Glass books before and I don't mind listening to her narrate the books all over again.*