Over the Christmas holidays I finally got the chance to sit down with this brick of a book. When I saw the size of it, I wasn't too keen, especially after the disappointment of Tower of Dawn. However, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. I still think the beginning and ending could have been edited down a lot.

When you've created a series with lots of characters, I can understand the desire to give them all a send off but I don't feel they all need equal parts.

It's a book about war, and much of it is set on the battlefield. I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed the epic battle scenes, I'm not usually one for drawn out action. Since she was introduced in Heir of Fire, I've loved Manon and her wyvern Abraxos. The witches were one of the best things about this series, including their part in the finale.

Obviously I was eager to find out what happened to Aelin after the end of Empire of Storms. It lingered a tad too long on her torture for my liking. Yes, I get that what is happening to her is horrible and she might be driven to end it, but there's only so much torture I can take. I still don't know why Bloomsbury insist on publishing this as young adult, they even have a warning on the book that it's not suitable for younger readers. At this point it's adult fantasy.

I have completely gone off Sarah J. Maas's brand of romance. They all seem so melodramatic and mushy, when they should be concentrating on not dying. They all paired off in an earlier book and I wished it was left at that rather than trying to add in more romantic tension, it just wasn't needed.

I did see a spoiler on Twitter one week after this 980 page book came out. What is wrong with people? I'm sure they thought what they were saying wasn't specific but it made it a bit obvious that things would play out a certain way. I would have liked to have read this with a bit more uncertainty.

Anyway, I'm glad I read it to the end. Well not the very, very end, as there seemed to be a novella's worth of good byes.