Review: Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

Book: Tower of Dawn
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #5.5
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release: September 5, 2017
Pages: 667

In the next installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, follow Chaol on his sweeping journey to a distant empire.

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

Goodreads

I will admit this first: as much as I like Chaol, I never found him as interesting as Dorian or Celaena (now Aelin). But after the ending to Empire of Storms, I knew I needed to read this book to know what more pieces could be fitted together before the final (final!!!) book came out. So yes, I read this for overall plot reveals, not Chaol.

We were introduced to Yrene, who was actually introduced in The Assassin and the Healer (which is one of the short stories in The Assassin's Blade, but I haven't read that yet but shhhh...). Yrene was definitely my favourite character in this book. Unlike the rest of the heroines in the series (except maybe Elide?), Yrene isn't deadly or dangerous. She's a healer, not a fighter, and has sworn oaths to never kill anyone unless in medical circumstances as a mercy.

As for Chaol...well, one of the driving reasons for Chaol and Nesryn's trip to Antica was for his healing. But my god, was he completely wracked with guilt the first half of the book! Just...so sullen. Which made me recoil a bit by how long it took for anything to occur with his depressing and sour attitude towards anything, especially his healing (which only dragged the process out longer...). His character act was plain and clear, but just the...process it took for him to overcome everything was painstakingly long and grumpy. It wasn't until the latter part of the book when I finally could get back into Chaol again, when he could finally do something other than sit and brood.

Nesryn's role in this book's first half was also a bit slow too. Though she didn't actually have that much of a character arc to go through, she definitely was the one I was eyeing for some action to occur. And I wasn't disappointed in the second half! Nesryn proved her worth again to any doubters of her bravery. I very much would like to see her at Aelin's side again, for she is another valuable player in this game.

But...the main reason I read this book, the overall plot reveals? The hints to what's going to happen in Kingdom of Ash? WORTH IT. Oh my god, I barely saw any of those coming!!! Little tidbits about Maeve, about the healers, about Valg rings...GUYS. This very much changes EVERYTHING about what I thought would happen! I absolutely cannot fathom how Aelin and company are going to handle all these revelations. Heck, I still don't know what to make of them!

Overall, though I found the first half a bit slow for my liking, the second half was definitely worth it, with all the mind-blowing revelations. I like Yrene, and am very interested to see how she's going to fit in with the rest of the bloodthirsty and war-grim crew. After all, she knows Aelin ;)