Nameless is my price

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

OH MY GOD!

This book was amazing!! I have no words for how much I’m absolutely in-love. I was at the edge of my sit during the whole thing, there was no good moment to stop or even breathe!

Queen Aelin Ashryver Galathynious spent the whole 700 pages going for one betrayal to a disaster to an ambush, to another betrayal and ambush. It was insane! I LOVED IT!!

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Empire of Storms is the fifth installment in the Throne of Glass series, so there is a lot happening that relates and/or recounts what has been happening since the beginning. And this one has way more explanations about how all those things merge together. So there were many times I felt like I should be re-reading all the previous books to freshen up my memory about the details.

I also think I waited to long to read Asassin’s Blade. There were a few new character that I felt I should know already, and many more that I think we’re mentioned lightly before hand.

But all of that, didn’t matter. The story was awesome! Simply mind-blowing.

Land not just because of all the magic and battles, but also for all the scheming and surprising turns of events. Then, of course, there was a couple of sexy times and a lot of built-up.

The next book -that still has no name- better be as good. I think better is impossible, but I wouldn’t discourage Sarah J. Maas for trying,

The downside? The wait for the conclusion of the story is going to be a year.

A WHOLE year!

Catching me unaware

A couple of days ago, I saw someone online quoting Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas… and that’s when I realized I had missed the release!

I remember learning the book was available for pre-purchase, and it being a bit over the leftover book budget I had at the moment. I have proved myself that I have a terrible memory about all things and need to either make my handy smartphone remind me of even the smallest thing, of stop putting off the things I want.

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

The second choice doesn’t seem very doable when most of my ideas come to me at crazy hour of the night where doing the slightest thing about it is difficult.

I was already two-thirds into The Last Four Things, so I decided to finish that and then devote my weekend to this one.

I’m not sure how excited am I. Definitely less than last time, but still quite eager to read more about Rowan Whitethorn and Aelin Galathynious… She’s supposed to be back to her homeland now, ready to reclaim the throne. I can’t wait to see how that goes.

This is the 5th in The Throne of Glass series, but his time I’m quite sure this is not meant to be that last. I understand there are two more expected to be published before the story is actually over.

Fae or Elf?

It hit me out of nowhere (Or maybe it did come from somewhere but I didn’t realize)… Is there suppose to be a difference?

I have been picturing them in my head as the same thing since I can remember… Tall, magical, pointy ears, extra skinny, somewhat androgynous, and very good looking. Isn’t that the kiss of it?

Ok, sometimes I do picture them all manly and such, but that mostly the Rowan Whitethorn my mind conjured up.

Falin Andrews might also be getting some of that, but much more urbanely refined… He IS law enforcement in a major city, isn’t he? There no room for all the extra fough edges that come with the lack of social skills.

But what if I’m been wrong all along?! An if what I’ve been picturing in my mind for years and years has nothing to do with what was described on the books?

I don’t imagine it would much change my opinion on characters or stories, but the question has been asked in my mind, and it is not as if I can simply ignore it. It would drive me crazy if I did.

So, I looked it up. Yes, I did. I’m one of those people that interrupts everything she’s doing to go searching for answers when a question like this pops into my mind (or someone else asks it).

And it turns out, that I was somewhat right. They might not be the exact same thing, but kind of the equivalent for the same thing in other cultures. Like the Grimm Reaper and the Shinigami, or maybe like the Aluxes and the Shoemaker’s elves. They might not be precisely the same thing, by close enough to lump them together in the same category.

The simple’s explanation I found is this:

One man’s brownie was another man’s house elf.

Yes. It made me think of Dobby.

Chaol Westfall

A couple of day ago I saw online someone complaining about all the pity parties the Chaol Westfall character gets for trying to save his prince from the thing that has taken over his body and now controls him, in spite of how everyone tell him he is lost for good.

And I did bad-mouthed him some, so I fell compelled to say that it is not his stubbornness regarding to keeping Dorian Havilliard alive that makes it so unlikable for the latest book, it was the fact that it was actions that led his friend to be trapped as he was. He abandoned him.

As a matter of fact, the fact that he would sacrifice everything and everyone for his friend, might be the last good thing he has going for him… as misguided as he might be.

For the first two books, I was totally into him. Even after the death of Nahemia, I thought Celaena had overreacted and it was her grief that has turned against Chaol.

And she might have, but it was his refusal to accept her as she was that really broke them apart. He wanted (and did fall) to love a girl as he constructed her in his head, not as she was. When she goes on a killing spree for him, he’s frightened by what she can do instead of seeing it as what she would do to the world for him.

He loved her, and she was not the girl he loved. But the worst part is that she never deceived him. She never hid anything from him. His delusion was all of his own making.

He tried so desperately to keep his honor, that he turned blind to everything that was wrong. Even dooming his own best friend in the process.

That is what made Chaol Westfall unlikable, at least in my eyes.

Unlikable, but not unredeemable.

Check, check, check…

It just occurred to me that Queen of Shadows has all kind of characters… From humans (the average kind and the magically inclined kind), to witches and wyverns and demons and shapeshifters… And even fae (my favorite kind, for some reason)… So I can actually check one more tiny square on my challenge list.

Yay, me!!

To whatever end…

I was almost to the 200th page when I started to suspect that Queen of Shadows would not be the last of the Throne of Glass series. It was by page 500 that I was certain. And when I reached the last sentence, I was confused.
Of course I loved it. I mean, I read it in a weekend (All my housework went without being done). And, after the ending of the previous one, the waiting was long. So, yes! It was GREAT.

Many fantastic lines and bits and pieces. Watching Aelin and Manon finally meet each other was one of my favorite parts. I almost expected them to become immediate friends, but the fact that they ended up fighting it out was way better.

Chaol annoyed me a bit, but I guess that I was expecting that. All that uprightness just rubs me wrong, and we could see his good qualities loosing strength since before the end of Heir of Fire…

So now, please someone enlighten me. Will there be another part?

Because if this is the end of this great story, then it absolutely sucked! But if there is going to be another one… One full with war and Dark Kings, then I am a bit grateful for the milder ending. So the waiting (however long) won’t be as painful as last time.

The Queen is dead, long live the Queen.

And procrastination has gotten me one more time.

I know the paper vs ebook is an old and long debate, but in spite of my love for paper books I have found that after several moves (including a couple cross country ones and 2 across the world ones) it is infinitely more comfortable and practical to be able to carry as many of my books as possible on a small and lightweight bag.

The downside of this is, on top of missing the actual feel of paper is that I sometimes forget that the books on my virtual shelf are still “samples” until I reach the page where I cannot longer move forward without paying for it.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

And of course, I had to reach that page in my Red Queen book on the same day that I got my already-preordered Queen of Shadows.

It kind of killed my excitement for my long awaited last book (it is the last one, right?) on the Throne of Glass series.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

As you can imagine… left to my own whims, I would spend all my hard-earned money on books only… But food needs to be bought and bills need to be paid (the world doesn’t want to imagine me without Internet access, trust me), so Red Queen will have to wait for the next piece of bimonthly budget allotted for books since this one is almost empty and not enough to cover it.
Not to say that I won’t find a cheaper book to pay for with the remnants of it…

In the mean times, I think I can cover the same challenge if I keep reading the Lunar Chronicles series. Scarlet is up.

My first pre-purchase

I’m a sucker for female heroines. 

And while there is some sad things out there that attempt to miss-shape our self-image as women, I have to say that I found Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas to be rather real.

Celaena Sardothian is a fighter, a victim, a diva, a fashionista, a lover, a friend. She is disturbed, obsessed with pretty dresses, deathly, slightly broken, selfish and funny.

Who says women can’t be all those things?

I think it just makes her one of my favorite female characters. She feels complex and ready to the loved one second, hated the next and pitied in between.

And of course, there was Chaol. He was a major point for me to like this book, but not the only reason I moved I flew through the second and third.

My favorite so far, has been Heir of Fire, when we really come to understand Caelena for who she is. We all know that our past shapes us, but this is sadly and childhood-trauma true for my favorite assassin. And of course, the crazy magic and steadfast fae are not but bonuses for my good behavior.

This is the first time I have pre-purchased a book, but it was warranted. I refuse to fall victim to my lousy memory and wait more than necessary for the next part of this story. The future of Aderland is at stake!

It can’t come fast enough.