Tower of Dawn by Sarah. J Maas (book review)- spoilers

 

(I did a little shoot for this book when I finished it, I thought I’d add a few of them in, let me know If I should do more of these, it was really fun.)

Dear Reader,

How long have I been spelling Sarah’s name wrong? Don’t answer that, I’ve been reading this series since I was like 11 so probably a LONG ASS TIME. Fuck sake Iss, you couldn’t of just goodreads searched it. Well *claps hands* this blog is called Ignore The Typos for a reason- let’s discuss. 

Holy hell, did reading these books remind me of just how obsessed I am with TOG? Yes. A scary amount. Throne of glass is one of those series where I read one of the books every 5 months, rave and rave bout how AMAZING it was for a solid- Year? Talking about nothing but, and then continue to serenade the series with awe filled sobs every time I spot it on my bookshelf but never have the NERVE to pick up the next book. Why? Mainly because I think Sarah’s gonna pull some shit that I will never come back from, like kill off one of favourite characters. I always had this little voice saying, oh it’s fine, she’ll just kill of Chaol for the cause and I won’t care and everything will be fine! Well too late for that shit because Sarah made me read a 650 page book about him and now I LOVE CHAOL WESTFALL. Damn it Sarah, now there is quite literally no one for me to be okay with dying, and like 20 new characters for me to be completely emotionally invested in and terrified for their death. I’ll be fine. (?)

I was so hesitant to read TOD, because I just wanted us to save Aelin (how long have I been spelling that wrong?!) but now I understand. I UNDERSTAND. We learn so much in this book, and honestly I used some of it as a recap for what happened in empire of storms as Tower of dawn runs simultaneously along side EOS. Not only that but exploring more of the TOG map just made the world feel all that more real and really gave us an idea of what exactly will happen if we get through this war. In my opinion, the whole world should be based of the Empire, their system is elite. The Khagan (who’s title I spelt all wrong in my notes) was brilliant and I love the idea of the battle of the offspring, in the sense that they pushed it aside and sort of moved past it in this book- I think. We hope. I HATED Hasar in this book, she pissed me off from the beginning with her meddling. Then she was making her friends spy for her and telling Yrene that if she and Kashin got together she would make her infertile but suggesting that doing so was a gift? I call Psycho. And, may I add, what a mean drunk, at Yrenes own birthday party just being a massive cow, making everyone uncomfortable— I was wondering who was gonna be the first to push that girl in the pool.  

That whole royal circle is just so fucked up compared to their perfect continent; everyone’s educated, there’s no slavery, gender equality- don't wind their leaders just battling to the death above it all.. Then, even if they succeed, they have a bunch of kids just to watch them destroy each other for your position! That just didn’t really add up for me, how that developed a continent could have such cave man ways of assessing rulership. However, it made for a lot of interesting dynamics and tension between our royals- well played Sarah. 

As well of exploring more of the southern continents, we really delved into some difficult issues in this book and some complex journeys; Nesryn hoping to find some acceptance in her home country was a beautiful thing weaving through this book. We learn of some of the racism she experienced in Adaralan growing up, and then see her really grow into herself when she comes to Antica, because of the levels of acceptance there. Anytime anyone said ‘welcome home’ I welled up a little. Okay a lot, I used a new clean Kleenex as a book mark with this book for a reason. 

Chapter 55, was really emotional. Not just because we see Chaol makes massive progress and stands up in the end but God- who knew Chaol has so much anger for Aelin- still! I call crazy ex-boyfriend. I’m glad he got some closure there, especially since it was literally paralysing him. This book actually dealt with a lot of issues but very subtly, Sarah makes consent very evident in all her romantic relationships, among other difficult topics like discrimination and general ethics, she does it beautifully may I add.

Sarah possesses a very rare skill, she’s able to make us very invested in a love interest and a relationship but then writes it so those feelings fade out a little to allow faith in something better. It’s all very fairytale-love-story-esc, but these princesses have options and a lot of growth left in them. For example like how we all loved Tamlin IN BOOK ONE (very key) of ACOTAR, but when we all met Rhys we were still like, who’s this sexy mother trucker? I mean like Tamlin- but like Rhys, you know? Like he’s in one scene but like- I love him? Like I love him. HOW DO YOU DO IT SARAH. Teach us your ways, so I can manipulate the masses into submission, please and thanks x.

So, I have a confession to make. I still haven’t read the Assassin’s blade. I know! I am a disappointment. So I had no idea who Yrene was before I went into this book. Don’t worry I have a plan. I’m going to finish KOA (200 pages in baby) and then use TAB as a sort of mourning ritual. Anyway enough about the schedule I won't stick to, I had no idea who Yrene was. However since page one, I could already tell the ‘cloaked figure’ she kept referring to was Aelin, like come on who else? Still, in the end when Chaol was crying because he recognised Celeana’s hand writing, well, I was crying right along with him. What can I say, I’m weak. It was a great thread running through the book, and just made me think- how long has Sarah been planning all this shit. Example B, Falcon is Lysandra’s uncle, another thread. Someone explain, how does her brain work? It’s beyond my capability to deep how deep these stories and links go, how she planned that and executed it sooooo well. I don’t know, but someone has to study it, form a curriculum around it and teach that shit in schools, again so we can manipulate the masses. Sarah for president. 

Borge and Yeren for some reason made me so happy. Don’t ask, they literally have 3 scenes in the whole damn book. I just loved them. MORE BOREN CONTENT PLEASE. Their back story was great, I want a book just about them honestly.

I just have a note here being like ‘What the fork is a Baast Cat and why do I get a feeling there extremely key? I have a feeling in KOA, all the cats will shift into their God forms and fight the Valg.’ This actually isn’t a bad theory. Because we talk about how all the Gods are stuck somewhere, and that’s why they guide these certain people, because they want them to help them to Olympus, or whatever. Gods with ulterior motives- an interesting concept. It’s just hilarious, the fear that is indented into us at this point in these books. We’re like hmm Sarah has talked about this thing for more than a paragraph, yep their gonna kill us all, we’re totally fudged ahaha. Cause number one of consistent paranoia, when your author is a slightly evil mastermind. Speaking of, here is me looking like an evil mastermind: 

Another random note I have is from when we were trying to find Hafiza, our healer on high, and we think the Valg might have got her- ‘Hafiza better not be dead, I love that sassy female Dumbledore.’ AM I RIGHT? Sarah described this as Chaol’s heir of fire but personally I think it was Nesryns heir of fire and Chaols own throne of glass, like discovering that Fae burial ground was like when Aelin finds the tunnels in the castle in book one. And his healing process with Yrene (which were some of the best scenes in the book) were just like Aelins training with Chaol- you see where I’m coming from? And everyone is trying to win over the Khogan either to become heir or to convince him to fight in the war, and one of the Duva is EVIL, exactly the same as that guy in throne of glass who was competing and killing everyone. SEE! I have logic. But yes, I Completely see how he self growth of Aelin in his of fire can correspond with Chaol defeating his demons (literally) in this book. 

Okay okay can we talk about Maeve? HOLY SHIT. She’s valg, why did that never occur to me, I just thought she was a massive bitch but NO. Oh my goodness, all the stuff I had to reassess after finding that out. The entirety of the last 3 books tossed on its ass inside my head. Then that last chapter where we hear from Maeve again and we know and it's just, it;s just- agh. My notes for this realisation say little but this, ‘F*ck sake, like we didn’t have enough shit to deal with.’ Which, yeah, sums it up really. We wonder in the books why Maeve doesn’t just get over herself and get in on the war. It is just so classic that a toxic marriage caused this entire plot basically, like I get Maeve doesn’t want to get back with her shitty husband but girl, get a forking Annulment on grounds of paralleling universes don’t use earth as your personal chess board. We see a lot of this in books with mythology or just Gods in general. Something happens up there and earth is their hideout/ war ground for sorting that issue out-*sigh* TAKE THIS PETTY SHIT OUTSIDE. 

So, no one really talks about this, when Yrene heals Chaol she says the darkness is his to shape and wield as he wishes.... Does Chaol have magic now? And surely Valg magic is best to use when actually fighting the Valg themselves, meaning he’s probably gonna be a big asset in this war, as well as anyone else the healers can purge of the Valg. I can’t wait for the Healers to all be trained as bad ass valg-purgers, I want to see that.

Duva, having now to live with killing her sister is actually pretty heart breaking. That’s why the valg is such a good villain concept, because they can take anyone on and feed on whatever evil is already there. So when Duva gets infested we kind of see the corruption of the throne and they all see it too. Because although the Valg actually made Duva kill her sister, if someone else became heir, that’s pretty much all of  their fiats, if anyone were to challenge the heir, if you see what I mean. For a minute there I thought that Duva’s baby was gonna be like the witch and valg demon babies and I was terrified.

I thought maybe if she was a girl she would grow up and marry Dorians younger brother and be all evil and that would be the new series, but I highly doubt that, because Sarah ideas are like 1000000000x better than anything I could literally ever think up. 

Considering the only thing I thought I would have to say about this book was I MISS ABROXAS or WHERE IS MY HUSBAND DORIAN, I had a shit load to say and I really loved this book, I am so sad this series is almost over. I recently just finished ACOWAR which was amazing- not my favourite, but a nice interval between ACOTAR and more TOG. What are you guys reading? 

Until next time, 

Issy

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