Empire of Storms

By: Sarah J. Maas

Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans

Length: 25 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Kingdoms collide in Sarah J. Maas' epic fifth installment in the New York Times best-selling Throne of Glass series.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those don't.

As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

Aelin's journey from assassin to queen has entranced millions across the globe, and this fifth installment will leave fans breathless. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?

©2016 Sarah J. Maas (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Emotional, Stressful and Wonderful

I've noticed trends in a lot of the YA scifi books that I've read, particularly those with a strong female lead, and this series follows all of them. It has the usual love stories, and the usual rise from the lower class, and a strong female protagonist - which to be clear, I always enjoy, AND, this book still managed to give you a plot line to love, even though you've kind of heard it all before. This particular book shows how much Aelin Galathynius has grown and how strong she truly is.

This book was extremely sexual, more so than any of the books prior, and I would not recommend it for the 11-13 age group. There were many sex scenes and sexual conversation and situations, so I think parents should use their own judgement.

I'm thrilled with this book, I wish I waited until the next book in the series was also released, because this is a doozy.

26 of 26 people found this review helpful

almost perfect

I really wanted to give this 5 stars but couldn't due to the graphic sex.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Loved it but not for kids

The series continues to be exciting, but there are a few sex scenes so parents be aware. also there is more swearing.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Not my flavor.

Most of this series is brilliant, the vibrant world, interesting characters, and struggle for hope are parts that have kept me enjoying this series. This book however added some things that I really didn't like, and think detracted from the overall story. I believe there are times and places where sex scenes can be appropriate but many of the scenes depicted in the book felt like cheap smut, placed there as fan service to keep people interested in the books. it could have been more enjoyable if left to the imagination and not depicted in such a graphic and vivid way. The only other main issue I had was a 30 minute torture scene. It was placed to cause tension and build anticipation, but lasted far too long. The way it was handled caused me to loose all interest in the book or the outcome of the series.

The series as a whole is a good one, and one that have enjoyed. I would, however, not recommend this particular book to others. It just isn't my flavor.

15 of 17 people found this review helpful

Parts were Unnecessary

I appreciate how the author finally brought all the characters together and explained mysteries from her series. However I do not understand why she chose to be so sexually explicit with all of her characters. It didn't even seem to fit in certain places. She went from one overly lusty scene to the next, almost as if she got stuck and couldn't think of how to progress she story so she had all of her characters be fully and uncontrollably horny. It didn't make sense in context and seemed cheap and trashy. Besides her brief attempt at being an erotica writer, I liked this book.

20 of 23 people found this review helpful

Awkward :/

The intimate scenes were more than a little awkward and didn't fit. Almost felt thrown in just to see how much she could get away with. The rest of the story was really good though.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

I truly enjoyed Empire of Storms

Empire of storm is great story and I look forward to the next release. I have to say Aelin is just so lovable and she has won my heart. She is beautiful, smart , so giving. She is willing to scare her life so others may live. She is amazing.

I highly recommend this book. This book is full of adventure. Aelin may sound so full of herself; but she is full of love for the people and causes that she loves.

Rowan, Doran, Manon, Aedion and Lorcan are also great characters. I like the way we were able to her different characters POV.

I don't think this book is appropriate for kids as young as 11-13. I do think that there are parts of the book which are not appropriate for kids which are that young.

An applause to Sarah Mass and Elizabeth Evans. Good job.

I can see this series book becoming a tv show or movie.

12 of 14 people found this review helpful

Good story, okay performance, some trashy romance

Without getting into any spoilers there are parts of the book that don't make sense. Elena is sometimes super powerful and other times she's as weak as a kitten. This seems to follow very conveniently with the plot points. However, that's not my biggest complaint with the book. That would be the lady boener producing content that is absolutely grating and must be skipped. Please leave this to the reader's imagination. If I wanted to read a trashy romance novel, then I would, though I never would, and that's the point. It takes a what is a otherwise a fairly good fantasy story and debases it. It is beneath the author to resort to this. This was also a problem in previous books but it was dialed up to 11 in this book, relative to the rest of the series.

It's also very hard to like Elena. I mean I think Rowan's assessment of her is pretty much spot on. The protagonist certainly shouldn't be perfect, of course they should be flawed as every good hero is, but I think the author takes it too far with Elena.

The narrator is good, though she mispronounces a few words. That's par for the course though, almost every narrator seems to do this.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not the last book

Another great read, fast paced, I think they only sleep for about 2 hours in this one. Good tension, more questions answered, and leaves us on a cliffhanger !!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Good for adult audiences

I loved the story but cringed through all of the detailed sex scenes and explosion of explitives. Aelin's toes curl a lot, and everybody is "incarnate". (I dont know if that name is spelled right. Im more of an audio listener.) I hope Sarah tones down the adult content in her next books, or I wont be buying any more copies in the throne of glass series for my kids to stumble over.

14 of 17 people found this review helpful

Great story, even better narrator

These books are great, but I'm sure you're aware of that if you've got to this point. What I really wanted to mention is the voice actor for this series is phenomenal. She captures the tone, essence, and voices of the characters and story. I've not come across a better narrator than this one here.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

amazing

the narrator is really easy to listen to and the storyline catches you every twist and turn literally nonstop action I can't wait for the next book it's going to be epic 👍

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Careful who listens to this

Any additional comments?

\i have now invested days listening to this series with my 14 year old daughter. she will not be listening to this final book as the prolonged sexual scenes are very graphic and would not be suitable. I am very disappointed as the actually add nothing to the story line.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Good twists, voices are a bit similar, quite angst

Good twists, voices are a bit similar, quite angsty. Looking forward to last book. Probably won't relisten.

losing it's way

narrator was great as usual but story is losing it's way now. dissapointed in this book as the others were much better.

Preferred the audiobook to the actual books!

Would you consider the audio edition of Empire of Storms to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version but I have read the other books in the series and have really struggled with them. The audiobook had me hooked!

Always a Pleasure

I love Sarah J Maas - end of! These books are epic and the delivery is always top notch!

Over all a really good story

After listening to all in the series I found it a little slow in places, but the bonds between the characters was fun and enjoyable.
The last book book brought light to everything and made sense of the other books.

overall I did enjoy the series and I'd recomended it

Absolutely amazing story. Couldn't stop listening

I can't wait to listen to the next book. Captivating story full of emotions, bravery, love and friendship, pain and suffering, pride and loyalty, humour and wisdom. Fantasy offering escape but at the same time teaching the values of right conduct, moral and ethical decision making.

fantastic, brilliant!

Third time reading/listening to this book and it just gets better each time. Inspiring heroine and wonderful characters throughout. I can't wait for the next few books of the series!