My Review: Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6): By Sarah J. Maas

Publish Date: September 5th, 2017

Number of Pages: 680 Pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Genre(s): YA Fantasy, New Adult Romance

***Warning!! This Review contains spoilers from this book and previous books in the whole series, continue reading at your own risk! You’ve officially been warned!!***

To see my review of book #0.5 – The Assassin’s Blade – Click HERE

To see my review of book #1 – Throne of Glass – Click HERE

To see my review of book #2 – Crown of Midnight – Click HERE

To see my review of book #3 – Heir of Fire – Click HERE

To see my review of book #4 – Queen of Shadows – Click HERE

To see my review of book #5 – Empire of Storms – Click HERE

To see my Fancast/Dreamcast of the series – Click HERE

Total Star Rating: 4.25 Stars

Here we are with yet another installment in what is one of my favorite series of all time: The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.

This is an interesting addition though and has caused some confusion amongst the fandom; so hopefully I can help anyone who has questions by clearing things up: this is not a side quest or side story that people can decide to skip over. It’s just the next installment into the whole series, but it happens parallel to all that happens in Empire of Storms. We never saw Nesryn and Chaol in the previous book because of all that happens in this book thats happening all at the same time. With them not being in that story means that all the others (Aelin, Rowan, Dorian, Manon, Aedion, Lysandra, Elide, Lorcan, and the others) are not going to be in this book. It seems like there was some miscommunication because Tower of Dawn was originally supposed to be a side-novella, but once Sarah sat down and started writing, a story that was much larger than a novella just poured out of her, and she playfully shrugged as she turned this into the publisher. Suddenly, it goes from being a side-story in a novella format to a full-length novel and just the next installment of the series. I’m not complaining; I could easily read a 2,000 page book written by SJM, but I do see the confusion some people in the fandom had.

This book holds a special place in my heart because thanks to this book, I got to actually see Sarah J. Maas in person, hear her talk about her writing experience, and won a raffle to even get a picture with her and a personalized signed copy of the book! She talked about the Southern Continent being inspired by the Mongolian Empire, how she Genghis Khan, and how the story of her most important new character, Yrene Towers, is actually pretty similar to a story about her grandmother. She too fled a country that was dangerous and sought to kill her and others like her (for religious beliefs I think), and all the complex emotions behind it along with having to start over in an entirely new world all alone. It was incredibly inspiring! Below is the picture I got with Sarah; some of you may have seen it pop up on some of my other reviews under my name or in my bio page:

Back to the story, Chaol has always been a favorite character of mine! Him, Dorian, and Aelin/Calaena were the original trio, and I always appreciated Chaol’s more stoic personality and the pride he has for himself and all that he does. I didn’t like when things got complicated between him and Aelin/Calaena because he couldn’t accept the magical parts of her, but I could understand where he came from since that’s what he’s been taught for as long as he remembers. It’s hard to break the chain of that if it’s been instilled into your brain since you were young, but I could still see the good in him even as it felt like he’d been reduced to the “bitter ex” in Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows. I always held out hope that we’d see him get back more into the story in a better light, and Tower of Dawn definitely allows that to happen with his character, but I get more into that later on!

He supposed he’d learned that strength could be hidden beneath the most unlikely faces.”
– Sarah J. Maas, “Tower of Dawn”

What It’s About:

The Official Blurb:

Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea’s last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another purpose: to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need—and will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries shadows from his own past, and Yrene soon comes to realize they could engulf them both.

In this sweeping parallel novel to the New York Times bestselling Empire of Storms, Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene will have to draw on every scrap of their resilience if they wish to save their friends. But while they become entangled in the political webs of the khaganate, deep in the shadows of mighty mountains where warriors soar on legendary ruks, long-awaited answers slumber. Answers that might offer their world a chance at survival—or doom them all . . .

What I Liked:

ANOTHER Batch Of New Characters! Holy Character Overload Batman, we have a lot of new characters! With Chaol and Nesryn travelling to the Southern Continent to gain allies for the epic war ahead, of course that means we meet a large amount of new characters to fill the pages. There’s the Khagan, who’s the ruler of this new realm you travel to and whom Chaol has to convince to help join Aelin and the others. There are also his royal children: Hasar, a princess with a wickedly sharp tongue who you can’t wait to see interact with both Aelin AND Aedion. There’s Arghun, the arrogant and strategic of the Khagan siblings. There’s Duva and Kashin along with Sartaq, who’s also the commander of the Northern armies in the Southern Continent, along with being the oldest of the siblings. He’s an important character, definitely keep your eyes on him! The most important character to also include is Yrene Towers. I wouldn’t exactly call her new since we actually met her in one of the short stories in The Assassin’s Blade, but I know not everyone has actually read it themselves, so Tower of Dawn is the start for them. Another incredibly important character to keep your eyes on! The list goes on with all the new characters you meet in this book, but this is a good start to go off of until you read the book yourself if you haven’t already! It’s funny, but one thing SJM is NOT known for is her representation of marginalized characters with her past books, but it’s like this book was saving all of them for now because I think every new character introduced in this book is POC.
Chaol is Redeemed! Perhaps my biggest disappointment in the series is how Chaol seems to be reduced as a character in the last few books. You begin to see it in Heir of Fire, it really rears its ugly head in Queen of Shadows, and then he’s gone entirely from Empire of Storms! The frustration with Chaol’s treatment was growing and growing as the series developed, but luckily his disappearance from the previous book means he got all the more attention in this book, and I truly think this book also helps him redeem himself in a lot of fans eyes. He finally sees the error of his ways, learns to accept what he couldn’t before, and is able to heal in more ways than one and move on in life. Fans of Mr. Westfall will rejoice at how he’s given center stage this time around and how much he grows in this installment, and even finds love while doing so!
Valg Plot Twist Revealed! Not to give it all away for those who haven’t read this book yet themselves, but a HUGE secret involving the backstory of Erawan and the Valg is revealed, and of course, it changes everything! Sure, it may not have been revealed in the most logical of ways: the character who reveals it has been keeping it a secret for so many years, why tell it now? BUT that doesn’t make this twist any less exciting and somehow allow SJM to raise the stakes somehow even higher as it all leads up to the final battle that will take place in the next book!
The Mystery! So when Nesryn and Chaol arrive in Antica, they soon learn the royal family and the whole city are in mourning over the unexpected death of one of the royal children. Soon, it’s revealed that foul play was involved, and that the dark cloud of Erawan and his influence may or may not have already beaten them there. There’s someone or something there that is up to something that may involve the other healers like Yrene, and they’re trying to stop Chaol and everyone from learning more. There’s some mystery attacker who targets them, but who is it? Who’s been taken over by the Valg? It could be anyone…
More Amazing Worldbuilding! Somehow SJM manages to have created a whole new world within this series that was already so rich with history and lore; there’s enough world-building in this book that could easily fill another whole new series all together!
Let The Ruk’s Fly! Going off the world-building and vast list of newer characters, there are some new creatures that I absolutely loved being added to this series, and they are called Ruks. They’re not an entirely new concept, they’re pretty much gigantic eagles that people can ride on, but Prince Sartaq is in charge of an army that specifically rides these magnificent kings of the sky into battle, and it fills me with glee as I fantasize about epic battles high in the sky with the Ruks taking on the Wyverns and Ironteeth Witches!

A gift.
A gift from a queen who had seen another woman in hell and thought to reach back a hand. With no thought of it ever being returned. A moment of kindness, a tug on a thread.”
– Sarah J. Maas, “Tower of Dawn”

What I Didn’t Like:

No Aelin and Others…This book occurs side-by-side with Empire of Storms while Aelin, Rowan, Aedion, Dorian, and the others are battling it out at Skull’s Bay and elsewhere. We should all know they aren’t physically in this story at all, but with how Empire of Storms ended on such a dramatic cliffhanger, the thing fans wanted most was to see what happens to Aelin next after what she endured, so it’s a bit understandable that fans are frustrated how this book comes out a year later, and there are still no answers. No new answers to that specific question, and with what’s revealed about the Valg in this book makes us squirm even more so and practically want to beg SJM to give us some sort of scrap of details. We had to wait another whole year to find out!
It’s Slower Paced…This book does feel like it moves a lot slower in terms of pacing, especially with all that happens in Empire of Storms. A lot of it involves Chaol’s road to recovery along with his growing relationship with Yrene. I wouldn’t say it all makes it a bad book, far from it, but I think it’s just not what we want when it’s so far into the series, and we all just want more answers about EVERYTHING by now!

We don’t look back. It helps no one and nothing to look back.”
– Sarah J. Maas, “Tower of Dawn”

Conclusion:

Overall, yet another impressive installment into one of my favorite book series ever, and while it doesn’t exactly give us answers to everything that happened in the previous book, but what it does do is allow us to maybe take a step back and breath and relearn to love a character who’s been with us since the beginning and who’s not gone down the brightest of paths. His treatment hasn’t been the greatest, but Chaol seriously redeems himself in this book, and we do learn even more important information + key characters who will play a HUGE role in things to come!

The world-building, the large cast of new characters, and newly revealed information about both Maeve and the Valg will make this side story worth it. To some readers, it will remind them of Sarah’s earlier work like when the first two books had come out. Her descriptions and writing in this book feel very similar to how those earlier works were written, but of course need to remember that things have changed so much since those simpler times. While we can appreciate those simpler times, we can’t look back too far because let’s remember: the next book, Kingdom of Ash, is the final book in this series!