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★☆☆☆ ☆ Me to Sarah J Maas: "Do you lie awake at night to come up with all your witty replies for the following day?" Oh dear, this is awful. The Writing The title of this book is stupid. It's stupid and flashy and unrelated to the actual content of the book. It's solely for the ~ wow ~ factor. The quotable line, " I love you... Thorns and all " is wholly ineffective because "thorns" had not been established as a motif and was only used in that context in that very scene, more than halfway through the book. The word "thorn" was only used a grand total of 9 times in this book.  The original Beauty and the Beast story had established rose motifs—you can't borrow good writing, even for a retelling. That's just lazy. The writing itself was inconsistent and poorly done. I pushed and pulled, but the mud was too slick, and held fast. Are you aware of the definition of "slick", Sarah

[WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers] ★★★★☆ I received this eARC from Orca Book Publishers on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way. Warning: This book contains graphic scenes of abuse, mutilation, and rape, as well as language that may not be suitable for some younger YA readers. I AM BEYOND SHOOK The Writing The writing was mostly very well done, with a very unique and strong voice and style, but sometimes I found myself having to reread a line several times and still not understand it. Luckily, the gripping mystery, character development, and suspense really made up for it. I really appreciated that there was a really strong Native American (First Nation in this case, as the book takes place in Canada) influence on the spiritual beliefs of one of the main characters, Réal. It was unique and interesting. I'm sure most people have heard about the Windigo but not many know

★★★★☆ The Writing While I found many a typo (at least in my copy, idk about all of them), I was still very pulled in by Schwab's writing style, and she has definitely solidified a permanent place in my favorite authors list. The plot was slower, a lot slower than A Darker Shade of Magic was, and that was kind of disappointing and annoying at times, because the scenes I wanted weren't always the scenes I got, and the scenes I got likewise weren't always the scenes I wanted. However, the last part—and that cliffhanger !!!!!!!!!—really saved this book, as it brought together all the plot threads and reinvigorated me, definitely insuring I will be continuing this series. The Characters Kell: As usual, he was my favorite character. His alterego as Kamerov was exciting and explored a whole new side of his character. The injustices against him by the king and queen, as well as Arnesian society as a whole, were very upsetting and I really empathize

★★★★★ In honor of my review of Empire of Storms , I have decided to rename every book in this series: 0.5 The Assassin's Blade AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Cross-Country Murder Spree 1 Throne of Glass AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Weakest Love Triangle 2 Crown of Midnight AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Most Mood-Swings 3 Heir of Fire AKA Celaena Sardothien and the Book She Remembered What Her Real Name Was 4 Queen of Shadows AKA Aelin Galathynius and the Sudden Romance With a Previously Platonic Character 5 Empire of Storms AKA Aelin Galathynius and the Horniest Road Trip Ever 6 Tower of Dawn AKA Chaol Westfall and the Book That Was Good Because Aelin Wasn't In It Ok, but in all seriousness, this book was good . And not just because Aelin was only physically present in the very last chapter as a teaser for the final book. It was good because it took everything that was effective in all the previous books—the sneaking and sleuthing from ToG and C

★★★☆☆ A solid 3 stars for Fifty Shades of Whitethorn , aka Aelin Galathynius and the Horniest Road Trip Ever If the characters in this book hadn't been so hormonal (apparently forgetting there was a war going on in the effort to keep their clothes on) or insistent on keeping secrets from each in favor of dramatic reveals that ultimately only hurt their cause ( *cough cough* I'm looking at you, Aelin ) maybe things would have gone smoother and the book would have been half its size and less of a waste of my time. It had all the potential to be another Heir of Fire, but instead it was a porno pretending to be a fantasy novel , curled toes, biting, and all. And in true Sarah J Maas style, I was able to predict with perfect accuracy the main love plots in this book literally before I even started reading it. Tower of Dawn better be rutting good. Buy the book here: Amazon Book Depository Barnes & Noble