Ooof Tower of Dawn was a miss for me. It was a weak 3 stars. Which feels strange after all books in this series have been so incredible and all 5 stars for me.There were some cute moments and the moment where we learned about Maeve being the Valg queen was jaw dropping but overall, it was way too long for what it was. This could have been a 300 page story tops. It was nice that Chaol got his own moment and we saw him find happiness after all the trauma he’s experienced but he complained a lot and was rude to people!

Chaol is paralyzed due to an injury from the Valg demon in Queen of Shadows. And Aelin needs more armies from the south, so he and Nesryn venture to the Torre Cesme to both see a healer for Chaol and also form relationships and gain allies.

I didn’t like the whole sort of relationship he and Nesryn had and the way he couldn’t just be honest with her that he wasn’t feeling romantic towards her outside of finding her attractive and a nice person. I’m glad Nesryn got her own man and happy ending but I started just skimming her story because I just could not care about it. Manon and Elide’s side stories were so interesting but hers fell flat for me.

I’m okay with Yrene and Chaol but the definitely don’t hold up to the major chemistry the rest of the couples in this series have. They were just mean to each other a lot of times!

Yrene was SO rude when she first met him and then when she basically treated him as a doll for the self defense class and exploited his injury for everyone to practice on?! WTF! I was furious at her for that! But then Chaol would get pissy at her when she tried to help and when Nesryn finally broke up with him.

It was cute when they had their little date night in the city and had dinner together. I could feel their connection at times but it just didn’t feel fun to me and the other relationships are a lot of fun! I think the other issue with this book for me was Empire of Storms was such a whirlwind and ended on such a cliffhanger, it was hard to slow way down with this long love story.

I have to talk about the moment Nesryn comes back with Sartaq and she and Chaol don’t have an actual conversation about their “breakup” and how they’re both with different people now , it was just interpreted looks? They never said I love you or anything but I think she deserved an actual conversation. Especially after Chaol was all healed up both physically and emotionally, you’d think he would have given her a real conversation. But no! I think I would have liked this book more if he and Nesryn were always just friends and they had been a foursome with her and Sartaq. I didn’t like that it felt like Yrene was just waiting around for Chaol to break up with Nesryn and would take whatever he gave her in the meantime.

One of the things I did like about this story, was the idea that the wound in his back was also linked to his trauma and looking for the light in the darkness. Chaol had a lot of shame and Yrene was a bright light to help him forgive himself.