Tower of Dawn Book Mini-Review

I was actually pretty reluctant to read this one because I was so impatient to get to Kingdom of Ash but BOY WAS I WRONG. This was book was definitely vital to the whole series for the final book, and I was shocked as to what was revealed.

Goodreads Blurb:

In the next installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, follow Chaol on his sweeping journey to a distant empire.

Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.

His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent’s mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them.

But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.

Rating: ★★★★★(5/5)

I loved this book. So MUCH. I had personally lost interest in Chaol after Crown of Midnight and even more so in Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows. He just wasn’t super interesting, and acting like a douche half the time with his snippy attitude. Nesryn I had no major thing against but she wasn’t a super enthralling character either. The only awesome thing I vaguely remember is her amazing archery shot in Queen of Shadows and that’s about it.

Cue: My total and utter surprise as to how much I came to love these two characters immensely in this novel. I have to say that Tower of Dawn is among my favourites in this series and was indeed extremely important in the lead up to the final novel. #gamechanger.

Picking up off basically the ending to Queen of Shadows with a small time gap to account for travels, we read about Chaol and Nesryn’s journey to the Southern Continent where they hope to heal Chaol’s back, that one certain arsehole decided to break so he can’t even walk anymore. I honestly don’t want to say any more about the plot at this point, everything is just SO VITAL and I can’t bring myself to potentially spoil someone who has yet to read this book. So let me just mostly talk about how much I loved it in this mini-review.

SJM has a certain talent or gift for writing characters in need of some serious healing and who are going through severe emotional and physical trauma. We saw her talent with this in Heir of Fire and ACOMAF, and Tower of Dawn was just another example of how good she is at writing these characters going through such a shit time and coming out of it as a way better and healthier person – not to mention a sick character development arc. I began to love Chaol and truly understand his character; his motives, his pain and the kind of baggage he has carried, for probably years in the timeline, that we might not have even been able to touch, nonetheless, understand until this book. And although I am not someone who has experience or has a past with disability, nor do I know someone who has a disability, but from my objective point of view, I think SJM did an amazing job with Chaol’s portrayal of his disability. I personally did not see any kind of ableist indicators, in fact, I thought that this book was brilliant in its disability rep and I’m super uber happy with how this book ended in general.

Nesryn also seriously grew on me, her character became so interesting and I loved how this book delved into her identity. As someone whose family and ancestry is from Antica but has spent most of her life in Adarlan, it creates a complex journey for her. Figuring out where you belong and what feels like home is something pretty freaking hard, and the concept itself is something most young adults (including me all the time) are going through, especially if they’re mixed and split between different cultures that may not have perfect categories – ok this is becoming all about me, MOVING ON>>

I just loved this book in general, it had me on the brink of tears and on the edge of my bed and while it felt like it sometimes dragged a little (this book is big guys), it felt worth it in the end. For others who have read this book and are wondering why I’m not mentioning certain characters, I feel like it’s a spoiler. BUT a smol hint I can give is that some characters from Celaena’s past do show up and it’s absolutely glorious and I love them.

This mini-review is getting not so mini and I don’t know what else to say other than this book was amazing and a must read before you get to Kingdom of Ash. That’s all, folks!

Until next time,

xx Tracy