Read the full review on my blog! 
 https://renellayslingsbookblog.blogsp... 
 Sarah J. Maas did it again. 
 She blinded me with her pure amazingness and her wonderful book and writing and characters and plot planning and OK FINE WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING??? 
 *keyboard smash* 
 I just would like to say that I own the Barnes & Nobles "Special Edition" with "color fan art and exclusive short story inside" of Empire of Storms, and it is so satisfying to open the hardcover and OOOOOH! Look at the pretty drawing of Manon, Celaena, Rowan, and Dorian!!! 
 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
 (Yes. This will be yet another book chat filled with exclamation points -- but EoS totally DESERVES the exclamation points!!!) 
 For those not acquainted with the ToG series, I would recommend this to those who love epic fantasy, won't mind being dragged (willingly or unwillingly) into the world of shipping (you seriously can't avoid it with this series), and those who want to be WOWED. Because the world and story of the Throne of Glass has expanded so much that I don't even know what to say. EoS doesn't even feel the slightest bit the same as Throne of Glass simply because of how much more complex the entire story and world has gotten. So many threads have been added to the story, and new reveals were made in EoS that stemmed from little details that occurred BEFORE THE FIRST BOOK in The Assassin's Blade. 
 *round of applause for Sarah J. Maas BECAUSE SHE TOTALLY DESERVES IT and more exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* 
 Other than that, I have nothing nonspoilery to say -- so people who haven't read EoS yet, byeeee! I hope you come back later when you've read Empire of Storms! 
 Let's get on with the 
 Spoilery Thoughts! 
 I'm keeping with a tradition I've started with this series' book chats, and that's picking out my favorite quotes from the book and sharing them with you guys! Sarah J. Maas's writing is really beautiful, and because I've known these characters for a very long time, I feel like that only adds to the intensity of the emotions I feel when I read this book, as well as my understanding of the deep themes within this series. 
 Also, random-not-so-random thought: I AM GOING TO LITERALLY EXPLODE WHEN I READ A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN. 
 If I don't blog for the entirety May, you know why. I'm emotionally healing from ACOWAR. 
 ELIDE 
 Since chapter 1 starts with Elide, I feel like it's fitting to start off this book chat with my thoughts on this relatively new but strong character. :) 
 "There were other weapons than those made of iron and steel" (105). 
 Yes indeed there are -- I am a total fan of the "using my words as a weapon" idea, because I feel like that would be my one and only weapon if I suddenly get dropped into these fantasy worlds I read about. I mean, I don't know how to use a sword or a dagger or a knife -- not in a trained, expertly way, at least -- but I do have my abilities to notice things that most other people do not, and I do have the power of eloquence on my side. 
 I do think Elide and I would make a great team -- just saying. 
 On the topic of teams, thought, apparently Lorcan and Elide are a thing. AND WHO SAW THAT COMING?!?! WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THAT IN QUEEN OF SHADOWS???!?!! (Definitely not me, but serious, WHO COULD HAVE!?!?!?!) 
 Maybe it was just me flipping the pages too fast because the book was simply so amazing, but I felt like a lot of the, um, romantic developments in this book were very rushed. Lorcan and Elide... Elide seemed very willing to suddenly kiss Lorcan after she told him she was scarred from her experiences at Morath, but other than that, all the chapters and scenes with Lorcan and Elide were so tense. Lorcan and Elide's interactions were so fun to read, because their tempers clash so hilariously at times -- yet they compliment each other very well. 
 FAFHSDVCKNFJSKZCXHP. How is this series going to end up? There are sooooo many loose threads.... 
 *panic attack* 
 I can't believe I have to wait until next year for the conclusion. 
 I guess May to November is enough time to recover from first ACOWAR, then the sixth installment of ToG. 
 Anyways, back on topic -- Elide. I found that the strongest similarity Elide had to Aelin was her devotion to making sure that no other girls will have to experience what she did as a child growing up into adulthood. 
 "Because I am from Terrasen and believed my queen dead. And now she is alive, and fighting, so I will fight with her. So that no other girls will be taken from their homes and brought to Morath and forgotten" (111). 
 I love how this is the one motivation both Aelin and Elide have, which I felt like needed to be there. Otherwise, what else would form such a strong bond between Aelin? Elide viewed herself as nothing -- a nobody -- as she traveled closer and closer to Aelin, and her greatest fear was for Aelin to think the same thing of her. For them both to have a passion about making sure no one else will ever have to endure the horrors they dealt with in there childhood made Aelin's willingness to take Elide into her court more realistic and understandable. 
 "The sweet face paired with sinful curves -- and without the limp, with her hair out of her face... She knew exactly what she was doing. Knew people would notice those things, think about those things, instead of the cunning mind and lies she fed them" (184). 
 MANON 
 Next person -- who is also my favorite character in the book -- MANON. Oh my goodness. Can we all just agree that Manon is the coolest person in all of Erilea? I bet Karou from Daughter of Smoke & Bone would love Manon, because Karou mentions in the book that it's "Better to be the cat gazing coolly down from a high wall, its expression inscrutable. The cat that shunned petting, that needed no one" (Taylor 71). 
 Manon is totally that cat. 
 That is, if cats have iron teeth and claws. 
 *wink wink* 
 Manon's character arc was so sloooow, but it was completely worth it to follow Manon's story. The Manon in EoS is so different than the Manon when she first appeared in the series, and her slowburn realization that she can actually feel emotions and doesn't have to be the monster that her Grandmother wants her to be... 
 *round of applause* 
 You go, Manon! 
 (OMG who predicted her being a Crochan queen?!!??! So unexpected and brilliant -- but I would not expect anything less from Sarah J. Maas :) 
 "She did not have room for fear in her husk of a heart" (116). 
 You might not have room for fear in your heart, Manon, but you sure do have room for Dorian. 
 OMG. Manon and Dorian. 
 <3 
 This was actually a ship that I predicted would happen in QoS (yay me!) and I loved how it turned out! Once again, I did feel like their relationship was a bit rushed at the end of the book, but meh... I'm curious to see how their shipping is going to play out in the last book. I was more eager to read about Manon and Dorian than any other shipping in the book, though -- including Aelin and Rowan's relationship. 
 GAAAHHHHH when Manon's grandmother said Asterin has to die for Manon's murder of the Yellowleg witches? Oh my goodness. 
 I mean, Asterin can't die, right? It took so long for Manon to view Asterin as a friend, and now she's finally getting there.... 
 But then again, Sarah J. Maas is really unpredictable, and killing off Asterin could be something she would do to fill yet another swimming pool of her reader's tears????? 
 When Asterin came flying into the warring grounds -- or should I say skies? -- I literally let out a huge breath of air. 
 HAHA. ASTERIN LIVES! 
 Then again, now I'm stressing out and wondering which character Sarah J. Maas is going to kill off in the sixth book, because I can just feel a character death coming. 
 "And Manon understood in that moment that there were forces greater than obedience, and discipline, and brutality. Understood that she had not been born soulless; she had not been born without a heart" (162). 
 One of the most emotional scenes in the book? Those moments when Manon stood in front of Asterin, ready to carry through with her grandmother's order to kill her Second, and the Thirteen looked at Manon with not disgust, but every emotion true friends would feel for another: understanding, forgiveness, and hope. 
 Hands down my favorite part of the book. 
 Ooooh! Manon and Abraxos were so adorable in this book. I can't even emphasize how much I adore Abraxos. He is the perfect partner for Manon in her journey of discovering that she can be more human than monster, and when Abraxos protected Manon while she was healing from her stomach inury... So cute. 
 There was a point in the story where I was separated from Manon's story for way too long, and just when I was able to explode from wondering what was happening to Manon... 
 "Silence fell on the ship as Manon Blackbeak tumbled from her saddle, falling through wind and spindrift, and hit the water" (370). 
 I cheered. I literally cheered. 
 ...