Actual rating: 4,5*. 
 Oh my gosh. That ending. I'm done. Dead. Right now I'm capable of hopping onto a plane to go stalk Sarah J. Maas just so I can ask her "WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THAT CLIFFHANGER? WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?" (At which she, being a writer, will probably just smirk and say, "Yes. Very necessary." At least, that's what I would do.) No spoilers on the cliffhanger, but man. I must admit I was not expecting that. 
 Other than that, I've found that it's hard for me to rate these books. On the one hand, in each book there are things I could point out that I don't like very much or that annoy me a little. In EMPIRE OF STORMS, that would mainly be the hot sex scenes, which really aren't my thing - although I recognise that that is a personal preference and doesn't say anything about the quality of the book in itself. On the other hand, however, regardless of how many times I think, "Really? That's a little stupid/weird/annoying/vague" (which isn't that often at all, but still), I just can't put this series away. The writing style is just so good, the characters so brilliant and bad-ass, I have to keep on reading - I'm drawn in and I can't get out again even if I wanted to. Which I don't, because I love a book series that pulls me in about as much as the next slightly nerdy book-loving girl. 
 My main issue with EMPIRE OF STORMS this time around, aside from the sex scenes, was the fact that there were a lot of references to things said in earlier books that were too vague, for my taste. Now, this could be my problem, because the last time I've read the other four books was a couple of months ago. Maybe some things just didn't stick and I won't have this problem anymore once I read all the books at once (which will probably be next summer, since part 6 will come out in September). For me, though, it felt a little like I was supposed to have remembered every name mentioned in the previous books, every story, every pedigree and bloodline, and every mention of every plan or past acquaintance, and I just... didn't. I felt like sometimes such things could have been explained better with just a few extra words or just a tiny summary of one sentence reminding us where we've read this information before and how it fits into the story as a whole. As I said, it could be this issue disappears completely for me if I read the books all at once, so I'll get back at this part of my review once I do. 
 Now for the good parts. The plot is exciting, there's never a dull moment. Okay, maybe a bit too much gore for my taste, but the battles were exciting, too. Aelin and Rowan are just darling. So are the other budding pairings in this book, which I might just love even more than Aelin and Rowan ((view spoiler)[ Lorcan and Elide, Lysandra and Aedion, and Manon and Dorian (hide spoiler)]). I like that it's written from different characters' points of view, because this way, we don't just get the story as if we're in Aelin's head; we look at it from many angles and perspectives, allowing us to form a better idea in our minds of what we think of certain things. THRONE OF GLASS is a brilliant series, definitely, and I'll be here impatiently sighing and re-reading the other books until the next installment comes out.