4.3/5 stars. 
 I just finished Empire of Storms and I feel so DISTRAUGHT! No, no, no, no, screw you Elena, no no to everything, Lorcan you moron I love you but you screwed up and nooo...and Lysandria ew...that's messed up too. It's all messed up. 
 I should have read Assasin's Blade before this book but I'm glad I didn't because now I'm going to read it to help me get over this psychotic ending of a book. I don't know whether to rate it 4 or 4.5 stars. 
 The pacing was EXCELLENT which is a terribly difficult feat and something most writers don't even begin to be good at. If you can make an engaging book, you are a good writer, I don't care what anyone says. Maas has an excellent understanding of pacing and tempo. 
 I loved Rowan in the third book, but he is such a 2D character in this book it's not even funny. I don't care about him as a character because there's nothing about him that is remotely interesting anymore besides his love for Aelin. 
 Yawn. What happened to his attitude and sassiness? That doesn't need to change. It's who he is and how he responds to things...I hope we see his character really become more believable in the final book. The ending was the only glimpse of me believing he actually had a soul in his fictional body. 
 (view spoiler)[Dorian...will he rise to the challenge? I'm awful, but I kind of want him to die just so Aelin lives. 
 I LOVE that Maas is making her main character a sacrifice, I think it's bold and perfect for a 5th book. 
 I DON'T like that she's delaying it... 
 (hide spoiler)] 
 I do like that Aelin is going through psychological and physical pain, not because I'm a sadist, but because it's pushing us to love her character more and root for her as more than the Mary Jane. Maas is actually making me question her survival rate now which is a good thing, but I also hate Maas for doing that too. I want a fairy tale ending, or else I will feel cheated. 
 I just want to hold Lorcan because everyone hates him but he just seems like a 5-century man who never had a proper childhood and is still acting like a child and needs to be gently caressed to sleep and shown some type of parental or guiding affection, honestly.