I wanted typical Sarah J. Maas level feels and all of the action I have come to expect from her novels. I prefer the Throne of Glass series to A Court of Thorns and Roses (I may be in the minority with that opinion) because of the complexity and quantity of characters and plotlines. Chaol was a favorite of mine in the earlier books, and I had high hopes of Nesryn joining the ranks of interesting female Maas characters. 
 Don't get me wrong, there was a lot about this book that I loved. In particular, I thought it was great that it was more than a companion novel; reading this book is absolutely crucial for understanding things that have happened in the other books and that certainly will happen in TOG6. The places where characters learned more about the mythology of this place or explored the variety of social structures in this world were the strongest parts. My jaw dropped at moments. SJM basically went the A Song of Ice and Fire route-- like A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons take place simultaneously, Tower of Dawn takes place at the same time of Empire of Storms and the events in each affect each other (though ToD has spoilers for EoS). 
 On the other hand, I think that SJM can be a bit too generous with her love interests. She is kind of the Oprah of love interests; god forbid there is a single character that has fewer than 2 potential suitors at any given time. 
 Despite the fact that those types of plots can become redundant after a while, I also think that SJM does a better job than most in approaching these plots. What I love is that when characters are faced with a new romantic interest, it is not the be-all-end-all of their life. There are still other things happening in their lives, and they are able to prioritize the things that matter rather than spending pages of internal monologue waffling between two males. Additionally, in real life, people don't end up with their first significant other for their entire lives, and oftentimes, they remain friends with their exes. This is probably representative of healthy relationships. 
 However, I felt that the addition of Yrene somewhat took away from page time that I would have loved to see focused on Nesryn. Nesryn is an awesome character, and she deserved more than 30% of the book that I estimate she was in. I liked Nesryn's chapters more and found myself disappointed when we switched back to Chaol's viewpoint in the middle of important moments for her. Her romance was also more compelling (in my opinion, but maybe I also just thought Sartaq sounded hot), but the heat of that build suffered from being split up. 
 Yrene was fine, but I just didn't love her. I don't know if I have good justification for this. I had to double check to remember her name. 
 What I found problematic was how Chaol's injury was dealt with (not all the time, but sometimes). Is it fine that someone who suffers a debilitating injury seeks to be healed? Yes, of course. Is it normal that someone whose ability status changes suffers from feelings of inferiority and wishes to return to his previous state? Though I have not been there, I can only imagine so. All of that was fine. What was weird was the conclusion-- For the rest of his life, Chaol's ability to walk will be dependent on Yrene's power/strength? That seems to be perpetuating myths that people with disabilities require the constant help of others. That makes me feel a bit icky. 
 As a whole, I am really just excited for all of these characters to reunite and learn about the fates of my faves. I hope everyone is now settled into their romances and that we can focus on fighting evil in the final(?) installment. 
 Though I read somewhere that this book had a 'mature content warning,' I found absolutely nothing in this objectionable. Do characters have sex? Yes, but it's certainly not as graphic as Empire of Storms, and I keep that in my classroom. The way that I look at it is that my students will have to get through the first four relatively tame installments before getting into any sort of graphic sexy times, and that should take a while for the typical reader.