Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas | Book Review

Hello! Today’s post is my review of the sixth (6th) book from the Throne of Glass series, Tower of Dawn, by Sarah J. Maas. 

Enjoy!

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.

I was pleasantly surprised that when I started reading Tower of Dawn, I was actually enjoying reading this 6th novel in the Throne of Glass series. The adventure that these three go on was a delight to read, and I especially liked that even though the main focus in Tower of Dawn wasn’t on Aelin, the pace of the story was great. So I hope that these three characters will play a big role in Kingdom of Ash.

Getting to the story though, there were three points of view within Tower of Dawn and that genuinely surprised me. Particularly since I didn’t read the synopsis for Tower of Dawn (yet knew that Chaol would have a POV in this novel), so I wasn’t looking forward to reading this book. So when the two other points of view were introduced, I was glad that I wouldn’t have to only suffer reading from Chaol’s pov.

If you know me, you know that I have a….tough time liking Chaol Westfall’s character. In Crown of Midnight I liked him, and then I didn’t like him. Now that I’ve read Tower of Dawn, I think he’s alright. Chaol is definitely still not my favourite; and not even close to it, but I don’t mind his point of view now.

I was thrilled to see and read from Nesryn’s point of view, since we only really had glimpses of her in a previous novel. I genuinely enjoyed reading Nesryn’s part of the story since she has a completely different way of doing and thinking things through. Another element that I especially enjoyed reading from Nesryn’s point of view was seeing the softer side of Nesryn that we didn’t get to see in a previous novel. I got quite the kick from reading about Nesryn’s slow-burn romance.

The third point of view we read from is from Yrene, whom I thought was Sorcha, back in either Queen of Shadows, or Empire of Storms. I’m not too sure though since all of these books are blending into one. I’m glad to know that Yrene is not who I thought she was! I enjoyed reading Yrene’s point of view quite a bit since she gets to, in a way, act like herself a lot around Chaol. Specifically when Yrene is healing and working with Chaol. I also enjoyed reading Yrene’s slow romance with Chaol.

Aside from reading Chaol’s, Nesryn’s and Yrene’s, points of views, whom are all interesting in their own ways, I really enjoyed reading about a different country than that of Adarlan. I liked seeing the new culture, and how differently things worked there.

In the end, Tower of Dawn ended up surprising me in more ways than one. Which is why I’m giving ToD 4 stars, instead of the 2 or 3 that I had anticipated to give this novel.

What I hope to see in Kingdom of Ash, is, all of the different view points. I know I usually  say that I don’t like novels where there are more than two or three points of view in the story, in the past. However, when different points of view are done in the way that I like, the characters’ differing view points make the story even better.

What I’m not looking forward to in Kingdom of Ash is…well, everything. There’s so much that’s going to happen and I know that the ending to KOA was left open ended so Maas could potentially revisit the story in the future.

If you’ve read Tower of Dawn, what did you think?

(Feel free to link up your reviews!)

Thank you for stopping by!

See you soon, and Happy Reading!
— Adele