Review: Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Tower of Dawn

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #6

Genre: Fantasy/ Romance

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Publication Date: September 5th, 2017

Edition: Hardcover, 664 pages

Source: Purchased

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

A glorious empire...

A desperate quest...

  Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea's last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another purpose: to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

  After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need—and will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries shadows from his own past, and Yrene soon comes to realize they could engulf them both.

  I went into this book, very reluctantly. I started to deeply dislike Chaol in HoF, he was a jackass, and overly judgemental. I started calling him lettuce in my head. I fully expected to not like this book, part of why it took me so long to get through it.

But I actually ended up really enjoying this book. Yes, Chaol was quite the jerk for a while at the start of this book and it took him a bit to stop being such an ass. What helped the narrative was the Nesryn. She was a shining beacon for the first about 45-50% of this book. Yrene also helped. It broke up the slow-moving plot with Chaol and Yrene romance wrapped in his healing process. While I could tell it was inevitable that he would indeed end up with Yrene, that sub-plot felt tedious and didn't feel natural to me. 

Nesryn on the other hand, her story arc was honestly my favorite part of the book. I loved reading about her journey, and while I regrettably don't remember her very well from Queen of Shadows, it has been a few years since I've been behind on finishing this series. I loved getting to know her in this book. 

I wish more focus was spent on the scrolls they had gathered and less on the forced romance. I am aware that feelings and a connection can form when two people go through something similar to what Chaol and Yrene did. But their feelings still felt forced to me, the connection felt shallow to me. I was more interested in the contents of those scrolls held, they often stated how important the information was, but neither of them seemed to bother actually reading any of it. 

Nesryn and Sartaq gathered more information in 2 hours than either Chaol and Yrene had in 2 weeks. The trials Nesryn and Sartaq went through, for me, made them believable. And the information they gathered was extremely helpful for the coming war. 

I will say that I am glad that Chaol's behavior in previous books, while explained, was never excused. He got to explain exactly why he behaved the way he had but also saw that he was in the wrong for behaving the way he did and how it made him a hypocrite. Exactly how I viewed him in QoS. 

I am glad that I read this book, and I dislike Chaol a little less. I hope I can get to the final book soon. I have a couple that I need to get through first. Hopefully, those won't take too long.