Tower of Dawn

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

I need to begin this review with a confession.

I never really cared for Chaol Westfall.

He was fine in the beginning of the Throne of Glass series. I didn’t love him, but I didn’t dislike him either. That changed once he discovered who Celaena really was—and especially after Aelin returned from Wendlyn.

And yes, I know.

Chaol was the one who sent her to Wendlyn because he still cared about her and wanted her to survive. He eventually turned against the King of Adarlan and fought alongside the rebels. There were plenty of reasons for me to give the man some grace.

I simply chose not to.

When Aelin returned, I expected Chaol to be relieved to see her. Instead, I was frustrated by the way he treated her. He seemed judgmental of what she was and of the things she had done, even though he was the one who sent her to Wendlyn in the first place.

Sir. What exactly did you think was going to happen over there?

By that point, I had written Chaol off as a whiny little a-hole and moved on with my life.

Then I finished Empire of Storms.

I picked up the next book.

And realized Tower of Dawn was about CHAOL.

You guys.

I don’t think I have ever been less excited to start a book.

I genuinely wondered whether I could skip it. We’d just left Empire of Storms, I desperately wanted to know what happened next, and instead I was supposed to leave all of that behind and spend an entire book on the Southern Continent with a character who had been irritating me for several books?

Absolutely not.

Except I’m not a quitter.

So off to the Southern Continent I went.

And…

I freaking loved it.

Tower of Dawn follows Chaol and Nesryn as they travel to the Southern Continent, seeking both a possible treatment for Chaol’s paralysis and an alliance that could help in the war ahead.

I expected to tolerate this book so I could get back to everyone else.

Instead, I fell in love with an entirely new part of this world.

The Southern Continent felt fresh and fascinating, filled with new cultures, places, and people that expanded the world of Throne of Glass far beyond what I had expected. And Nesryn—someone I hadn’t felt particularly connected to before—finally had room to become a character I genuinely cared about. Getting to know her in a place connected to her family’s roots changed the way I saw her completely.

I fell in love with the Southern Continent.

I fell in love with its people.

I fell in love with Nesryn.

And perhaps most shocking of all…

Chaol stopped annoying me.

I KNOW.

Somewhere during Tower of Dawn, the character I had reluctantly agreed to tolerate became someone I actually liked.

This book gave me something I didn’t realize I needed from Chaol: time.

Time away from Aelin. Time away from Adarlan. Time to understand his anger, his guilt, his pain, and everything he had been carrying. I didn’t suddenly agree with every decision he’d made earlier in the series, and the book didn’t erase the things that had frustrated me about him.

But it did make me understand him differently.

By the end, I couldn’t believe I was saying it:

I liked Chaol Westfall.

So, fellow Throne of Glass readers, if you’ve finished Empire of Storms, looked at the cover of Tower of Dawn, and thought:

Do I really have to read an entire book about Chaol?

Yes.

Yes, you do.

And not just because I think you might be surprised by how much you enjoy it.

Without spoiling anything, Tower of Dawn introduces people, relationships, discoveries, and information that become important to what happens in Kingdom of Ash. This isn’t some optional side quest Sarah J. Maas threw into the series. You need this story.

So don’t skip it.

Leave Aelin behind for a little while. Get on the boat. Go to the Southern Continent. Give Nesryn the attention she deserves.

And give the whiny little a-hole a chance.

Because somehow, against all odds, Tower of Dawn became one of my favorite books in the entire series.

Nobody was more surprised than me.

Storykeeper’s Verdict: A Story Worth Keeping.

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