All 7 Throne of Glass books, ranked from worst to best
By Bryce Olin
3. Empire of Storms
Published: Sept. 6, 2016
Empire of Storms is the fifth book in the series. For some, this book is No. 1 or No. 2 in their ranking. I wanted to rank it higher, but I just love what Queen of Shadows and Kingdom of Ash mean to the story a little bit more. It’s basically a coin flip for each of the top 3.
Empire of Storms is so good! After everything happens at the glass castle in Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms marks Aelin’s first step in assembling her court, finding allies, and building forces to take on Erawan and Morath. Up to this point, we’ve only traveled to a few places with these characters. The story mainly revolves around time spent in Rifthold, Wendlyn, Mistward, the Ferian Gap, and Morath. Empire of Storms introduces readers to the rest of the continent as Aelin’s court travels around building up her forces. Most importantly, though, this is the book that brings the whole story together. Aelin finally has enough information to do what she needs to do to stop Erawan and Maeve.
Unfortunately, the book ends at the worst point in the series with Aelin a captive of Maeve. Then we had to wait two years to find out what happened! It’s a tough pill to swallow. While I don’t think it makes the book any worse, it’s definitely a tricky ending that sets up the events of Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash. Now that all the books are available, I’ve heard of readers reading Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn at the same time, so they never have to go too long without Aelin. Honestly, I get it!
Best Moment: For me, Aelin using Dorian and Rowan’s power to slaughter 500 ilken is such a powerful image. It shows truly what Aelin capable of, and that’s not even the half of it, as we know. I also really enjoyed the battle with the Valg ships and Lysandra as a sea dragon, which leads Captain Rolfe and the Mycenians to Aelin’s side. What's also an incredible moment, especially considering what it means for Lysandra’s power and her relationship with Aedion.