The Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas: the review
The tower of dawn is part of a fairly traditional fantastic universe: there are no classic races, but this lack is abundantly compensated by the presence of monstrous creatures, demons and magic. The fate of an entire kingdom weighs on the shoulders of the young protagonists: they will be able, with their fortitude (and the help of a good dose of military training and magic) to oppose the demons that threaten the heart of the lands where they live ?
Three new protagonists
The tower of dawn leaves aside for all the six hundred and fifty pages the protagonists of the series: Caelaena Sardothien, or Queen Aelin Galathynius and the young Prince Dorian of Adarlan they are in fact on the other side of the world, fighting a war of which sporadic news arrives. The protagonists, as well as points of view of this volume, are three.Chaol Westfall, who from Captain of the Royal Guard of Adarlan has become Hand of the sovereign is the first. Unable to move his legs due to a spinal injury, he arrived in the city of Antica on a diplomatic mission to the khagan, the most powerful ruler in the known world. Dorian and Aelin need help in the North because the army put together by the demons outstrips their strength. In the city, however, Chaol will also have to seek the help of the healers of Torre Cesme, who with their power could make him return to walk and fight alongside his King.
Nesryn Faliq is the new Captain of the Adarlan Guard. He accompanied Chaol on his official mission to Ancient and is there not only to watch over his safety but also to gather information on the forces of the khagan. The eyes of Captain Faliq, in fact, can more easily grasp the nuances of Antica's politics, since his family is originally from that city. She knows the legends surrounding the sons of the khagan, around which their hopes for reinforcement revolve.
Yrene Towers is a very gifted healer, many say she is especially blessed by Silba, goddess of healing. . Her mother was killed in the magic purge of the kingdom of Adarlan, which left her with an indelible wound. As she prepares to leave the South to go and help her people in the North of her, the Great Healer herself entrusts her with one last test: to make the Lord of Adarlan walk again. Perhaps, together with the man's back, Yrene will also be able to heal the hatred for those who took her mother from her by putting her on a stake.
Healing
Apparently the central point of this volume is healing. The three protagonists, whose points of view alternate throughout the narration, are people broken by their grief and by the experiences they have lived. It can be said that the entire book accompanies our heroes through a path of healing and growth, parallel to Chaol's path of healing.Read also: The house of earth and blood : a review in spicy sauce
Alone in a foreign land, all three will have to shake off their past traumas to come back to life, to see that dawn of hope of which the white Torre Cesme stands out in the city of Antica, is a tangible symbol. The tower with infinite stairs resembles another tower, it is true, but in this case it is free from the politics and malice of the women who live there, who as bearers of the power of a benevolent Goddess are a stereotype of good and harmony. br>
In addition to magic, another healing tool is knowledge. Scrolls of parchment and ancient ruins become the means by which the protagonists obtain the most powerful weapons against the evil they face, a theme so classic in Fantasy as to be somewhat reassuring throughout the story, although the young heroes are not particularly people. patients.
An exotic parenthesis
The Tower of Dawn is a special chapter for The Frozen Throne. So far the saga has been set in a classic European style fantasy. Castles, harsh winters, woods and witch fires. Here, however, we find ourselves in the desert, in an enlightened empire made up of equality between the sexes and open-mindedness. The theme of acceptance of the other is fundamental both in the setting and in the growth path of the characters.All of them find themselves 'clashing' with the customs of different peoples. In the case of Chaol it is the khagan's deadly court. For Nesryn they are the rukhin, the knights of Ruk, immense birds of prey who let themselves be ridden and carried into battle, while for Yrene it is obviously the clash with Lord Chaol, who for her represents all his people, guilty of having taken all joy away from her.
Ultimately, between knights of birds of prey, an exotic court, the Tower of the Healers and the ancient ruins buried in the desert, this fantasy will be comfortable for those who love the genre, but certainly different for those who instead is a beginner. Young readers may find that fantasy isn't just about elves, dwarves and orcs.
Shape and style
The tower of dawn, perhaps to please those who collect books recently, it came out directly in paperback format, in the Oscar Fantastica collection, with the same purple back as the rest of the saga. The result is a nice brick that reads very well, with the very light pages of the penultimate format of the Oscar Mondadori. The style of the narrative and language is modern and not very formal, with frequent swearing and very personal annotations in the characters' points of view.The translation is much better than in The House of Earth and Blood, but there are again some points that clash especially in the rendering of the c onsecutio temporum in Italian.
