“I may not be a warrior waving a sword about, may not be worthy of your glorious tales, but at least I save lives–not end them” (452).
SPOILERS
Months ago, I wrote a review of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, expressing my deep frustration with the character Fatima. The waiting woman of the desert that is who passively forfeits her power the moment she meets Santiago, a traveler of the desert. For many reasons, Fatima came to mind often as I reached the end of Tower of Dawn. The FMC of this story, Yrene Towers, is also a woman of the desert who personifies the sandy seas healing magic. In fact, Yrene’s abilities as a healer draw poignant parallels between spiritual metamorphosis and the conflicting nature of the desert; an oppressive land that drains and destroys, but also transforms and nourishes. Death, the ruler of the yellow dunes and dusty winds, promises destruction and rebirth. But it’s the Oasis, the womb and matriarch of the desert, that initiates and nurtures the remaking. Yrene is the desert—she is endings and beginnings, the oasis and yellow dunes; a cure encompassing elimination and renewal. When she met Chaol, he preferred to suffer the brutality of denying emotional wounds rather than face what needed to be truly felt to heal. But, through Yrene, the Torre alchemist, he transforms. Chaol channels the power of destruction, exorcising excruciating darkness, but also the power of creation, achieving a catharsis that effectively awakens inner peace.
To this readers astonishment, the non-white love interest made it out of a TOG book alive. But not before having her life shackled to another’s, which isn’t any different from Nehemia’s outcome or Sorscha’s. Isn’t much different from Fatima’s depressing conclusion either. Yrene sacrifices her autonomy to keep Chaol around, giving him the power to dictate whether she lives or dies. A man who is prepared to perish for his beliefs despite what that means for the woman who seeks to keep him alive, who possesses a great respect for life. Yrene doesn’t want to die, and if she were to fall, yes, her demise would result in Chaol’s, but that does not even out the power dynamic. The supernatural linking, along with the oaths Yrene undoubtedly made when she became a healer, impose drastic restraints on every decision she makes to ensure Chaol’s survival. This union renders Yrene powerless, whereas Chaol, the white character, is afforded certain assurances. These racist tropes are deployed abruptly and haphazardly in a lazy attempt to wrap up the storyline, which isn’t just gross but a reflection of inept storytelling.
Rating 3 out of 5 – This is the least insufferable book of the series! The dynamic between Yrene and Chaol is interdependent until he becomes solely dependent on her strength. Prior to the final act, they nourished each other, not for personal gain, but out of genuine concern for the other’s wellbeing. Chaol’s traumatic history prevented Yrene from relinquishing her humanity and her resilience inspired the captain to muster some of his own. Make no mistake though, in the end, it is Yrene who has everything to lose with Chaol heading into a war. She is a noble warrior who believes in healing the world rather than meeting violence with more violence and deserved more reverence than being sidelined in someone else’s violent cause. Still, there’s something poignant about a large portion of this book that is absent, to its detriment, in the others. Granted, the others are set in the middle of an uprising with characters bracing for war. Plus, there’s the fact that the other books contain an FMC whose finest craft is arrogance. What’s worse is that she feels righteous in her choices and acts without shame. Though she could do with a potent dose. Aelin is conniving and mean-spirited, always moving preemptively to avoid opposition. This sort of callous self-indulgence isn’t something to praise. Neither is Sarah J. taking every opportunity to paint Aelin as a white savior, a god, all while romanticizing colonization. Yes, I got through most of this book without wanting to toss it. Mainly because Aelin isn’t in TOD…Yrene is the other reason. The woman who repurposed her pain to end suffering when she could’ve fashioned it into a blade to beget more. But the racism is there as it is in every other book in this series.
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