Queen of Shadows

EDIT: 17/07/2017 (full review

here)

"She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph."

Two hundred and thirty. This is the number of post-its I've put in 656 pages of Queen of Shadows, for now my favorite book in the whole Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series. New record surely.

We all remember the finale of Heir of Fire and despite being immensely happy that Aelin finally decided to embrace and love his true strength and nature, my heart was broken. Yes, as you have already imagined, I was immensely sad and devastated for Dorian, who lost the love of his life and his freedom within a few minutes, because of the King and the obscure Valg Prince, losing his freedom and also his emotions. Therefore, at the beginning of Queen of Shadows I did not really know what to expect and I had my kleenex just next to me. Sometimes it was very useful.

“It’s Aelin now,” she snapped as loudly as she dared. “Celaena Sardothien doesn’t exist anymore.”

In this fourth volume we leave Wendlyn's magical forests and we return to the old and obscure Adarlan. Rifthold, since the King has completely taken power with dark magic, is no longer the city that Aelin remembers: everywhere there are soldiers enchanted by the dark rings of the Valg magic that respond only to the King and sow the terror between its streets. But Aelin itself is no longer the Celaena that everyone knows: her anger has now been channeled into one goal, to bring the great and powerful Kingdom of Terrasen out of the ashes, avenging all the unjust deaths she has been crying out: the one of their parents, of Sam and of the slaves of Endovier and Calaculla. Aelin returned to Rifthold as Death and Vengeance.

"Fire-breathing bitch-queen."

Chaol Westfall is the only friend Celaena finds as soon as she arrived, but it is clear that the events that have occurred in the last few months have changed both of them. The former Captain of the Guards now has allied with the rebels to try to protect citizens from continuing mass murder and violence that are taking place at the hands of King's soldiers. These are indeed completely under the power of the Valg and they brag about the magical essence left in the last magical residents of the kingdom. Along with Aelin, Chaol tries to establish a strategy to save Dorian from King's influence, but perhaps the only way to truly save him is to kill and free him from all that obscurity and terror that chains him.

In Queen of Shadows, Lysandra returns. Do you remember her? She was Celaena's nemesis in The Assassin's Blade when both wanted to get the protection and love of Arobynn and Sam. Celaena had promised to kill her if she would ever met her again. However, that does not happen, because within a year and a half Aelin is not the only one to have changed.

We will see again Aedion, Rowan, Manon, Asterin, Elide and many other characters that you will love or not. I do not want to take away the taste of finding out all about them.

"She was a wolf. She was death, devourer of the worlds."

While Heir of Fire at the beginning was extremely slow and boring, Queen of Shadows immediately entered the action. In particular, I loved to see again some aspects of the old Celaena, the character who first made me love this series. This fourth volume is based on strategy games, deception, friendship, love, sense of duty, and sacrifice. It is a novel that goes into investigating all aspects of life and the choices that each of us may have to take, whether they are right or wrong. Of course with a bit of magic and fantasy.

"She was a whirling cloud of death, a queen of shadows, and these men were already carrion."

Maas' style (I will repeat it until I die) is magnificent. It keeps you chained to the pages chapter after chapter, stealing each time some parts of your heart. At the end you ask to yourself, "What do I do now?? How will I survive??"

But do not ever doubt her. Keep repeating it all over the novel: bear it, hold your teeth, because there is always something to fight for.

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JUST FINISHED READING THIS BOOK AND I'M CRYING.

This is what perfection looks like. I gave up reading QoS years ago cause I doubted SJM. I was so angry at her because of Dorian and Chaol.

But guys NEVER DOUBT QUEEN MAAS.

This book is absolutely magnificent and spectacular. It's my favorite book of the series and this means a lot cause I loved each one!

This book makes me wanna do something. Makes me wanna change the world in something better and OMG I can't wait to do that!

Rtc!!!!

*Now I'm gonna spend the rest of the night looking for pictures about QoS on Pinterest*

I did hope this book would save the series for me but I was badly mistake. I didn't enjoy it at all and I had a lot of issues and didn't like Aelin. Could have been great with a badass female characters however it didn't work for me. I'm not saying this series is bad it's just not my cup of tea. I don't know if I should continue

This was the best in the series so far!!!! I loved it and there was some really great suspense moments. After Heir of Fire, I was a bit underwhelmed but this brought my interest back to the series. I loved it!

This is only the start of some the bigger conflicts but they are bringing you in nicely. The players are all on the board for an epic conclusion (if we are approaching that).

I love Sarah J Maas' writing style and world building. Even when the world is established she finds a way to add more. I can not wait to read the next installment.

Yes.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved this installment. Thanks Sarah!