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queen of shadowsWhat: Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas

Who: Bloomsbury UK

When: September 1st 2015

How: A copy of this novel was provided by Bloomsbury Australia for review.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

5cats2Woah. WOAH. W O A H.

What did I just read, and how can I siphon Sarah J. Maas’s talent and keep it as my own?

Queen of Shadows was everything I was hoping for in the fourth instalment of the Throne of Glass series, and a little bit more at that.

The Celaena I’d come to know and love – a complete badass bitch with no mercy – has kind of fallen to the wayside, and given rise to a more calm, collected, and vulnerable Celaena, who I fell in love with. I mean, I love a complete badass bitch with no mercy as much as the next person, but I also loved seeing this new side to her. I loved seeing how much she cared, and how things hurt her. It was great. She was great.

My two Fae princes, Rowan and Aedion. There’s not much to say except that I adore them both, and they have the dominating over protective Fae male thing down perfectly. Even though at times, I was just like: dudes, calm yo shit; I actually liked having characters that really gave a damn about Celaena, and the things she was doing, and the danger she was putting herself in. She’s so used to no one caring, so even though she got annoyed by the two boys, I still think that somewhere deep inside she was probably grateful. I know I was. I liked having the two of them care about her so much.

DORIAN, my BB. His chapters broke my heart, because I realised how much I loved him and wanted him to be okay. I can’t say much more, but just DORIAN.

Chaol. Chaol, you twat. You fucking twat. What are you even doing. Who even are you. I’m just side eyeing the shit outta you because you disappointed me SO darn much in this book, and I just cannot. (I have to say that this is the only downfall of this novel. I felt like Chaol was kind of … written off as a character, which sucked because Chaol was my fave.)

Manon came into her own even more, and I am really keen to see if she takes any kind of stance against her evil grandmother, because I would love a witch showdown. I think she’s really come to the realisation that she’s different, and that she’s not as cold and cruel as ruthless as she pretends to be most of the time (not meaning that she can’t be those things, because she can and it’s BRILLIANT).

There were other characters, but I wasn’t as invested in them as the ones I have come to know and love over the course of the previous books, but I will say that I think Elide will be playing a HUGE role in the upcoming books, and that Perrington and all his little evil friends need to die right now. Lysandra, who we had only known as a rival for Arobynn’s affection, was amazing. I loved her because of what she gave Celaena <3

As for plot, this entire novel was so intricate. Celaena was completely on top of everything with her cunning and cleverness, and I admired her so much. She’s so calculating and I’m just like: YES. She can hold her own in a fight, and bring out the big guns mind-wise, as well. I want to be her, let’s be real. Two massive things happened in this book that I was totally not expecting (at least, not until maybe the last book?), so it was super surprising and kind of awesome to have them occur in the one book. A war is on the way, which we knew from Heir of Fire, but it’s getting closer and closer, and I just know that the last two books will be the most hectic things to read. EVER. I also really want all my darlings to end up happy, and I am super scared that won’t happen.

Queen of Shadows was by far my favourite in the series so far, and I spent about a third of the book on the verge of tears.

© 2015, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

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Posted on: September 15, 2015 • By: Chiara

10 Responses to Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

  1. OOOH, POST TWINS! I just blogged and discussed this particular book at the same time as you did ;) Woot woot!

    I so agree that I love this new side to Celaena (or Aelin?) It was so much fun seeing her outsmart the likes of Arobynn, seeing through him so easily and taking care of the matters at hand like the Queen she is. Chaol was my favorite character too, especially in the previous two books, so his devolution here as a character really saddened and angered me as well :( In my video discussion, I kept ranting about him, just maybe short of giving him the middle finger…. HAHAHAHA. I still love him though <3

    Faye at The Social Potato

    • Chiara says:

      YAAAAY :D

      I do like Celaena/Aelin took back a lot of the power she had lost of the years in this book. It was pretty awesome! Especially when it came to Arobynn. She saw through him so easily, it was fabulous.

      UGH, CHAOL. I just want him to go back to his usual beautiful self *crying*

  2. I really love the change to Celaena, I actually prefer the Aelin side of her character as it’s someone I can empathise with a lot more. She has the right balance of brain, heart, and deadly skills. Can’t wait to see what she’ll do in the next books now that she has fully come into her own.

    I really enjoyed the protective sides of the Fae males as well – sure the alpha schtick got old quick, but I was delighted to see how many people loved Aelin in this book. For someone who’s been scraping by to survive, she deserves all of the love and support she now has from her friends and loved ones.

    Manon is freaking awesome no matter what, I adore her even though the chapters with Elide made me snooze a little. I love that she’s beginning to realise she has some humanity, would love to see how it progresses from here.

    Overall, fantastic review! I really loved this book as well <3 <3

    • Chiara says:

      Aelin has a certain vulnerability to her that Celaena didn’t really have, but I do KINDA miss that cold, calculating side of Celaena that is just so completely badass XD I think she will be beyond amazing in the next two books!

      She totally does deserve people who actually care about her, even if they do show it in a bit of an over possessive way, haha. I’m just glad that they care about her so much <3

      Manon's progression as a character has been kind of slow, but I also think it's let us get to know her better - especially since she's only been in two of the books! I cannot wait to see how much she transforms over the course of the next two books :D

      Thanks so much, lovely <3

  3. Alise says:

    Chiaraaaa you must be my spirit animal because I couldn’t agree more. Celaena’s character development *pterodactyl screech* I addressed this as well, this series is her journey and we get to see her grow and change as a character-she evolves.

    I also was loving all the protectiveness of Rowan and Aedion even though it could be a little okay boys, let’s all get along. It was pretty cute and YES to seeing someone care about Celaena 100%.

    Manon is so badass. That fight, damn.

    The only negative thing I had to say about the book was the same-how the major players of ToG were out of character. Choal felt like a completely different person, and I wasn’t a fan of how that ‘situation’ was ended.

    • Chiara says:

      Yay! :D Her journey is literally the best aspect of this series, because it’s woven into a storyline so perfectly.

      RIGHT? I was like: this is what she deserves; people caring about her. So even though they were over the top sometimes, I still appreciated it <3

      THE FIGHT WAS THE BEST THING EVER.

      Yup, that was the only downfall for me. I felt like he was just slated off for the new ship :(

  4. THIS BOOK WAS FANTASTIC. I JUST WANT TO SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS BY HOW MUCH I LOVED IT. But oh poor Chaol, I just felt like he was really shafted and part of what happened to him was to justify the new ship. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more from Elide in the next book! So glad to hear you loved it as well <3

    • Chiara says:

      I KNOW, RIGHT? I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

      Yup, definitely feel like Chaol was ruined just because of the new ship, which really upsets me :(

      I think Elide will play a HUGE role, so I am super keen to see where the story takes her!

      YAY for loving QoS :D

  5. Romi says:

    I thought it would be so hard for me to stop calling our lady protagonist Celaena, since I just… I love that character. But now I’m all Aelin Aelin AELIN. I definitely don’t like the name or character so much, yet, but… I’m getting there. Three more books should do it.
    I love your paragraph on Rowan and Adeion and their relationship with her, beacuse YES they are protective and a bit annoying at that, but… the way you described it is IT. And Dorian. I had no idea how I’d cope with his storyline in this one and I ALMOST DIDN’T. But Chaol annoyed me enough that I got through it, somehow. And Lysandra… She was perfect and gorgeous and I loved her so much. I’m still a little shattered about Nehemia, especially since Aelin seems to be thinking less of her- her anger is still present- and that hurts. Manon doesn’ quite do it for me. Abraxos does, but I’m not there with Manon, yet. I liked her more in HoF, but not because of her brutality- I liked her changing. I think Asterien is going to be my favourite witch, possibly. AND AELIN’S MIND. That’s scary. She has everything under control. I was seriously mind blown by her control over everything.
    Gorgeous review, lovely. xx

    • Chiara says:

      You know why I called her Celaena now, haha XD To be honest, I DO like the name Celaena more so than Aelin, but both of them are super pretty :D

      I love the way they protect her, because no one has ever really done that for her (since Sam, anyway).

      The Dorian chapters broke my heart what even. I hadn’t really had any ~extreme~ feels for him before this book, but now he is A PRECIOUS, FOR SURE.

      Lysandra was such a good addition to the cast, because now Aelin has that friendship again. And her thoughts about Nehemia break me up, seriously.

      I love seeing how much Manon is changing, but like I said in our Skype session, not keen for the ship >.>

      SHE IS SO AWESOME, AND I WANT TO BE HER SO BAD.

      Thank you, dearest <3

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