Queen of Shadows


Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass, #4)

Author: Sarah J Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #4
Publication Date: September 1. 2015
Source: Purchased

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Summary from Goodreads: The queen has returned.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 has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.
She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. 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.
The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena's epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.





Warning there may be SPOILERS for the first 3 books in the series!

I LOVE this series - it took me several days to sit down and write this review simply because I had so many feelings and thoughts to sort through.

When I started this book, I had an idea of where things were going to go, I mean it was pretty clear at the end of the last book, but somehow I was blown away. Plot twists, plot twists, plot twists - how does one human come up with and effortlessly execute so many plot twists?! Everything comes together - all those tiny, intricate details from the first three books start coming together in an unimaginable way. I am so glad that I reread the first three books before reading this one, and I highly recommend that you do the same.

Celaena has grown into a powerful woman, I honestly didn't think she had any growth left, and yet, we see her grow into s couple new roles. While Dorian and Choal are present in this book, they have also changed quite a bit. It broke my heart to see the differences between the three members of this once tight knit crew, but I trusted Maas and I do feel like she is doing all the right things as the author in order to tell the story that needs to be told. (And I know a lot of team Choal readers are upset that that ship has not only sailed but has sunk, but after rereading the series, I have to tell you that I am not suprised and I feel like Maas was true to her characters). Rowan's presence is not as strong as I would have liked it to be, I  am totally team Rowan and have been from his introduction. (Sidebar - I just want to point out that I LOVE the fact that Maas has chosen to let Celaena have multiple relationships in a naturally healthy way AND that she avoids instalove) I loved that Lysandra returned in this book, the development with her character is interesting and much needed.

While I was not a fan of Manon, I did find that I enjoyed her chapters much more in this book than the previous and she is starting to grow on me. I enjoyed getting to know Manon and her Thirteen better, especially Asterin. I was really, really interested with what was going on over there in Morath with Kaltain and Elide too.

This book had me going through SO many emotions. I felt like the plot moved at a good pace; there were some slow parts with lots of important information, and most of the action is at the end, but it worked for me. The ending is torturous simply because I must wait for the next installment!

10 comments:

  1. I didn't read much of this because I still haven't read the first one yet! But I did read the last paragraph about all the emotion, and that makes me wish I had time to pick up the first one and start right now! Great review, what I read that is. :-)

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    1. I appreciate the honesty - you should totally pick up this series, honestly each book keeps getting better

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  2. I completely agree with everything you said, I feel like we're finally getting a glimpse at Maas bigger picture for ToG and even though some pretty big character were taken out of the game, there's still loads to going on!
    I can only imagine what the next two books will bring, eeekk!!
    I love that you have addressed the characters, too many people are jumping ship and blaming the author, as if readers would actually know them better.
    Team Rowan Forever <3, I would have loved more Rowan but if I'm honest even if it was his book, I would still want more ;) and ToG5 promises some steamy scenes *swoons*
    Your review was so on point, so glad you enjoyed the book.
    Now the agonising wait... :(

    Cody @ Literary-ly Obsessed

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    1. YAY!! I'm so glad someone is on my level lol

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  3. I can't wait to read this!! I can't wait to see how Celaena matures more as a character! That sounds so sad how the squad of Dorian, Chaol, and Celaena grows apart :( I loved their banter in Throne of Glass. Great review!

    Laura @BlueEyeBooks

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    1. It is sad, but I really feel like Maas is being true to who they are - Celaena is still a late-teen in the first book, and she really is growing into a woman. I think that same is true from DOrian and Chaol.

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  4. I still haven't written my review because my thoughts and emotions remain all over the place! I must say though, I agree with you on just about everything ahah. At first I wasn't happy with what happened to Chaol, Dorian and Celaena's squad but Maas knew what she was doing by staying true to the characters so I can't complain really. Anyways, great review as always!

    Most recent post on Enchanted by YA: http://enchantedbyya.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/announcement-etsy-shop.html

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    1. I totally understand! It took me a while to filter my emotions and thoughts, I still feel like I haven't done this book justice.

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  5. So basically, from your 5 stars, I can assume that you LOVED LOVEDDDDD this! Okay I didn't even know you were reading the Throne of Glass series! (I keep track of what you're reading, yes). I have read the first one, but I am still putting off Crown of Midnight for some reason (don't ask, just time I suppose). But man, I need to get to all of these ASAP.

    The sad part is that I HAVE QoS! I just don't have Heir of Fire hahahah! Or the Assassin's Blade for that matter :P

    I'm just going to pretend I read this review and say AWESOME REVIEW EMILY!

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    1. Yes, I LOVED LOVED LOVED it and you NEED to read it like yesterday!

      Crown of Midnight is better than Throne of Glass so stop putting it off and read these books so we can discuss, please?

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