Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

"Fire-breathing bitch queen"

The fourth novel to the throne of glass series. Queen of Shadow is a game changer to this series, the plot twists and surprises are a complete shock! My absolute favourite in the entire series.

As we follow the throne of glass series, the books just keep becoming more in-depth and more complex. Not only introducing more characters but also expanding on existing ones.

Name: Queen of Shadows

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 672

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Genre: Fantasy Fiction

Purchase: Chapters, Amazon

Series: Throne of Glass: Book 4

"Behind them, across the hall, the dancer shattered their roses on the floor, and Aedion looked up at his queen as the entire world went to hell."

My thoughts

As the adventure of Aelin/Celaena continues, we also get a more in-dept story of Chaol and Dorian. As well as finding out more about our favourite witch Manon.

Although Manon's character was rather boring in the previous book, in Queen of Shadows we really see her come alive. She is found to be a key part in the series, as she is to be the one to gather the witches to come together and restore peace again. As she leaves her position as wingleader and 'betrays' her grandmother Manon becomes queen of the Crochans. Even though she's yet to even meet them. I suspect she will in the next book Empire of Storms. Her character is quite interesting and I can never truly know what she is thinking. It is clear she loves Elide, and she has some interest in Dorian or princling as she calls him. Their relationship is a bit unclear, but it does seem to be essential to both Dorian and Manon's character growth.

Dorian's character surprised me the most in this book, he has always been a bit wild, but in a controlled way. Perhaps it is just because he was brought up in a palace but seeing Dorian trapped and then ripped through a Valg prince to take down his father with Aelin which was kind of amazing. A real turning point for our prince. We see Dorian deal with the loss of his first love after Celaena, Sorscha, their love was pure and perfect. Losing her, and having a valg prince inside him controlling him, really sends him into a sort of deep depression. But seeing him overcome it and in the end, destroying his father along with shattering the glass castle, really shows his development, from prince to king.

Rowan and Aelin, my favourite duo, back again to create heart aching tears in my soul. These two are it, the reason I read this series, and they have only been in two out four books so far. The scene in the alley way (you know the one) when they first see each other again, perfect. I have no words to truly describe Rowan and Aelin's relationship. I want them together, they have rough pasts, and together they brought themselves back from the dark.

"They joined hands. So the world ended. And the next one began."

All together Queen of Shadows is a masterpiece .I consider it to be Sarah's best writing so far. It continues the story, while expanding on original characters and introducing new characters. Seeing more of the Carde, and alot more planning, while completely diving into the world of magic. Heir of Fire was teaching you about magic but Queen of Shadows sets it loose into the world again. I can only imagine what is to come in the following three books.

"If you're a monster, I'm a monster."

Would I recommend?

I will always recommend a Sarah J Maas book, however, this one in particular. I loved with everything I have. I would 110% recommend this book to absolutely everyone. It's easily made my top 5 books of