Review ~ "Queen of Shadows" by Sarah J. Maas

Title: "Queen of Shadows"
Series: Throne of Glass, #4
Author: Sarah J. Maas

Website ~ Blog ~Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Tumblr

Published: September 1, 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 648
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought

Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

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.

After setting this book to the side for almost a year, I finally got back to it. But I finally got over my nerves just in time to finish this shortly before Empire of Storms was released. Sadly, the spoilers I'd seen had affected my enjoyment of this book. Fortunately, it didn't have as bad of an impact as it could have had.

It surprised me that seeing spoilers made me dread reading this book. Why bother reading if I know what's going to happen? Whenever I looked at Queen of Shadows sitting on my bookshelf, I felt unhappy. I would tell myself, "You're going to finally get back to this book this month," and then I would create some excuse to not read it. I actually lost some of my love for this series because of people who didn't know not to publicly talk about what happens on social media. It's terrible how some people can absolutely ruin books for others without caring. I felt so bad for people who were spoiled for major events. Why can't people just keep their lips shut around others who aren't as far?

Anyways, when I first started reading, I was super excited. I was finally going to find out what happened next to Aelin! And then when I finally got back to it, I tried to keep an open mind. Sure, I didn't like some things, but I just wanted to keep reading. I wanted to get back to feeling the love that I felt before. And I think that for the most part, I got back to it, even though I was more critical this time.
  It was great seeing Aelin back in action, kicking butt, not taking "No" for an answer, and figuring out who she is truly meant to be, even if it's not what everyone was expecting. It was great seeing her grow and embrace her future, one she doubted would ever happen. She struggled internally and externally with what was right to do, especially with Dorian who was possessed by a Valg prince. Of course her interactions with Chaol hurt me, as they weren't exactly friendly. My poor shipper heart has been broken, but I'll just have to move on, and I'm not exactly feeling Rowan soooo...

We also see Manon again, who is struggling quite a bit herself as well. She's always followed her orders without a question, but now she can't help but question those she has had to listen to for so many years. And with some of the really creepy things that happen, I would too, even if it risked my life. While she is the harsh leader of her Thirteen, she'd also so anything for them. I want to see more interactions between her and Elide. Even though she tries to hide it, I think Manon really cares for her. Personally I ship them, but I doubt it will happen. A girl can dream though.

I feel like this book was very character driven. Sure, the plot was very important and never slowed down much. But there were so many characters that we met, learned more of, and played a big role in this book. I was overwhelming at times trying to keep all of the story-lines and POVs straight, but I think I still would have preferred this to having fewer POVs. I feel like then we wouldn't know everything that we needed to know and that it would have been less interesting. However, if more POVs and story-lines are added in the next book, I'm going to need to keep notes or write a chart to keep things straight.

Overall, which I had a rough start with Queen of Shadows, I'm really happy that I finally got back to it and finished what I started. Sure, I'm wary for the next book, but I still love this series and I refuse to let others ruin it for me.