Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

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. 

Welcome all Fire Breathing Bitch Queens! It's that time again, that time I wait all year for.

IT'S THRONE OF GLASS FOUR Y'ALL!


This is where you cheer, I know, it's exciting. So I'm just going to get on with it, because we have alot to discuss. Now, for those of you who don't know, Throne of Glass is in essence the story of a Notorious Assassin who happens to be a Lost Queen of a country at war. It is by far cooler than it sounds. I wrote a review of the previous book, so go here for that:

 CLICK ME FOR HEIR OF FIRE

Okay, so where do I even begin? A bit of time has passed between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows. We skipped the journey back to Adarlan and even the first few weeks of Celaena *cough* I mean Aelin - this is gonna be tough. So we miss Aelin getting settled in, and I thought that it would be awhile before we saw Arobynn Hamel. I was wrong, first chapter, Celaena has a new name, new hair and has tracked down Arobynn in the Vaults. It was great to just get into it, just to kick off with what I was waiting for once she realised she was going to see Arobynn again.

Now In The Assassin's Blade, I wasn't sure what to make of Arobynn, he was sadistic and violent and almost kind of like an abusive boyfriend. I never got to feeling there was anything sexual going on between them other than his need to be dominant over everyone else but in this book he was super creepy. I think he was initially shocked to see her and his guard was dropping a little because things weren't fully under his control. He had sent Aelin to Endovier, waiting for her t learn her lesson so he could save her as and when he pleased. It was way twisted, but I'll get to that.

We start this book and Celaena Sardothien is "gone". After all the awful things she has done Aelin decides to cast off her name and become Aelin instead. I can't imagine this will be permanent. She says hroughout the book that Celaena is gone but she isn't. There are moments, when she's joking with Lysandra (who is rad is this book) and with Rowan that are still Celaena. As fan theories go I believe Celaena's journey now is going to be accepting that she is Celaena and she is also Aelin. She has to accept the life that was before she can move on. That means accepting Nehemia's death, all the death she caused and Sam's death. She cannot just remove that grief by tattooing her back and changing her name. So I have a feeling this is going to take part over the last two books.

Aelin is just as bad-ass as Celaena. She's like demon Buffy the Vampire Slayer just slashing around being awesome. After seeing Arobynn the first time, we kick off with Aedion's rescue. I loved this section of the book, Aelin keeps all her plans a secret from the reader, so as it all happens it is so shocking and keeps you on the edge of your seat, The thing with the roses and the dancers and Dorian. Oh Gods, Dorian. I feel for Dorian in this book and generally he just annoys me. I never really understood his relationship with Sorscha. It felt very forced to me, whether that was Dorian forcing it to get over Celaena or Sarah J Maas herself. Demon Dorian is kind of terrifying and I honestly worried he would die. During the rescue, when he's grinning at Aelin and she's about to mercy kill him. Then she pauses, begging for him to remember, giving him a minute. This book made my heart race.

Then, there's Chaol. I have always been a Celaena and Chaol ship. My ship is sunk, though I still retain hope. Gods when he sees her and he is such and arsehole through the entire first half of the book. It's not until they have the talk on the rooftop that I finally realised, he was waiting for her. He'd heard the rumours of her and Rowan and then she showed up this different person. I had so much hope for them after her speech at the docks before she left in Crown of Midnight, and now I realise that's what Chaol felt. He was waiting for her and was so blind sided when she came back. Even as she first saw him, she started talking about how her heart has healed and without him in their. Despite the holes in my ship, I do still hold up hope. As long as she doesn't end up with Dorian I am happy. I was really surprised to love Rowan in this book. He was okay in Heir of Fire, a bit dark and broody for my taste. Rowan in this book is a lot more fun, the back and forth between the pair is so funny. And the thing with the almond oil and Arobynn made me laugh for a good twenty minutes. Gods it was so funny.  On the subject of new ships, I like Nesryn, I think her and Chaol are an excellent match. If Aelin and Chaol are off the cards, then Nesryn is awesome enough to be with Chaol. She's basically medieval Katniss.

My ultimate favorite scene in this book, my favorite scene of the whole series was Manon VS Aelin SMACKDOWN! I thought it would be a while before Aelin and Manon met but Maas surprised me again. This entire scene was perfection. These two amazing fighters just whooping each others butts was the ultimate in awesome, and then when Aelin saved Manon from the temple they had knocked down with their fighting was great. Then the life debt came into play and it was so cool. This entire series is not only impeccably written, so well written that as a writer it makes me feel awful every time I read it. It is edited to perfection. I would love to see a first draft and see how it compares. Maybe that would make me feel better. This book is not just well written and funny, it is cool. There is so much cool going on, like the best action film with the best romance and characters you could ever imagine. Each book gets better and better.

Now here's a ship I can get behind. MANON & DORIAN! I can get behind that, the little moment they had. Not to mention that Manon is vaguely Celaena-like, maybe explaining his attraction to Celaena in the first and second book. They just immediately had chemistry, and when she flies past his window and they both catch each others eyes despite being miles in the air. It was so romantic. I liked Rowan and Aelin, they have banter and I knew as soon as Rowan showed up in Adarlan that it was going to happen. It felt very natural, really liked them together.

Lysandra was a lovely little flower in this book. If you remember her from The Assassin's Blade, I hated her in that. Then it turns out she was playing the game, and that she is a shapeshifter. Way cool. I love how easy their friendship is. Girl friendships are always portrayed with a little jealousy and snideness between them but even after years of being manipulated into hating each other, it is as simple as saying they are now friends. Loved it. And now she's joining us in Terrasen, so I can't wait to see what will happen.

Fan Theory Time: What do you think will happen in the last two books? (That is very sad to say)

Personally, I think Rowan will die. I don't want him to, but there is no way they could break up and Aelin end up with someone else and in two books a lot can happen. I think he will die and it is gonna suck but I will be surprised if Rowan is endgame. He will also die before they "bang". There has been too much emphasis on them wanting to do it and not having ht time or privacy which if you recall the prequels, is a very Sam situation.

Manon and Dorian are total endgame, as are Aedion and Lysandra but she is gonna make him work for it.

I have said since the first book that Sam isn't dead. My theory keeps being pulled apart each book, but I am still waiting for him to like walk in and be all 'Hi guys, not dead. My bad.'

I think Aelin will learn to accept her past and Celaena will come back in atleast some form.

Obviously at some point we will finds this Valg King and have to kill or trap him or something, but we literally just learned about this so it feels like the beginning of a whole new series.

I am way behind Manon to be in Aelin's court. I love it. I could even ship them. What a twist that would be. It would be like Korra and Asami all over again and I was way happy about that.

I am hoping Elide will make it to Aelin. I felt  so bad when she had to walk to Terrasen, she can barely walk upstairs and now she's going on a cross country hike. It was sad but also the imagine was kind of hilarious.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading.  I utterly love this series and I hope you do too. Give me your fan theories. Slag off the Aelin name switch or just say how cool it was.

I will go down with this ship! CHAOL & CELAENA FOR LIFE!
Happy Reading.