Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Maas

Hm... This is going to be very, very long...

Hey all! 
I just finished reading Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Maas! 

These books keep getting better and better! I rated the first one 5 stars and I keep rating the following ones 5 stars even though I like them better! Series like this one need a whole new rating system! 

I will have my non-spoilery part here because there's not much to say without spoiling the amazingness that is Queen of Shadows. There's SO MUCH that happened!! 

First of all, if you haven't picked up the Throne of Glass series yet, what are you doing? Stop, go to the nearest bookstore, pick up a copy, sit down and read it. To be honest, I totally understand if the first book (or two) didn't impress you so much, but trust me when I say it only gets better! After finishing this book, it's incredible to think that it started with 'just' Throne of Glass! 

 I have reviews for all of the other books! Click on each of the titles to see my thoughts! 
Throne of Glass
Crown of Midnight
Heir of Fire

And now, time for Queen of Shadows! 

*Spoilers start here! Don't say I didn't warn you!*

"No Masters.
No Limits.
No Regrets.

Celaena Sardothien is cloaked in her assassin's hood once more. She is back in Rifthold, but this time she is no one's slave. She must delve into her most painful memories and fight for her survival, while resisting a smoldering passion that might very well consume her heart. And she will face her former master, the King of Assassins, again - to wreck revenge for a decade of pain..."

Okay... Here we go with a whole bunch of possibly confusing bits of a book review! 

If you guys have already read my previous reviews, you know that I think that Sarah J Maas is a writing queen! Her characters and words are amazing, and that plot is so, so well thought-out! Like I said above, it's so strange to think that this started off with Throne of Glass! The amount of evolution that happened is insane! 

First, Celaena basically doesn't exist anymore. She is Aelin. She is a queen. That's it, and people accept it. You can really tell that she fully accepted it and put her mask of Celaena behind her. And she is more awesome than ever before! 

Also, the Chaol/Celaena ship has sunk. It's the Titanic. Their separation was the iceberg and now they don't particularly care about each other. I thought this was somewhat strange as in the end of Crown of Midnight they're so close and forgiving! But Aelin evolved a lot, and I think Chaol could feel that. In this book, Chaol was unwaveringly loyal to Dorian, whereas Aelin considered murdering him. 

Can we talk about the Dorian chapters?! The heartbreak felt in each one, where the prince we all love is taken over by the Vlag prince and you just know he's right there, was incredible. But it was SO cool when he found himself again at the end of the book and managed to break the collar off his neck, just by hearing that Chaol could be dead. They would be parabati, I'm sure of it! 

Actually, the whole ending was epic on new proportions! When Rowan and Aedion started fighting together against the Wyrdhounds, and Lyssandra just came in as a Ghost Leopard to save them! When Aelin and Dorian held hands and combined their magic to make the glass castle shatter! When we thought Chaol was dead (which I was actually ok with, strangely), but he wasn't! I mean he's still paralyzed, but he's alive! 

And that fight between Manon and Aelin! They're both so awesome! I love how, after Aelin saved her life, Manon took the time to tell Aelin that Dorian was still himself, even under the influence of a Vlag prince! I kind of hope they'll end up being friends, actually! 

But HEY WAIT! Is there a Manon and Dorian ship going on..? Is that going to be a thing? I feel like it's going to be a thing, and I think I might actually like that?! 

About Manon, I FINALLY got used to liking her parts! I didn't like reading her sections in Heir of Fire - I felt like they got in the way of the amazing plot going on with our main squad. But now we're starting to see Manon evolve - wait for it - feelings. It's so funny to see how she has no idea how to handle them! 

We get a new character in this book called Elide. She's a witch that Manon takes under her wing (broom? Wyvern? idek) who goes through all kinds of emotional moments. Now she's looking for Aelin - her queen, as she's from Terassen - and Celaena, having no idea they're the same person. I can't wait to see how that plays out! 

Back to ships! Rowan is such a nice character! In HoF he was holding back a lot, and quiet, but now he's really starting to gain confidence. He comes back to Aelin and, even though their relationship in HoF was very platonic, they slowly start flirting and realizing that they both like each other and having cute little moments without anything happening and I just ship them ok? My Celaena/Dorian ship is so gone! (But there are so many theories about Dorian being endgame, but that either means that Rowan would have to do something awful or die, and I'm not ready for any of that. Please keep Rowan alive, Sarah!) 

I loved the snippets with Aedion - in HoF he tried so hard to be this warrior type but here he's almost like a loyal, fangirling puppy. He's so happy to find Aelin when she rescues him, and the two cousins are just so happy together! When she tells him about Rowan, he becomes a total fangirl, knowing all of his stories and battles. When he meets Rowan, though, there's the smallest competition about who gets to be Aelin's right-hand. Also, can we just maybe suggest Lyssandra and Aedion? I'm just saying! ^-^ 

My favorite part was probably when Aelin goes around town with Rowan and they find the old opera house, where she plays the piano and gets him all emotional. That part was just adorable. 

But the part that broke me the most might be different than most other people's. When she went to Sam's grave... I cried. I know there's Assassins' Blade to read, but I want to know more about Sam! 

OH! That one part where Aborynn ( a horrible guy by the way) puts the ring on Aelin's finger and drinks her blood and we think that he's under his control is so awful! It was such a relief that it was all a trick! 

And when Lyssandra kills Aborynn and Aelin had switched his will around to receive everything he owned, then sold it all to give the money to Chaol was awesome! The crazy thing is that we are 100% spectators to Aelin - we almost never know what she's planning! 

I think I'm going to end my review here - It got so long! Congrats if you made it to this point, hahaha! 

I'm giving this a 5/5 feathers! The epicness was amazing and I can't wait to dive into book 5! 

Have you read Queen of Shadows? What did you think of it? Let me know! :D 

Have a great day! 

Stay bookish!