SERIES: Throne of Glass, Book 4

GENRE: EPIC FANTASY, YA, FANTASY

RELEASE DATE: September 1st 2015

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

INDIE BOUND I BOOK DEPOSITORY I BARNES AND NOBLE

AMAZON I GOODREADS

Synopsis:

“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.”

This book was continuously shocking, I can’t even begin to describe how fantastic is was! Hi yes I know it is dead week but who needs to study for finals when you could be reading instead? I might have made some bad academic decisions recently thanks to this book!

I have SO MANY feelings going through my head after finishing this one. One of my favorite things about Sarah J. Maas’ books is that her writing is so unpredictable in the best ways. I love every additional character and I support every twist and turn in the story ( especially her choices for the relationships).

A favorite quote from Queen of Shadows:

“She looked at them, at the three males who meant everything—more than everything. Then she smiled with every last shred of courage, of desperation, of hope for the glimmer of that glorious future. “Let’s go rattle the stars.”
― Sarah J. Maas, Queen of Shadows

Aelin has so many people waiting on her expectantly, and yet she doesn’t let the pressure of their hope weigh her down. The scope of what her and her court have set out to do is fairly overwhelming, but as they take it bit by bit, they are finally beginning to make real, true change. I think the stories laid out in the Throne of Glass series so far are ones of hope, and ones of fighting even when one has lost everything. For every character, by the time of the end of Queen of Shadows, the world they had known had been turned upside down.

Despite everything being so wildly different, and even with a larger war looming than they could have expected, I almost wanted to cry from happiness at the conclusion of this book. I think it gives us just a small glimpse of what is to come, and I can’t wait to see where this fantastic group of characters goes in the final two installments to come.

Some (kind of spoiler-filled) thoughts about this book (I have a lot of them sorry):

♥  Aelin: She really grows into her role as queen in this book. It really has been a process throughout all of the series, but I think that as other characters begin to see the queen in her, we do too. I am incredibly happy that she finds the support and inspiration she so desperately needs, and deserves, in Rowan. She is such a strong person, one who has endured and overcome so much and yet keeps fighting. I am not saying that she needs a man, or fae prince, to make her complete, but I do think that everyone needs someone who understands them on a deeper level and supports them in all that they do, which I believe Rowan does for her. Wow, I just have so many things to say about Aelin x Rowan.

♥ Manon Blackbeak and the witches: So I think I might need to take back what I said about them in my review of Heir of Fire. This is partially due to the HUGE amounts of change and development that Manon goes through from start to finish in this book, much more than in the last book. I have a lot of respect for Manon, especially regarding how she takes Elide under her wing, in a way, and how she FINALLY stands up to what’s going on in Morath. I am excited for what comes next with her story!

♥ Kaltain: SPEAKING OF MORATH holy hell I never thought that I would like Kaltain but damn. Maas definitely shocked me with her role in taking down the King of Adarlan.

♥  Rowan: As always, I love him. I will go down defending his perfection. I actually thoroughly enjoy the animalistic aspects of his character that come with him being Fae. I love getting to know him more!

♥  Chaol: I feel like there is a lot that needs to be addressed between him and Aelin and I wish that Maas gave more time to this relationship. I don’t think gives them the space to really talk out their past in order to move forward even more. That’s probably one of the only problems I have right now, just that I feel like Chaol’s story and his character was just kind of shoved onto the back burner now that Aedion and Rowan are on the map.

♥  Lysandra: She is shockingly wonderful; I feel like Maas did a great job developing her character. I think that I almost love Aelin the most when we see her interacting with her female friends. I support this friendship SO HARD.

♥  Arobynn: Didn’t see this coming, but damn did he deserve whatever came his way. I did really love having the people from Aelin’s court see her in her role as an assassin, though, during the time involving him!

Despite everything being so wildly different, and even with a larger war looming than they could have expected, I almost wanted to cry from happiness at the conclusion of this book. I think it gives us just a small glimpse of what is to come, and I can’t wait to see where this fantastic group of characters goes in the final two installments. I am overwhelmed with happiness and hope after finishing the final chapters in Queen of Shadows. Can it be fall 2016 yet?! I simply can not wait patiently.

Sarah J. Maas is such an amazing author. This story is told from interweaving perspectives which come together to form a rich narrative that enraptures me with every page.

If you, for some reason, still haven’t picked this series up, DO IT. You won’t regret it, I promise you.

Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars!