Spoilery Book Reviews

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

Back of the book

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 smouldering passion that might very well consume her heart. And she will face her former master, the King of Assassins, again – to wreak revenge for a decade of pain...

My thoughts

This might be my favourite book yet (of this series). There's no time to catch your breath, constant events happening, coming at us from all sides. I love Aelin in this, showing her brutal side we are always told about, fighting with everything she's got for her birthright kingdom. The mastermind planning is also enjoyable. Some of it is convenient, but it makes sense and all elements of the plans have been foreshadowed so I can't fault it.

Things I loved:

· Elide is another fantastic character addition to this story.

· The previous book dragged but in this novel every page and chapter felt worthwhile.

· Manon's storyline and the arc she is going through, discovering herself and her values despite her upbringing and grandmothers pressure.

Things I disliked:

· Fae territorial stuff gets a little annoying.

· Rehashing to new characters the whole previous story gets a bit tiring, but it's done in the shortest way possible which is a relief.

· Aelin and Rowan denying each other for the sake of building tension with flimsy excuses as to why it's not the right time. In the past her reasoning with Dorian and Chaol made sense but this time I'm not buying it.

· Name epiphanies: "It wasn't Aelin, but the Queen."

· Themes feel overused and repetitive

More on the Fae: the territoriality bothers me. In every way Fae are written as familiar humans, apart from this snarling protectiveness which should be a huge red flag, but in Fae is just a 'thing' that Aelin scoffs at and brushes off every time. I wish this behaviour had been shown in some other characters a little more, or introduced a bit earlier, so it felt more natural instead of a plot device to cause tension between Aedion and Rowan. It is the sole reason they can't get along, when Aedion being upset about the blood oath seems like a more genuine reason. Thankfully the tension is short lived and they realise they are on the same side.

In conclusion, I read this book too long ago to summarise how I felt about it and have simply edited the notes I already had using the basic knowledge of events that still resides in my brain. Expect this for the rest of the reviews for this series.