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Friday, April 21, 2017

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Hardcover: 648 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release date: September 1st, 2015

Series:  Throne of Glass #4

Source: 

Reviewed by: 

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

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.

Celaena Sardothien aka Aelin Galathynius has been through a lot, especially for someone so young, but her troubles are far from being over. She met and bonded with her precious Rowan during her oversea quest, but now she's back to Ardalan, on her own and needs to learn to fight without her magic powers once more. Her mission is quite simply, retrieve her cousin Aedion from the execution block, free magic, kill the King and free (or kill if it comes to this) Dorian. Easy peasy!

I loved this series and it's been a very long time since I've read the previous books, and I must say, my lack of memory was my worst enemy when reading this book. All through the novel Maas refers to past events or previous characters and while it 'rings a bell' she didn't provide enough information to really remind me what she was referring too. It was very frustrating to KNOW I should remember something, but not have a clue. Keltain and Elide were to two most frustrating characters for me for that reason, because I had no idea who they were! After searching online I found that Keltain was rich self-serving b*tch from book one (and dear lord did she change!) and Elide was the daughter of a maid who helped protect Aelin as a child. Maas did not provide enough details in Queen of Shadows for me to remember them while reading. Did you have the same problem? It might just be me...

I have really mixed feelings about the installment. I read it pretty fast because it's full of suspense and fairly action-packed, keeping a fast pace despite this book being so long (almost 600 pages!) but some parts of the plot seemed impossible. The whole book Aelin sets out on her own doing god-knows-what and later on surprises us with a certain plot twist and we are suppose to believe she plotted the whole things days / weeks before. It made things interesting, but didn't seem plausible.

On the other hand, we got to know Lysandra really well and she was truly a star for me. I learned to hate her in the previous novels but it turns out it was all an act and she is beyond awesome! I really enjoyed her company and her witty lines. We was a happy surprise! As was Nesryn, a rebel solider with wicked bow skills and she's Chaol's second-in-command.

I wasn't a fan of Manon (a witch) at all, and her chapter bored me at first, but she grew on me has she finally showed a bit of balls toward the end of the book and I am really curious about her future role in the final battle. She is currently fighting on the side of evil, but shows signs of redemption. Who knows where it will lead her!

Overall, I'm still in love with the series and plan to read the fifth installment (Empire of Storms) very soon. The events of Queen of Shadows are game changers and I'm really anxious to know what comes next. If you haven't tried this series, I would recommend starting with the novellas (Would can find them bound in a single book titled The Assassin's Blade or purchase 'em individually for e-readers) has the events taking place in those are crucial.

Happy reading!

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

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