Queen of Shadows Book Review

This book, you guys. This is that point in a series where shit hits the fan and it's beautiful. It almost feels like the series could end here, except for some teensy tiny details that haven't been resolved yet. But wow, this is a perfect example of a book series that just keeps on getting better. I've also been able to get tons of reading and YouTube and blogging done thanks to my free days for Easter and my test week, so I was just so nice and relaxed and comfy during these entire 648 pages.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

I loved this book even more than Crown of Midnight (I promise you'll get a review WHEN I reread it) and way more than Heir of Fire. Even though it didn't have the kind of character development for Celaena (Aelin) that HoF had, the other characters out-developed themselves and it was just beautiful. This was also a lot of battle and action and it was sexy. I'm normally quite content with YA books being the pure little Katniss' of my local library but this book series is pretty hot and has some interesting male counterparts. There are some slower points, but there's just always this underlying tension that makes even those parts worth the read. And, the most important, I can finally embark on a quest for all the beautiful ToG fan art without being spoiled!

Synopsis:
I can't really do this without spoiling your ass off, so here is the link to my review of the first book.

Rating:
5 wondrous stars
Current ranking:
1. Queen of Shadows
2. Crown of Midnight
3. Heir of Fire
4. Throne of Glass

The spoilers are coming.

This book is intense. Literally every step of the way had my biting my nails. Reading some chapters in bed I got so dragged in that I wanted my parents to come upstairs and turn on the light so I could cling to reality. And I love that. I finished it way faster than I expected to and it blew me away.

This book had the greatest plot twists of the four. Aelin is such a uninforming little sh!t. Arobynn's dinner was one of the scariest things I've ever read, legitimately, and when he put that ring on I was repressing the urge to throw my book on the floor. And it was like that all the time. Decent characters just tell you that they, at least, HAVE A PLAN and Aelin is just walking around all smug and I never have any idea what she's planning. Which made this whole thing that more awesome.

Another one of my favorite parts was Manon fighting her and Aelin saving the witch. I ship them as friends so much. And I ship Manon and Dorian a lot, but we'll get to that later. Manon had more than just the Witch Killer on her mind when she warned her.

Dorian broke my heart. He's trapped inside this demon for the majority of the book and he's forced to see all these terrible things and I felt so bad for him. And when he's finally out of there, THEY LEAVE HIM. Alone. In a castle. While Lord Voldedemon sits nice and comfy in his mountain. No. That's so unfair.

Oh, here's a brief status update on my thoughts on all the ships in the series.
Dorian: If someone puts the fire out, it can be saved.

Choal: Speaks for itself. Sorry, hun.

Rowan: I feel like there's a threat I'm not seeing, since we still have two books to go.

Aedion: I don't think this ever romantically existed.

Choal will be happy with Nesryn (who I like). I'm sad he's going somewhere ALONE AND WITHOUT PROTECTION. If I were one of these characters I would NEVER EVER allow anyone to leave anywhere on their own. THIS IS F_CKING WESTEROS WE ARE NOT INDEPENDENT WE ARE A HOARD OF SHEEP AND STICK TOGETHER. I didn't cry when he 'died', though. Not because my Choal love has faded (I was pissed with him, but it stuck), but because I was happy he had accepted Dorian and Aelin. Also, Dorian and Choal are the most perfect bromance ever and I dare you to argue with me.

Again, we met quite some new characters including Lysandra. That girl is the most bad ass friend and a perfect match for Aelin (oh the name took so much getting used to) and I love her.

So at the end of this book, I'm going to be honest with you, I felt some end of series vibes. 

Enemy dead.

Couples together.

Kingdom claimed.

Epic battle happened.

Mean guy from childhood dealt with.

It felt pretty final, except for Edilien or whatever and her struggle to bring an unknown object to someone with multiple names (this is why we don't do that) and Voldedemon having survived and building his army. Oh, and bitchy fairy queen wanting to murder everyone.

Also, you know what this series needs? An encyclopedia. It took my about half the book to realize that Edeline was the daughter of Nurse Lady previously mentioned in HoF. It also took me ten minutes to remember what Elena's husband What's His Name had to do with the Dark Demon. You cannot possibly expect my poor brain to salvage all this information. That's cruel.

Manon's narrative annoyed me in this book, whereas in Heir of Fire, I occasionally liked it better than Celaena's story line. I guess there was so much going on in Rifthold this time that I wasn't to occupied with Morath, but that doesn't keep me from being super curious as to what will happen to the Thirteen. And it's still so cute to see Manon developing remotely human emotions and having no clue whatsoever what to do with them.