// book review + discussion: queen of shadows by sarah j. maas

Title: Queen of Shadows, (Throne of Glass, #4)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication: 1st of September 2015 by Bloomsbury USA Children's
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 656 pages 

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Synopsis: 

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 will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. 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.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

Review: 

Before anything else, massive thank you to Raquel and to Bloomsbury for giving me the UK edition of this one <333

This review will be free of spoilers for Queen of Shadows but may include spoilers for the earlier books in the series. Okay, so I had mixed feelings towards reading this book. After a year of being deprived of my beloved Throne of Glass characters, I was dying to get my hands on it and start reading. But at the same time I was also dreading it because I had a feeling something bad was going to happen to my favourite characters. I am a massive Chaolaena shipper so you could imagine how anxious I was in having to read about Rowaelin.

I loved this book but I was also quite disappointed with it. Queen of Shadows is more plot-driven than it is about its characters. To the point that I felt there was very little character development. I couldn't get why Aelin/Celaena was hell bent on hating on Chaol and why she keeps on blaming him for every single bad thing that happens. I was also annoyed on how reliant on Rowan Aelin has become. She was literally looking for him all the time, kept on telling us how much she misses him and needs him. It was like a school girl crush. And I wanted to smack her because SHE. IS. A. BADASS. ASSASSIN. QUEEN who doesn't need no man to get things done. Another thing that doesn't add up is why she's so pressed on burying Celaena Sardothien when that girl is a part of her. She should actually be proud because that girl endured and survived a lot of things even if she doesnt even know she had fae powers yet. Despite the many things about her that annoyed me in this book, I will always admire her loyalty to her friends. She is one of the most loyal people when it comes to her friends. She looks out for them and will cut you if you mess with them. In QOS, she finds a new female companionship and I'm very glad she's found her.

Another thing I couldn't get at all is why Sarah turned Chaol into an asshole (pardon my language!) This was not the Chaol that she introduced into the first two books of the series. Like I do understand that Chaol/Celaena is over but I don't get why she needed to destroy Chaol's character to give way for the new ship. They could've ended things in a good way and not make the two hate each other to death (I mean they did have feelings for each other before) I also felt like we get little Chaol on this book and I wanted to read more about him so yes I was disappointed. I sympathised and felt for him because he suffered through so much here and I just wanted to give him a hug.

With Rowan, I tried not to roll my eyes a lot whenever he comes in the scene because I wouldnt be able to fully enjoy this book if I did that. I liked how he will do whatever he can to protect Aelin but what I didnt like was how at some parts of the book I felt like he was baby-ing Aelin. Like seriously, she survived seventeen years without you and she just managed fine, I'm sure she can handle things by herself. Like she wouldnt be alive till now if she wasn't good at what she's doing. He was also supposed to be the more understanding one when it comes to her but there was a part in the book where he was saying that this wasn't Aelin this was "Celaena" and that he couldn't reach her and hated it so I was like....... Although, I do have to admit there were certain parts I was swooning because of the things he was saying to Aelin. 

I also found the new characters introduced to this book really interesting. I can't wait to read more about them because their storyline is very intriguing. I just hope there just isn't too much characters introduced to the book to the point that we will get very little of the original characters we hold dear to our heart. 

My overall rating for this book is three stars and I'll most likely still read Throne of Glass 5. 

Have you read Queen of Shadows yet? How do you feel about it? Did you enjoy it? What rating did you give it?