Queen of Shadows

Queen of Shadows is as blood thirsty as it's murderous characters. I can't get enough of the world Maas has created. This story is full of truly bad ass women, with chinks in their armour, but an unswerving ability to be kick ass. I wouldn't mess with Manon if my Wyvern depended on it! Told in parts, as with the previous book, Queen of Shadows shows us what each of our team are up to. Manon and the thirteen are up to nastiness of course. Am I the only one absolutely in love with Wyverns by the way? I know they're supposed to be all evil and whatever, but seriously, they are adorable. Fierce. But adorable. Maas does such a good job of demonstrating characters who are strong and do not yield, but who still have flashes of good natured humanity and this makes them perfectly imperfect to read about. The flawed, complex characters (and Wyverns!) are the most fun to read about and I can't wait for Manon to take a larger role in the next book - it feels like her story is just getting started. This story shows Aelin (Or Celaena, depending on your preference I guess) as she sets out into a trap. She must rescue her cousin, despite knowing the King has baited her with him, and she has three days to do so before he is beheaded. Which might not seem as bad as wearing one of those grim, life sucking, soul destroying collars like Prince Dorian has (I mean he has the worst Dad in the world right? Who does that?). But still, missing a head sucks. So Aelin needs help. And unfortunately that means she needs Arobynn Hamel - her former Master and number one guy she wants to rip apart piece by piece. She does have a flair for the dramatics after all. But bargaining with the King of being a massive two faced jerk isn't as simple as you might think. Especially when your initial mission was to murder him, and the King, rescue his son, Oh and save your Kingdom too! Who am kidding? You're four books deep in this story! You know the drill! I found, as with the previous books, that I really enjoyed reading about the secondary characters and the history as much as I liked reading about Aelin interacting with them; especially when they tied in to some of the back stories (and novellas) as some of the new characters in this book do. The world building and characterisation are so rich that I get instantly invested in them - especially the slightly broken, more intricate characters. Chaol was chief example of a slightly broken character who I loved previously, poor guy, but actually in this book he seemed less like Chaol and more like he was the dude wearing the collar and sunk into the background a bit - his character development changed in a dark way and I'm not sure I liked it. Maybe it's to help us adjust to the Rowan situation, which I liked, but his bitterness and inability to see the bigger picture was a bit too much for me sometimes. I'm all for a complex, grieving or challenging character but this didn't work for me after he had been such a logical character previously. Although his bromance with Dorian made up for that! This story so far has only improved for me, becoming more detailed and complex the further Celaena/Aelin goes. Each character has a unique bond with her, and with each other, and this is often lost in YA books - rather, the romance aspect just takes over. I've found this to be a refreshing change to be honest; it's incredibly rare for me to become attached to so many characters and that speaks volumes for the writing. Whilst there are flashes of romance, it never detracted from the story and I much preferred this approach (although I fully expect the next book to be a bit more full on!!). The plot remained action packed and had plenty to keep me intrigued - I'm looking forward to seeing how this is going to come together and to seeing Aelin rip her enemies a new face!

Queen of Shadows is one of the strongest books in the series: it has more action, important decisions, and great character development, especially for Aelin. The story feels intense and exciting, and leaves you eager to read the next books

Can I take a moment to just say how much I love Sarah J. Mass. Sarah J. Mass I seriously adore you. You are a Master. A Master of words which brings life to a story from the paper, a World Builder, making us believe in places we want to see with our own eyes. A Manipulator who makes us readers clutch your books with reverence and create characters with whom we hopelessly and shamelessly fall in love with. It was a tad bit slow in some chapters but overall it was fast paced. I loved the new characters. And the Old. The various twists and turns kept me glued to the pages. And of course, we can't forget about the action and adventure. I cried a lot. Especially in the chapters involving Sam. I laughed. I growled in frustration at some parts and smiled like an idiot at others. Being a ToG fan, I went into the book expecting to be blown away and Thank God, that is what happened. I wanted to know what happened to Dorian-was he alright after the incident in Heir of Fire. I was waiting for Celaena Sardothien to return one last time to wreak havoc in Adarlan. What was Chaol up to now? Was Aelin going to save her cousin Aedion of time? What was she going to do about magic? What was Manon Blackbeak and her hard on the outside and soft on the inside, Abraxos were doing in the mountains? What I was really hoping was for to know more about Ansel but sadly she was mentioned only once in the whole book considering even Lyssandra returned but also with magical powers of her own. And I will say it outright, Arobyn Hammel got what he deserved. There!!! Feels good to get it off my chest. And I am totally confused that Aelin goes from being in love with Choal to be now in love with Rowan. And I get it. But this pessimist side of mind keeps commenting like- Celaena/Aelin stop falling in love with every handsome man you meet. I know. I know. But seriously though I loved the Platonic part of their relationship in Heir of Fire and somehow I wouldn't have mind seeing it that way. And one more doubt that has been nagging at the back of mind when I finished the book was Sarah J. Mass how are you going to sort out the immortal/mortal age difference between Aelin and Rowan. And do I sense love budding between Manon and Dorian. If that does happen I don't know how you are going to pull it off. I am still in my book hangover mood.

I like the way the books were packed. The smell of the books. How fast they arrived.

Después de los eventos ocurridos en Heir of Fire, Aelin Galathynius está de vuelta en Adarlan. Pero ella tendrá que hacer más cosas de las que se esperaba en su regreso. DORIAN. DORIAN. DORIAN. Ese primer capítulo destrozó mi alma por completo. Luego, en su encuentro con Aelin y Aedion me dio tanta pena que no quisiese que Aelin supiese que él seguía de alguna forma dentro de su cuerpo sólo para que ella le matase y acabase con su dolor. Y cuando se acercaba a Manon para irritarla y que le matase ella sólo podía pensar “Dorian, aléjate de ese bicho YA”. De verdad espero que a la autora no se le ocurra juntarlos en los próximos libros porque Dorian es demasiado bueno para Manon. Y me da muchísima pena que lo hayan dejado solo en su castillo. Sé que mucha gente dice que el personaje de Aelin ha actuado de forma muy diferente en comparación con libros anteriores pero yo no lo veo del todo así. Ella ha cambiado, sí, pero con la gente que aprecia siempre ha sido igual. No olvidemos que es un personaje que no suele mostrar sus sentimientos pero sí su rabia. Me dio muchísimo miedo cuando Arobynn le puso el anillo, de verdad que me moría. Pero al final ella lo tenía todo bajo control. Aelin se pasa todo el tiempo haciendo cosas en secreto que ni el lector sabe y eso hace que haya tantos giros en este libro que el lector nunca se espera. También me pareció muy inteligente como usó el anillo que le tuvo que dar a Maeve en el libro anterior. No me gusta la relación que mantienen Rowan y Aelin en este libro. De repente tienen sentimientos el uno por el otro y no los veo como pareja. Además Rowan debería de pensar un poquito más con su cerebro. De verdad que quedaban mejor como amigos. Como he dicho otras veces, Chaol no me desagradó en Trono de Cristal pero le odié por completo en Corona de Medianoche y Heir of Fire. Para mí, a pesar de lo que opina mucha gente, este libro ha sido la redención de su personaje. Siempre estaba preocupado por salvar a su mejor amigo, aunque esto le lleva a hacer una locura en un determinado momento. También debo decir que le shippeo con Nesryn, un nuevo personaje del que me gustaría saber más ya que creo que no la llegamos a conocer a fondo en esta entrega. El rescate de Aedion fue una escena chulísima y llena de acción y tensión. Como ya dije en la reseña de Heir of Fire, Aedion es un personaje que me encanta, y lo sigue haciendo. Me encantó el momento de primos que tienen en casa de Aelin cuando se cuentan todas las cosas por las que han pasado desde que se separaron. También me daba muchísima pena que Aelin y Rowan nunca le tuviesen al tanto de la mayoría de las cosas. En este libro también descubrimos quién es su padre. Lysandra ha sido el personaje nuevo que más me ha gustado. De verdad que la adoro. Es una mujer fuerte y valiente a pesar de que no le gusta demasiado su vida. Su relación con Aelin me ha parecido absolutamente genial, dejan atrás el pasado que tenían juntas y se hacen mejores amigas. Me encantaron los regalos que Aelin le hizo. Y puede que espere que ella y Aedion tengan algo en los próximos libros. La trama de las brujas ha sido muy muy interesante. Ha sido curioso saber cómo se crearon las brujas y cómo tienen descendientes. Como me pasó también en Heir of Fire, los capítulos de Manon al principio me parecían aburridos pero después fui ganando interés en ellos. Elide me ha parecido un personaje que no estaba mal pero tampoco me ha parecido gran cosa. Eso sí, Kaltain ha estado demasiado increíble. Su personaje ha evolucionado muchísimo y realmente espero que siga viva después de lo que hizo. Me encanta como en ningún momento Aelin y Dorian se hacen daño porque esto mantiene mi teoría de que son almas gemelas. Además, ESE momento en el que se despiden y Aelin piensa que nunca imaginó que despedirse fuese tan doloroso, yo no podía con mi corazón. Por no decir que la descripción del amor que quiere Lysandra es la descripción que la autora vuelve a usar en la escena en la que Aelin y Dorian unen sus poderes y los llama dioses, DIOSES. Si oís a alguien gritar soy yo. Ya no voy a decir más, sólo que, por si nadie se había dado cuenta todavía, Trono de Cristal es mi saga favorita. Con Queen of Shadows Sarah J. Maas prepara lo que va a ser un final épico que yo no puedo esperar a leer.