Title: Queen of Shadows
Author: Sarah J Maas
Publisher/Year: Bloomsbury USA 9/6/16
Length:   561 Pages
Series:  Throne of Glass #4

Overview

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 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.

My Thoughts

Honestly, i don’t think that there’s any way to make this series better.  This third installment has taken us to such an amazing place that i feel like we’ve really set the stage for something amazing since we’ve overcome so much with our characters, yet there’s still so much that’s going to happen that we have no idea who’s going to be left when it ends.

Where we were left off in the last book is where Aelin knows what she has to become and what she has to do, and hopefully she has the power to do it.  Interestingly enough, she’s going to find herself joining forces with some folks that she never would have considered before, and hopefully at the same time restore some of her friendships that were so broken because of lies and just because of who they are.

Just like we had in book 2, we have parallel stories happening here – but it’s a bit less clear since the stories are starting to merge.  We have Aelin’s story, we have Manon again, and then we see glimpses of Dorian and the Val Prince that’s taken over his body.

So in this 3rd book, we see Aelin finding herself with strengthening power through the tutelage of Rowan, a Fae warrior who’s taken the blood oath to Maeve – queen of the Fae.  Rowan pushes Aelin so far beyond what she ever thought was possible, just to get her to control her powers and learn the secrets that have been hidden from her and the world for 10 years.  The things that she learns from Maeve and even from Rowan cause her to question everything and wonder who’s side everyone’s truly on.  The bond that we see develop though between the two makes you wonder what will become of it since it seems like there’s more than just the love hate of mentor/mentee but who knows.

Then there’s the witches – Manon has to work to gain the lead position that should be rightly hers of all witches, all at the request of the King of Adarlan – meaning that his dark plans are going to take shape through the help of the immortal witches.  Whats nice about her story in this book is that we see that there’s more to Manon than we initially knew and that she’s forced to battle herself quite a bit, not just battle her coven because of questions that she’s forced to ask regarding her coven, her history and what’s being asked of the witches by the King and the Duke.

Then there’s the bits with Dorian.  We see his story with Choal and Aedion grow while they are all still together – we see that they want to do something to gain power back from his father, yet they know that there’s a dark power that he has that will make it impossible.  Dorian tries to stand his ground but that comes at a price – especially when he is forced to use his magic and that means that things will end badly.  We see a love lost, and it’s really a breaking point for these guys.

So – it’s quite a long book and i can’t get into all the amazing story lines, but what we see is a reappearance of Arobbyn, and we see that Aelin is so beyond hatred for him, that it’s more like a game at how this is being played and how it will end.  We see that there’s an interesting twist in a story with Clarisse – the ‘madaam’ of sorts, and her core worker.  Aelin finds out a few things that truly change the story a bit.

Then there’s Choal, Aedion, a girl named Elide who’s from Terrasen but who we don’t fully know enough about, and there’s everyone else.  There are a million questions about what the motivation is of the King with the rings and the collars and the Val Princes, and we have to wonder if he’s really the force of power or if there’s someone else pulling strings.

There’s so much death and destruction, so much that’s going to change the face of things as we go into the next installment – people are dead.  Lands are in ruin – and i think that there’s still a HUGE question as to who will survive and who has survived and what the new towers are going to bring.  I absolutely can’t wait for the next book  but i’m sure i have to be very patient.  Enjoy!