[Book Review] Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

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.

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Warning: this is the fourth (fifth, if you include the novellas) so there may be spoilers about the past books in the Throne of Glass series. Please read with caution.  

"She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown was hers by blood and survival and triumph."

Re-reading this book was an interesting one for me. When I read it for the first (and only other) time I was bitter about the fact that Aelin and Rowan started to transition from friends to lovers. Although, yes, I did like her with Chaol in the beginning of the story, this wasn't the reason I felt so bitter about it. I actually think too much has happened between them for them to be romantically involved with each other. However, I really enjoyed  Rowan and Aelin's friendship in Heir of Fire. They bickered and fought like siblings but they obviously grew to care about each other. But it was obviously not romantic and often Aelin would clarify that she didn't see Rowan like that, even if he was good looking. So when they reunite in Qos I was honestly annoyed with how fast they went into wanting to be together. I assume since Maas turns this young adult fantasy series into a new adult fantasy series she needed a romantic interest for Aelin, but  I honestly wasn't a fan of that transition. 

Now, although I said I preferred them as friends, which is completely true, the romantic moments between them were touching. And comical. I think this is a result of good writing but I found their romantic moments, especially the nightgown ones, to be funny and heartfelt. So even if I would definitely change it for them to have stayed as friends, I don't hate their relationship. I feel like I loved their friendship so much because of how natural and sweet it was to see such a nice non-romantic bond between a girl and guy character. It is something we don't see often, especially YA fantasy. 

The characters are some of my favorite parts of this story overall. I love how the gang comes together throughout the story and the things they collectively go through definitely brings them together as a strong unit. This goes for both Aelin's team and Manon's Thirteen. I wouldn't mind getting to know more of the Thirteen, but I really liked what we got from Asterin and Sorrel. Lysandra and Chaol are by far my two favorite characters in this series, and I am really excited to see what happens next with them specifically. I know we don't see Chaol until Tower of Dawn, which is the one after Empire of Storms. But I am excited to see more of Lysandra in Empire of Storms. I don't remember a lot from EoS and it was the last one I read so it's kind of like I'm going in completely new, which is exciting because it's like  I have three brand new Throne of Glass stories ahead of me. 

 "'What if we go on, only to more pain and despair? What if we go on, only to find a horrible end waiting for us?'

'Then it is not the end.'"

My favorite relationships formed in this series is the friendships. Chaol's loyalty to Dorian and even the friendships of Alien/Lysandra & Rowan/Aedion were really great to read about. Especially Aelin and Lysandra. After the absence left behind after Nehemia's death, I think it was really nice to see Aelin have another girl friendship. I think a lot of Aelin's life has been in isolation, not being able to trust anyone and needing to only protect herself. And now she has this team behind her and I am really excited to see what they do together.

One thing I find interesting is that when I first read QoS I thought Chaol's characterization was off, but reading it this time I could partially see where his motivations and actions following Aelin's return. I understood his hesitation about the idea of freeing magic because he was worried what that would mean for the future of humans, who are powerless in comparison. But I do think his character development is one of the best in this series. I definitely do not think his worries, bitterness, and hurt feelings were out of character for Chaol, but what was out of character for him was how he handled those emotions. He flung accusations at Aelin easily without much remorse, he treated her like the enemy even if he knew who she was since the end of Crown of Midnight. Despite them having zero scenes together in Heir of Fire, he thought of her often and missed her. He was unsure of the future of their friendship but he missed her and was hopeful. So how did those feelings leave so suddenly? They barely talk about their relationship or friendship until the end but they're so aggressive to each other the whole time. I didn't blame Aelin for being defensive and hurt in a lot of the scenes between her and Chaol. But I also didn't blame Chaol for being angry at Aelin for giving up so easily on Dorian so quickly. Despite what she went through in HoF, Dorian is one of her closest friends. I don't even particularly like Dorian and I felt bad for him. Like I said earlier, I love Chaol's loyalty to Dorian.

The plot definitely has moments of action and fighting but it also has it's slower paced moments. The book is 650+ pages long and sure, some of the chunks are more character driven. I prefer character driven books so I didn't have any problems with the extra, for lack of a better world, fluff.  One thing I definitely dislike about this series going forward from this book is a theme that comes out way too often for my liking, which is the overprotective Fae domineering, overprotective crap Rowan and Aedion pull when it comes to Aelin. Although she definitely puts them in their place often, I get so annoyed with it overall. They underestimate her while also saying she'd be a great queen. It's like they didn't fully believe in her despite every moment of her proving them wrong not only with her strength but with her intellect. 

"Ten years of shadows, but no longer. Light up the darkness, Majesty." 

This is something I think can be an unpopular opinion when it comes to Maas in general. But I love her writing style so much. The dialogue and bond between the characters are strong, the atmospheric writing is elegant full of beautiful landscape imagery, and I find her words to not only be poetic but powerful. However, at the same time the lack of diversity in her series is definitely a flaw in her writing and it's become a joke in the young adult book community. While listening to the audiobook I did notice a few descriptions of dark skin I otherwise overlooked while reading the first time but often those characters were small blips in the grand scheme of the story. Very often any prominent character that is POC ends up being killed to advance Aelin's storyline and we all know that isn't something we want in our stories. I find a lot of Maas's messages to be strong and powerful feminist messages, I just wish that those messages included a more diverse cast. I wish there was more inclusion so we could empower more women. 

Overall, I do recommend this book series. I think it's honestly a lot of fun and really easy to devour. I find the series to be addicting and hard to put down. I think it can be empowering to read as a woman, but I also caution that the feminism in this story can be limited depending on who you are, unfortunately. It could be hard to see yourself in the story if you're not a white, cis, straight, woman. If I could change anything about this series, it would be the lack of diversity because I think women of all ethnicities and backgrounds  should be able to see themselves in the badass moments this series is filled with.

"Let's go rattle the stars."

 Thanks for reading!