Book Review: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

This synopsis contains spoilers for the previous books in the series.

In the fourth installation of the Throne of Glass series, Celaena Sardothien, who has now embraced her title of Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen, returns to the kingdom of Adarlan to deal with her past and fight for her country.

Overall this book was really great (even though it took me a while to read). It has become my second favourite book in the series next to the first novel. Characters changed, new ones were introduced, ships sank and battles were fought. I would recommend reading The Assassin's Blade before you read this because it has connections to the novella woven in, and it gives the story more depth.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Spoilers ahead.

Some of my favourite parts of this book were the epic battle scenes, specifically the one between Manon and Aelin. I was glad that we the two characters met, and I thought the fight between them was amazing and well written. I also enjoyed the final battle at the castle with the King of Adarlan, Dorian and Aelin. Magic was freed (finally), Dorian became himself again (mostly) and the King died. But as it turns out, he might have just been a chess piece in a bigger plan, Erawan might just be Perrington. I also loved how Aelin and Dorian's magic worked together seamlessly. 

Manon's chapters also got more interesting. She's starting to become more "human", and tensions seem to be rising between and her grandmother. The scene where she fled Morath while Kaltain burnt it to the ground. I think it will be interesting to see where her character will go in the next books.

Another one of my favourite parts of the book was when Aelin was planning to kill Arobynn. The dinner, Aelin playing up Celaena's character, the part where I thought she was under Arobynn's control, the extreme scheming, everything about that part of the book was just great.

Finally, can we just talk about the characters and their relationships? Aelin's character certainly changed quite a bit, maybe to the extent of it being a bit unrealistic. She and Chaol have both changed so much that I think we've come to the conclusion that that ship has sunk. A relationship between Aelin and Rowan seems to be building though, which I'm fine with this, but I don't love them. After reading about her and Sam in The Assassin's Blade, I just don't think that Aelin and Rowan's relationship is as great. The one relationship that I absolutely loved though was Aelin and Lysandra's! I love that we got an amazing friendship between two female characters, something that I think we need to see more in the YA genre.

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

In the prequel to Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, we learn more about notorious assassin, Celaena Sardothien's, dirty past. The Assassin's Blade consists of five intertwining short stories, all featuring the world's finest assassin. 

Celaena works for Arobynn Hamel, who gave her a place at the Assassin's Guild many years before. Since then she has become his protégé, and the worlds best assassin. In these novellas we follow Celaena as she travels far and wide on assignments for Arobynn, along with what happened leading up to her capture and enslavement in Endovier. 

Rate: 4.5/5 stars 

I decided to pick this up since Queen of Shadows (book four of six) is coming out this fall, and I wanted to read it before then. Also, I heard that some characters in this book will be showing up in Queen of Shadows, so I though it would be a good idea to read this before it comes out. I really enjoyed these short-story-prequels, and that's saying something, because I'm not a huge fan of short stories. I thought each novella was great (although The Assassin and the Healer was lacking a bit for me)! I loved how they each had their own storyline, but were all part of one big story. As per usual, there was lots of action, and great writing! I highly suggest that you pick this book up if you are a fan of the series. And if you haven't started reading this series yet, get on it!

SPOILERS AHEAD.

First off, let's talk a bit about the first novella, The Assassin and the Pirate Lord. We got to see a bit of Celaena's softer side in this novella. We saw that she does actually have a heart, and isn't just a cold, hard killing machine. I thought that it was great that she freed the slaves, even when it was against her orders, and I thought that it was great that Sam joined in. I really love when Celaena does things like that for the good.

The Assassin and the Healer was lacking for me as I mentioned above. It was still good, but I enjoyed the others far more. I didn't care too much for Yrene, and it was a bit boring compared to the other stories.

Next was The Assassin and the Dessert. I liked how we got to see that there was more than one place for assassins, and it was interesting to see the stark difference between the two keeps. I was not expecting that betrayal from Ansel. But it just made the story just that more interesting. I did like their friendship while it lasted though. I think that it was good for Celaena to have a friend of the same gender. And you could tell that she definitely still cared for Ansel at the end.

Fourth was The Assassin and the Underworld. This one was quite good, my second favourite actually. We began to see just how treacherous Arobynn could be. I loved the storyline of this one, it had lots of action (which you may have noticed is what I love in a book)! The scene where Celaena was trapped in the sewer was probably my favourite. I was really glad Sam showed up to save her (and they finally became a thing! I was waiting for that the whole book!). But the worst part was when Celaena realized that the person she was hired was actually working for the rebellion and not against it. And just think, this was only the beginning of Arobynn's horribleness.

The fifth and final novella was The Assassin and the Empire, my personal favourite. The action, the romance, the betrayal, it was all great (and horribly sad). Sam's death, although we knew it was coming, was just horrendous. I felt so bad for Celaena. And then she finds out that his death and her capture was all a plan set up by Arobynn, making it even worse. But this novella was still so amazing. I just loved it because of all the tragedy, that's what made it so good. 

Overall these novellas were great! I can't wait for Queen of Shadows to come out in the fall! 

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

***The following synopsis and summary contain spoilers for Throne of Glass and Crown of  Midnight.***

When Celaena Sardothien is sent off to Wendlyn, the King of Adarlan expects her to kill off the royal family. But Celaena has other plans, plans the king wouldn't be happy about. Maeve, the immortal Fae Queen, has agreed to give Celaena answers about the Wyrdkeys and help take down the king, but for a price. When Celaena deals with the darkness of her past and guilt, she doesn't know if she'll be able to take fulfil her deed to the queen, let alone take her place at the throne of Terrasen.

Rate: 4.5 stars

Wow. This series just keeps building and building. Even though I didn't like this book quite as much as the last two (don't get me wrong, I still really liked it), it did a lot of building for the next three books. I'm so excited to see how everything plays out. In this book, we are introduced to new characters and we got to see the world through their eyes. It'll be interesting to see how they will play into the next books.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Okay, I've decided that I'm going to do this review in three parts. One for Celaena and her adventures in Wendlyn, one for Dorian, Choal, Adeion and Sorscha back at the castle and one for Manon and the other witches.

Part One

Let's start with Celaena. She was brought to Mistward by Rowan. Even though he was harsh at first, Rowan turned out to be a good friend for Celaena. He'd had his fare share of hardships as well and was able to relate to Celaena's misery and guilt. And that whole carranam thing is pretty interesting, I thought Celaena and Rowan would end up as carranam.

In this instalment, we got to see that Celaena wasn't better than everyone at everything. She had to learn to control her magic, and she struggled for once. The Fae seem to have really cool powers, Celaena can control fire (it seems that they can control some sort of element), they have heightened senses, they can switch in between their Fae form and an animal form, the list goes on and on. But once Celaena learned to control her magic, she became even more deadly than before.

Celaena really developed as a character, in the first book, she only did things for herself and those who she thought she owed something too. In this book, she finally decided to come back as Aelin, the Queen of Terrasen. Imagine the king's reaction to finding out that the assassin he hired is the Queen of Terrasen.

We got see a bit more of Celaena's past in this book as well. I liked the scene from her memories were she met young Dorian and offered to be his friend. But the rest was horrible. We saw that the king manipulated her powers when he visited Terrasen when Celaena was young. Then we saw the night of her parents death, she climbed into their bed without knowing they were already dead. After we got to look into the memory of the night Celaena escaped her own assassination and was found by Arobynn. Then she figured out that the necklace that was given to her by her parents was a Wyrdkey and that Arobynn most likely has it.

Now, the ending was the best part. We had the battle with the Valg at Mistward, which was pretty awesome. We learned that the Valg we being put into bodies of demi-Fae (that was pretty cruel). Then Celaena made Maeve release Rowan (that ring she gave her must have been important, otherwise, I don't think she would have let Rowan go). She really was horrible, wasn't she? Then we learned of Celaena's plan to return to Adarlan to find her old master, Arobynn so she could get her necklace/Wyrdkey back. Then she will gather the rest of her court and build an army to fight.

Part Two

The next part of this review is dedicated to Dorian, Chaol, Adeion, Sorscha and everybody else at the castle.

We were introduced to some new characters; Aedion, the General of the North and cousin of Aelin  and some of his friends; and Sorscha, a healer at the castle. Immediately we were lead to believe that Aedion was a traitorous jerk. But we later discovered that he was not in fact working for the king, but for Terrasen. He turned out to be fiercely loyal to Aelin. I can't wait for the two childhood friends to meet again.

As soon as Sorscha met Dorian in this book, I knew they would end up seeing each other. She did turn out to be a nice person and was kind and brave enough to help Dorian learn to control his magic. What I was not expecting though, was her death at the end of the book.

In this book Dorian, Aedion and Chaol figured out how the King of Adarlan banned magic. He built three towers made of this special stone (Wyrdstone, maybe?), and a spell was sent out from each tower freezing magic in between the towers. I thought that was a really cool concept. I hope that in the next book, a tower is nocked down so magic can return. That would give both sides advantages in the war though. But hopefully it would give Celaena's side more power.

Again, the ending was the best. Aedion, Chaol, Dorian and Sorscha were called down to see the king. He figured out what was going on. He killed Sorscha (I wasn't too, too sad about that, we only just got to know her), and almost Chaol. Dorian saved Chaol with his magic, thank goodness. But now Dorian has one of those Wyrdstone collars on him, allowing the king to control him. I really hope that that will be fixed in the next book. Thankfully Chaol was able to get away though.

Part Three

Manon and the witches were a nice addition to the story. We got a look into what the king was planning for the war. And the gathering and training of the witches and wyverns was only part of it. The witches were really vicious and competitive. They were always trying to outdo the other clans, even if it meant death. They were raised as killers.

Now, I wasn't surprised when Abraxos was able to take over Titus and I wasn't surprised when Manon chose him. I liked how we had an underdog story woven in. The witches weren't supposed to have a heart, but I could see that Abraxos started to make Manon care. I mean she stood up for him after all. Then she tried to save one of the other witches, from another clan, we she began to fall. That doesn't look heartless to me. 

Manon can't be that bad. Will she realize that what the king is doing is wrong? Will she fight for the king, or will she switch sides? And how will their lost kingdom play in?

It was also mentioned that the men that were there to instruct the witches and wyverns tasted funny. I wonder why. How will that play out?

Like I said in my review of Crown of Midnight, this series is going to be huge. This book was just a building block compared to the whole story. I can't wait to see what will happen next!

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

***The following synopsis and summary contain spoilers for Throne of Glass.***

In the sequel to Throne of Glass, Celaena has become the King's Assassin. She must kill to win her freedom. But as much as Celaena wants freedom, she doesn't want to be used by the King and she doesn't want to kill those who do not deserve to be killed. With every death Celaena fakes she puts not only herself at risk, but her loved ones.

Celaena finds herself holding the fate of a kingdom in her hands and she will have to face darker forces than the King of Adarlan to bring justice to Erilea.

Rate: 5 stars

Crown of Midnight being the second book in the Throne of Glass series, I wouldn't recommend reading this review if you haven't started the series yet. And trust me you should start the series, especially if you like action-packed fantasies. Anyways, the second book was pretty good, although I do favour Throne of Glass. There were many twist and turns in this instalment. There is so much potential for the next books in the series, and so many ways the books could go. 

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Like I said above, there were so many surprises in this book. First off, Dorian has magic! How does that work? I mean magic had been banned for ten years. If the King ever figured out about what Dorian can do, let's just say it wouldn't be good. I was also great that Dorian started to stand up to his father. If he could some how get rid of his father and take the throne, Erilea would be so much better off.

Then we had Nehemia's death. I was really unhappy about her death, I loved her as a character, and she was a great friend to Celaena. We found out that Grave, one of the contestants in the tournament in the last book, was hired to kill Nehemia. And of course Celaena killed him. We were lead to believe that Minister Mullison had hired Nehemia at first. But we later learned that it was in fact Archer who hired Grave, and that Nehemia might have just set it all up knowing her death would impact Celaena more than her life. I just can't believe that Nehemia would set up her own death. It was a very noble thing to do.

Later we learned that Celaena was Fae and the the lost Queen of Terrasen! She might just be able to take down the King of Adarlan if she plays everything right. She could have so much power. It makes sense now why her family was killed when she was young. Although we did learn a little bit more of Celaena's (or should I say Aelin's) past, I would still like to know more. 

And now Celaena is off to Wendlyn to kill of the King and the Prince. If she could gather followers, take back the throne of Terrasen and join up with Wendlyn and the remaining Fae, she could, just maybe, take on the King of Adarlan. Oh, and she might have to find a Wyrd Key as well, will one be in Wendlyn? The King already has so much power with one (or maybe two?), Celaena will have to find one. We also saw some of the things that the King was up to. What was with that creature under the castle? He must have made it with magic.

Oh, and I almost forgot about Chaol. He'l be returning home to Anielle with his father since his father supported him when he suggested that Celaena go to Wendlyn. What will happen there? Will he go after Celaena in Wendlyn? I wouldn't be surprised if he did because of what happened between them (they're still together, right?). And what will happen to Dorian back at the castle? How will the next book play out? There are so many possibilities for Heir of Fire. I'm glad that the author isn't squishing everything into three books. It's good that she is taking time to let everything play out in six books. I'm really excited for this series! It's going to be huge.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Celaena Sardothien is the best assassin in all the land. But, she got caught. She is sent to the salt mines of Endovier, where she will serve a life time sentence, or so she thought... After a year in Endovier, she is presented a deal; the king is looking for an assassin and is holding a tournament in which the best thieves, warriors and assassins will compete in. If Celeana represents the Prince in the tournament, and wins, she will serve the king for four years then she will be free.

Celaena agrees to compete in the competition, hoping for freedom. But during the competition, something starts killing of the contestants one by one. It is left up to Celaena to figure out what is going on. Will she be able to win the competition? Will she be able to figure out what is killing off the competition before it kills her?

Rate: 5 stars

I am really glad that I picked this book up, it's now one of my favourites. I went into this book with high expectations and I wasn't disappointed at all. The characters and plot were great. The love triangle was actually done well. It had great world building. I'm really excited for this series, it seems quite promising. And I'm quite glad that there are six books, most books are made into trilogies. I would recommend this to any fantasy fan, or just anybody who reads. If you don't normally read fantasy, this is a good place to start, it's a great introduction to the genre.

SPOILERS ahead.

Right off the bat, we can see that Celaena is quite the talented assassin, as well as a smart mouth. I like how she is such a strong female lead and how she stands up for herself. She says what she thinks, no matter who she is talking too. It was also interesting to see the girly-er side of Celaena, you wouldn't think an assasssin would be too girly. I also liked how Celaena was always making plans to escape, plans to kill. That's how I thought an assassin would think. Even though the book was written in third person, Sarah J. Maas did a good job on showing what each character was thinking. 

Speaking of the characters, I liked how we got to see not only through Celaena's point of view, but Dorian's, Chaol's and Kaltain's. This part was done really well. We got to see what Dorian, Choal and Kaltain thought of Celaena as the book progressed. 

The characters in this book were great, although I hated some of them. But they were those characters that you loved to hate. I really hated Kaltain and Cain. They both reminded me of different types of people you would see in the real world today. Cain was such an arrogant jerk, I'm surprised Celaena didn't kill him herself after winning the battle. And Kaltain really irked me. She was willing to do anything to get to the throne, including poisoning Celaena when she thought she was in the way.

Now there were also some good characters in this book. I really liked Nehemia, she was a great friend to Celaena. I find in some books these days, the main female role doesn't have a close friend (i.e. The Hunger Games or Legend). Nehemia was loyal, kind, caring and brave. I'm glad she was put into the book, Celaena needed someone like that. Then we had the Prince, Dorian and Chaol, the Captain of the Royal Guard. These two were also great characters. I was glad that Dorian didn't turn out to be like his father or some spoiled Prince. The tension between him and his father was noticeable within the first 50 pages, and we could tell that not only did he not get along with his father, but he didn't really fit in with the rest of the royalty. I loved the banter between Celaena and him. Chaol on the other hand was more refined. I hope we get to see more of his true character in the next book. But in this book, we did see that he did truly care about Celaena, even when she was with Dorian. And I was really happy when he killed Cain when he went after Celaena after she won the final duel.

Now let's talk about the tournament, the whole reason Celaena came to the castle. Celaena had to change her name and hold back during training and the Tests in order to draw little attention to herself (although, people did eventually figure out who she was). I thought the tests were quite cool, my favourite was probably when the Champions had to scale the castle wall. I thought that it was very noble of Celaena when she caught Nox when he fell instead of getting first place. Another one of my favourite parts was when she went up against Verin, disarmed him, and nocked him to the ground, without a weapon.

As the tournament was going on, contestants were being killed off one by one. At first Celaena thought it was Cain, then Nehemia as she was acting oddly, but in the end, it turned out to be Cain. As soon as Celaena mentioned that Cain had gained even more muscle, I knew he was the one killing the contestants off, as before it was mentioned that whoever was using the ridderak to kill the contestants gained their strength. The whole thing with the Wyrdmarks was kind of weird.It'll be interesting to see how they play out in the next book. I was also wondering why Cain hadn't gone after Celaena first since he hated her so much, but we later learned that Nehemia was preventing that from happening.

Now, the final battle between Cain and Celaena was awesome. I was afraid that Celaena wasn't going to win for a bit, since Kaltain poisoned her. And it was a bit confusing with the portal from another world/dimension opening up. But, Celaena did pull through, thankfully, and won.

I am quite excited for the next book, or you know, the rest of the series. I wonder who Celaena will deal with doing the King's dirty work for four years. What would happen if she had to kill people she knew or someone innocent? It'll be interesting to see how she handles things.

Overall, I really, really, really enjoyed this book. I'm super happy that I picked it up, and can't wait to get my hands on the next books.