“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.”
How many times can you say ‘Wow’ without stopping for a breath? Queen of Shadows deserve more ‘Wows’ than that.
Epicness. That’s the only word I can think of to describe Queen of Shadows in order to encompass its complexity and awesomeness, because while I loved Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight blew my mind away and Heir of Fire broke my heart into teensy tiny pieces, neither of those installments felt as grand as this one — worlds collided, debts were paid and a queen rose to her glory.
While I read this book, I went to sleep at max 2:30. I mean, sleep is for people without good books to read, you know. Now you must be wondering what’s so good about this book. Well, first of all, the magic is beautiful, and courage, bravery and friendship is rewarded. Of course the characters have their faults, but that just makes them feel more real and more comparable. I loved all the characters, main and secondary. Well, except for the king, of course, but then he’s the villain. Or is he? *giggle*giggle* All the characters were strong and just…so perfectly real. There were points near the ending where I was praying to God (not any in particular, just a capital G, God) and then Mala Fire-Bringer (Goddess of the sun in the book, who favors Aelin Galathynius) to save one of the characters. I also really liked Elide (new character) who’s one of the strongest characters I’ve ever met. I especially loved Lysandra (another new character), though. She’s an Aelin kind of person. Bloodthirsty, ruthless, surprisingly kind, deceitful, strong, awesome and badass. Absolute badass.
“Please,” Lysandra said, waving a manicured hand, “you and I are nothing but wild beasts wearing human skins. Don’t even try to deny it.”
Anyways, I want to broach an important subject: Manon. I’ve been reading other reviews and some people don’t like Manon. Why don’t people like Manon? I don’t understand. I mean, she’s literally a bloodthirsty inhumane witch riding a badass dragon and essentially being the team captain of the Blackbeak quidditch team while unconsciously undergoing a personal journey to find her humanity again inspite of her brute of a grandmother. Are you okay? What’s there not to like?
Manon and Abraxos
And I just love ABRAXOS!!! He’s as cute as Toothless (from the movie How To Train Your Dragon). One more thing. When Manon and Aelin met. I just absolutely loved that scene. I think that was my favorite scene from the whole book!!!
Also, you will be completely astonished with the unraveling of Aelin Ashryver Galathynius (yeah, that happens), because in reality you haven’t exactly met her until now. You see, she’s the same heroine we’ve come to love during these past 3 or 4 books and yet a different persona. Every trait of Celaena Sardothien is magnified and combined in such a masterful way to create a unique character. She’s still an arrogant, stubborn, brave and sassy young woman, but she undergoes a spectacular character-development into a cunning, determined and fierce queen. Aelin is completely in control and she makes a statement in bold capital letters that she doesn’t buy any bullshit and that she’s ready to reclaim back everything that was taken from her. And oh, boy, she does it in style.
In addition to that, she has matured a long way and, for the first time, she shed her impulsiveness for being open-minded, calculating and often, kind (I know. Hard to believe.). Aelin managed (through those crushing sessions of healing from Heir of Fire) to lose some of her darkness and her real strength — spiritual and physical alike — finally shone in this installment, making me so proud of her at this point. And I’d bet a good deal that Sam and Nehemia are freaking proud of her too. *sobs*
Now on to the king. Three words: I. Pity. Him.
Rowan: Freakin’ Awesome!!! More Rowan! More Rowan!! MORE ROWAN!!!
Aedion: He called Aelin a “golden-haired blessing”. Is there anything left to say? He is SO loyal to Aelin. And it was so adorable when Aedion and Rowan fought over who could protect Aelin better! *snickers*
We also learn a bit more about all the characters. And I loved ever freakin’ bit of Queen of Shadows! 
The next book in the series is the Empire of Storms, but I’m afraid to read it ’cause something is telling me that Empire of Storms will leave me devastated and if something big happens at the end, like the death of one of the big characters, and I love most of the characters, then how am I going to be able to cope with their death?! I wanna read that book really bad, but I’m soooooo scared!!! : (
Side Note: You have to read these scenes from Queen of Shadows.They are awesome!!
“So you’re going to ask Ress and Brullo to just leave a back door open so you can sneak in?”
“Don’t be so simpleminded. I’m going to walk in through the front door.”
One step, as if in a daze.
She loosed a shuddering breath, and a small, whimpering noise came out of her – a sob.
And then she was sprinting down the alley, flying as though the winds themselves pushed at her heels.
She flung herself on the male, crashing into him hard enough that anyone else might have gone rocking back into the stone wall.
But the male grabbed her to him, his massive arms wrapping around her tightly and lifting her up. Nesryn made to approach, but Aedion stopped her with a hand on her arm.
Aelin was laughing as she cried, and the male was just holding her, his hooded head buried in her neck. As if he were breathing her in.
“Who is that?” Nesryn asked.
Aedion smiled. “Rowan.”
So the world ended.
And the next one began.”
“I hear hell is particularly nice at this time of year.”
