Author: Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 2/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis (spoilers!): 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 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.
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.
Non-Spoiler/General Thoughts:
Okay, I'm not going to dwell too much on the non-spoiler-y section of this review. It's also really hard because this is the fourth instalment in this series so it's hard to talk about just this book without spoiling the rest of the series. So, in summary, I am a huge fan of the first three books of this series. However, I am not a huge fan of this book. Books 1-3 of this series introduced some wonderful characters and had beautiful character development and compelling relationships. Queen of Shadows then decided to ignore all that and make half the characters unrecognisable. The world is still interesting and complex but the characters were my favourite parts of this series and because of that, I found this book really disappointing. I would still recommend the first half of this series, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned for the future of it.
But that's all I've got to in regards to non-spoiler stuff. If you haven't read the book and want to keep everything a surprise, it's time we say goodbye. Come back once you've read the novel. TTFN.
Discussion under the cut!
Discussion under the cut!
OKAY. So, now, let's get into the nitty gritty stuff. Warning: this is probably going to get long and I'm probably going to ramble on a bit (or a lot).
First point of discussion is the characters, which I mentioned briefly above. What happened to all the great characters I'd grown to love? It felt like Celaena/Aelin's (hereafter referred to as just Aelin) character had taken a drastic turn and was more like she was in The Assassin's Blade/Throne of Glass, which wouldn't be such an awful thing had not all this character development with her not happened in CoM and HoF. Possibly the most OOC was Chaol. The Chaol that we last saw in HoF and the one we're introduced to in QoS are completely different people. I know it was said that the night Dorian was taken and such had a huge affect on why he's so different but it just didn't seem plausible for him to be that different.
Going off that, I was also really disappointed about what had happened to the relationship between Chaol and Aelin. That seemed ridiculous from all angles. Why did they suddenly hate each other? I could understand that they were finding it hard to trust the other but the aggressive hostility that their relationship has culminated to was so confusing and out of nowhere. If SJM wanted to make it clear that she wasn't going to have those two end up together, I think the least she could have done was have that develop in a genuine and natural way. Feelings don't end and begin in a two seconds. They take time. I wish it had been done more like how we got to see Dorian slowly getting over Aelin. That was handled a lot better. All we got was that one half-assed conversation which kind of acknowledged their previous feelings for one another. It also seemed like the only reason Nesryn was introduced was to push the point that Chaol is 100% over Aelin. Her character had so much more potential than that and it was wasted on just being defined as Chaol's love interest.
Speaking of sudden feelings, I also found that romanticising the relationship between Rowan and Aelin was the wrong call. At this point anyway. I'll admit: I adored them in HoF. I tossed between wanting the romance to happen or whether it was better as just a platonic thing and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it to remain a friendship. There is such a beauty in them having that bond and pure love for one another while it being completely platonic. Having said that, I wasn't against it going romantic either...until I read this book. I thought the execution was all wrong. There was no build to this sudden all-consuming lust they both seemed to have for each other and it meant that I felt absolutely nothing towards them. It went way too quickly from 'there might be some small part of me that's attracted to you' to 'you're the absolute one for me'. This is very similar to my biggest issue with A Court of Thornes and Roses. I just cannot with this insta-love-y type stuff.
I know it seems like I'm just annoyed because my ships aren't happening but it's more to do with the fact that it didn't feel true to what I believe the characters would do. And since the characters are, in my opinion, such an integral part of this story, having them be so OOC in this felt like a major flaw for the book. And they weren't the only thing. I felt like parts of the plot felt really flat as well. Arobynn's death, for instance, happened far too quickly and neatly for my liking. There just lacked a lot of the tension and quick pacing that I think the book needed to keep me engaged throughout (I mean, it is ~650 pages!).
First point of discussion is the characters, which I mentioned briefly above. What happened to all the great characters I'd grown to love? It felt like Celaena/Aelin's (hereafter referred to as just Aelin) character had taken a drastic turn and was more like she was in The Assassin's Blade/Throne of Glass, which wouldn't be such an awful thing had not all this character development with her not happened in CoM and HoF. Possibly the most OOC was Chaol. The Chaol that we last saw in HoF and the one we're introduced to in QoS are completely different people. I know it was said that the night Dorian was taken and such had a huge affect on why he's so different but it just didn't seem plausible for him to be that different.
Going off that, I was also really disappointed about what had happened to the relationship between Chaol and Aelin. That seemed ridiculous from all angles. Why did they suddenly hate each other? I could understand that they were finding it hard to trust the other but the aggressive hostility that their relationship has culminated to was so confusing and out of nowhere. If SJM wanted to make it clear that she wasn't going to have those two end up together, I think the least she could have done was have that develop in a genuine and natural way. Feelings don't end and begin in a two seconds. They take time. I wish it had been done more like how we got to see Dorian slowly getting over Aelin. That was handled a lot better. All we got was that one half-assed conversation which kind of acknowledged their previous feelings for one another. It also seemed like the only reason Nesryn was introduced was to push the point that Chaol is 100% over Aelin. Her character had so much more potential than that and it was wasted on just being defined as Chaol's love interest.
Speaking of sudden feelings, I also found that romanticising the relationship between Rowan and Aelin was the wrong call. At this point anyway. I'll admit: I adored them in HoF. I tossed between wanting the romance to happen or whether it was better as just a platonic thing and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it to remain a friendship. There is such a beauty in them having that bond and pure love for one another while it being completely platonic. Having said that, I wasn't against it going romantic either...until I read this book. I thought the execution was all wrong. There was no build to this sudden all-consuming lust they both seemed to have for each other and it meant that I felt absolutely nothing towards them. It went way too quickly from 'there might be some small part of me that's attracted to you' to 'you're the absolute one for me'. This is very similar to my biggest issue with A Court of Thornes and Roses. I just cannot with this insta-love-y type stuff.
I know it seems like I'm just annoyed because my ships aren't happening but it's more to do with the fact that it didn't feel true to what I believe the characters would do. And since the characters are, in my opinion, such an integral part of this story, having them be so OOC in this felt like a major flaw for the book. And they weren't the only thing. I felt like parts of the plot felt really flat as well. Arobynn's death, for instance, happened far too quickly and neatly for my liking. There just lacked a lot of the tension and quick pacing that I think the book needed to keep me engaged throughout (I mean, it is ~650 pages!).
But you know, not everything about this book was bad. I did give it 2 stars so I did like some things, so I might as well start to wrap this up with some positives. I think the last 100-150 pages were mostly good things, actually. I didn't actually think that Manon's storyline was that interesting in this one (there were some good parts but overall, not much happened) but she is such a compelling character to read from that I found her sections really great. I did really like the subtle relationship between her and Elide. I definitely want that to develop significantly in future novels (even though I have no idea how that will happen considering how it all ended but whatever). I found it really great that she interacted with Dorian as well. If anyone saw my review of HoF on my old blog, you might have seen that I really wanted Manon and Dorian to have some form of relationship (although I thought it was too far-fetched of an idea to actually happen) so it was really cool to see some hints of that possibly happening!
I also adored Lysandra. She was badass and a really great, well-rounded character, which was a pleasant surprise. And then she dropped the bombshell that she was a shape-shifter and woah! That was unexpected and really awesome, especially getting to see her play a part in the climax of this book! On that note, I will say one of the singular things that has me excited for future novels of this series is the fact that magic has been released. I am very intrigued at what impact that will have on this world and these character's stories, especially Dorian. In general, I'm interested in the future of Dorian's story more than most of the others.
I've probably forgotten a thousand things I wanted to say but this is already getting pretty long so I'm going to wrap it up on this note: I didn't hate Queen of Shadows but I didn't exactly like it either. I still think this series, overall, is good, it's just suffered a bad lull (hopefully). I'm keeping my fingers crossed for books 5 and 6!
But what did you all think of Queen of Shadows? Agree with me or think the complete opposite? Let me know down in the comments because it'd be really cool discuss it more! :)
Until next time!
- Jess, xxx
I also adored Lysandra. She was badass and a really great, well-rounded character, which was a pleasant surprise. And then she dropped the bombshell that she was a shape-shifter and woah! That was unexpected and really awesome, especially getting to see her play a part in the climax of this book! On that note, I will say one of the singular things that has me excited for future novels of this series is the fact that magic has been released. I am very intrigued at what impact that will have on this world and these character's stories, especially Dorian. In general, I'm interested in the future of Dorian's story more than most of the others.
I've probably forgotten a thousand things I wanted to say but this is already getting pretty long so I'm going to wrap it up on this note: I didn't hate Queen of Shadows but I didn't exactly like it either. I still think this series, overall, is good, it's just suffered a bad lull (hopefully). I'm keeping my fingers crossed for books 5 and 6!
But what did you all think of Queen of Shadows? Agree with me or think the complete opposite? Let me know down in the comments because it'd be really cool discuss it more! :)
Until next time!
- Jess, xxx
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