Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Queen of Shadows

Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

62 reviews

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I wanted to read this book as I've never read any of Sarah J. Maas's work and I was interested to see what the hype was all about. I was kindly gifted this series and A Court of Thorns and Roses by my parents. So, I thought I would start at the beginning. I really enjoyed the first couple of books. These books start to stress me out from page one, and I'm now scared for the tandem read.

This book still follows nineteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien. She is cloaked in her assassin’s hood once more. She is back in Rifthold, the town that took everything away from her, but this time she is no one’s slave. She must delve into her most painful memories and she needs to fight for her survival, while resisting a smouldering passion that might very well consume her heart. And she will face her former master, the King of Assassins, again – to dish revenge for a decade worth of pain. Celaena has accepted her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, there are dark truths to learn and debts to be paid. She must defeat the King of Adarlan so then she can fight for her people.

I still love Aelin, I love how strong and badass she was in this book and I love her journey during this book. I really want her to be happy and be a rightful and amazing queen. I loved reading this book from the multiple point of views which were Aelin, Dorian, Moran and Rowan – it made the storyline so much more interesting. I really want a whole book just from Rowan’s point of view, I love how protective he is and yet he’s like but she’s my queen, I can’t go against her. I am loving this tension between Rowan and Aelin especially reading from Rowan’s POV where he is like I want to take my time with her and be so slow yet the walls and thin and Aelin like I've got to save the world and thinking of saving everyone but then she can feel the tension between them. I loved Dorian getting rescued, this book was stressing me out - I was worried about Dorian. Now I'm worried about Chaol, I just want everyone to be happy and alive. I loved the re-appearance of Fleetfoot, I was missing him in the last book so I'm so glad he’s back with Aelin and that they are both home.

It took so long for the gang to get back together, that I was so scared that someone wasn’t going to survive especially after what happened in the last book! I am so scared for Chaol and Manon and Elide. I wanted more of Elide and was hoping she would kick ass. This book dropped a bit with all the planning and I wanted more action, but once all the planning had been done, the plot twists and the actions were so jaw-dropping.

The book left you with enough drama and I still wanted more that it kept you hooked. I am terrified for the tandem read, but I cannot wait for the next book in the series. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes kick-ass girls, fantasy novels and dystopian novels.

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ashleynp24's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was easily my favorite so far in the series. The relationships built between characters was so good.

Lysandra is definitely one of my favorite characters, and I loved getting to learn more about her specific history in this book.

Manon and Elide’s relationship was another one of my favorites, and Manon’s character arc was really fun to read.

The ending was so many emotions and I’m so excited to try the tandem read next.

I absolutely screamed when I found out they perrington is the overarching villain this whole time and that manon helped Aelin. I’m so interested to see if Elide finds them and what happens to Chaol and Nesryn. I’m wondering if they will run into the girl that Aelin helped to become a healer back in assassin’s blade!!

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britwalsh16's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I could not put this book down! Omg! It was sooooo good!!!
Watching Aelin become who she was always meant to be & fight for her loved ones & what is right, is inspiring! The growth she has had since book 1 is in incredible!
And the bromance between Chaol & Dorian is like my favorite bromance ever! Coming in second only to my bat boys.
All the characters have incredible growth in this book! & I could go on about how much I love them all, but then this will get really long, so I won’t.
But my favorite character is Rowan! & having him not being in the first third of the book gave me serious withdrawal! My heart just leaped out of my chest when he finally showed up! I was so ecstatic! I can’t wait to read more of him, & more of his relationship with Aelin! My heart! 💜

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wishlissa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

My favorite in the TOG series so far! This feels like the mid-season finale and I'm excited for it to come back with a bang. Every once in a while something happens in an SJM book that's frustrating -- but where other authors draw it out, SJM resolves the characters' stumbles and issues in a way that's timely and satisfying. What more could you want?

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dalek_caan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me on the edge of my seat. The last one in the series was a little bit slow to read, but this one was moving from start to finish.

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justabruja's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

gretchenplz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I am reluctantly giving this book four stars because of the fabulous ending, despite a very slow first 400 pages.

Aelin continues to be the bane of my existence, and just an overall disappointing FMC. SJM lays out characters who have the potential to be deep and complex, but then either surrounds them with yes-men or chooses to portray them solely as evil. Aelin got the first treatment, despite her being highly hypocritical, arrogant, and vapid, and I'm somehow supposed to buy in on her being a good queen one day. I don't think so. It's so much "Rules for thee but not for me" with her, and I find it to leave such a bad taste in my mouth. She hasn't shown any character growth at all, in my opinion. Her only growth is that of her powers.

I'm so beyond disappointed with how SJM has treated Chaol's character, but I shouldn't be surprised. SJM seems to be unable to write characters with any sort of complexity or depth, or approach the good vs. bad debate with any nuance (this is why you will catch me defending Tamlin at all times). She chooses to frame the characters that she decides she's tired of writing as simply "bad" with no hope of redemption or personal growth (the only time she has succeeded at this is with Nesta, and that "growth" was only achieved by sacrificing her powers!!!! I'm sorry, wrong book, I'll stop). Her characters are too black or white, and it is exhausting.

Lysandra literally made me cry, Manon is bae forever, and Elide is growing on me so much. I adore Aedion, and I can't wait to see what happens with Lorcan. I know I'm supposed to like Rowan, but I just find him lacking substances beyond "I worship Aelin and would do anything for her" at the moment

Also, the "sexual tension" is just cringeworthy at this point. The way the characters are crafted... it just doesn't have the same... effect... that it did in ACOTAR. Please, Sarah. Just let them bang it out in the first ten pages of the next book.

In the last 100 pages, you could have told me that this was the last book in the series, and I would have believed you. Everything could have been wrapped up and tied with a neat little bow, and my brain cannot comprehend how there are still nearly 3k more words left in this series.

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