Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Queen of Shadows

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

93 reviews

annadelreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

“Let’s go rattle the stars.“

This is so far, my favorite in the series. I was just hooked and can’t stop myself from reading during my spare time! All those plot twist and characters! Ugh. SJM, you are a genius. A rollercoaster of emotion for that last last hundred pages. Ughhhh!!! I can definitely see the hype now (sad that it's only after halfway that I felt it). This book deserves more than five stars in my opinion.

So it started with Aelin being back in Adarlan after her "job" in Wendlyn. We can see people being reunited again specifically Aedion and Aelin, cousins back together. Then we see how Chaol is faring after running from the king. And...Dorian, sweet Dorian, being trapped in his body by the Valg prince. In the previous book, I was sort of bored with Manon's chapter but it's really just a backstory for us readers to understand where she is coming from because in this book, I loved her chapters - seeing what's happening in Morath. Then we see all these characters from the previous books that I didn't know would be so important - specifically Lysandra and Kaltain. Oh the friendship that bloomed between Lysandra and Aelin is one of the best twist I had not seen coming. Aelin needed a girl friend and Lysandra really is the best to have after what had happened to Nehemia. That moment she went to Sam's grave, I knew I would be sobbing more than I had ever sobbed in the series. I love Sam dearly and miss him so much. It's so amazing to look back and think that I met him when I started the series (yes, I read TAB first) and the journey it took just for us to visit his grave. Then we also met Elide who I thought I'd hate but slowly am opening up to her character. I'm invested with how she would do in the next few books, to be honest. ALSO! I can't believe I forgot but the romance between Rowan and Aelin!!!! I'm glad to have seen the two together - growing up together and fighting together. I had my doubt when it was kinda fast between these two since they only have met in the last book but seeing their dynamic and romance, I can really ship them together now. I'm not sure though what would happen in the next books since Rowan already had his mate so my question is: Can you have another mate? Also, I love the foreshadowing between Aedion and Lysandra. I'm really shipping these two together. Meanwhile, Nesryn and Chaol’s relationship has been fast for me. SJM really just said “these two were fuck buddies in the past so now they should be together”. Introduced a character and instantly they’re meant to be for each other, which is sort of laughable in my opinion.

Oh the plot twist at the end - both Kaltain and the King's! It was so emotional I had to stop and breathe for a second before continuing. I am so loss of words so all I'm really saying is that I love this book so much!

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toris_in_her_own_world's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I think this might have been my favorite book in the series so far. So many plot lines converging. It always amazed me how Aelin just makes a plan and then… she does it. And succeeds. I mean this book is over 600 pages and is full of surprises that should have screwed up her plans but she still accomplished everything she planned to when she came from Wendlyn.

I was actually shocked when Arobynn was as killed. Like… he kind of was described as being invincible, and all in one night he was gone, just like that. AND. Aelin changed his will?!? Same thing with the King of Adarlan. Like she really just killed off two of her greatest enemies (for most of the series so far anyways) in like a month or something. Also the ROMANCE!!! The way Aelin describes Rowan’s smell as pine and snow through the whole book and then gets to Terrasen and realizes he literally smells like her home? 😩🗡️

I can’t wait to read the next books! As Manon Blackbeak says,
“The world is changing. I just hope we survive it.”

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jessicakauffman15's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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kkellymsu's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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jmitschke's review against another edition

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4.0

The world building and character development continue to be fabulous. This book also had satisfying conclusions to many story arcs.

The only reason this one isn’t closer to five stars for me is that I started getting really bored with the big bad guys. Way too much time was spent on the villains and their evils; I would have much preferred that narrative focus on any of the badass leading ladies.

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eleek0609's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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jls6283's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

4.25

I really like this series and am very invested in the characters.

Some things felt a little drawn out, but they were worth the ending…

Sometimes the emotional whiplash and indecision from these characters annoys me, but then again… they are 19-25 year olds (minus Rowan 😅)

I’m going to say something that is an unpopular opinion 😅 (spoilers ahead)

Chaol is not wrong for being skeptical of magic. He’s literally trying to save Dorian from a king who hoarded all the magic for himself and he wants to make sure there are power checks so that something like this doesn’t happen again. He knew that she held the entire city of Doranelle hostage for Maeve’s behavior, and he fears that the people of Adarlan - regardless of their feelings for the king - will all similarly suffer at Aelin’s hand. He’s the human voice of reason in this series…

Also Aelin is a bitch to him when she blames him for EVERYTHING that happened while she was gone, yet tells him “You do not get to blame me for that - for his (the king’s) actions.” I still love her and am rooting for her, but this was not it and she was truly unlikeable at the beginning of this book. Chaol gave up his entire life (as he should’ve) when he understood what was going on. He gets so much hate (from Aelin and fans of the series)

and I don’t get it 🫣

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