A review by mady_baker_
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

You can really tell that SJM really came into her own as a writer in Heir of Fire, but holy shit, I could NOT put this one down. Heir of Fire was great, but this books was just so much more exciting! 

Finally getting revenge on Arobynn, Aelin and Lysandra becoming friends, Chaol finally not being a racist POS, DORIAN FREEING HIMSELF FROM HIS DEMON!!!! Not to mention Manon finally breaking away from the generational shit caused by rhe Blackbeak coven. I can’t wait for her to align with Aelin, the world will not be ready for the alliance and friendship.

I kind of suspected after reading Heir of Fire that the King of Adarlan was not the real big bad, but I was not expecting Perrington to be… but I still don’t believe that either, like we all know it’s Maeve right. My theory as of now, is that she really freed Erwan (is that how you spell it?) to essentially capture Aelin and use her to take over the realms of for whatever evil purposes and that KOA and Perrington were/are just pawns. But we will see. I’m doing the tandem read next with Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn. 

Lastly, I feel bad (but only slightly) for Chaol, but interested to see what develops in the Southern Continent. I also would love a reappearance of the Silent Assassians, but I guess we will find out. I can’t wait to see where SJM takes the story next.