Queen of Shadows is the fourth installment of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. This review will not contain spoilers for Queen of Shadows, but will contain significant spoilers for the previous three books.

Celaena is finally back on Adarlan soil, only she isn’t returning as Celaena Sardothien, the king’s champion. She has accepted her true name, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But claiming her throne will not be that easy. First, she will have to fight. Fight for everything she has ever loved. 

Between the warrior she calls her cousin, the friend who is trapped in darkness, and the man she once loved, Aelin must tear Rifthold apart to save them all from the monstrous king holding them captive. Will Aelin be able to rescue her loved ones or will she be too late to save them and her kingdom?

Let me start by saying… AHHHHHH! Okay. I feel better now. This book had me wound so tight. I could not put it down, which is saying a lot since the book is nearly 700 pages. From the first couple of chapters, I was hooked and scared for my favorite characters. I didn’t know what to expect going into is since chaos had erupted at the end of Heir of Fire, but I was not let down in the slightest.

I think this has to be my favorite in the series, by far. I finally got what I had been lacking in the previous books. I finally felt captured, invested. I was terrified that the people I loved weren’t going to make it out alive. The emotions I felt were so real.

I felt like so much of the story came to a head in this book. I have no idea how there are three more books in this series. The way things stand right now, I would have thought that there would only be one more, but there are three.

I loved Aelin in this book. At first, it was shocking for her to be referred to Aelin instead of Celaena for the majority of the time, but I quickly adjusted. I thought that everything she did was so realistic. Every decision she made fit her personality perfectly. While she didn’t always make the best decisions, she made the ones that were believable every time.

But there were a lot of other POVs in this book as well. We saw Dorian, Chaol, Aedion, and Manon, but we also heard from Elide and Rowan. Plus, there were a few that we only heard from once or twice, like Kaltain. I loved getting to be in the various heads, especially Dorian. I thought his chapters were going to be the death of me.

Then there were the side characters that we did not hear from, like Lysandra, Nesryn, and Asterin. Everyone had such an important role, even these side characters, and it made the world seem so much more rounded out.

One thing that I was not prepared for was the tension between Aelin and Chaol. I’m not going to talk about it much, but I think that was the hardest part of the book for me to handle because I love Chaol.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book. I was nervous that it wasn’t going to hold up to the hype, but thankfully, it did not let me down. I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars and HIGHLY recommend this series!

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