Wow I was Not Expecting That!

I've finished this beast of a book, and must I say, it was quite spectacular!;) For me, the four essentials for an incredible book would be: great writing, well-developed, fascinating characters, epic action and most importantly, feels!!!! Maas is the master of crafting elaborate worlds, insane plot twists, strong and distinct characters, exponentially more threatening villains, emotional scenes that break your heart, and romances that tease you until you want to go mad.

Character Development

Aelin
Ashryver Galathynius. The fire-breathing-bitch-queen. The biggest bad ass mother f*cker of them all. If you thought Calaena Sardothien was awesome, Aelin is ten times as magnificent. All throughout this novel she has proven that she is more than worthy to be queen: from outwitting the fox that is her former master, to patching up her relationship with Chaol, to accepting and helping Lysandra, to not giving up on Dorian. I feel that she will give the Authoritarian style of ruling (My way or the highway basically) What I found annoying was the name change from Caelena to Aelin. For the last 3 books I had to engrave the name into my head and learn to pronounce it right and BANG! Now we are supposed to just forget that name and move onto the queen's name?! What the heck Maas.

Rowan
I had a love hate relationship with Rowan in the last book in the series. This book however I found Rowan to be missing for like 250 pages. FINALLY he showed up to be there for his queen. I couldn't get over how dedicated he was to serving his lover and one true queen. I loved that he was with her no matter the circumstance. I was dying to see a big love scene between Aelin and Rowan but even though I was disapointed it didn’t happen i loved hearing that Rowan wanted to wait to “go all the way” with Aelin. Also let me just say I picture Rowan as a great and badass fighter on the battlefield.

Arobynn
First of all, I was so happy to see that Arobynn was back, as bad as that sounds. He is a horrible man but a great villain. He continued to be the scheming and manipulating bastard that we knew he was until the very end when he got what was coming for him - by the hands of Lysandra as well! His sadistic love/possessiveness of Calaena made him that much more interesting as a character and explained to some extent his wicked actions. I really was blown away when I read that Arobynn had placed the ring on Aelins finger to control her! I was so shocked! Like what a turn of events! Whats going to happen now?!? I was at work at the time on the edge of my seat reading the audiobook and I was dying to read the next chapter praying Rowan or Aedion would Notice something strange had happened. And then the next chapter comes around and I realied Aelin had tricked Arobynn and planned the whole thing. WHAT!

Lysandra
Glorious Lysandra! I love that this series is full of strong female characters who have intriguing story arcs of their own and Lysandra is just one of them. I had re-read The Assassin's Blade just before starting this book and I am so happy I did that because so many of the characters and plots in that book reappeared in Queen of Shadows. So, it was great to have Lysandra's backstory from TAB refreshed in my mind before meeting her again in QOS. She is an absolutely amazing character and it was great to see her become close friends with Aelin. It's quite rare to see strong female friendships in YA, if you think about it. She was so protective of little Evangeline and of her new friends and that culminated in her shifting in a ghost leopard (much to Aedion's dismay. I'm sure he would have preferred any other ferocious beast!) and rushed to the castle ready to aid Aelin when she needed her.

Chaol

Ah, good ol' Chaol. His first meeting with Aelin was quite realistic, in my opinion, and they both had valid reasons for slowly drifting apart and both had things that still hurt and haunted them so by the time they had both moved on from each other and later became friends again, it had all felt like a natural transition. He has struggled with making the right choices, and with not having made the right choices in his past, but he ended up doing the heroic thing in the end. His devotion and loyalty to Dorian remained Chaol's defining characteristic. The first half of the book I spent wondering who was right - Aelin or Chaol - in the kill/spare Dorian debate, and it turns out that Chaol decides to kill Dorian sporadically when there's some chance that Dorian can be spared. I found it very frustrating to see how hypocritical Chaol was when he was so adamant about sparing Dorain when Bam he chose to kill him during a plan heist that had gone accordingly. Nevertheless, all's well that ends well, right? And while it did not end spectacularly well for the captain, being paralysed is definitely better than being dead. And hey, the new bamf Captain of the Guards & female version of Chaol Nesryn, doesn't seem to mind.

Manon
Manon mother-effing Blackbeak might just be on my list of top favourite characters in this series. I find it absolutely fascinating to read about her. She is ruthless and fierce and obedient before anything else but that literal heart of hers is slowly melting - for Elide, for Asterin, for Dorian(?!) - and she is learning that perhaps doing things one way because that's the way they've always been done is not always the best. Right at the start of this book I wondered what it would be like if Manon had a love interest and thought that the dynamic of something like that would be so interesting to read about. And then there comes Dorian and I'm sure there is something something brewing there. Would I ship Dorian and Manon? Maybe...Is it realistic? Ummm not really...One thing that I found disturbing is that the Duke had Manon send her clan to breed things with the vlog. The majority of the book I was like “Why don’t you kill him already?!” Like screw the alliance and making your grandmother happy. The guy was a doosh.
I'm very impressed with the character development, and the series has greatly benefited from the addition of the new characters, specifically Manon, Rowan, and Lysandra. I'm very excited to see where the rest of this series goes!

Relationships
Dorian and Manon
Does anyone else ship Dorian and Manon? I know it's a far shot off, but Manon is growing a heart, and I think she needs someone like Dorian in her life to keep her grounded. Dorian could also use a new friend with what's just happened in his life and all

Rowan and Aelin
My heart beats for Rowan and Aelin. They are it for me. First of all, the tension between the two of them left me fanning myself off. Or dumping a pitcher of cold water over my head like Rowan did ;). These two are EVERYTHING because they heal each other. They have both suffered insurmountable loss that most people would never recover from but together they are better. Rowan is ruthless, loyal, massive, brutal, and extremely aggressive. Above all though, he is a gentlemen. A GENTLEMEN. Who cannot handle a nightgown in the slightest, but still a gentleman. Haha! I loved it when Rowan lost all common sense at seeing Aelin in a flimsy nightgown! *LOL* Such a mighty fae warrior and then he sees her like that and isn’t even capable to utter a single word. XD Fun times. ;-P Still, I really like their connection and that they are so close to each other, I kind of dislike the notion of Rowan disappearing as an individual though. I just hope that he’ll give her hell in “EoS” again. *lol* Because I lived for their easy banter and the fact that they always gave each other a run for their money! XD It would be boring if Rowan would end up as nothing more than the man at Aelin’s side.

Overall with everything that happened in this book and the peaceful ending I cant wait for the next book to see with happens in the continuation of the series.

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Amazing

I loved this book, its one of my favourite in the sieres, Aelin and Roen have became my favourite characters.

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Favorite

This was ao well read, the story kept me on the "edge of my seat" I wanted it to end to know how it resolved but never wanted it to end at the same time. THANKFULLY it isn't over. I am immediately starting the next book in this epic. So Darn Good.

Amazing!!

This was an amazing audio experience! I loved having the audiobook and reading the book as the same time! The narrator was awesome!

Goddess

Aelin has my heart. She's a true warrior and she makes me believe again that anything is possible.

excellent

now the story really gets going, the chess pieces are moving.......loved this book. Doing a tandem read of the next 2 books!

addiction is this series

I am so enthralled, invested, and addicted to thos series...I'm sad that I only have 3 books left!! so worth the listen. one of my most fave narrators too!!

Queen of Shadows

Amazing, thrilling, can't put down. Would recommend in a heart beat. love love love love

Loved

This has definitely been my favorite book so far. All of the feels. Hoping the rest will be just as good.

A masterpiece

This is probably the best book in the throne of glass series! The protagonist proves to be someone worthy, capable and powerful, a great strategist and someone who would sacrifice herself for her people, every inch the person she was born to be and more. A lot of side characters get their share of fame, my love for Manon Blackbeak's storyline grows higher and higher, the book is well writen, there are no dull parts on this book, it has the perfect balance of action, romance, world building, plot development and an incredible cliffhanger ending, this is a masterpiece