Queen of Shadows

"She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph."

5 OF 5 BEAUTIFUL STARS Okay, just to begin, may I ask for a freaking round of applause for the development this author has gone through from the first book of this series? Because, OH. MY. GOD! Maas had me hooked with Throne of Glass, which was fantastic, and then it just kept getting better and better and better and this book will forever reign as one of the best of this year, if not number one.

We pick up the story relatively shortly after the previous one ended, with Aelin back in Adarlan and Aedion and the crew still in deep shit in the glass castle. The story, even with almost 700 pages, never has a dull moment, always either keeping me on the edge of my seat (to which, with my clumsiness, proves often dangerous) or curled up bawling my eyes out.

The story was extremely well thought out, and I love how at the end of the last book we had such a realm of opportunity that we could take hold of, and this book just took it and dove right into all the beautiful possibilities. Though there were some things I wish hadn't happened, and others I wish we got to elaborate on, overall the plot was fantastic. Word of warning, if you haven't picked up the Assassin's Blade, you should read that before this. It's not totally needed but there are a lot of little anecdotes interspersed within the text that you won't get without previously reading the novellas. I'm one of the unlucky ones, so I'll be reading it shortly, and I might read Queen of Shadows again so I can understand more of it! Now, enter our characters. Aelin will forever be my queen with all her badassery, but we were introduced to some new people (again, new for those who haven't read the prequel) and can I just say that Lysandra is damn amazing? Her character will always maintain an air of mystery, but I loved to see the progression and depth in which we got to see her, something that happened so quickly and beautifully I almost chose a new favorite. But, there is one major flaw I found with this book, and that flaw is named Chaol. I felt, and many other reviewers have agreed with me, that the first two books had such a great development for Chaol's character, evolving from the loyal Captain into this hardened rebel who rejected his title and his oath. But this book just decimated his character. He annoyed the shit out of me for the majority of the book, and even when he wasn't being an asshole, I couldn't help but worry that this was an entirely new character that I had somehow forgotten about, because it was not Chaol. That being said, I can still understand where he was coming from. I just hate the way he was acting so petulantly and accused Aelin of a thousand things he didn't see the full picture on. Moving on, the writing of this book again was very nice. Was it Shakespeare? No, but it was still highly enjoyable and engrossing to read. There were several lines that will stay with me for several weeks to come, and many phrases I loved so much I had to stop reading to appreciate them fully. However, I think the joy of Maas' writing is more in her insane plot development rather than her actual prose. All in all, this was a fantastic read, and though it was certainly not perfect, it was fascinating and enthralling and I need the next one RIGHT NOW! Share your thoughts!