Queen of Shadows By Sarah J. Maas
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…
She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.
She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.
The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.
It felt like it took me forever to read this one. Not that it was a bad book. Far from it. Life just got in the way and I kept making excuses not to get sucked in and stay up late reading. Also, I was probably dragging my feet on purpose because I’ve decided I’m waiting until Empire of Storms is out in paperback this fall to read it.
If you’re thinking of reading this series, plow through the first two because you will fall in love with books three and four – where the real story begins! I just love all these new characters so much (Rowan! Manon!) and now Nesryn, Elide, and Lysandra. I’ve very happy with my decision to read The Assassin’s Blade when I did. If you don’t read it in order of publication, reading it before you read Queen of Shadows is another good choice.
Overall, Queen of Shadows feels like a good place to leave the series for awhile. Certain things wrapped up and while there are many more things looming on the horizon, this novel ends in a relative moment of peace and what feels like a penultimate climax to the series.
Now, I have a debate: Empire of Storms is being released in paperback in September. Book 6, Tower of Dawn, is also being released in hardcover in September. But the final novel, Book 7, is not coming until 2018. Should I read and wait in agony or wait in agony and binge the rest of the series? Decisions, decisions…
