Review: Queen of Shadows

 Huh. It's over, for now. She did it again. She wrote an amazingly wonderfully great book, again. I've been a fan of the Throne of Glass series from the beginning and this one, whoa. Every chapter blew my mind and I have shouted and cried and laughed at public places and I've gotten some very judging looks, but who cares? This book makes me endure every single weird stare.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Only five stars are allowed? What a pity.
 If I could, I would give it an infinite number of stars!


From here on SPOILERS!

  

 The book was full of things that I loved, so full of them that this is going to be a very long review.

The transformation from Celaena Sardothien, the Kings Champion, to Aelin Ashryver Galathynius was a ling journey. It started from the first book and is not completed yet. It has been amazing to follow how Aelin has grown from a girl to the woman she is now. At the beginning of the series she was more afraid of eveverything, more like a teen ager but after the Queen of Shadows she is a woman. A powerful, lethal, sarcastic, loving woman. She now knows the consequences of doing certain things, the value of life and most importantly how to love and who. I have to say that she is in my all-time-favourite-character list on the very top. Although Aelin is part Fae, she still is vulnerable and she is not ashamed of it. Actually she knows how to use it for her advantage. She knows that sometimes you have to grieve and sometimes it's okay to lie down and rest.

The Blackbeak witches were a mystery for me in the earlier books. I resented them and I thought their story did not make any sense but in this book it made. It's amazing how two different stories meet up, how the characters react to each other and what is the result of their interaction. Or if you can call an attempt to kill interaction. But hey, that's what Queen of Shadows mostly is, killing every single one who crosses you! :P Also I learned to like Manon. And mostly because she started to defy the orders and think with her own brains. Her compassion towards Asterin and the slow warming for Elide were great to follow, because those two were the significant events that made Manon really take the reins of her own life.

The lies and the secrets. I think that every single one of you who has read the book can agree with the following: Sarah J. Maas can trick you into believing anything. The way she has written the whole Throne of Glass series is a proof of it. First you get to know that Calaena is an assassin, then you get to know of the Wyrdkeys. Then, boom, guess what, the girl you thought you knew, and let me say: for two books, ain't really real. She is the rightful Queen of Terrasen, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. Then you think that the revelations are over. But no. You learn that she is Fae. Like with canines and pointy ears and all. And then there's suddenly some demon prince's all around and whoa, your ex-lover and friend is one. And wait, she's got a cousin too. Then you think you know it all, but you are so wrong. There's her former Master, the King of Assassin's, Arobynn who thinks he can play with her and he is winning the game, and whoops, he ends up dead, his will re-written by Aelin, and another whoops, suddenly she owns every single thing Arobynn has ever owned. And then she sells it just to give it to her cousin, who actually is not a human but half-Fae, to spend it on the army they don't have yet. There's more, just wait for it. Then they decide to blow up a tower inside the King's court and get deceived by another Fae and then saved by him because Aedion is half-Fae, and they almost die, but by some wonder they all live. Happily ever after? Who knows there is still two books coming.

The heart-attacks you get. I think in some books there needs to be warning labels like 'This book might almost kill you with a plot-twist' or 'Beware of the deadly emotions caused by this book'. If I had a weaker heart, I think I could've died. Some of the twists were so unexpected and heart-stopping that my pulse rocketed hammered for the speed of 300. I made some notes during reading this book and on the lines 18 and 19 it reads:

+ The holy sh*t on page 538

+ The holier sh*t on page 542

 Creative and exceptionally wonderful notes I know, but I couldn't describe the events better.

Then at last, but one of the greatest elements of the book was the sarcasm and the snarky comments that everyone showered around all the time. Few examples (and few of my favourites):

''Should I thank you for putting on pants?''

'' 'You look like-'
   'A queen?'
   'The fire-breathing bitch-queen those bastards claim you are.' ''

''Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing you three gutted and hanging from the chandeliers by your insides, but I think it would ruin these very beautiful carpets that I'm now the owner of.''

'' 'You can't toss us out. What will we do? Where will we go?'
   'I hear hell is particularly nice at this time of year.' ''

  And these are just the few I marked up, but there is a big bunch of them more. 

If you haven't read the book and just read the review, thank you! But now you kinda have to read it, because you read the spoilers and all, so... Go pick it up! 

The whole series (published this far) goes like this:
0. Assassin's Blade (A collection of five novellas that have happened before Throne of Glass)
1. Throne of Glass
2. Crown of Midnight
3. Heir of Fire
4. Queen of Shadows