Saturday 9 April 2016

Queen of Shadows #4 | Sarah J. Maas


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Ahh I don't know how to review this!

Current mood = Waiting for my face mask to dry, whilst listening to Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Elton John - bringing back my Lion King nostalgia. 

I went through a reading hiatus because of all the stuff that has just come about with life. I was reading this over summer...I think....or maybe it was the beginning of the year, I don't even remember! I just know that I read like half of the book and then I put it down for long enough for me to forget major aspects and the majority of the plot line, for that reason I wouldn't fully take this review into consideration to whether you want to read it or not. I just really wanted to get another review out for you guys cause I've been gone for so long. 

Although, I will review the whole of the book to my best ability. Queen of Shadows is a Young Adult, Fantasy novel. 

This is the goodreads synopsis: 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 will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. 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.


Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.



If you are curious, I don't have reviews on the first two books: Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, as I read those before I started this blog. However, I do have a review of the third book: Heir of Fire - this is one of my favourite reviews on this blog so check that out, it's spoiler free! 

As this is the 4th book in the Throne of Glass instalment, there will be slight spoilers. To be honest, if you haven't read the last three, I don't know why you would be reading this review right now, but if you want a possible brief of the series and my thoughts on the whole series, I will go ahead and do that first. 

The first book is called: Throne of Glass, the second: Crown of Midnight and the third Heir of Fire, which I have a review of.

The series started off very ~fantasy~ and possible predictable and generic but I think after the first two books you really start to see where Maas intended for the series to carry on to. I started the series very naive and stupid really... I only read it for the romance and the 'love triangle' and not till the third book did I really appreciate the characters for who they were, the world building the the plot lines. the third book is by far my favourite, this one is also (don't get me wrong) VERY good, but I got side tracked and it was just slow reading for me. 

This book - the fourth in the instalment - was a little disappointing. It was really slow. Like really slow. At least for me! Towards the last 100 pages of the book, I started skimming and if you've been around my blog for sometime now you know how much I HATE SKIM READING BOOKS! But here I am....skim reading the last 100 pages because IT WAS SO SLOW I JUST WANTED TO FINISH IT. That is the main reason I gave it 3 stars. By no means is this a 'bad book'. Nevertheless will I continue with the series, it's just this book aided further understanding of the characters and where Maas would be taking the plot line, just - the book was so slow....I feel like it could have been written in like 300+ words rather than 500+. 

I love Manon Blackbeak. SHE IS SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER! I picture her so badass, she is just phenomenal. We are introduced to this new character Manon in the previous book (the third book), Heir of Fire, which I have a review of that here. I was enthralled by her from the beginning. She has such a nonchalant but devious and conniving nature; basically I'm in love with her and cannot wait for how she will further progress. (She is so great, I can't even.)

We can see CLEAR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WITH ALL CHARACTERS! I have been saying this since the third book! Now into the fourth instalment and I will continue to belch this! !!! Everything is slowly but surely coming together nicely and I'm quite excited to see how this turns out. If you've read the first book or the second and aren't already hitched, I really recommend you to continue to the third book because that's where it all really comes together, the characters fully enlighten and everything just !!! comes together really well. The third book Heir of Fire is hands down my favourite so far. The main protagonist really comes so far from the first book. She is such an empowering, beautiful character...I am speechless. 

In my last review of the previous book....(here) I also talk about the writing. Sarah J. Maas has really evolved with the writing since the first book. The series has literally now become: follow-the-main-protagonist-and-sarah's-epic-writing! Because I'm telling you, she has really adopted the style of epic high fantasy literature in a young adult novel and she should really be proud! I haven't read much high fantasy but this has really steered me into the right direction for it. Maas's writing really captures that ~fantasy~ feel and having read all her books (mostly all of them), I am allowed to tell you how far her writing has come since Throne of Glass. I know many people stopped after that book because of the plot line that was just starting up and the way the book was written, all I can say is persevere through the first two and you will legitimately be mind blown by this stage. Yes, I found this book quite slow but nonetheless the plot is thickening and so MUCH IS HAPPENING/HAPPENED! To think these twists and turns and all that action would be here when I was still reading the first book, I would think you were flat out lying. Not only has the plot awakened and thickened, Maas's writing has developed and so have these characters.

This world and these characters are really worth it, I'm telling you!

Also, if I haven't already mentioned, I have a review of the third book! Heir of Fire. Which is like my favourite review ever, so like, go, like, check it out. Here, here and here.

I know I've been gone long, but would you believe me if I said I have like 4 posts in the drafts waiting to be published? Cause I do! Furthermore, I will be starting two new series on this blog. The first is called Colour Study, where I take books from my book shelves with a particular colour in mind and I compile them all, take pretty photos and tell you all about their ~stories~. Where I got them, what they are about and what they mean to me. The second series is called The Psychology Corner (how original), where I take books related to psychology or have psychological concepts and I address those alongside reviewing the book. As I want to pursue psychology, I thought this would be a great idea to share my opinions and thoughts about psychology in literature. So check out for those posts coming your way!


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