Queen of Shadows

By: Sarah J. Maas

Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans

Goodreads Choice Award Winner, Best Young Adult Fantasy, 2015

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 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.

©2015 Sarah J. Maas (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Wow! Just, Wow!

Fantastic continuation of the story. Each book just gets better and better. I couldn't stop listening to it. The only negative is waiting for the next book. Sarah J Maas is a very talented writer.

Yessssss!!!!

This one, THIS ONE was my favorite. I sat on the edge of my seat practically listening non stop until I finished. Wow I cannot wait until the next one.

YES!!!

Ok so this one made this series become my favorite of the Maasverse! Written so well. Story is perfect. Love Ailean. Love Rowen. LOVE Mannon. Chaol redeemed himself imo....finally. Can't wait to learn more about Lorcan than we were given though! Ending was unexpected. What a ride!

compelling characters

I'm so glad I've stuck with it. this book seemed slow at the outset but eventually I couldn't put it down. for the last 8 hours. amazing.

Awesome Series

Great story I really love this series! I t held me from the begging to the end.

god's I need more.

I hope that one day I can have first editions of these I need them in my life I re-read and re-read these over and over great books and love the audio versions too.

Can't wait for the next book!

This book wasn't as good as the previous one but it was still AWESOME and the narrator's performance was great! She's definitely been improving.

SPOILERS AHEAD. MAJOR SPOILERS.

That twist at the end with the King....wow. That is some incredible writing. Sarah managed to make us go from hating a man through four books to feeling sorry for him and wanting him to live in the end (at least for me). I believe the King and I believe that he deserved to live and I'm pretty mad at Dorian for killing him.

One thing I sort of have a problem with is Celaena's (or, Alaena now) romance with Rowan.

Astirin's story hit me hard too. I always knew she had a reason to be so defiant, but what happened to her was very unexpected and makes total sense.

Lastly, Caltane has to be my favorite character of all. In my opinion she is the best written. At first we see this vapid, bitchy classic Queen Bee, and we don't think much of her. Then we get to peer inside her head, bit by bit, learning of her opium addiction, her broken heart that lay inside, then we feel sorry for her...then we fear her, but then we learn she is the strongest warrior of all. She is the ONLY one able to destroy the Valg demon inside her, and not only that, she sacrifices herself to save all those poor witches and Aleed. I am absolutely blown away by her and will miss her, but I realize her sacrifice was necessary.

Need book 5

I can't wait until September 2016 for book 5. So far book 4 was the best in the series.

Truly excellent

Fantastic writing, and the narrator really added to the story. She was perfect. It was everything I hoped it would be.

Best book in the series so far

I think this is the best book in the series so far.

Celaena Sardothian has morphed into Aelin Galathynius. She is no longer the spoiled, arrogant teenager of the first Throne of Glass book. She still has her moments, of course, and she still likes to shop. But for the most part, she is a serious warrior focused on bringing down the King of Adarlan.

There is so much in this book that by the end it is difficult to believe that only earlier in this same book Aelin was returning to Rifthold, scene of much of her earlier life. And that she was actually meeting again with Arobynn Hamel to ask for his help with a plan to rescue her cousin, Aedion, from the King.

The sort-of love triangle from the first book is pretty much gone. Aelin meets up with Chaol Westfall again; apparently, he too is seeking help from Arobynn. But he has moved on and has a new girlfriend now, a city guard who has a deadly aim with a bow. Chaol has given up his position as a palace guard after the encounter in which the healer Sorcha was killed, and Dorion was possessed by one of the Valg demons. Dorion – the real Dorion – is not much in evidence again until the end of the book.

Another romantic triangle appears to be forming between Aelin and Rowan and Aedion. Fortunately, this one is resolved before it gets too out of hand.

Meanwhile, we learn more about Manon the Blackbeak Witch, and some of what Duke Parrington wants from the Witches. It isn’t nice – to the point where Manon and her thirteen are appalled by the idea. They too are having difficulties with Valg demons.

Bad guys die in this book – people so bad you would have expected they would be around until the last few chapters of the last book of the series. But it turns out that some of them weren’t really quite as bad as they seemed. Or at least that’s what they claim. And meanwhile, we discover some new bad guys – people who were holding the leashes of the Valg demons inhabiting the folks we thought were responsible for all the trouble. In fact, there are so many Valg demons of various ranks running around that it’s surprising that there was anybody left to be regular people.

Excellent narration on the audiobook.