Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Queen of Shadows

Throughout this book, the action sequences are very well crafted to fit both the setting and the characters. Some of these characters really come into their own here, and the plot takes a direction that feels fitting but I didn’t fully expect.

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liesthemoontells's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Continues the strong character development and worldbuilding that Maas delivered in Heir of Fire, with some satisfying plot twists and emotional breakthroughs for various characters.

This is also the first book that starts to get properly horny.

Many of the descriptions are starting to become repetitive - there are only so many times that I can read that someone was "covered in black blood" or had "eyes lined with silver" (just say they're filled with tears jfc). Also the way that Maas describes territorial Fae males is already exhausting, and the lack of nuance between familial vs romantic territorialism makes a big middle chunk of the book seem uncomfortably incest-y.

Overall this is stronger than the first two entries in the series and makes me excited to continue reading, but imo, a small step down in quality from Heir of Fire.

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j_andrews's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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amanda_reads13's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Aelin returns to Adarlan to take back her kingdom and take down the King.

This was definitely the best of the series so far! The characters and world building is getting better and better with each book. I found the plot to be a little slow at first, but picked up really quickly.

Let's talk about the women, because they are so badass:
-Aelin has embraced her identity and is no longer the annoying, bratty girl from the first few books. Finally she has become a fierce, strong Queen who will do anything to protect her people. I am interested to see the directions her relationship with Rowan takes and how her people react to her return.

-Lysandra has on of my favourite arcs in the book series. We start off absolutely hating her due to her rivalry with Celaena, but she has been redeemed! She is such a fascinating character. As a child she discovered that

she is a shape shifter and was cast out of her home because of it. She had to survive on her own until she was trained as a courtesan.

We are lead to believe that she is this prissy, spoiled woman, but she is ferocious, loyal, and cunning.

Arobynn got what was coming to him (finally!).

-I am loving the direction of Manon's storyline and interested to see whether she continues to kneel to her grandmother or strikes against her. The witches developing empathy and compassion is a really interesting angle to the story.

-Even the supporting characters, Nesryn, Kaltain, and Elide, added so much to the story. All strong and tough in their own rights.

The male characters, though interesting, couldn't hold a candle to the female characters. I am intrigued with Lorcan's character and have a feeling he is going to be pretty important in the next few books.

I enjoyed both Aedion and Rowan, but both are quite similar characters. Both are driven by the need to protect Aelin at all costs. I am hoping to get a bit more depth and backstory to both of these characters in the next few books.

Dorian's storyline

of being taken over by a vlag prince was a smart choice for this book. We are able to see the fight in him and hopefully he bring that fight into his role as King.
The fact that Duke Perrington was actually taken taken over by Erawan and was the real puppet master was very unexpected, the King was just another puppet!

Tropes: fantasy, revenge, returned Queen

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