Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

98 reviews

britwalsh16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I could not put this book down! Omg! It was sooooo good!!! 
Watching Aelin become who she was always meant to be & fight for her loved ones & what is right, is inspiring! The growth she has had since book 1 is in incredible! 
And the bromance between Chaol & Dorian is like my favorite bromance ever! Coming in second only to my bat boys. 
All the characters have incredible growth in this book! & I could go on about how much I love them all, but then this will get really long, so I won’t. 
But my favorite character is Rowan! & having him not being in the first third of the book gave me serious withdrawal! My heart just leaped out of my chest when he finally showed up! I was so ecstatic! I can’t wait to read more of him, & more of his relationship with Aelin! My heart! 💜 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, War, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Physical abuse, Slavery, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Genocide, Cursing, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, and Excrement

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Emotional abuse

wishlissa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

My favorite in the TOG series so far! This feels like the mid-season finale and I'm excited for it to come back with a bang. Every once in a while something happens in an SJM book that's frustrating -- but where other authors draw it out, SJM resolves the characters' stumbles and issues in a way that's timely and satisfying. What more could you want?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation and Confinement

Minor: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Vomit, Slavery, Torture, Murder, and Pregnancy

erafact's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Miscarriage and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Confinement, and Sexual content

dalek_caan's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

This book had me on the edge of my seat. The last one in the series was a little bit slow to read, but this one was moving from start to finish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Gore, War, Death, Torture, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Confinement, Colonisation, Child abuse, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Ableism

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Violence, Rape, War, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

cathdes's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, and Kidnapping

laura_nel13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Slavery, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Genocide, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, War, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Grief, and Excrement

ana_maria5's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Murder, Torture, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Slavery

miraileah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

4.25? I can see this remaining my favorite book in this series. I loved the new characters we met, and the new dimensions of the originals. I thought the political stuff was fun, and the relationship(s?) were all very interesting. I really liked Aelin’s internal world in this and the last book, she’s obviously learning a lot and doing her best to manage all of her new responsibilities as a /19 year old/ (holy hell they’re all so baby). Particularly the section where she initially comes home and deals with Arobynn again. He’s such a scumbag, but he meant a lot to her. I thought Aelin’s hesitance surrounding Arobynn made a lot of sense, and was written well. 

I think SJM loves writing stories about overcoming trauma, and I think she does a really good job of it! She thrives writing angst, and I was definitely on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next during much of this book. I’m most curious to see where Elide’s story takes her, as well as Nesryn. Both of them have been through a lot, but I think they’ll really shine in the coming books. I also love Manon and Lysandra, through the whole cast of characters has had moments where they’ve shined. Looking forward to the tandem read of EOS and TOD!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Miscarriage, and Slavery