Warning: there are SPOILERS ahead!
Overall rating: 9.5/10
This book was so amazing! It really brought together almost
all of the story-arcs that we have seen in parallel over the span of the previous
books.
Just like in Heir of Fire, I found Manon’s perspective
to be the most interesting out of all of the character arcs. Seeing her change,
bit by bit, learning mercy, hope and justice, was really quite beautiful.
Although, she definitely is not quite a moral hero, we can see her moving in
that direction which really excites me. Asterin’s story broke my heart though.
I feel so bad for that girl and hope she will get her justice too.
And oh my goodness, I really wanna know why it was Manon
that was the one to be able to snap Dorian out of his Valg-possession. I wonder
if there’s some magic reason for it, perhaps. Or maybe it was simply her beauty
and a hint at a future relationship between the two of them! Either way, I’m
really excited to find out.
Aedion and Aelin’s reunion was really sweet. The two of them
are really affectionate and cute as family. I’m really, really glad that they
didn’t present Aedion as another potential love interest for Aelin. But
I will say that the whole power-dominance thing between Aedion and Rowan was
kinda annoying and I’m glad that they somewhat managed to sort that out in the
end.
Elide’s arc also really captured my interest, although I can
imagine that we will see more of her in the next book. I only realized after finishing
Queen of Shadows that her mom is Marion, the woman who sacrificed
herself to save Aelin. Elide joining up with Aelin will definitely bring some more
interesting dynamics to her growing court.
It was also really awesome seeing Lysandra finally team up with
Aelin and bring down Arobynn. Having read The Assassin’s Blade, I
definitely felt the emotional aspect of Arobynn and Aelin’s reunion much stronger
than if I had not read it. I am very glad that he is finally dead though.
The ending of this novel was definitely when things speed up
very quickly. That final sequence, with Dorian and the King was super intense
and really got my heart pounding while reading this book. I also genuinely
thought Chaol was dead for almost an entire chapter, and I’m so glad
that he isn’t.
Overall, Queen of Shadows was just perfect. It is
probably the most rounded-off book of the series (minus the novellas) but
definitely sets the tone for the upcoming books. Now with magic being free, shit
is probably going to get more real, and I honestly can’t wait.
0 Comments