Queen of Shadows - Sarah J. Maas

Title: Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 648
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Owned
Goodreads rating: 
About: The queen has returned.
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 for her. 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.

(This is your warning, there are spoilers ahead)

I don't even really know what I want to say about Queen of Shadows...I loved it.  I loved it even though there were plot things going on that I'm not 100% behind, but it's just so amazingly well written.  This book is really where all the pieces of this series start to come together and form a giant hellscape of a puzzle.  The action starts immediately, as opposed to in Heir of Fire, which felt like it just meandered for a long time.

Things I loved:
- Sam - I LOVE how much Aelin does for Sam in this book.  He's not even in the main series, but so much of this book was all about him.  And how could it not have been, with Aelin coming back to Rifthold, back to Arobynn...back to Celaena?  The scene at Sam's grave destroyed me.  (Also, I wonder how people that haven't read The Assassin's Blade feel about Sam.  Are they very confused? He's so important to the story and to Aelin.)  Can we talk about how she said Sam would've made a great king?  I weep openly.
- Manon - The baddest bitch.  Manon juggles so much with so little guidance and she really rises to the occasion in this one.  She's a fierce leader and I can't wait to see her continue being awesome in the future books (also her and Dorian, omg, heart eye emoji)
- Lysandra - This girl.  I love how her and Aelin's relationship has evolved.  She's become such a badass and a really important part of the team.
- Arobynn telling Aelin that everyone calls her a fire breathing bitch queen.  So good.

Things I didn't love:
- How little time we got to spend with Dorian (understandable, of course, because his body's been taken over by a Valg prince, but whatever, I missed him)
- Everyone being set up with a love interest by the end, so not necessary.  We really didn't need to shove Chaol and Nesryn together just so the matching pairs could march off into the sunset.  It felt a little sloppy.  I honestly think Chaol would need a lot of time to get past Celaena.
- Rowan.  In Heir of Fire I thought Rowan was boring, but fine.  In Queen of Shadows, Rowan becomes this pissy boyfriend who always needs to be in his girlfriend's space.  I honestly felt no romantic inklings from them in HOF, so when they got immediately infatuated in this it was a let down.  Their bond could have been so interesting without the romance, but now it's become just territorial, lusty nonsense.  I think Aelin needs more opposing viewpoints in her corner and Rowan doesn't provide that (but Chaol and Dorian were really good at that, just saying).  Ugh, I just don't like them together.  And I don't like Rowan.
- How stressed I was the whole time I was reading.  SO MUCH HAPPENS and I was a wreck for most of it.

So, yeah, Queen of Shadows was a five star read for me, even though there were definitely things I didn't like.  What did you think of it?  Are you as excited as I am for the next one?