But she was her own champion now.Brutal and magnificent. A force of nature. How else can I describe a book about witches, demons and dark lords, fae queens and warriors, possessed princes, rebels and whores?Queen of Shadows deserves more than 5 stars. Queen of Shadows rattles the stars.She was a whirling cloud of death, a queen of shadows, and these men were already carrion.The fire-breathing bitch-queen is back. Ready to gather her court, claim her throne and wreck havoc to those who hurt her and the people she loves. The world is changing, trust is tested, enemies turn to friends, friends to lovers, villains to allies and the real evil is darker and more cunning than anyone thought. The real fight starts now.They joined hands.So the world ended.And the next one began.By the Wyrd, Sarah J Maas's storytelling is spectacular! I lost two nights' sleep and I forgot to eat because I was sucked in Erilea, sucked in battles and plots and plans that went wrong and sacrifices and general badassery. An emotional roller coaster, a wild ride, an incredibly vivid and captivating book. That's what we call high fantasy people.The charactersI can't help but admire Sarah's characters. It's true, Celaena is not someone I can relate to nor agree with, and I found myself scolding her for her decisions and cringing at her cruelty, but at the same time I felt a wave of pride for what she's achieved and the way she has grown up. And the rest of the women oh.my.god!! I freaking love Manon, my brilliant bloodthirsty witch, and Lysandra and Nesryn, they're the embodiment of strength and courage! And they kick ass!As for the men in this book? Dorian is and always will be my favorite, my number one, my precious prince, my baby, my sun and stars, my chocolate cupcake, but Aedion and Rowan and Chaol are also perfect. And edible. I'm a big fat slut.EmotionsEvery time Dorian was in pain, my heart broke. Every time Sam was mentioned, my heart broke. Every time a story full of pain was revealed, my heart broke.But then Aedion would say something funny and I would be like The romanceLet me make something clear. The new ship? Ahoy mates, I'm on board!BUT, I didn't like the way Sarah handled the Chaol/Celaena relationship. I actually felt bad for Chaol and thought that he was right most of the times he and Celaena argued. They all have changed, him and Celaena (and Dorian for that matter), they're not the people we met in the first book, and that's expected. I just wish some changes were smoother.However, this book was epic. Period. The different storylines were knit together perfectly, and the last 100 pages gave me goosebumps. Like I said, epic.You haven't read it yet? Shame on you!(just kidding, but please go read it!)

WHAT EVEN WAS MY LIFE WITHOUT THIS BOOK?!?!?Oh right, it was nothing. My life was trash before this book. Actual trash. Let's go rattle the stars Hands down this was my favorite book from the series so far, none of the other books even came close to this one. I HAVE NOT KNOWN LOVE UNTIL I MET THIS BOOK. I don't even know how to form a coherent review on this. So sorry in advance because this is mainly just going to be a jumbled mess of me trying to put into words how much I loved this.*ANYTHING BELOW WILL NOT BE SPOILER FREE*You've been warned.Let's just dive into the list of things I love.1. Lysandra. HOLY SHIT. This bitch came out of nowhere and went from being one of my least favorite characters to one of my favorite. I LOVED that we got to learn more about her backstory and the fact that she even had a back story. She was everything I could have hoped for and more. Her friendship with Aelin was so fucking epic, and everything Aelin did for her seriously made me want to cry. She deserves it all. LYSANDRA IS ONE BADASS BITCH. Not only did we learn why she hasn't paid off her debts BUT she's also a shapeshifter. When she saved Rowan and Aedion by shifting into a ghost leopard I flipped, like actually flipped and loved her EVEN MORE. Word to the wise, don't mess with Lysandra.2. Asterin's heart to heart with Manon. I knew that there was going to be SOMETHING going on with Asterin from the way she reacted to the witch covens being forced to produce demon babies. However, I was not quite expecting a backstory that deep. Manon's reaction to her story was even better, meaning that EoS is probably going to have some intense scenes with Manon and good ol' granny. SIGN ME THE F UP.3. When Aedion realized Aelin was in the castle and was in fact about to save him. My heart skipped a few beats.4. When Aelin visited Sam's grave. My heart did not skip a few beats and I'm pretty sure it almost stopped because of how hard I ugly cried. I actually woke my husband up that's how hard I cried. Whatever. Shoot me.5. Chaol. Soooooooo, here's the thing, Alana 100 pages deep in this book would have told Chaol to jump off a cliff. But, Alana 400,500, and 600 pages deep just wanted to hug him and tell him she still loves him and that it's all going to be okay. He grew on me so much throughout this book because of his character growth. And I loved that there was zero awkwardness between him and Aelin. Which leads us to #6.6. ROWAN.Need I say more? Probably not, but I will.My heart beats for Rowan and Aelin. They are it for me. First of all, the tension between the two of them left me fanning myself off. Or dumping a pitcher of cold water over my head like Rowan did ;). These two are EVERYTHING because they heal each other. They have both suffered insurmountable loss that most people would never recover from but together they are better. Rowan is ruthless, loyal, massive, brutal, and extremely aggressive. Above all though, he is a gentlemen. A GENTLEMEN. Who cannot handle a nightgown in the slightest, but still a gentleman.7. Manon vs. Aelin. EPICNESS to say the least. I CANNOT wait for more scenes between the two of them, because holy tempers, they are wild.8. Kaltain tricking the duke and burning down Morath. Another moment of pure epicness that left my mouth gaping for a good few hours. Just another badass woman in this story. Annnnd, let's not forget the little quest she sent Elide on. SO pumped for that.9. Chaol and Dorian reuniting. Queue the tears. When Chaol cried realizing Dorian was saved I'm pretty sure a piece of me died inside because I was so happy. The bromance is real my friends. 10. The clock tower blowing up and ruining the castle.I imagine it looking a lil like this.And last but not least 11. Aelin setting foot back on Terrasen soil. THE BITCH DID IT. She really did it. I cannot wait for her reclaim her throne and bring hell to those who deserve it.She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph. YAAAAAAS, my queen!!!!! I cannot wait to see what EoS brings to the table.

3.5 stars...Okay okay okay so... THIS BOOK. I'm so conflicted, I hated half of the things that happened but loved the other half! I was going to let myself give it 5 stars just for the AWESOME ending (overall the whole second part of the book was AMAZING), but the first part was unbearable! I believe it took me one week to finish it, while the second part I read it only in one day because OMGITWASSOAMAZING and I couldn't stop. BUT YES, the first part: BORING and ANNOYING. There are so many pages in this book and I don't feel they were necessary, also, I wanted to punch everyone.Another thing that I hated was what SJM did to my babies: CHAOL AND DORIAN. Especially to Chaol, he was so OoC most of the time! AND YES, I was a Chaolena shipper, (WAS, because that ship SUNK in this book and I'm so mad and sad and torn), but I wouldn't be as mad if SJM hadn't RUINED the character. She also ruined Chaolena's dynamics, she made them almost hate each other! At the end of the book everything is kinda better between them, but it will never be the same. So goodbye to my beautiful ship. Chaol didn't deserve what SJM did to him. And about Dorian... he wasn't in enough pages of this book. He was barely there (OH BUT AT THE END HE WAS SO AWESOME, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH).I'm not really fond of the whole Rowan/Aelin thing. I MEAN, I love Rowan, I really do! But what I liked about them was their friendship! It's really hard to find something like that in a YA book and I loved it, BUT THEN in this book they are suddenly all in love with each other, it doesn't make any sense! I can accept them together, I know I can, but SJM could have done a better job in making them fall in love with each other slowly, so WE the readers could notice the change! It was so abrupt! And I was so tired of hearing them saying how stunning and perfect the other was. Bleh. And tbh, they mostly wanted to undress each other in every scene they had together.SO... SHIPS I'M NOT ON BOARD:- Rowan/Aelin: I think they can convince me, but right now I'm a little icky towards them.- Chaol/Nesryn: I like Nesryn as a character, but SJM just put her in the book so Chaol could have a new couple, and it felt forced.MY NEW SHIPS:- Aedeon/Lysandra: YES, I love them!!! I really hope they become a thing in the next books.- Dorian/Manon: OOPS, am I the only one who ships them!? I mean, they surely can become a thing! The few encounters they had were some of the best parts of the book! And Dorian remembers her and FKDKDKGKGA. I don't wanna say much because SPOILERS, but yes, Dorian and Manon would be a powerful and really interesting couple.- Dorian/Chaol: YES I SHIP THEM. Can they get married, like, right now?And yeah... that's basically it. I just want to say that I absolutely LOVED the second part of the book. I couldn't stop reading! Dorian, Manon and Aelin are my heroes! GO, them!...EDIT: Just to add the thing I hate the most about this series! I absolutely HATE that EVERYONE IS SO IN LOVE WITH AELIN. Not just in this book, but in the WHOLE SERIES! Since book one! Sam, Chaol, Dorian, Arobynn, Aedeon, Rowan, even Lysandra... at some point of the series they have marveled at how stunning and beautiful and amazing Celaena/Aelin is, and I can't stand it! I mean, yeah she's awesome, I get it, but it's so unrealistic. Every male she befriends has to fall in love with her :/.

BRB CRYING FOREVER. This book was a wild ride! While I loved this book, I did feel like the characterization within this book was a bit off. That's the main reason I didn't give this 5 stars. Other than that I was thoroughly happy with what went down in this story, even if certain things didn't go the way I wanted them to. GIVE ME BOOK 5 NOW. K THANKS.

Re-read on audio. Still awesome and still loving the narrator of the books MIND BLOWNSooooooooooooo, I loved this book! I was a little iffy there because I wasn't sure if Rowan was going to be in it but it's all good :-) Celaena/Aelin has returned to Rifthold. She's trying to sneak in undercover. She has a little bit of a different look for a bit. A little bit of hair dye goes a long way, but most people knows who she is. She is back to save her cousin and do what she needs to do to get rid of the evil in the land. I fell in love with Lysandra in this book, I love what she truly is and when Aelin does what she does to change a few things, it is on with all of the "special" people :) That's all I can say...you know, the spoiler thing! Anyhoo, I love that Aelin is more of a bad arse than she was before, but then again she found her true self while she was gone. I love her cousin Aedion and what we find out about him. It's just all so awesome! I wasn't pleased with Chaol in the first of the book, but it all came together in the end. The whole group, even some of the evil ones, got together and fought the good fight. TOGETHER! Well, ya know, there is a little bit more evil in their world so it's best if some of them hook up and get it done. And finally we have a kiss that I was waiting for the whole book :) I thought the chemistry with all of the characters in the book was wonderful! This was the best book by far, although, I did love Heir of Fire a lot as well. So many people came together and with so many plots and schemes that were just brilliant. It's certainly not over, you just know there is going to be more to do with the way the book ended! I can't wait for more!!MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List