Review of Queen of Shadows

*Queen of Shadows spoilers*

I finally finished Queen of Shadows, the fifth book in Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series. The video review I posted on my Tik Tok was actually so long that I had to significantly cut it down. I decided to make a few videos on Queen of Shadows because there is so much to say. So, here is my full written review of the book.

The Good

In general, I enjoyed Queen of Shadows. It was very exciting and a lot of important things happened in the book: the King of Adarlan is dead, Dorian’s collar is removed, Duke Perrington is revealed to be the actual bad guy, Manon’s arc is shaping, Arobynn is dead, magic is free, Rowan and Aelin finally kissed, and Aelin makes it home to Terrasen. Like, every ten pages something very important happened. In all honesty, I’m probably forgetting some things because the book was that full of important events.

Female Empowerment and Breaking Generational Trauma

I like the female empowerment that is seen throughout the work. It’s clear that this series is, in part, about women raising each other up. (I think this is a major difference between the Throne of Glass series and ACOTAR and I am starting to wonder if this is on purpose.) I also like the idea that the younger generation of people (Aelin, Dorian, Chaol, Lysandra, Manon, Kaltain, etc.) are recognizing and overthrowing the bad decisions and trauma of the older generations. I think there is something going on here about overcoming generational trauma in a lot of ways and it’s very powerful.

The Redemption of… The King of Adarlan?

I made a video on this topic when I first started reading Queen of Shadows. I questioned whether or not the King was always a bad guy or if he’s just been taken over by an evil Valg demon.

Well, it seems that the latter was true. In fact, some of the “evil” he committed was to protect his son, Dorian. It was actually a very sad scene when the King was recounting what happened to him when he was younger in Morath with Duke Perrington. He was a young man who didn’t know any better.

In fact, I am wondering if this serves as a cautionary tale to our younger characters. Aelin is a character who, despite all she’s been through in life, lacks humility. She’s like, This is my powerful court and I am the Queen of Terrasen! Girlfriend, you have four people standing behind you and your headquarters is a ramshackle apartment in a warehouse. Please sit down…

And to be fair, she is the Queen of Terrasen and a great assassin and all of that! But the King was also once a young and powerful man who was tricked. Aelin makes rash decisions and is fiery (Fire Heart, duh…) and maybe pausing every once in a while would serve her well. That’s all I’m saying.

The Romance

They finally kiss! While slow-burn romance is fun, I was glad that something finally happened. I think the slow nature of this romance (and general lack of explicit sex scenes in this series so far) really solidifies its place in the Young Adult genre. Apparently the next novel in the series, Empire of Storms, is not Young Adult so I am curious about how sex will play a role in the plots moving forward.

I put “The Romance” as a heading under the good qualities I liked about this book because it truly feels like a fantasy novel. Romance seems like a thing of secondary importance to the series and I do like that the fantasy aspects are front and center.

I have a habit of comparing the Throne of Glass series to that of ACOTAR because they’re in the same universe and ACOTAR seems to be a romance series at its core.

The Bad

The Main Story

Okay, so my first critique is not necessarily a bad one, but a general observation about the series as a whole. I hear often on BookTok and in book forums in general that readers are sometimes intimidated or shy away from this series because they “don’t want to take four books to really get into the plot.”

…and they’re not wrong. Now, I actually enjoyed the first few books of the series (Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, The Assassin’s Blade) but the actual story doesn’t start until the fourth book, Heir of Fire. And don’t get me wrong, the first three books are essential for character development and world building, but the story-story doesn’t start till later on. I mean, we don’t even know the main character’s real name until a few books in, haha!

I do wonder if this is a publishing issue or if Sarah J. Maas didn’t quite know exactly where everything was going to lead, but it all does feel like two stories in the series. Again, I am not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. However, when I see people say they don’t feel like reading four books to get into a main plot, I do see where they’re coming from entirely.

Where are the Copy Editors?

Mistakes happen. I would bet money that even this short blog post has grammatical errors. But, this blog post is not a novel by a headlining author that is going to be read around the world. By the second half of the book, I spotted multiple grammatical errors involving punctuation. Now, this might be me being nitpicky, but I cannot help myself.

My real issue was that the grammatical errors were happening at key points in the novel, like when Lorcan an Rowan are talking on the roof or when Aelin is confronting the King at the end of the book. Like, the language and how it is delivered matters here.

And I do not think these mistakes were on purpose because there are instances in the series where these grammatical issues are exactly addressed and it’s noted that it’s purposeful.

To Ponder

There is a lot to think about in these books. The main theme I keep coming back to is one of identity. This is not all that strange to me as “finding yourself” is a huge theme of Young Adult novels in general. I would say that this series definitely fits the bildungsroman genre. With that being said, there were a few things specific in Queen of Shadows that I found myself thinking about:

1. Are we really masters of our own fates? This is from a conversation that Aelin has with Dorian in chapter 84 when they’re discussing the future. Dorian says that she cannot always be here, with him, and she says that she is the master of her own fate. I mean, is she correct? When we examine Aelin’s life, so much was out of her control. Even when she was a little girl she didn’t want to be queen but it was her birthright. Not to mention, this is a series with the fated mates trope (which I honestly hate) and by definition, one has no control over their fated mate. It just seems like she is incorrect. We have free will, but fate does not change.
2. Love acts as a vehicle for change. If we look at Manon’s story and that of the Thirteen, I think it’s interesting that love is what causes them to reconsider their role in the world. Asterin’s love for the hunter made her realize something else can exist, and Manon’s love for Asterin makes her want to change the way the coven acts.
3. Is Kaltain a Lucretia figure? If so, I hate it. It is very obvious that Kaltain was being abused in a multitude of ways in Morath and the fact that she commits suicide makes me very sad. Yes, she sacrificed herself for others, but she kinds of admits that she was looking forward to dying. Now, my Augustine-ears might be pricking up a little at this, but if Kaltain’s suicide was in part due to her now “tainted” or “stained” self, I think a larger critique on the treatment of woman in the Maasiverse might be called for.
4. Chaol killing Cain had consequences! I called this from the first book. Go back and watch my Tik Tok videos because I have receipts! One cannot kill Cain (any Cain) and not be cursed. It’s right there in the Bible!

So, what did you think of Queen of Shadows?