Queen of Shadows is the fourth book of the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas.  This book begins after Heir of Fire, so make sure to read the series in the correct order.  Aelin Ashryver Galathynius is back in Rifthold and this time around, she has no master and no regrets.  Aelin runs into Arobynn Hamel, her old master, who informs her that her cousin Aedion Ashryver has been imprisoned by the king and is to be executed soon.  Aelin knows that the only way she will be able to help Aedion escape is by letting Arobynn help her, and in return for his help, she must capture and bring him a Valg creature.  Aelin then goes to find Chaol Westfall to recruit him and his guards to help break Aedion out of the king’s prison.  Chaol tells Aelin that Dorian is now under the influence of a Wyrdstone collar, which means that a Valg demon has taken over his body.  This information now makes Aelin’s job harder because not only does she need to free Aedion, she now needs to also free Dorian from the Wyrdstone collar, and destroy the king who has been trying to collect the three Wyrdkeys.  On the other hand, Manon, the Wingleader of the Blackbeak Witch Coven, is struggling with having Duke Perrington and Vernon try to control her and order her around.  The duke has started to get power hungry, and will not stop until he gets the control and the power he thinks he deserves.  Manon is having a hard time juggling her duties of being Wingleader, the duke giving her problems, her grandmother not answering her letters of help, and her “Thirteen”, which is her court, complaining about how she is running the coven.

     I absolutely loved Queen of Shadows.  Although the beginning of the book was slow, since it had to set the scene and go over so many details, the ending made this book so worth it.  This book had a lot of character development from Aelin, Aedion, Rowan, Lyssandra, and Manon.  Many characters who I did not like in the beginning of the book have now become some of my favorite characters.  In Queen of Shadows, you get many points of views from different characters including Aelin, Chaol, Dorian, Rowan, and Manon which I absolutely loved getting to hear the different sides of the same conversations that there were.  This book also brings up plots from The Assassin's Blade, the prequel novel, so I recommend waiting to read The Assassin’s Blade after Heir of Fire, and before Queen of Shadows. 

     I am giving this book a 9.5/10.  This book has a dash of everything- romance, action, witches, demons, queens, and castles.  So far, this has to rank as my favorite out of the series because of the multiple plot twists that happen throughout the book.  I loved seeing more of Aelin and Rowan’s relationship play out and I love the dynamic of Aelin, Aedion, and Rowan.  I highly recommend the Throne of Glass series to anyone!

Check out Queen of Shadows from NBPL!