Spoilers!!!
"One can't put much faith in gossip, but word arrived about a month ago from Wendlyn. It claimed that a certain lost queen put on a rather spectacular show for an invading legion from Adarlan. Actually, I believe the title our esteemed friends in the empire now like to use is 'fire-breathing bitch-queen.'"
After defeating three of the king's Valg demons, slipping through Maeve's fingers, and allying herself with the greatest Fae warrior of all time, Aelin Galathynius is back in Rifthold. And she has some unfinished business to attend to.
Before she can create her army, Aelin must save her cousin from his execution, exact revenge upon her former assassin master, make peace with those from her past, and bring magic back. Easy, right?
Finally Wing Leader, Manon Blackbeak and her Thirteen are stationed in Morath to do the king's bidding. But when the king's men begin forcefully experimenting on witches, the Blackbeaks begin to question their loyalty not only to the king, but to Manon as well. Torn between following orders and listening to her instincts, Manon must choose whether or not she will remain the monster she was bred to be.
Broken after fleeing the castle, Chaol Westfall has finally chosen a side. Taking down the Valg and one corrupt guard after another, Chaol attempts to repent for leaving Dorian behind. But what will he do if his beloved prince is truly gone?
A prince would not have allowed that woman's head to be cut off. A prince would have saved her. Yet he had not saved her, and he knew there was no one coming to save him.
REVIEW
I finished this book far faster than I had intended, which is both good and bad. Good because I needed to know how it ended, and bad because it ended too soon. Yes, there are three more books in this series, but this one has absolutely been the best so far and it took only two days for me to gobble it up. Everything in it was incredible-- Dorian, Manon, Rowan, Aedion, Lysandra, Kaltain!! I am simply listing names and it's definitely vague but OH MAN!!! This book was killer!
She could forgive the girl who had needed a captain of the guard to offer stability after a year in hell; forgive the girl who had needed a captain to be her champion. But she was her own champion now.
I have to get all of the Chaol drama out of the way first. This book, from the start, made me hate him. I mean truly, every time he was in a chapter I was angry and flustered and just wanted to hit him. He spends the entire first half of Queen of Shadows blaming Aelin for not being in Adarlan while people were dying as if HE wasn't the one who shipped her away. He even goes as far as calling her a monster even though he knows everything she's been through. Even typing this out infuriates me. What I have to remind myself, though, is that Chaol is throwing all of this at her because he feels useless and complicit in what happened to Dorian and he needs someone to blame. If he lets himself acknowledge that he is part of the problem, he will fall apart. Easier to put the burden on the woman who left him, right? I'm rolling my eyes. However, despite my feelings about Chaol in the first half of the book, he does begin to behave better when he admits to himself that Dorian is beyond saving. After that, he just tries to become a martyr because he doesn't want to survive knowing that he couldn't save his best friend. I think the best way to sum up his character is this: he was born a Lord, became the Captain of the Guard for the king as a teenager, and has been best friends with the crown prince his entire life. He has always lived an easy and simple life and now everything, for lack of a better phrase, has gone to shit. His best friend is being inhabited by a demon prince from another realm, the girl he loved is completely over him and he has no job, honor, or purpose anymore, so his devastation is understandable. And, being a regular mortal, all of this craziness with magic, Fae and demons is a hard pill to swallow. I just wish he could have swallowed it faster and hadn't hurt Aelin along the way.
"We do not look back, Chaol. It helps no one and nothing to look back. We can only go on."
I'd like to dedicate a paragraph to all the lovely new(ish) side(ish) characters we meet in this book. Lysandra, first, is absolutely wonderful. It's sad how much we were made to dislike her in The Assassin's Blade, but the spoiled brat persona was all an act, one of Maas's favorite tropes, it seems. She's badass, smart, funny, and has the COOLEST powers. We also learn her past and how she became a courtesan-- she was kicked out by her mother at the age of 7 and instead of being trained as an assassin like Aelin, Lysandra was raised to be used in a different way. Somehow she still managed to come out of that horror with a smile on her face. The best part of her return is that she becomes a wonderful friend to Aelin, one she needs, especially after Nehemia's death. And together, the two of them finally take down the man who tried to destroy their lives for his own entertainment. Elide, secondly, is a character I am ever intrigued by. She's not the usual type of woman that Maas typically creates in her novels-- usually we have hardcore warrior women with endless wit and fire in their blood. Elide is soft and kind and will practically do or say anything to keep herself safe. I think she was created to be the antithesis to Manon, which does wonders for Manon's character development. Elide is somehow both helpless and an iron-willed survivor at the same time, and because of that, she is able to help spur the witch into action. Asterin, thirdly, is a new favorite character of mine. We already knew she was bold and deadly, but we get to see the pain she's endured at the hands of the Blackbeak Matron (who we all hated already). Going through something that awful and letting it forge you into a stronger version of yourself is remarkable. She also helps push Manon to where she needs to be emotionally in this war. Finally, I would like to bring this home with Kaltain. She was introduced to us in Throne of Glass as a pompous, selfish, foolish woman who only cared about becoming queen. We learn in this book that they literally embedded a wyrdkey in her arm to turn her into a monster under the king's control. But the joke was on them, huh? Because she, alone, demolished the Valg infecting her. Through all of the torture and pain they put her through, she was able to defeat a demon prince by herself and become powerful enough to destroy them all. This is something completely unprecedented. Even Dorian, who we know has nearly unlimited power, was unable to get rid of the demon without significant help. She was a normal woman that they tried to shred apart and it only made her stronger. All of these women are the literal epitome of resilience. They've all been through hell and back and are still kicking and fighting. If you ever wonder why so many young girls read YA Fantasy books, it's because of the incredible and inspiring women inside of them. These are girls we can look to and keep tucked in our hearts everyday to remind us to be better, and braver, and stronger.
"Please," Lysandra said, waving a manicured hand, "you and I are nothing but wild beasts wearing human skins. Don't even try to deny it.
I need to talk about what is happening to the witches, but it is so wrong and disturbing that I'm afraid to think too long on it. Basically, the king has ordered that a few Blackbeak covens be experimented on. What they really mean is that they want to cut open the witches' bellies, place a piece of some sort of demon stone inside of them to impregnate them with demon spawn, and then sew them back up. We find out that this process is excruciatingly painful (duh) and there is no coming back from it; not to mention the fact that the babies are almost entirely demonic, no hint of witch blood within them. Manon is forced to pick which covens will suffer through this and even though she knows it's wrong and horrible, she still has trouble defying her grandmother's orders. After hearing the stories of Asterin and Elide, she becomes brave enough to fight back. I want Manon to be the one who takes down Perrington and Vernon after what they put her witches through.
"You are sacred vessels," the duke said. "It is an honor to be chosen." "I find that a very male thing to assume."
SO... this situation between Rowan and Aelin... Remember how I said in my last review that both of them kept trying to convince us that they had no interest in each other that way? Yeah that load of crap totally flies out the window in this book. They don't even have the energy to pretend anymore-- every single person around them is like uhhh hey, y'all seein' this? And these two knuckleheads are completely blind to the other's interest. But I do have to admit that mutual pining is a romance cliche that may never get old for me. I live for the drama! However, they both hold back because of past romantic trauma and I understand that. Rowan feels guilty about his feelings for Aelin because this is the first time he's cared for someone after his mate died. But that was 200 years ago and things are different now, which he does eventually realize. They finally admit at the end of this book that they have feelings for each other, so I'm dying to see what happens in the next one. Knowing Sarah J. Maas, it's going to be tragic and rip my heart out!
She said softly, "You make me want to live, Rowan. Not survive; not exist. Live."
Dorian. His chapters were devastating-- they were just a struggle between him and the monster inhabiting his body. He couldn't recognize or remember his friends and he had no control over his words or actions. It was heartbreaking to read. The ONLY thing that gave him the strength to overpower the Valg for even a few seconds was meeting Manon. WHAT COULD THAT MEAN? DOES THIS MEAN THAT MY SWEET LITTLE BOY HAS A FUTURE WITH THE MOST BADASS IRONTEETH WITCH WHO EVER LIVED? Princeling?? Witchling??? They even already have sassy little nicknames for each other???? I'm obsessed with these two. After their first little encounter, we get to see the two coolest women in the world meet. I knew that Manon would somehow find her way onto Aelin's side in the war, but I had no idea how and I cannot imagine a more dramatic way for her to get there: the two women meet and immediately battle to the death. Aelin nearly kills Manon but then has a gut feeling that she should save her. Because of that, Manon owes Aelin a life debt and her utmost respect. That intense fight also brings about the single most jaw-dropping moment in any book series ever. "WITCH KILLER-- THE HUMAN IS STILL INSIDE HIM" !!!!! What better way for Manon to repay her life debt than by warning Aelin that Dorian is still in there? When I say I gasped out loud while reading, I'm not over-exaggerating in the slightest. Chaol would have killed Dorian to put him out of his misery if they had not received this warning first. And Manon even visits the castle in the end of the book to see if Dorian is still in the demon collar. Which he isn't, by the way. Aelin has a great plan that kinda sorta maybe works out and Dorian is able to free himself from the Valg prince AND kill his father, making him the new king of Adarlan. Yeah, a LOT happens. Easy to see why I shredded through this book in only two days, right?
"To a better future," she said. "You came back," he said, as if that were an answer. They joined hands. So the world ended. And the next one began.
So here's what we know: the king is dead and Dorian now rules, Perrington is being possessed by Erawan, Elide is on her way to Terrasen trying to find Celaena Sardothien and is in possession of a wyrdkey, Lorcan is trying to find all of the wyrdkeys to destroy them before Maeve can get them, Aelin and her court have returned to Terrasen, Chaol is being sent off with Nesryn to the Torre Cesme to have his paralyzed legs healed, Dorian is alone and sad in the castle, Aelin totally has the hots for Rowan, Rowan totally has the hots for Aelin, Manon totally has the hots for Dorian, I totally have the hots for Manon, and all of the witches are secretly working against the Valg. Yeehaw?
Dorian said, "So here we are." "The end of the road," Aelin said with a half smile. "No," Chaol said, his own smile faint, tentative. "The beginning of the next."
This next book is gonna destroy me, isn't it?
Yeah, I thought so.
And as they passed by the domed Royal Theater, there was music-- beautiful, exquisite music-- playing within.
FALIQ'S PEAR TARTS
So she took him to one of Nesryn's family's bakeries, where she went so far as to buy a few of those pear tarts. At the docks, Rowan even convinced her to try some pan-fried trout. She'd once sworn never to eat fish, and had cringed as the fork had neared her mouth, but-- the damned thing was delicious. She ate her entire fish, then snuck bites of Rowan's, to his snarling dismay.
These pear tarts were mentioned nearly a million times in this book, it would have been a crime not to make them. I also found out that there are a bunch of different ways to make a pear tart, but I have to say that I think my way is potentially the tastiest! Here's how mine came out:
I totally recommend using this crust recipe for any and all pies-- it was so easy and tasted incredible! I had a bit of trouble with mashing the pears, but I think I just got the wrong kind because they were quite crisp like apples, and I know most pears are usually softer. However, I just tossed the mixture into my food processor and that worked like a charm. I also was without fig preserves, so I used apricot instead and had no problems. You'll also notice that the recipe I referenced called for a 9-inch tart pan, but I have six much smaller tart pans for individual-style pies. The amounts the recipe down below uses successfully made 4 of those little pies! The only other thing I changed was tossing in a bit of cinnamon and sugar to help give it a bit of an extra kick, and it was SO good! My boyfriend said it might be his favorite thing I've made so far!
Pear Tarts Recipe: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/french-pear-tart-recipe/
If you didn't know, I bake something from a book every week and post live updates on my Instagram. Tune in to @picklesandpages on Wednesdays to check it out!
NEXT READ: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
two posts in two days?!?!