By Quentin Monasterial
Courier Staff Reporter, Columnist
The anticipation for the fourth installment in the Throne of Glass series, written by Sarah J. Mass, has been building up over the past year like the water in a dam. This series’s fandom screams for this book like kids scream for ice cream on a blistering day, and yes, that includes me too.
Despite my growing skepticism for hyped books, Sarah J. Maas’ do not disappoint. In a truly commendable feat, Maas continues to nurture the sheer brilliance of the series four books later.
Leaving off from the Heir of Fire, Maas forces the reader to take a stand with Aelin as she transitions from her life as an assassin to a life of royalty.
After spending time away from her tyrannical home country, Aelin, more commonly known as Calaena, returns to confront her past, and to hopefully set down a path that holds a brighter future. To do that she must take down the King that murdered her family and enshrouded the entire continent in his dark reign.
Throughout the story readers get to witnessing the dumbfounding plans Aelin formulates and manages to execute. Their flawlessness stretch the limits of possibility, and make mysteries themselves seem unmysterious.
Although this book is action-packed, it is clear that Maas wanted to create an atmosphere of slow, agonizing anticipation throughout the rising action period. It worked, just maybe a little too well.
Slow-moving parts are inevitable in all books and stories, that is the rising action. Maas seemed to stretch them on for too long though, diminishing the dramatic effect that usually occurs when rising action transitions to the climax.
Nonetheless, Maas’s fast-paced, detailed, and to-the-point writing style complements the story and makes for very engaging action scenes, but not at the expense of the emotional intricacy of the relationships between characters.
Maas writes wonderfully flawed and genuine characters, allowing connections to form not only between characters, but between them and the readers as well.
Characters from previous books in the series make their return in Queen of Shadows. Compared to the short glimpses of Manon in the previous novel, her life and her role in the story are looked at more in depth. Additionally, Maas introduces a new perspective to the story through a new character: Elide. She will have readers constantly feeling sympathy, but also admiration for her perseverance. There is more to her than meets the eye, a detail that further compliments her character.
This unique ability to balance action with emotion that Maas has is probably why the series is so famous, and has a huge fandom. It is one of the main reasons why this is my favorite series.
Overall, this book has garnered more positive feedback from me than it has gathered negative ones, and, even though it wasn’t my favorite in the series, it will still remain on my list of all-time favorite books.
