QUEEN OF SHADOWS BY SARAH J MAAS | BOOK REVIEW + DISCUSSION 

NEVER LET GO #CELORIAN NEVER LET GO

I ship Dorian and Manon together like that would be a weird pairing but I like it.

Do you ship Lysandra and Aedion ??? Cause I do!!!!

the fact that some people decided to rate QOS only one or two stars because their ship didn't work out the way they wanted it to is disgusting. They completely ignore ALL THE AMAZING BADASS MOMENTS THAT HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK, too many to even count, to say that this book was too long?? I didn't wanna stop reading and I didn't wanna get to the end and I need the fifth book now pls

Was there a point in Queen of Shadows when anyone else kind of shipped Elide and Manon..? Ok just me?

Can we just give a round of applause for Lysandra's jewler. The fake amulet and ring saved their butts too many times.

I honestly ship Chaol and Dorian

I don't think Celorian is an option anymore, I think it was kind of hinted at that he might be interested in Manon because he keeps remembering her name. I'm on-board with that! I kind of wonder if Rowaelin was planned because I thought Sarah J Maas wanted them to be a platonic friendship but that went right out of the window and it turned romantic in around two minutes so I'm not 100% on-board with Rowaelin. I loved this book though, it was so exciting, I loved all the character interactions and the plot, I cried a few times in this book, it was amazing and I am DYING for the next book. Looking back at Throne of Glass you can see how far Sarah J Maas' writing has come.

Y'all keep on talking about all these different characters but I wanna see NOX, anyone with me?!

why are people so upset about Rowaelin? I was a hardcore ChaolxCelaena/Aelin shipper but I was okay with how the book turned out. To be honest I wasn't focusing so much on the romance because I had other things in mind like the actual goal of this story which is putting Aelin on a throne and gaining freedom in all the kingdoms. When I read Heir Of Fire I really did catch some feelings that Rowan and Aelin had for each other. A lot of people felt like it was a platonic relationship but for me I felt their feelings were building up ever since. I wasn't like shocked or anything when they started showing up in QOS especially after being separated for a while, I was even starting to be okay with it because whoever Aelin ends up with will forever be okay with me as long as she's happy and Chaol and Dorian are happy. Chaol and Aelin had problems and they were finally solved and what once was a romantic bond turned into one of friendship which made me incredibly happy. Why so much hate!?

Soo much going on in this book!!! Here is my personal shipping!!! AelinxRowan ChaolxNesyrin AedionxLyssandra DorianxManon ElidexRen Hopefully Ren get a bigger role on this series so I can pair him up with Elide!!

OMG THANK YOU!!! Thank you so much for not just getting angry at Chaol for questioning Aelin. Some people just got made at him without thinking about his words. Like he had actual fears about what Aelin would do to the innocent people in Rifthold if she got angry. UGHHH, I just hate it when people blindly accuse him. He's my baby and I will forever protect him.

ENDGAMES AelinxRowan ChaolxNesryn DorianxManon I stand by my ships. TEAM AELIN!!!

I love how every serious encounter happens on the roof of Aelin's apartment! Need to make out - roof. Need to talk to Aedion - roof. Planning - roof

I've always shipped Rowan and Aelin, since the last book so this book was essentially my life 😍

FREAKING ROWAN, I AM IN LOVE! I CRIED WHEN HE CAME BACK. AND AELIN AND ROWAN ARE GOING TO HAVE BEAUTLIFUL CHILDREN!

i am honestly gonna cry when the series is over. it's gonna be a long mourning period.

"HE HAD A POINT" yesssss I've been saying this foreverrrrrr

I used to ship Celaena and Chaol SO SO SO MUCH and I cried so much reading Crown of Midnight. But now I am a Rowalaena shipper and I'm so happy they're a couple now!

"precious cinnamon roll. too good. too pure" loved this review! :) x

I'm not really onboard with the romantic aspect of ToG anymore. I'm more invested in the storyline, and the ships kept changing so I kind of gave up. I totally agree though, I'm happy as long as Aelin is happy. I just slightly disagreed with the Rowaelin because I preferred them as platonic. It seems a shame to me that Aelin has to have a romantic relationship with every male she comes across. I wish at least one of her male relationships could be purely platonic (besides family) as well as having female friends. Because men and women can actually be friends without any romantic/sexual themes.

I'm shipping Rowan/Aelin and Dorian/Manon all the way. But not gonna lie I'm low key shipping Choal/Dorian too.

I only just finished reading Queen of Shadows and I just...died. Rowan Whitethorn is beautiful and I ship him with Aelin and I always will. DORIAN AND MANON FOR LIFE!! Righto, now I'm going to go curl up in a ball and squeal over Rowan.

I honestly don't know, and I'm not just saying this because I'm a hard-core Rowaelin shipper, but I don't think Aelin and Dorian are going to end up together. It was made clear throughout QOS that they'd both moved on and were nothing more than friends.

Yes the Aelin and Manon showdown was everything! I felt all the feels at the Asterin and Manon section though when she opened to her. I think I'm the opposite of you in that I really grew to like the witches in this book when I didn't particularly care for them in HoF. Yes for the Aedion and the Aelin reunion! The sharing of their scars and stories like how beautiful. ROWAN. I totally agree with you in that Dorian and Aelin would be beautiful [that sharing books line towards the end was the best] but Rowan and Aelin just made my heart soar in this book. I'm so intrigued by Dorian and Manon too as well. Yes at first I was confused about Elide but the more I read the more I wanted the best for her and hope she finds Aelin. Yes for all the books! Great review! :]

I don't think Aelin and Dorian will be together. Too much friendship. Rowan and Aelin are definitely better

"Dorian, baby, cinnamon roll" HAHAHA That was hilarious :'D

I still hardcore ship Doraelin! That final battle scene between them was my favorite part of the book!!! I'm not really feeling Rowaelin though; I loved it when their relationship was platonic!

Your makeup is on point, Kat!! I was almost in tears again while watching you talk about all the great scenes in this wonderful book! Makes me want to reread it already x)

FINALLY I was waiting for someone to make a booktalk!! BTW, can we all just take a moment and cry over Asterin's past? Seriously, her history made me cry so hard...

Spoiler. I really wanted rowan/aelin to remain platonic honestly. I also kinda thought that from heir of fire to QoS the romantic feelings went from virtually non existent to crazy romance.

I STILL SHIP CHAOL AND AELIN I DONT CARE WHAT ANY OF YOU SAY CHAOL IS MY CINNAMON APPLE

Oh my god I have never clicked on a video this fast before :D

I just started Throne of Glass last night! Glad to see it is a good story as it progresses! Your bookshelves are so pretty!

It felt so weird not hearing "Celaena" throughout this review...

I ship Aedion and Lysandra together, I loved her turning into a ghost leopard and scaring Aedion. Also her puking on Lorcan twice was great because he deserved it.

My ships: Aedion/Lysandra (duh), Chao/Nesryn, Manon/Elide, Dorian and me...lol so about the Rowan and Aelin ship, I honestly feel like it's just lust and their blood oath thing coming in play. I mean come on, I'm straight but if I saw Aelin in lingerie, I'd turn gay for her faster than quicksilver. Like Kat said, I'm team Aelin. Sarah can make her end up with anyone and if Aelin is happy, I'm happy. I just absolutely love Dorian. Also, people ship him and Manon, and I could see that happening buuuuut.... I ship him with myself 😄 my absolute most fave part is when Chaol, Dorian, and Aelin were in the same room talking. That's my trio right there, the ultimate ship. Almost in par with the Shiganshi trio...haha

Eyeshadow on point :D

ROWAN AND AELIN!!!!!!!! I still can't get over it. I want MORE

OMG I have to finish this so I can watch more than 1.5 minutes of this video! I can't wait to finish and check back. Love your ToG book talks even if we're on different teams ;)

I think Aelin and Rowan are endgame because they have a strong relationship.

"Checking things off our to-do list" - you killed me with that! Totally sums up the satisfaction I felt reading this book!

The Sam ship is still sailing at the bottom of the ocean. I may or may not still be in denial over his death.

Yes, I've been waiting for you to do this video!! Thank you

I really love this book! I also found it interesting how the valg prince inside of Dorian was saying how Manon had the eyes of the valg kings and to not look at her I wonder how that is going to play out in the next book or if it is even going to affect Manon's story line. Great discussion video Kat your discussion video had me excited all over again about the book!

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG OMG

I am actually starting to love these platonic relationships more than the romantic ones. That's not to say that I don't love them (Rowaelin and Chaolaena are my top 2), but I loved Aelin and Lysandra's relationship as well as Aelin and Aedion's. I guess right now I'm Team Aelin, because I just want her and everybody else to be happy at the end of the 6th book.

My favorite book by far is the third one because Rowan gets introduced. From the moment he was introduced I knew that him and Aelin were going to be together, either as friends or something more, AND I THINK HE BRINGS SO MUCH TO THE SERIESS ASAASFAFSJHGKDN. I just love the character development SO much [*cries from too many emotions*]

I DIDNT EVEN QUESTION IF THE DUKE WAS THE VALG KING BUT NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, YOURE RIGHT HE DOESNT SEEM LIKE A REASONABLE CANDIDATE AT ALL. some would say that perhaps Sarah hadn't decided to make him the Valg King yet in Book 1 so his actions didn't reflect that, but she's been foreshadowing things since book one and she's had scenes in her head for years (and openly talked about that on Twitter). Plus, the King became infested with the Valg demon before he slaughtered Aelin's family, it would seem, since he talked about going to her for her help. So this couldn't be something that happened between TOG and QOS. I really like the Hollin theory. I wonder how scary of a villain he'd be simply because he's a child (10-14 years old I believe?), so you'd think itd be easy for Aelin to take him out. But at the same time, he could be one of the scariest antagonists we've met yet.

I'm so glad someone else is happy with Raelin!!!!! I liked Chaolena, but like, I wasn't obsessed or anything. I personally am in love with Rowan, so Raelin is like THE STUFF OF MY DREAMS OMG. 8:51 was me the whole fricking time. I never thought it would actually happen. BUT IT DID AND I WILL NEVER LOOK BACK

Am I the only one still shipping Aelin and Chaol? I loved their relationship in CoM and I really thought that they belonged together and would stay together once Aelin returned from Wendlyn. I also would have accepted if they hadn't, if it was not for Rowan. I liked him and Aelin being just Friends and I don't understand why it couldn't remain that way. Their relationship does not seem romantic to me, but just based on lust. Also the whole Chaol/Nesryn thing seems very forced. All in all, I don't like the Characters jumping from one Love interest to another. Really, this is not Vampire diaries.

Your nail polish goes perfectly with holding the book 😍

I've been waiting for this video for sooo long. Yaaaaas ^^

I'm just watching this now because I couldn't watch it earlier as I didn't have the book yet! But I just finished it and you, Jesse and Christine are my first people to go to to watch (: I LOVE YOUR MAKEUP IT MATCHES PERFECTLY FOR THIS AND ITS PERF SO YAS KAT SLAY teach me your skills please omg if you could do like a chill vlog or something including how you do such perfect makeup it would be v appreciated. (:

My ship was all over the place! At the end of throne of glass, I was so pissed at Aelin for dumping Dorian for Chaol, but then in the second I was so happy with their relationship, and throughout heir of fire, I was like "she's going to forgive Chaol and they'll be together" and then Rowan explains that you can't want to kill your mate! So then I lost a little hope, and without realizing it I was hoping Rowan and her would become a thing. Then I had relief that she kept saying things about not having anything besides friendliness towards him. Of course then in Queen of shadows, Rowan isn't their and I WANTED HIM TO BE! Also Chaol is a douche to her and she feels nothing for him, so that ship then dies completely. Rowan comes back, now I completely love him! I want them to be together, but I feel like (because she couldn't kill Dorian, and their magic was so complimenting of eachother) they might have a chance of still being together. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE NOW.

YES THERE CAN BE TWO SHIPS OF THE SAME ONE CHARACTER AKA JESSA AND WESSA YAS

Loved your discussion! I loved Aedion's rescue, it was so awesome. And Aelin/Manon's fight was epic and how Manon thought Aelin was weak and nervous with her foot but she was really drawing a wyrdmark. Killed me. Also, I loved how Aelin was super bada** and figured out everything on her own. Like you guys are too slow I'll do it myself. I was never a Chaol/Aelin shipper because I felt like Aelin was a little too wild for Chaol. They were good for each other for a short while but not forever. I totally shipped Rowaelin in HoF because he really helped her get over her fears of not being good enough to rule. Rowan makes her stronger and he believes in her. Chaol was so wishy washy with her it was annoying. I do just a little still ship Dorian and Aelin but eh... Also, it was sad when Chaol lost use of his legs. I hope he and Nessryn have good scenes when they go try to help him. And more Dorian scenes next book, please!

YOU LITERALLY SAID PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING I WAS THINKING!!! I loved this review so much !! There's one major thing which wasn't really addressed in this book too much and that's MAEVE! I know Lorcan was there as her spy and whatnot, but I wonder when she'll come back and how - maybe she'll storm right in cause magic is has been freed and whatnot. Or maybe she'll sneak in all sly and stuff and maybe it won't be until the last book and just when we think Aelin's won Maeve storms through and fucks everything up. THAT WOULD BE SO INTENSE. AND AWESOME. I've heard people talking about seeing Nox, Luca and Emrys again and I really hope we do cause MAN it's gonna get so inteeeense. Elide though - she's loyal to Aelin but the fact she doesn't know that Aelin is Celeana I wonder how she'll react when she finds out. We know Celeana never killed anyone from Terrassen but she was Adarlan's most notorious assassin and I wonder if Elide will forgive her for that. Aedion did, but they had an entirely different relationship. And Ren? When he sees her again after she killed some of his allies - her allies - will he forgive his queen or not? These next two books are going to be sooooo interesting I wish there were another 6 as well!!!!!

I don't understand why people are complaining that Aelin is 'ooc', have you never heard of a character changing and developing? RowanxAelin's relationship evolved, she has male friendships with Chaol and Dorian, deal with it.

I'm SUPER FRICKEN EXCITED to finish this series! I am 150 pages into Throne Of Glass, and I can't wait!

I don't know why so many people are surprised with the Rowan/Aelin ship.. I honestly saw it coming ever since Heir of Fire. Everyone was so focused on their platonic relationship and on them being just friends but I caught the hints on what they could become in the future from the beginning. I wasn't surprised at all when their relationship in this book turned out to be something more; it had ever since Heir of Fire, the both of them simply hadn't realized it. And i'm talking as someone who just read the whole series in a row; I read Heir of Fire last week so the details are pretty fresh in my mind.

OMG I KNOW WHO YOU LOOK LIKE. LILY FROM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER!!!!! Ever since I started watched your videos, I thought your face was familiar but I just couldn't place and and today it FINALLY struck me. You are her doppelgänger. Its insane.

You summed up all my thoughts and love almost perfectly! Queen of Shadows was everything I wanted it to be and had so many well developed relationships. Honestly I could survive on just pure bromances alone at this point. The fandom hate due to the ships atm is so unjustified. I don't think the point of the books was ever to have your favourite romance bloom. It has been and always will be about Aelin rising to power and finding freedom. Anyway love love love this book with all my heart!

This is my favorite in the series as well ❤️ So many things happened and I was so excited 😲 this book was amazing

I started reading Throne of Glass like last week, not yet finished because of school and me being SO tired after school. Going to finish it though because it seems amazing from what I've read. Celaena is so sassy ahah I love her :D

your makeup looks beautiful, love the eyeshadow colour on you

Ahh! now your making me second guess my theories!

YES FINALLY!! QUEEN OF SHADOWS IS LITERALLY EVRYTHINGG!!

Yes! Holland... Evil you are so right! I didn't even think about him being conceived while the King was possessed. Now I think the King said it was the Duke to take suspicion away from the Havilliard family. You are so wise!

Can't wait for you to read Empire of Storms!!

THIS REVIEW IS GOLD.

CRYING BCOS EVERYTHING U SAID SUMMARIZES WHAT I WAS FEELING WHEN I WAS READING

This book was full of great moment after great moment...all while the scope of the story grew and grew. Perfection! And yes... You can be in two ships at once...we can just waterski between the two!

You perfectly expressed all of the feels I had for this book, so thank you. Actually very curious to see where the Dorian Manon interaction goes, and how exactly will they defeat the Valg king?? One year till we find out!

Rowan and Aelin. Yes. I keep dreading a sacrifice-moment from Rowan in one of the later books. The tears. You can totally be on board for both. You do what you want to do lovely :)

SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK! PROBABLY MY FAVOURITE SO FAR!

I don't understand why so many of you in the comments hate Rowaelin. I know their relationship was platonic at the start but those are the best kind sometimes. I always felt the parallels of the white tailed hawk smelling like snow and pine and Terrasen. He smelt like home to her from the beginning. But I didn't enjoy the Chaolena ship sinking just like that :/

You're pushing me too much to buy this series!! :D

1. EYESHADOW ON POINT! 2. Rowan and Ailen are endgame. I don't think Celorian will happen just because I don't see the chemistry between them. I think Chaol and Aelin have a small chance to be together, but I really think it should be Rowan and Aelin. 3. THIS REVIEW IS EVERYTHING

(Obviously this is a spoiler of the series) I have a prediction about Rowan and Celaena I think that Celaena and Dorin are end game, and Rowan is going to be the new king of the fae because he is a prince so we have two enemies, Perringhton and Maeve so we have to defeat Maeve and I think that Rowan is going to be the new King of the fae in the next book because we need the army for the final battle against the Valg and the fae folks need to help Celaena

I'm sooo glad someone enjoyed this book as much as me ❤️☺️

Manon is my favourite character in this book, I felt that in Heir of Fire her chapters didn't go into much depth; she kind of just appears out of nowhere. But in this book her chapters are more in depth and it was so much clearer.

Oh gosh, that's a great theory about Hollin. I trusted what the king said because I thought that at that point what purpose would he have to lie? (But your Hollin point is great. He said he did all that stuff to protect Dorian, "his boy", but what if this final lie was to protect his other son by deflecting the suspicion away from him. OMG I NEED THIS TO HAPPEN NOW.) Duke P doesn't seem like the big bad, but the king said something about his power being limited so that's what I chalked it up to. But yeah, it's unclear what's really going on and I loved that the king wasn't the big bad because it shook up the story! It made me want to go back and reread the first book to pay attention to Duke P, but I haven't had the time to do that yet.

Holy cow... wasn't it just THE BEST BOOK YOU"VE EVER READ!?! Gosh it was perfect.

I just finished this book this morning so I can finally watch this video :)

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK!!! It was beautiful I am sooo sad that I finished the book. You said that there is 2 more books right? I hope so. So yeha this book was so good that i read it in two days... Anyways I FELL IN LOVE. SHIP EVERYONE!!! Anyways Kat I couldnt agree with you more on almost everything. So keep up the great work!!! 😉

The Manon and the witches storylines were my favorite for this book, I found her side so much more interesting, Chaol was whiny and annoying, Dorian's chapters were sparse and Aelin and Rowan pining after each other for almost the whole book was irritating. So for me, getting to read the badass Manon and her 13 was like a breath of fresh air in contrast.

I agree completely!!! It was epic!!! I just finished the book and omg what is life? I can't even right now xD I'm a HUGE Aelin/Rowan shipper (Rowan is to me what Will Herondale is to you ;p) and this book had me fangirling SO HARD!!! I kinda ship Dorian with Manon though... my friend and I talked about it while reading Heir of Fire... it definitely would be an interesting match xD And can we just talk about Lysandra and Aedion??? I can see that ship forming already!!! especially with how she kept teasing him with the ghost leopard xD This book was amazing =3 loved your review!! =D ps. your eye shadow looks AMAZING

This video summed up my thoughts pretty perfectly. And I totally agree with everything you said about the ships, I never expected to ship Rowan and Aelin, but I jumped on board almost as soon as he got to Adarlan. I still ship Dorian and Aelin too, and there is a part of me that thinks that maybe they could be endgame, but ultimately I'm team Aelin.

I used to ship chaol and Aelin but now I’m 100% for Rowan. Their tension and relationship is so much deeper

Yayyyyy thank gosh people are jumping to the Rowaelin ship! I love them!

I am on board with both Dorian and Rowan ships as well! :-)

I NEED TO READ THIS!!!!!

I vaguely remember someone mentioning in this book that there were three Valg kings, so it's possible that the king, Perrington, and Hollin were/are possessed by kings.

i liked this plot line with Manon and the witches in this book si much better! i found it so interesting and loved the characters!!!

AMEN TO ALL YOU'VE SAID it's all i think about this book!!

ohh I like your theory about Holland because seriously Perrington? Holland would be such a more interesting villain. Btw I love how your eyeshadow matches the book! :)

ROWAELIN IS ENDGAME! I honestly don't care if Dorian dies

I'm sooo glad that i read the book toghether with a super good friend! Fangirling was sooo much fun! This book was awesome! :D

in the end, when Aelin was leaving and Dorian told her to make sure she sends book my heart literally felt like it was gonna fly out of my chest of just shhlknlosohloslb