I planned on writing a much longer and more detailed review of Queen of Shadows, but it's been four months since I finished this book and I honestly couldn't be arsed to. I don't fully know what I expected from my reread of the Throne of Glass series, but in the year since I started this project, it has been occasionally illuminating but ultimately incredibly draining.

Queen of Shadows is a book that on paper had a plot with lots of action, but in reality, it was the reading equivalent of drudging through molasses. This is because the balance of character development and the plot is heavily skewed towards characters. Maas overwhelmed me with mundane conversations and frustratingly left a lot of interesting action off-page. The story would halt for pages on end cycling through dozens of scenes of our main cast having the same conversations as they patiently waited for the plot to happen to them.

There were some aspects of Queen of Shadows I enjoyed. Chaol continued to be my favourite character in the series by far. His combination of heart, compassion, and realistic flaws made him the most compelling character to follow in the book. One of the biggest reasons I find Aelin to be a dull protagonist is the veneer of perfection surrounding every decision she makes. Aelin never fucks up in ways that have consequences never gets to grow from failure because of it. In contrast, Chaol makes questionable calls and lets the personal cloud his judgment. But his core drive to do good and the consequences of his mistakes drive him to be a better person.

I liked a handful of new side characters introduced in this installment. Elide and Nesryn were district female characters with unique personalities and strengths outside of utilizing brute force to pummel their problems into submission. I also found Manon's subplot relatively interesting. While it suffered from the second act bloat of the story overall, her character arc and interpersonal relationships throughout the book were dynamic and affecting.

Queen of Shadows is an interesting entry in the Throne of Glass series because of its clear delineation from its predecessors. The characters closest to Aelin in previous installments are pushed to the sidelines to make room for an entirely different core cast. I'm mixed about this decision. While it's sad to see Chaol get shafted to the role of tertiary character despite formerly being one of the most important people in Aelin's life, I certainly won't miss Dorian taking up oxygen in the story. Their replacements Aedion, Lysandra, and Rowan are... fine. My disdain for Rowan was not assuaged by this book in the slightest; though Aedion and Lysandra are relatively inoffensive to balance it out. It's honestly impressive that Maas managed to pull off such a drastic shift in the series without alienating her audience.

I don't think I'll ever fully understand or appreciate Sarah J. Maas's books. Her seeming disinterest in exploring the scope of her epic fantasy plot is baffling to me. I can see how those attached to her characters find these books addictive, but because I'm not these books are just frustrating slogs. I still have a morbid fascination to see this series to the end, for whatever reason, but the sheer amount of uninteresting content may get to me before I see it through.