Not as good as the first two books. There is a ton of angst in this book, but a lot of questions are answered about the past. By the end of the book I felt the payoff was worth it. If the payoff hadn't been as good as it was, I would have probably rated this more of a 3. Since I can't do 3.5, a 4 will do.

After the slow-going of Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows brings back the fun, action packed pace of the first two books. The humor I felt book 3 lacked, is back in full swing. I think this book also had more moments that garnered emotional reactions from me, as I found myself tearing up, laughing, and almost cheering out loud at moments. Also the character of Manon, that I found rather dull in book 3, shines in this book. I can't wait to jump in to Empire of Storms.

If I could give the book higher than 5 stars I would... I closed this book with tears in my eyes. But it isn't all deeply emotional through out, I had to wipe spit off a page I laughed so hard and abruptly at one point. I could not put this book down, and only did so to handle responsibilities like work and taking care of my mutts. It is by far the best book yet in this series, and I'm hating the fact I have another to wait to continue it.

I enjoyed the first three stories, but the last two just never grabbed my intention, and I expected to care more with them so focused on Celaena and Sam. I chalk it up to probably because I have read about his death so much, that I knew what was coming and after reading up to Empire of Storms, it just didn't connect. I would recommend reading this prequel of stories after the first or second novel, if you don't jump in to it first. Overall this is a really good book that will provide backstory in to events that happen later in the novels. Similar to Heir of Fire, I wish Goodreads did ratings in half stars. This is a 3.5 star book, that will be rounded up to 4.