Queen of Shadows (2015) is the fourth installment in the young adult epic fantasy series Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, coming after Throne of Glass (2012), Crown of Midnight (2013), and Heir of Fire (2014). Told through the third-person narratives of multiple viewpoint characters, Queen of Shadows follows protagonist Aelin’s quest to reclaim her rightful place as Queen of Terrasen as she puts aside her past as Celaena Sardothien.

Sarah J. Maas is the bestselling author of Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and the Crescent City series. Her novels often feature strong female protagonists, themes of love and empowerment, and explorations of mental health.

This guide refers to the rereleased hardcover edition published by Bloomsbury USA in 2023.

Content Warning: This guide describes the source text’s depiction of graphic violence and its treatment of sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

Plot Summary

The previous three novels in the series told the story of Celaena Sardothien, who works as an assassin for the cruel King of Adarlan until learning that she is Aelin Galathynius—the rightful Queen of the kingdom of Terrasen who has long been thought lost. In the previous novel, Heir of Fire, Aelin raced to find a set of three Wyrdkeys before the King of Adarlan or the treacherous Fae Queen Maeve got to them. The wielder of these keys can open Wyrdgate portals to other realms. Aelin also trained in using her fire magic and then freed her instructor Rowan Whitethorn from his blood oath to Queen Maeve. Heir of Fire ended with the King of Adarlan killing Sorscha, his son Prince Dorian Havilliard’s lover, and imprisoning Dorian in a Wyrdstone collar.

Queen of Thorns opens with Dorian still imprisoned in the collar, which allows a Valg prince to possess him. Valg—powerful demonic parasites—are being brought into the world to aid the King of Adarlan. Under Valg control, Dorian has no free will and barely remembers his name.

Meanwhile, Chaol Westfall—an expert swordsman and Aelin’s love interest—has fled his position as Captain of the Guard, though he feels incredibly guilty for leaving his best friend Dorian behind. As the King of Adarlan—himself long possessed by a Valg—infects his soldiers with Valg parasites and executes magic wielders, Chaol works with Nesryn Faliq and other rebels to save as many as possible.

During her magic training and reclamation of her Fae heritage, Aelin uncovered lost memories of the night her family was killed and Terrasen was conquered by Adarlan. Aelin also discovers the location of the third Wyrdkey: The Amulet of Orynth, her family heirloom, is now in the possession of Arobynn Hamel, the King of Assassins. Arobynn, who was Aelin’s former assassin master when she was still Celaena Sardothien, stole the amulet off her half-dead body the night she escaped her family’s slaughter. Now, Aelin travels to Rifthold, the capital city of Adarlan, to face her past: Arobynn, her old rival and city courtesan Lysandra, and her cousin Aedion Ashryver.

Aelin’s return is met with a hostile greeting from Chaol, who now fears her magic and distrusts the version of her that he fell in love with. Their romance is in shambles and Aelin no longer loves him the same way. To mark this break in their relationship, she returns the amethyst ring he gave her during the King’s Champion competition. Chaol pawns the ring. However, they are still allies against the King of Adarlan, so Chaol tells Aelin that bringing down the obsidian clock tower in the castle gardens will release magic across Erilea—magic that the King has been blocking access to.

Aelin’s plan to steal back the Amulet of Orynth is delayed by the discovery that Aedion is awaiting execution and Dorian is infested by a Valg prince. Aelin is forced to ally with Arobynn to gain the resources necessary to infiltrate the glass castle and save Aedion. However, when Aelin attempts to kill Dorian, convinced that his consciousness is lost to the Valg, she breaks Chaol’s tentative trust again.

Aelin’s continued association with Arobynn brings courtesan Lysandra back into Aelin’s life. The former rivals bond over the losses they’ve sustained because of Arobynn’s cruelty; Aelin reveals her true identity to Lysandra and the two become friends. Soon, Rowan also arrives in Rifthold with information that Lorcan—an ancient, powerful Fae warrior in Maeve’s blood-sworn cadre—is in Erilea searching for the Wyrdkeys. When Rowan meets Aedion, he realizes that Aedion must be the son of Gavriel, another of Maeve’s elite warriors. Rowan also senses that Lysandra is a shapeshifter.

After Aelin successfully reclaims the Amulet of Orynth from Arobynn, she and Lysandra execute their plot to kill him in his sleep. The next morning, the Master of the Bank reads Arobynn’s will to Aelin, who has secretly spent weeks changing it to leave everything to her. She sells the Assassins Guild to Arobynn’s assassins for an exorbitant sum, pays off Lysandra’s courtesan debts, and gifts Lysandra territory and a noble title in Terrasen.

Meanwhile at Morath—the stronghold of Duke Perrington, cousin and ally to the King of Adarlan—the witch Manon Blackbeak and her coven, called the Thirteen, train with other Ironteeth witches to join the Duke’s army. Manon meets the Terrasen noble Lord Vernon Lochan of Perranth, and his niece Elide, whom he treats cruelly. Manon recognizes faint traces of witch blood in Elide’s veins and offers the girl protection. When the Duke begins breeding witches to birth Valg babies to populate his army, Manon’s second in command becomes defiant, eventually convincing Manon to distrust the Duke.

In Adarlan, as Chaol and Nesryn continue saving magic wielders being executed or transported to Morath, Lysandra is captured and taken to meet with the Blackbeak Matron—the grandmother of Manon and the head of the Blackbeak witch clan—and Manon’s Thirteen. At the meeting, the Blackbeak Matron shows the King of Adarlan a secret weapon of destructive witch mirrors she’s been forging with the other two Ironteeth Matrons. Aelin and her friends rescue Lysandra, but they accidentally cross paths with Manon and her Thirteen. Aelin is forced to fight Manon. At the last moment, Aelin spares Manon’s life, incurring a life debt. Manon returns the favor by getting word to Aelin that Dorian’s consciousness is still alive but trapped by the collar.

In Morath, when Vernon Lochan allows Elide to be taken and bred by Valg, Manon saves her. At this point, the Duke’s seemingly vague companion—the magically powerful Kaltain Rompier—cuts out the Wyrdkey that the Duke stored in her arm and tells Elide to take it to “Celaena Sardothien.” Kaltain then sacrifices her life to erupt with shadowfire that burns all the pregnant witches, Valg babies, and many soldiers at Morath. Elide, Manon, and her Thirteen, Duke Perrington, and Vernon Lochan somehow survive the blast.

In Rifthold, Aelin and her friends scheme to take down the Wyrdstone clock tower at the castle and kill the King of Adarlan. Aelin and Chaol are tasked with distracting the king and freeing Dorian, while Rowan and Aedion blow up the tower. However, Rowan and Aedion are attacked by demonic Wyrdhounds, Aelin is chased from the throne room by the still-collared Dorian, and Chaol faces the King of Adarlan. The king’s power paralyzes Chaol from the waist down. With the aid of Lorcan and Lysandra, Rowan and Aedion take down the clock tower, releasing magic. Dorian breaks free of his Wyrdstone collar, kills the Valg prince infesting him, and kills his father. Dying, the king reveals that the ancient Valg King Erawan now possesses Duke Perrington’s body.

The conclusion leaves Aelin, Rowan, Lysandra, and Aedion returning to Terrasen; Chaol and Nesryn heading to the healers of the Southern Continent to heal Chaol’s injuries and forge an alliance for the coming war; Manon and the Thirteen deciding where their allegiances lie; Elide heading north to find Celaena with the second Wyrdkey in tow; Lorcan heading south in search of another Wyrdkey; and Dorian emerging as the new King of Adarlan and freeing all the nations conquered by his father.