Queen of Shadows Tour Stops

Quick side note #1: If you didn't already know, Sarah officially joined Instagram!

follow her now at @therealsjmaas

Quick side note #2: Look-y!! The actual of  hardbound QoS!!!!

Carrying on...

It's that time of year, America! Sarah J. Maas will be touring, once again, to sign books. This time around, however, she'll be signing those brand new reddish-ombre-pink Queen of Shadows books! 

Take note of her tour stops and see if she'll be coming close to your area! If you do go, make sure to take lots of photos and tag us on twitter and/or instagram to make us super jealous be featured on the site (with your permission, of course)! 

Have fun, Assassins!

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Queen of Shadows cover reveal

You've probably already seen it around the web, but if you haven't THE QUEEN OF SHADOWS (Throne of Glass #4) COVER IS HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE:

US cover

 

UK cover

It's final, I have a new favourite cover. 

Sarah discusses a few details on the cover and what they mean on her livejournal blog. We've enumerated them below! (Beware!! Some Heir of Fire spoilers ahead!)

Does the sword have any significance?

Yes, and no. The sword on the cover doesn’t actually appear on the book. Just like how Aelin doesn’t have silver hair and gray skin (lol), the sword, along with the outfit, is an artistic interpretation. We considered using exact renderings of one of the two swords Aelin wields in Queen of Shadows (Goldryn and Damaris), but upon studying the comp images I dug up (and comparing them to some others I had on my Pinterest page), neither had that Murder Princess vibe that we were going for. So—yes: Aelin wields a badass sword in the book—it just doesn’t look like that one on the cover. (Which is totally fine by me, because LOOK AT THAT SWORDDDD!)

Does Aelin wear that armor/outfit in the book?

Sort of. Like the sword, this is an interpretation of what she wears. If you’ve read The Assassin’s Blade, you might remember Aelin/Celaena receiving a pretty badass/nifty/useful suit from Arobynn. And that suit may or may not make an appearance in QOS. ;)

Did she get a haircut? 

Yep. At the end of HOF (spoiler alert! Avert your eyes!), Aelin’s hair gets cut short during her battle with the Valg princes. So much of this cover is just a gorgeous/fierce interpretation of the book, but the hair length is the only thing that’s 100% accurate!

Is that Manon's cloak?

Haha, no. Smart guess, but no. We tried a few different cloak colors, but none of them really fit that gorgeous, bloody background as well as the maroon. (What I find eternally funny is that—aside from the gray skin—the Celaena/Aelin depicted on these covers is kinda how I picture Manon: silver hair, red cloak, otherworldly fierceness.)

When will we see the dress on the book?

Soon, hopefully! I haven’t even seen it yet, so I’m just as eager as you are! Aelin’s "big" dress in QOS is perhaps my favorite of all of them so far, and I’m dying to see how the illustrator interprets it!

You keep calling her Aelin, does that mean…….?

Yep. The last line of HOF solidified the switch from Celaena to Aelin. You guys might have noticed that when I pin images on the TOG Pinterest board, I’ll still label some images with Celaena and some with Aelin—and that usually is because those images will represent the various parts of her history and who she is. And looking at the QOS cover, I feel like that shift in her character is subtly reflected, too.

Sarah just loves teasing us, doesn't she? Sarah [angrily shakes fist] stop teasing us!

What do you guys think about the cover and these extra juicy details? Has it become your new favourite too?

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Throne of Glass 4 has a name!

Aaaaand we can finally stop calling the fourth book Throne of Glass 4 and start calling it: 

Note: you can already pre-order Queen of Shadows on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, and Book Depository

Here's Sarah's explanation of the name:

Honestly, I wish I had some super-cool or epic explanation for how we came up with the title, but... it came to me as I was drafting the novel & then just...stuck. Like, to the point where I couldn't imagine calling it anything else. So Queen of Shadows it was! 

It's difficult to explain the full meaning of the title without spoiling the book, BUT let's just say that it (naturally) applies Aelin (AKA the assassin formerly known as Celaena) as she at last returns to Rifthold (capital city of Adarlan) to confront her past & fight for her future. Vengeance, violence, attitude problems & big egos, hot dudes, pretty clothes... You know, the usual.

AND the title also applies several other characters in the book. Like Manon, who is now down in Morath, which is a preeetty shady (har har har) place. Annnnd mentioning any of the other lovely ladies who show up feels kinda spoiler-y, but if you follow my TOG Pinterest board, you probs have a good idea of who might show up in this book (old faces, new ones...more pretty clothes & mayhem).

Right now, I'm in the middle of doing line edits for the book, and already counting down the days/months until you guys can finally read it (it will be on September 1st--worldwide)! I had such a blast writing this book (and miiiiight have cried 1000000 tears, but...I think that might be normal when working on this series), and it honestly might be my favorite yet, especially since so many of the moments in this book were ones I've been dying to write for YEARS!

It sounds awesome! But then again, what doesn't sound awesome when it comes to Sarah J. Maas? It'll be a blast reading this book (hopefully not too painful)! And I have this very strong feeling that the cover will be pink and I'm going to love it.

What are you guys looking forward to the most in Queen of Shadows?

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