KPOP: Top 15 Groups in 2k15!!

KPOP: Top 15 Groups in 2k15!!

I think the KPOP realm was all over the place this year, there were some hits, and some misses. But that is something that is always bound to happen. The rookie groups were crazy to be honest. If you thought choreography could get anymore coordinated, it did. Veteran groups were also leaving their mark this year. So IN MY OPINION, in not any particular order, lets look at the year in review. 

1. EXID

EXID really killed it in 2014 with their hit song "Up and Down". And since then, they've made a name for themselves in the industry. I've become a huge fan of each of the members! They've been on numerous variety shows this year. This year they made two comebacks, "Ah Yeah" and "Hot Pink".  I can say I was more of a fan of "Ah Yeah", but this group definitely deserves to be on this list. 

2. Girls Generation

I think a lot of people were expects Girl Generation to be on this list. Their comeback was huge!  Taeyeon had her solo debut and TaeTiSeo had their comeback too. I was really happy, and all the songs were really good and are totally worth listening too.  "Lionheart" is probably my favorite though. :)

3. DAY6

DAY6's "Congratulations" was one of my favorite songs this year. This was actually a band, not just random pretty boys singing and dancing. I heard that JYP really wanted the band to make a name for themselves, not just have the backing of a big label. And I think they've started off on a good note. *cue applause* Keep it up boys! ^^

4. SISTAR

Shake it, shake it for me! Can I say like this was maybe the catchiest song of the year? Tbh, I don't think I liked it. But maybe it was because I prefer a lot of their other songs. "Touch My Body" anyone? But who cares what I think. South Korea loved it! I think that's what makes it successful! Woo Hoo! I'll go sing "Touch My Body" somewhere else. 

5. 4Minute

4Minutes comeback was "Crazy", not because it's the name of the song. But I don't think that I was that much of a fan of them until I heard this. I loved it, and it was like that bad@$$ vibe that we needed to start of the year. Also, was one of the most viewed Kpop videos of the year! Woot woot. 

6. Big Bang

Yay, Big Bang! Woohoo! Enough said. The fangirl in me says to move on before I go crazy. XD. Go read another blog if you want this review. 

7. BTS

I love BTS. I LOOOOVE BTS. More because I saw their debut performance when it first came out, and I was like, "They are the hidden diamond of Kpop, they will be big." No, I'm not saying that because it happened, but I really thought they were amazing.  They won so many awards this year, and made a name for themselves in the music industry. They are one of the biggest successes this year. And I have developed a FANGIRL CRUSH over JungKook, if you were wondering. I mean, the video below, JungKook's dancing is pretty awesome. 

8.  TWICE

So many of you might not know this, but the girls from this group had to win a survival show in order to be in TWICE, called SIXTEEN. JYP and the numbers never fail to crack me up. But they are really talented, and I really like them. I'm keeping my eye on them in 2016 (Hahahaha). 

9. VIXX

So YanderePanda knows my love for Leo. And probably the extent of how much I fangirl over him. But VIXX did quite well this year, with their comeback Chained Up. Two of the members are involved in Kdrama's, and VIXX's Ravi was in "Show Me The Money". I'd say overall it was big for VIXX, and I think more people should listen to their music, like "Error"

10.  GOT7

You could say I wasn't expecting much about Got7. I guess in my opinion, they appeared like any other boy group. This song is clearly one of their best! Fangirl's might be throwing bricks at me now, but I HONESTLY enjoyed "If You Do". I listen to it all the time. And dancing doesn't get more coordinated then this. Let's be real.

11. Miss A

I've always felt that Miss A was under appreciated in KPOP, but this was the year that the feeling was cleared. "Only You" was catchy and the dancing was on point. Probably one of the best comebacks of the year. Miss A is truly an amazing group, and I'm glad this year was great for them! ^^ YOU GO GIRLS!!!!!!

12. Seventeen

How could we forget the monster rookie group this year? Seventeen is clearly one of the best. "Mansae" made it to one of the top songs. It's catchiness and cringe worthy lyrics made it my favorite, and my heart go "Ba dump Ba dump". But enough about that. This group has 13 people (remind you of Super Junior anyone), and it was to my surprise that each member was incredibly skilled. You could tell that they worked their behinds off, and I'm giving them lots of credit for this!!! YAS!

13. AOA

This group grew on me this year. I used to look down on them, but the more I listened to their songs, the more I really liked them. AOA's "Heart Attack" was probably one of the best summer songs of the year. 

14. iKON

iKON definitely won in the most anticipated comebacks this year. Many people know this, but if you don't iKON's current members were on two survival shows (Bobby and B.I. were on 3 if you count "Show Me The Money", Bobby actually won the show!). Their company also is home to Big Bang, Psy, and 2NE1, and WINNER,  if that's any indicator on good people expect them to be. You know, people would argue that their comeback was not up to the mark, but I'd disagree. Their comeback really had me sold. Not because of the fact that they are teenage boys about my age, but that their songs were really good. But of course, I'll let others make that decision. "My Type" is the video above. 

15. Wonder Girls

"Nobody, nobody, but you!" Yep, Wonder Girls made a comeback! People were all "Gee, I don't know. Didn't like people leave and what not?" Even loyal fans were skeptical. They came back with 4 members, and surprisingly SunMi cameback as part of the Wonder Girls! WooHoo! "I Feel You" was an amazing song in my opinion. It has a very different vibe then many of their other songs. It really shows that they aren't done with Kpop, and still are strong! Hwaiting!!!

So there you have it folks, the groups of 2k15! Feel free to let me know in the comments what you think, groups I've missed out on! Like I said, it is my opinion, so angsty comments are not appreciated :) See you in 2k16 with a new list! COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE TO SnarkyButtSass!!!-NotYourBlendedFruit

Panda Plays: Yandere Simulator

Yes, I know what you're thinking. YanderePanda's first video game blog post is about YANDERE SIMULATOR? The very game that is pretty well-known amongst Youtubers and Youtube gamers such as Markiplier, Pewdiepie, Azzman, etc. Well, since my user IS YanderePanda, I'm a YANDERE, I'm a gamer, I review games, and YANDERE SIMULATOR DESCRIBES MY LIFE, then why not blog about it? Also, I will support anyone trying to make a game on their own, without a company. As an aspiring game developer/creator who has created concepts and all that other good jazz for making games, I respect anyone who is trying to do everything on his or her own.

YOUR HAIR, WOULD LOOK GREAT. ON MY WALL

For those of you who are non-otakus and are unfamiliar with the term "Yandere", it basically is a person who appears normal/cute/sweet and when their loved one is threatened/rivals appear/stuff like that, they go INSANE. Yanderes are often violent, obsessed, stalkerish, murderous, and have many methods of doing so. (AKA moi. NOBODY TOUCHES MY SENPAI. NOBODY. *dismembers anyone in my way and mutilates their corpses.) As some of you may know already, Yandere Simulator is basically a game where you play as a mentally-insane high school girl who is obsessed with a boy, named Senpai. She will stop at NOTHING to win him over, using any methods of manipulation to keep rivals away from him. So basically, you play in this high school setting, over the course of five days a week, to eliminate any rivals from confessing to Senpai. Now, the game isn't fully developed yet, and according to YandereDev, (the wonderful man who created this game.) it's only 13% done. So far there's only one rival, that you cannot eliminate yet, but, you are able to murder anyone you wish, except for the Teachers and Senpai of course.

Main Features of the Game

Warning: Some rather graphic images

Methods of Elimination Include:

Decapitation

With katanas, knives, screwdrivers, scissors, boxcutters

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SENPAI WILL BE MINE. MINE

Note: After you murder someone or multiple people, you have to cover up your tracks. Do so by burning bodies in a conveniently placed incinerator, mopping up blood with conveniently placed mops and buckets, wearing gloves to remove fingerprints on weapons, etc. However, some methods of elimination do not require anything, such as drowning, electrocution, faking suicide notes,  etc.

Drowning

How's the water? Hello? Oh right, you're dead.

Pushing off the building

Doing so will fake a suicide. One can also leave fake suicide notes.

Electrocution

Basically, you have to wait in a bathroom with a bucket of water, dump it on the victim, unscrew the lights with a screwdriver, and watch the magic happen. Isn't it beautiful? Watching the electricity flow through a skeleton and just slowly, painfully, take the life out of them. Hehehehe. As they scream in pain... Hehehe

Poison

When one has access to poison, under certain conditions, one can poison the victim's bento. And they will choke to death... Slowly, painfully, and lifelessly. It's quite satisfying to see one choke to death, especially a rival for MY SENPAI.

Kidnapping

One can have access to a tranquilizer, get a peer to follow Yandere-Chan, attack the victim, and trap him/her in a music case thing and trap him/her in the basement.

After trapping him/her in the basement, it is possible for Yandere-Chan to torture the victim to the point where he/she becomes a MIND SLAVE. The Mind Slave can be taken to school, given a weapon, and be used to murder other students. If only I knew how to mentally torture someone for 24 hours. My life would be a lot easier. Hehehe.

Bullying

This girl is everyone's favorite punching bag. PEOPLE HATE HER. And it's possible to post some bad stuff about her on social media, gossip about her to destroy her reputation, etc. It is stated when the game is completed, that if one's reputation is -150, Senpai will reject the rival. Also, it is possible to bully to the point where the rival hangs herself. Kinda cruel, I know.

Framing

So far, one can only frame the Punching Bag. One can do so with gloves, taking her cooking knife, and murdering people with the knife, so the cops arrest her.

There's also the method of setting the Rival up with a different dude, but it hasn't been implemented yet. There may be even MORE methods of elimination.

There are also other aspects of the game, such as School Atmosphere, Reputation, Study Points, and Sanity Meter. 

School Atmosphere

Depending on how Yandere-Chan decides to dispose of the love-rivals for Senpai or any other random students, the school atmosphere can change. If one decides to brutally murder people, allow students to discover blood splatters, dead bodies, etc, unexplained suicides, or any other traumatic events, the school atmosphere can change. Over time, the setting would become darker, students will start to appear more paranoid and freaked out, etc. If it becomes obvious that a serial killer is on the loose, then students will clearly become more paranoid and it will be harder to sneak up on students and kill them. Music will also change. So basically, it's a horror game in a nut shell when this happens.

The only way to restore the school atmosphere, is to frame someone for murder and have that person arrested. It's also possible for it to restore over time if Yandere-Chan doesn't do anymore suspicious activities, according to the Wikia.

Reputation

As I said earlier, Yanderes typically are not evidently insane to the naked eye. Just like how I don't appear remarkably crazy to the common people... (At least I THINK I don't. Hehehe) Reputation starts out neutral at first, and can be increased by complimenting students and decreased by gossiping. Higher the population, higher the popularity of Yandere-Chan and it's easier to get the students to follow her... AKA easier to MURDER. It's also possible to gain reputation back after gossiping, by apologizing to the students.  If Yandere-Chan is seen murdering someone by another student, her reputation will decrease. MURDER THE WITNESSES. YES. DO IT. There are also many other ways to decrease the reputation, but some are quite obvious. I mean... Being SEEN holding a giant katana isn't going to earn you any brownie points. Just Super Saiyan. OH, speaking of Super Saiyan...

ma bud, Markiplier was er... Experimenting. Quite a few Easter Eggs in this game.

Study Points

We're in school, right? School isn't ALL about Senpais, Love-Rivals, Social stuff, and murdering, right? Simply go to class on time to allocate Study Points in any subjects. Levelling up in them will be beneficial to your love live. Aka, MORE METHODS OF MURDERING. 

Biology- Less blood dropped. (Sad, I know, but it makes cleaning it up so much easier. Why don't we just get like some electric mop thing to clean stuff instantly, so we can have as many blood baths as possible?) Also, you get access to a tranquilizer that one can use for kidnapping.

Chemistry- Allows you to have knowledge of poisons and other murderous things in this particular field of science. So far, you only have access to poison, but other things can be done later as the game develops further. I'm expecting some grenades, nuclear explosives, etc. We need Yandere-Chan to be a all-out Yuno Gasai here.

Language- Allows you to create fake suicide notes and love notes. I'm sure more will be added here later on, but it makes things interesting.

Physical Education- Levelling up in this will increase Yandere-Chan's strength and running speed. She can carry corpses and run at the same time, run faster, etc. Strength makes things easier to drag and push around, and some students may try to fight Yandere-Chan if they witness her going all crazy. With enough strength, she can fight them back.

Psychology- It's currently unprogrammed, but levelling up in this supposedly would buff reputation and gossiping, making torturing easier, and just boosting social interactions in general. 

I personally recommend maxing all of these out, and these can stack up if you keep resetting the day over and over again and just regoing to class. DO IT FOR LOVE. FOR NARNIAAAAAA!

Sanity Meter

Basically, if Yandere-Chan does some "unethical" actions, (Note the quotation marks.) her sanity levels will decrease. As she goes more and more into Yandere-Mode, she will start to show signs of insanity. She will twitch, her eyes start to get all strange, etc. IF Senpai or Teacher see her visibly insane, it's automatic Game Over. It's also evidence for the police if some murder happens. To decrease Sanity, you must stand by Senpai, (But not get noticed by him... If you get noticed too much by him, he will get creeped out and reject you) look at pictures of Senpai, or laugh hysterically. Yes. Hysterically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qcr7L4Fk18

Same.

Overall, a very interesting game to play. You murder people, in very creative ways, with so many different features and aspects to the game that makes it unique. Very impressive, for just one person who has created the game all on his own. I cannot give the game a review yet since it's not finished, but so far, I will just provide the main ideas of this wondrous specimen.

Taken Straight from my Laptop

Yes. Panties can affect you. Choose wisely.

Because everyone needs these. *lenny face

General Reactions

As seen in some of the Youtube Senpai Gameplay Videos, one can tell that most people would have similar reactions. Reactions like... WTH IS THIS. Murder? Laughter? Senpai? Stalking? EVERYTHING. My reactions weren't too different. It was quite enjoyable to watch Yandere-Chan murder random victims with various weapons that conveniently were lying around the entrance of the school for her usage. I love the random conveniences that are around everywhere that one can use for his or her love life. The Easter Eggs such as Titan Mode, Slender Mode, etc were quite enjoyable to watch. And then... There's the whole getting-naked-in-the-locker-room-and-washing-the-the-blood-off-you-and-burning-things-in-the-incinerator. Luckily, there are clouds that cover up a female's unmentionables. Yeah. This ain't hentai, PERVS. 

And burnt their corpses in a furnace.

Unfortunately in this game, the objective is NOT to get him to notice you. It's to ruin his love life so only I CAN HAVE HIM.

In terms of genres, I have no idea what to classify this game as. A horror/action/simulation game where you stalk people by taking pictures of them, crawl around everywhere, get naked, go to school, find erotic manga to seduce people with, find people's missing bras *stares at the Miku Doppelganger, find mysterious tapes to discover the lore behind the game, etc. It's definitely quite the melting pot of different aspects and genres, making it a very entertaining and enjoyable game to play. (now if only I could put actual people's faces into the game and take my anger out on the NPC's and MURDER THEM FOR REVENGE. ie. Putting Justin Bieber's face onto the body of one of the male students and viciously and relentlessly tearing him from limb to limb. Justin:  WHAT DO YOU MEAN? Me: *holds knife. Justin: YOU WANNA KILL ME? Me: Yes. Justin: WHAT DO YOU MEANNNN. WHEN YOU WANNA SAY YES, BUT YOU WANNA SAY NOOOOOO.) (I would also put Chris Evan's face onto Senpai's body. Because... *fans self. Abs._. Oh, and PSA, MEMETRASH DOESN'T FIND CAPTAIN AMERICA ATTRACTIVE. *shuns.) 
Download Link: https://yanderedev.wordpress.com/downloads/

Go support YandereDev! NOTICE ME DEVPAI

Peace out!
-YanderePanda

Queen of Shadows: Book Review

Hello! YanderePanda here! As promised, I have the Throne of Glass: Queen of Shadows Book review here, immediately following the Heir of Fire Book Review! We are currently with the fourth book in the series, out of the possible six, and so much transition has taken place in this fourth installment!
BTW, I've noticed that there are hardly any book summaries out there. (I'm looking at you, Wikia.) Basically all my reviews from now on will consist of a summary and a review section, for anyone wishing to get the general run-down. Don't want spoilers? Then gee, idk, maybe one should not be looking at this. Just Super Saiyan.

Definitely the coolest cover so far!

Summary

So this book came out more recently, in September. So finally, I am actually caught up with the series in terms of updates. (As mentioned earlier, I kinda gave up on a lot of YA fiction prior to reading this series, hence the reason  why I haven't really discovered these books till a few months ago.) 

This book is definitely a lot faster paced than Heir of Fire, but still not as fast as the first two books. There's not as much buildup needed for this story, as the magical concepts and stuff with the Fae was pretty much explained for the most part in the predecessor. Now, actual schizz starts to happen, with Aelin back in Ardalan, ready to confront Arobynn, find the third Wyrdkey, destroy the King, etc. Celaena is truly gone, as in the book, she is always referred to as Aelin in the narrative and she makes people refer to her as such. It's clear that she's ready to take her throne, once all this crap is over.

Comes back to Ardalan via ship, goes to where Arobynn is, and the two reunite after quite some time. It's pretty clear that he's not this father-figure care-taker person that he was stated to be in Throne of Glass, as Aelin knows the full on truth of what exactly this a**hat has done. Found her frozen by a river, took her Amulet, aka the Third Wyrdkey, made her become an Assassin, turned her into a weapon, manipulated her for his own gain. He was the reason for the death of her first lover and had a role in her going to Endovier. Basically, a good chunk of Aelin's troubles were because of THIS GUY. But she can't do anything yet, as she needs the third Wyrdkey and needs to figure out what the heck was going on while she was away.

She runs into Chaol again, and things get a bit ugly. I mean, it's understandable, but come on... They were former lovers? So much buildup happened with their relationship in Book 1 and 2? Tbh, I was kinda annoyed when I saw the amount of animosity between these two. I mean, Chaol was kinda of a jerk to Aelin and vice versa, but I get why. She didn't tell him anything about her life as Aelin and lied to him. After he filled her in about everything, Aelin made it clear that she had to kill Dorian. Given her run-ins with the Valg Princes and the fact that there's one inside him, the only humane thing to do at this point is to end him. Chaol is against it, because Dorian was his dear friend and he sacrificed himself to save the Captain. Chaol is definitely one of the most realistic characters in the series; a lot of his actions and beliefs are justifiable, as so much as happened to the poor guy. He doesn't really have anyone anymore, and a lot of his beliefs are challenged and he doesn't know what to think. He was a loyal Captain of the Guard who worked for the King, but now with all this going on, he doesn't know what to do anymore. Chaol's frustrations towards Aelin are justafiable, but personally, I don't think he should've gone to the extreme for his former lover like that. I mean, this is the guy who wanted her for his wife and he imagined a future with her. Also, the Nehemia thing kept getting brought up as justification for Aelin to be so against Chaol, but I personally thought she was being too harsh. He did so much for her, and if he didn't send her to Wendlyn, much of this wouldn't have happened. Additionally, Aelin appeared to be a lot more female-dog-y in this book than ever. I still really like her, but some of the stuff was uncalled for.

Anyway, we get some introduction to Lysandra and Nesryn, two pretty cool female characters, one thing I loved about this book. In the first two, we just had Celaena and Nehemia. Now, we have Manon, Lysandra, Nesryn, the 13, and this other new character named Elide, who is in Manon's story arc. (Yes, Manon's arc continues in this book also. Yay.) I haven't read the prequels yet, but apparently Lysandra is in those as well. She's basically this prostitute that works for Arobynn (against her own will, in a way.) She and Celaena hated each other and competed for Arobynn's affections. Lysandra eventually grew on me, because we got to see her backstory, and then see a friendship grow between her and Aelin. Development! Yay! She becomes a vital ally for our heroine. Nesryn is a city guard who works alongside Chaol and the rebels. She's pretty cool in terms of abilities, but I personally thought she was kinda boring. Also, her and Chaol... Sorry, I just don't really ship it. Just like how I didn't ship Dorian and Sorscha.

So Aelin finds about her cousin, Aedion being trapped in the castle, and she works with her not-really-allies to free him. In the invasion, she runs into Dorian, who is clearly not himself and she almost kills him, but is stopped by Nesryn. Luckily, they get Aedion back and the cousins reunite. Yayyyy! More tension with Chaol and Aelin because of the Dorian thing! Gahhh! And we also get some Arobynn stuff going on, as the Third Wyrdkey isn't given to her just yet. In exchange for him helping her with rescuing Aedion, she has to give him a Valg monster thing. So Aelin's side of the story is basically her interacting with her cousin, the guards, trying to figure out what to do with Dorian, getting the Amulet back, and taking out Arobynn.

We sometimes get chapters with Dorian's narrative, consisting of him with the Valg Prince inside him, showing how he's lost himself and cannot remember anything or truly act on his own accord. Before, I stated that Dorian was kinda boring compared to Chaol, since all we knew was that he was some hot prince that girls fangirled over who liked puppies and was kind. Now he's a lot more interesting and I feel so bad for the poor thing.

We also see Duke Perrington and Kaltain again. And we also get more of a human-like side to Manon. She does some cruel things, but then we start to see a nicer side to her. Honestly, I love Manon. She's freaking awesome. So we get her and Elide, who is from Terrasen, hoping for her queen. And more info about the 13, witches in general, the Valg stuff, and more with the ginger Duke. He has no soul. Literally.

Rowan comes back! Yayyyy! Chaol sees RowAelin! Lalalala. Now here's the problem. In Heir of Fire, the two were clearly shown to have developed as friends... But then in this book, they just kinda instantly transition into lovers. I mean, I like the two together- Rowan's the only one who truly understands Aelin for Aelin. As Celaena, as a Fae, etc. I understand why Chaolena didn't work, because Chaol only loved Celaena. Not Aelin. But THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE BUILDUP FOR A RELATIONSHIP TO HAPPEN. There's quite a bit of scoodilypooping suggestiveness going on here. Anyway, I loved the interaction between Aelin, Aedion, and Rowan. Very entertaining. So more operations occur with the Valg stuff, blah blah blah. They capture a Valg Person, take him to Arobynn, Amulet is given back, Lysandra becomes closer to Aelin.

Finally, Arobynn gets slaughtered by Lysandra, as they don't have any use for him left and after a certain event, it's clear that he can't be trusted at all. I liked how Aelin allowed her to do it instead of Aelin just murdering him herself, because she believed Lysandra deserved to. The Keep ends up belonging to Aelin and she sells it to the other Assassin people in exchange for money for Aedion's army. 

Eventually, Manon and her 13 are sent over to Ardalan for the King's bidding. Some stuff happens, and they're seen in a forest with Dorian and the King, after Lysandra gets captured. They have to go rescue her and Chaol finally understands Aelin's desire to kill Dorian, as it's clear that he's suffering and it would be more human just to end the suffering at this point. He tries to kill him, but fails to, because of the 13. WE GET AN AWESOME MANON v. AELIN FIGHT! YASSS! It was pretty awesome. Manon almost dies but Aelin has a change of heart and decides to save her from getting crushed by a crumbling pillar thing, because of her 13's despair. I'd say that was some good development, on both sides. Manon is in Aelin's debt and eventually she helps her indirectly with the Dorian fiasco. Lysandra gets saved. Yay!

Finally, they plan an invasion into the castle to end things once in for all, at the Summer Solstice, because of magical stuff. Basically, they do stuff with the Wyrdkeys and stones and marks to release the magic that was sealed off so long ago. Then Aelin and Chaol head off to go fight Dorian and the King. They FINALLY respect each other again, after understanding each other for their actions and they are not longer jerks to one another anymore. Yay! Development!

Rowan and Aedion are busy with the whole Magic Freeing process, and the basic gameplan is that Aelin will pose as Celaena, with Chaol as her prisoner, pretending to return to the King. Unfortunately, this doesn't work, and confrontation occurs anyway. Chaol is stuck with the king, Dorian is stuck with Aelin, with Aelin trying to free him. Chaol almost dies, but survives thanks to the Amulet. Magic is freed and then Aelin is able to free Dorian, and the King ends up confroting them. Battle ensures and thanks to their combined magic, they get to overpower the king. He gets killed by Dorian, not before revealing the entire truth with the Valg Princes and the Valg King. Basically, Perrington released the King thing when they were younger and the King took over Perrington's body while a Prince took over the Ardalan King's. Crap happened. Magic was banned as a sort of protection. Then bam. Decapitation. The Glass Castle gets destroyed, Magic is permanently back, Dorian becomes the King. He starts to recover and become himself again. Chaol is bedridden, as he cannot walk, but at least he is safe. Things are amended and the book ends with Aedion, Aelin, Lysandra, and Rowan heading to Terrasen. Yayyyy! Chaol and Dorian's issues are resolved along with fixing of Ardalan once and for all!

The Review

Queen of Shadows was quite the powerhouse of a book. A lot of issues were resolved after things were built up. We finally get Aelin coming to terms with her past, ending Arobynn, getting magic back, destroying the King and the corruption of Ardalan, having Chaol and Dorian's life back together, Aelin and Aedion reuniting, and finally, Aelin's return to Terrasen. I believe this book had the most occured events out of the whole series so far and it was quite an action-packed adventure. Loved the introduction with the new characters and development with Manon. There were many strong points in this book, just like the ones before it. Plot is as complex and well thought-out as ever, and even though a lot was resolved, it was set up so new issues have been introduced. Maeve is still in power, and it's hinted that she will play a bigger role later, Aelin needs to be at her throne and fix Terrasen, the Valg stuff is still happening and is still a threat, and Perrington is still alive. Manon will continue to play a role, and I'm curious about what else will happen with Ardalan, now that Dorian is king. So many more questions to be answered. However, this book still has its flaws. There were some issues that I've stated before with Aelin. In Heir of Fire, it appeared that she accepted her role as Aelin and that she and Celaena were different. But she seemed so much like Celaena when she had her fire-breathing ***** queen moments. There were instances where she was stated to look like a queen, but I hope she fixes some of her attitude because we can't have a proper one with that behavior. Also some stuff with Chaol that I felt like was too extreme, but in the latter half of the book, he was the good old Chaol that we came to love in Book 1 and 2. Again, there were those issues with RowanxAelin shipping. It just seemed like an awkward transition from close friends to lovers like that. It seemed rushed and unexplained. And I question how the stuff with Arobynn was able to end so easily. The King of Assassins just dies from a slit to the throat from a prostitute? Seemed unrealistic to me to have a King of Assassins die so easily. He was just murdered in his sleep. You can't justify a King of Assassins dying in his sleep from a knife from a prostitute without actual training. Also, the stuff with Aelin sneaking out and doing things ahead of time that ended up becoming too convenient to the plot to help the good guys was kinda repetitive. The fake jewelry thing was helpful and interesting the first time, but then it became laughable and redundant. How could people just conveniently be fooled so easily by fake heirlooms and jewelry? Overall, a strong book with a complex plot that cannot bore anyone with some flaws and issues. 4.3/5 

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Happy Holidays! 
-YanderePanda

Heir of Fire: Book Review

Hello! YanderePanda here! It's been a while! You can thank demonic homework assignments and the very concept of school for that. Aneeewayyyyy, I is here with another book review! The third book in the Throne of Glass Series: Heir of Fire!

yasssss. I summon thee, Chuck Norris

thx doge (is it pronounced DOG-E or DOHGE?)

So, like I said before, in case any of you haven't noticed, I stated that this is the THIRD book in the series. Therefore, there will be spoilers for those who have not read the first and second. So keep your salt away from my chocolate flavored Lays chips if you "accidentally" see spoilers. (MURICA I tell you. Murica. Who the poop puts potatoes and chocolate together? Also, it's like four bucks for like what... Ten chips? Madness.)

Summary

As seen in the second book, Crown of Midnight, our beloved protagonist and one of my favorite female characters of all time, Celaena Sardothien aka Aelin Galathynius, the heir to the throne of Terrasen, and part Fae woman, was sent to Wendlyn at the end of the book. She is now here to find out about the Wyrdkeys and Wyrdmarks and other magical mumbo jumbo. (Kudos to you, Maas. You continue to amaze me with the development of the characters and the added complexity to this fantasy tale's plot and concept.) CelAelin has to deal with her identity, accept who she is as a Fae, come to terms with her fully revealed backstory, and figure out how to fix the crisis in the world. In the first two books, Celaena dealt with getting out of the Salt Mines and working for the very king who destroyed everything she had at a young age, in order to survive. She was born Aelin, but then she became Celaena, when Arobynn took her into the Assassin's Keep. Now that push came to shove, she's back as Aelin, the very identity that she abandoned when her family was murdered and she was taken away from Terrasen. Now she has to take action, accept her fate, and save the lands. It's hard for her to accept who she is, because she didn't WANT to become a queen, as stated when she was little, in a flashback. She felt like she had no role in doing so and wanted to be free from everything, as she already failed to save so many already. 

CeAelin meets Rowan, a Fae Prince aka her next love interest. Now calm down, please withhold your eyerolls. I know. She has love interests. A decent amount of them. Sam from the prequels, Dorian, Chaol, and now Rowan. But hey, at least it's not a stereotypical romance and love triangle thing going on. At first, I thought Rowan was a complete buttface(for lack of a better word.) However, I eventually warmed up to him. He is part of the Fae Queen's court, in this land, Maeve, aka Aelin's great aunt or great great aunt or something. (They're immortal, okay?) She has information about the Wyrdkeys and basically a good chunk of information CelAelin needs to know. I don't need to go too much into detail, since it's a decent amount of stuff to talk about, but you people have the general idea. In order to get the information she needs, our protagonist needs to prove her worthiness, by training her Fae Powers. Rowan is her personal trainer/tutor/mentor person. Oh, and we also find out more with Maeve's connection to CelAelin. There's more detail about the deaths of her family and some more stuff about how Maeve is actually an evil, demonic swampface.

Instead of typically sticking to CelAelin's POV most of the time and with a little bit of Chaol and Dorian's, we actually get a Chaol/Dorian side every few chapters to see what's up in Ardalan. We also get a new character, Manon, this witch that is trying to win these War Games, taking place with other witch clans, to determine the Head. We get some insight into Chaol's life, and he continues to develop. He starts to get a bit more out of his loyal to the king, narrow-minded ways. I still feel so bad for him, as he truly sacrificed so much for the greater good. His intentions are good, he just doesn't know exactly what's right and wrong anymore. Sadly, he and Dorian drift apart, and Dorian continues his discoveries about his magical abilities, while getting a new love interest, a healer named Sorscha. (Personally, I wasn't a fan of those two together. Granted, she was a nice lady with good intentions but it was just... Ugh... I can't picture Dorian with different love interests tbh. Perhaps its my Yandere tendencies.) 

heh. heh

Also on Chaol/Dorian's side, we get General Aedion, Aelin's cousin. He's very loyal to his queen, but has no idea that she is still alive, as most people believe that she's dead. We get some Chaol and Aedion partnership going on here to try to do something about the evil King that we all hate. Aedion is in a similar position to Chaol and Celaena, as he's pretty much forced to work for the King and the two men basically are there to work alongside the rebels. Meanwhile, Sorscha and Dorian get interaction and they try to find out more about forbidden magic.

Back to Rowan and CeAelin. They are in this Fortress-like area, with some civilian people where he trains her and makes her do kitchen duty at first. Yes, make a future queen help out in the kitchen. Nice going, ***hat. She befriends two part fae dudes and we find out more about Her Royal *****ness and more things about Fae in general. Later, when Rowan actually gets to training her, he makes her shift into Fae form and refuses to do anything else until she does. Unfortunately, she cannot do it right away and it takes a LONNNGGGGG time for her to do it. She gets frustrated with him a few times and he gets all physical and hits her and they get into some nasty fights. Like, worse than Chaol and Celaena fights in Book 1. At least Chaol didn't try to give her black eyes and damage her face multiple times. Like I said earlier, Rowan is a SHOWERBAG. At least... At first. He calls her childish and insults her to no end, not understanding her true backstory, as he believes she just ran away from everything like a spoiled child, not knowing about everything with Endovier, the brutalities of the Assassin's Keep, and pretty much most of the trauma she's been through. Eventually, CeAelin's buddy tells Rowan to stop being a Sack of Narts and eventually Rowan learns about her horrid past. We start to see some softer sides to Rowan, and they eventually become friends, when he opens up to her about how he lost his lover and ever since then, has been sworn to Maeve, not caring about anything else. He finds out about her scars from Endovier and the softer sides to her. 

And of course, she finally is able to shift and have access to her powers, but it's still very difficult for her to control. She continues to work harder and harder, to master her abilities. This, I respect her greatly for. She's no longer the Most Powerful Assassin in Ardalan. She's this struggling heir to the throne of Terrasen, trying to figure out how to use her magical abilities, getting her derriere kicked by Rowan and being outmatched in general by other Fae. For those accusing her of being a "Mary Sue" (I'm looking at YOU, some of you GoodReads and Wikia People.) Read this book, and see how she's not. A Mary Sue doesn't struggle like this and deal with the effects of hardship in this way. She earned Rowan's respect through her development, desire to work harder, and when he found out about her past. We see a strong friendship develop  between these two.

Manon Blackbeak deals with stuff with her clan, her grandmother, and dealing with the War Games, after finding a Wyvern and training with it. She's kinda like Celaena in terms of Chuck Norrisness, except she's far more heartless. She's not exactly as human as Celaena, as she's technically not even human, being a witch.

Chaol and Aedion deal with more stuff with the rebellion, and eventually... Some bad situations happen. They and Dorian and Sorscha end up getting caught and in a set of events, they all get tricked. Aedion is revealed to be working with them to the King, Chaol is shown to be conspiring with the rebels, Sorscha is Dorian's lover. Long story short, Chaol gets away safely thanks to Dorian's magic protecting him. Unfortunately, when the magic is finally revealed to the King, he ends up getting trapped with a Valg Collar and ends up getting possessed by a Dark being, called a Valg Prince.

On CelAelin and Rowan's side, they deal with some Valg Princes also and other magical issues and other dangerous situations that I don't need to go too much into detail for. CelAelin is able to use her powerful Fire magic to take down Valg Princes and then she is finally ready to face Maeve, as she is clearly very powerful at this point. Stuff is revealed, as promised, and then CelAelin is able to get Rowan to be freed and is able to have him bloodsworn to her instead. (Bloodsworn concept is kinda like a mate thing.) Maeve is ticked off and even though it's the last time we see her, it's pretty obvious that she will probably be a threat in Book 5 and 6. (The review for Book 4 is coming up right after this one, since I read them back to back.) The book ends with CelAelin heading back to Ardalan, with Rowan not coming with her just yet. She now knows where the third Wyrdkey is, as the first two belong to the king. With the third one, she can finally take him down and fulfill her promise to the late Nehemia, as she struggled with fulfilling it this entire book, due to her grief. First off, she needs to go back to her old master: Arobynn, the one who knows about the third, after she was able to piece it together.

The Review

The first two books were faster paced, while this one was definitely a lot slower, and there's a good reason why. First two focused on Celaena the Assassin, getting out of the Salt Mines, and establishing her new life as the King's Champion. This one focuses on Celaena transitioning back into Aelin, accepting her role as the heir, etc. There's so much more build-up to the magical aspects of the world and the concept of Fae. With the subplots for Manon and Chaol/Dorian, there HAS to be a more slowly-paced plot. Heir of Fire needs to build up this transition with Aelin's character and lead the story into Book 4, combining all of the sub-plots together. If this book was fast-paced like the first two, it wouldn't work very well. Overall, I enjoyed this one, as Maas continues to amaze me with the narrative, descriptions, transitioning, development of all the characters once again, etc. However, I would also like to point out that it was a bit shaky when it came to explaining all of the concepts; there were almost too many things going on at once, being somewhat confusing at times to the reader, when elements from the prequels were thrown in along with all of these names put together. 4.5/5 Still impressive, still a good series to read for those who like Action+Fantasy+Concepts-once-cliche-turned-into-something-great.

Recently, I have been referred to as the "Queen of Shade" by NotYourBlendedFruit. 

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! And have a ruffin day!
Peace out.
-YanderePanda