3.5 stars 
 The Shadow Queen is a fast paced and fun adventure that can be read in one or two sittings. 
 It introduces us to a kick ass princess Lorelai who is on the run from the evil queen who murdered her father and took away her kingdom. She was in hiding for years, training and plotting to retake the throne and save the country that is slowly dying under the queen's cruel rule. 
 There is magic, dragons, a truly evil queen, a bit of romance, hilarious dialogues and intense action scenes... and did I mention dragons?? So why 3.5 stars and not 5? 
 This book suffers because it can be easily overlooked among hunderds of other similar retellings or YA fantasies. Even its title can be easily mistaken with either Red Queen or Maas's Queen of Shadows. It's forgettable and at times feels a bit generic. 
 The characters are funny and can kick some serious butts, but the only character with whom I could truly connect was Kol. He was funny, loyal and snarky, not to mention that he is a shapeshifting dragon (no spoilers). As for our main heroine, she seems too perfect, she always has a plan, she is always ready and therefore I didn't really care about all the fights that she is in, because there is no true feeling of danger. 
 However, this book also has some great upsides that made me if not love it, then at least intensely like it. Apart from the previously mantioned action and humor, it also has some gut wrenching and completely unexpected plot twists that I never saw coming. Most of the characters are interesting enough, especially the guard Gabril, prince Leo and Lorelai's falcon who kept trying to feed everyone with raw mice. The queen's motives are explained and developed enough for her not to be yet another evil caricature and I truly hated her and wanted her gone. 
 I wish that the world building would be more thorough, but even as it is, we get enough sense of the environment that we can picture the scenes vividly. Perhaps we will find out more in the sequel so for now I'll let it slide. 
 While this book doesn't have much new to offer to the genre, it's still a very fun way to spend a couple of hours and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good fairytale retelling or a fast paced fantasy. And don't forget, it has DRAGONS!!!!