Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Queen of Shadows Blog Tour: Fan Cast + Giveaway


Hi everybody! For the second year now, I am absolutely thrilled to be a host on the QUEEN OF SHADOWS blog tour hosted by the Maas Thirteen. I can't believe it's been a year since Alexa, Rachel, Judith, Katie and I started the fan club out of our love for the series. I can't believe we've made it this far, and what makes me SO happy, is seeing the outreach of Throne of Glass. If you haven't already, you should check out my gushing (duh) review here.

Tour Schedule


September 7 – Judith (Paper Riot)
September 8 – Jaz (Fiction in Fiction in Fiction)
September 9 – Kelly (Belle of the Literati)
September 10 – Andi (Andi’s ABCs)
September 11 – Gillian (Writer of Wrongs)
September 14 – Kim & Wendy (The Midnight Garden)
September 15 – Mel (The Daily Prophecy)
September 16 – Gina (Behind the Pages)
September 17 – Nicole (The Quiet Concert)
September 18 – Jamie (The Perpetual Page-Turner)
September 21 – Katie (Polished Page-Turners)
September 22 – Rachel (Hello, Chelly)
September 23 – Alexa (Alexa Loves Books)

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Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Date Released: September 1, 2015
Pages: 656 pages
Genre: High fantasy
Goodreads

Synopsis:
"Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world."

Purchase
Australia: Bloomsbury | Booktopia | Bookworld
International: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound | Book Depository
E-book: Kobo | iBooks
Audiobook: Audible


About Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas is the author of the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling Throne of Glass series–Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire, and the series’ prequel, The Assassin’s Blade–as well as the New York Times and USA Today bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses. She wrote the first incarnation of the Throne of Glass series when she was just sixteen, and it has now sold in twenty-three languages. Queen of Shadows, the fourth book in the Throne of Glass series, will release worldwide on September 1st, 2015.

A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and dog. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hamilton College in 2008 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in Religious Studies.

Find Sarah: Website | Blog | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr | Instagram

Fan Cast


In continuing with tradition, I'm going to do what I do best... Ok well I'm going to stick to what I sort of know how to do - and that's fan cast. I did a fan cast of Heir of Fire last year, so I'm going to show you guys who I'd choose for some of the newer characters in Queen of Shadows AND I PROMISE NO SPOILERS.

Basically, I loved ALL the females in Queen of Shadows. If you haven't already heard me screaming it to the world, THE GIRL POWER IN THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. 

Anyway my fan cast isn't necessarily to the exact descriptions of the book but I wanted to add a diverse twist! I went through Sarah's TOG Pinterest quite thoroughly to ensure that who I was casting had some parallels to who she had in mind.

Chanel Iman as Nesryn Faliq


Nesryn is one of my favourite characters. I loved her calm demeanour and the way she and Celaena just had this understanding. I chose Chanel Iman because Nesryn is clearly not white. She's got tan skin, eyes that tilt up, and I got the impression she had like Asian/Middle-Eastern roots (if comparing to us Earthlings). Chanel is 1/4 Korean and 3/4 African American which I think sort of embodies that.
Images: Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3


Ashley Greene as Asterin Blackbeak


Sweet baby Jesus, Asterin's story is one of the most phenomenal side stories EVER. I admired her resilience, strong morals and opinions and the way she stood by what she believed in. Her loyalty and strength literally made me cry. I really like Ashley Greene, especially after seeing her play Alice in Twilight - Alice was my fav character. Ashley can pass off the sweet but also fierce look.


Lee Pace as Lorcan


Lorcan is an extremely complex character and very chilling. But cool. He's so very cool and he certainly gave me some laughs. When I was reading I kept picturing Lorcan like Thranduil from LOTR... I haven't actually watched any of the LOTR movies beyond the first one but I've seen enough gifs on tumblr and everything on social media to know who Thranduil is LOL. I was like "OMG THAT'S HIM."


Crystal (Yifei) Liu as Lysandra


Another amazing young woman who shows astounding inner strength and resilience. After reading what she's been through I was like GURLLL CAN I PLEASE GIVE YOU A HUG. I know Lysandra isn't Asian (diverse casting here). She's so beautiful men aren't coherent upon seeing her. I'm not coherent when I see Crystal Liu. I think she's probably my favourite Asian actress. Crystal may seem delicate (Return of the Condor Heroes hnnnnng) but she's such a fantastic actress she can pull off anything.


AND NOW I PRESENT TO YOU MY QUEEN...

Barbara Palvin as Aelin Galathynius


Did you really think I'd pass up the chance to cast Aelin? Really? Please. I was looking for photos to cast other characters and then I came across Barbara and I was like HOLY SMOKES THIS IS AELIN. She's soooo gorgeous. Do you see her eyes? DO YOU SEE HER ASHRYVER EYES? So she's a model and not an actress. I don't care. She can be my fire-breathing-bitch-queen any day. 




OK tell me what you thought of my casting? Who did you guys have in mind?

Giveaway


GIVEAWAY TIME YAYAYAYAY (I seem to do this a lot I don't know why. Giving you guys free stuff makes me so happy.)

In both cases of the giveaways you must be old enough to give us your address so we can mail you the goodies if you win!

International


Firstly, thanks to the Maas Thirteen, we're giving away TWO copies of QUEEN OF SHADOWS US hardback and they each come with a THRONE OF GLASS tote bag. Yisss you heard right. This is open internationally.


Australia


Thanks to Bloomsbury Australia I'm giving away TWO copies of QUEEN OF SHADOWS AU paperback and these HAVE SIGNED BOOKPLATES INSIDE. YESSSS YOU HEARD RIGHT. Australia only sorry international folks.

13 comments:

  1. My favorite character besides Aelin is Rowan for sure! Or Sam

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  2. I love making the perfect cast for my favorite books! It is so much fun! Too bad usually when a book is made into a movie they don't take my picks seriously. OMG, I love your picks! Manon, heck yes! I looked at your old picks too and couldn't agree more, even the ones I don't know well sure seem to fit. Aelin and Chaol are my favorite characters but Manon and Aedion are not far behind at all. Great post! I may have to do some posts like these in the future just for fun. :D

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  3. AHHHHH YOUR FAN CASTING IS PERFECT. Especially for Nesryn. BUT WHERE WAS ELIDE, HUH? I loved her in QoS. And omg, Aelin is perfection <3 <3 <3

    My favourite character would probably be Evangeline in this one, despite what little we saw of her. I just fell in love with her for some reason!

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  4. Those castings are amazing! Perfect pics for all of them.

    I don't know how I am going to wait a year for the next one.

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  5. Oooh I love the choices you made for the casting! It would be so awesome if ToG became a movie! My favourite character is Celaena for sure- still not used to calling her Aelin.

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    1. Also, Heir of Fire was my favourite so far- still have to read QoS!

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  6. But where is Manon?!?!??! I volunteer :D Great fancasting! I love the diversity! Manon and Chaol are my two faves, for a host of many reasons I don't think I can get into on Google comments. But <3.

    And Crown of Midnight is my fave book!

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  7. my favorite character is Celaena! I loved her personality, she is not a weak female main character or one that is portrayed as a strong female character , she is actually the real thing.

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  8. OMG YOUR PICK FOR NESRYN IS PERFECT! Really I applaud all of your choices and I could totally get on board with Barbara Palvin being Aelin! Love it!

    Yay #MaasThirteen!! <3

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  9. I always love making fan casts and I like the look from Aelin. I haven't met the other characters yet, but Lee Pace YES PLEASE.

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  10. I love fan casts and I think you did a fabulous job! I love your pick for Nesryn & Asterin!! I loved your choices for last year's fan casting too. Still debating if I would want Henry Cavill as Rowan though.

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  11. I'm unsure about your pick for Nesryn but nonetheless great casting! I especially love your picks for Aelin and Asterin!

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  12. My favorite character from the Throne of Glass series is Aelin (of course). She's so inspiring! She's badass and she takes crap from no one. And, although people have tried to break her, although her life has been incredibly difficult and tragic, she still manages to stand up and fight for what she believes in and for the people she loves. She's absolutely amazing.

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