Okay, so this post is going to be chock full of exciting updates (cover reveal! Tour dates! Pre-order goodies!), BUT I’m going to jump right to (perhaps) the most exciting one…

THE QUEEN OF SHADOWS COVERRRRR

Behold, in all its murderous/vengeful/badass glory, the US & UK/Australia/NZ covers (click for full-size/HD):


USA:


UK/Australia/NZ:

So, I’m preeeetty much obsessed with this cover and it conveys so much of the tone/feel/atmosphere of the book (the UK tagline isn’t wrong about the vengeance thing). I can’t wait to share this book with you guys on September 1st (worldwide pub date! You can find where to pre-order here)—it’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had writing a book (despite the 100000s of tears shed).

And in the few hours that it’s been online, I’ve gotten a bunch of questions about it, which I’ll just answer below (if you want some sneak peeks at what will be inside the book, check out this interview with yours truly!).

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 back?
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.


Annnnd I’m going to share the first few tracks from my QOS playlist with you, BUT I have a little bit of housekeeping to do first.

If you’ve pre-ordered A Court of Thorns and Roses, or plan to pre-order it, then check out how to receive these amazing international prizes from Bloomsbury! (Limited edition/special metal bookmark, tattoos!) Click on the pic for more info.


And, I’ll have dates for my May US ACOTAR tour (and fall tour for QOS) soon-ish, but I have TWO exciting tours coming up:

This May, I’m headed back to the UK as part of my ACOTAR tour! Dates/details below (but to answer a question I've been asked frequently, YES—you will be able to get copies signed at every event. Hooray!); click on the pic for a larger image:


And this November, I’m going on tour in Australia & New Zealand! Click here for the announcement I made the other month, revealing a few of my tour stops at Supanova (yes, I’ll have events in Sydney/elsewhere, too)! More stops/dates to come soon, but YAYYYY! (Also, holy crap. Someone pinch me, please!)

Annnnd okay:

So my QOS playlist is long as hell. (I’ve been waiting for a rainy day/week/month to share all the TOG playlists w/ explanations.) But to kick it off, this is the first track:



I was debating whether or not to mention who this pertains to, but… Okay, it’s Dorian. QOS opens with a chapter from his POV, and I listened to this piece on repeat while working on it. (And maybe cried 20000 tears.)


So, the next few tracks are semi-hard to explain. Mostly because #s 2 & 3 were pieces I listened to get into Aelin’s head before the actual events of her first chapter (aka Chapter 2) began:



Okay, so right before I began drafting this book, I was on an hour-long plane ride, and spent that entire hour listening to only the 2:30- 4:45 part of this piece. Literally just those 2 minutes of one long song for an hour on repeat.

Something about it hit a creative nerve—letting me tap right into Aelin’s head/attitude/wrath/cunning & wicked plans as she at last returns to Adarlan. (Confession: I got off the plane and worried that listening to 2 minutes of music on repeat for an hour meant I was going to become a serial killer.)

And then when it came time to finally write QOS, I sat down at my desk and listened to this piece with my eyes closed (literally meditating to Kanye) for a good, long time, freefalling into Aelin’s character. (Sorry, neighbors!) When I opened my eyes, I was in her head—and the first scene with her just poured out of me.



Annnd I’m pretty sure my neighbors all thought I was insane when I switched from blasting that song to this one (which is what I listened to while actually writing the first Aelin scene in Chapter 2):



I’ll leave you to imagine what might be happening (Tern, you might recall, had a very brief mention in The Assassin’s Blade), but… Here’s a snippet from (somewhere in) the middle of that (sassy) Aelin chapter:

You'll have to wait until September to learn how well Aelin reacts to that. ;)

Annnnd this post has gone on long enough, but here's one final Aelin/QOS piece (which might be tied with the Kanye song for “What song best embodies Aelin’s murderous rage/icy cunning/mega-swagger in QOS”)