Review Detail

"The men weren't even looking at the window when she hurtled through. And by the time she landed on the mezzanine and rolled into a crouch, two of her daggers were already flying."

Finally Celaena Sardothien kicked some ass. LOADS OF ASSES! Basically, if you were not her friend in this book, you got your ass kicked as well. Which is fine by me! I was waiting for some gruesome murder and I've had what I was looking for.

"To escape death, she'd become death."

Celaena's state of mind when she goes on a killing spree was my favourite thing about this book. This and Fleetfoot. You brave little hero! You and Nehemia would have solved this mess already if they'd left the both of you handling things from the beginning. *ghostbusters theme plays in the background while Nehemia and Fleetfoot run down the castle halls*

My rating is not a full 4 star one because I found the story a bit too angsty and miscommunication dominated every interaction. Which is how you make situations in YAs evolve I guess, but it wasn't my cup of tea.
The characters have finally been given more depth: I really enjoy where we're going with Dorian and I personally found the character of Kaltain a very interesting one. Thing I wouldn't have believed if you had told me while I was reading book #1. Chaol though felt too stiff and patronizing. Celaena couldn't go anywhere without him doubting she could make it. Which, just as Celaena did, I found really annoying. And I'd have smashed his face in if he had tried to manipulate my life just like he did for Celaena at the end of the book. I mean, she's won the tournment and the deal was that she was going to be the King's Assassin for 4 years. She accepted the deal. Why do you feel like you have a saying in the situation? Right, alright, love, affection and blah blah blah. Still patronizing af. These men! *facepalms*
The Magic system was so very cool! I don't think I've got the hang of it quite fully yet (but, to be fair, no one in the book did!) and I'm curious to see where it is going to take us!
Finally, I believe that the final plot-twists were a bit too obvious (... and tropey!). At least, I did foresee them and I'm usually quite blind to this kind of things.

"Perhaps the world would never be perfect, perhaps some things would never be right, but maybe she stood a chance of finding her own sort of peace and freedom."

The fact that the next books in this series are way longer than this one scares me quite a lot but I'll make it through! *flexes muscles of the arm to show you her strenght* *remembers she's got flabby arms* *goes laying in bed and starts a new book*