''You could rattle the stars...you could do anything, if you only dared''
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BLURB: Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.
Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament - fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin's heart be melted?
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BOOK REVIEW
You will like this if you like:
~ Faes
~ Assassins
~ High Fantasy
~ Court Intrigue
~ Competitions
To Note: Brief mention of rape and torture (not detailed)
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Personal Enjoyment: 3.5/5
Overall Rating: 14.5/20
So I was really excited to read this book as I enjoyed ACOTAR so much. The premise sounded fascinating, an assassin that can only escape her prison sentence if she wins a cut-throat competition. Unfortunately much of the competition was glossed over or mentioned in passing. Definitely a case of ''Tell'' but not "show'' which was such a shame as it had the potential for some intense, high stakes scenes where we could have had better insight into Celaena's personality and history. The story progresses very slowly and I feel only takes a turn for the better around the beginning of the last 3rd of the book when there is a relatively interesting plot twist and a new character is introduced.
Which brings me to the characters as a whole, poor Dorian was the quintessential '' Crown prince chafing to be the good to the father's bad, but just can't quite stand up for himself'' he felt a bit 2 dimensional. But as the story progresses we slowly get a better insight in to his thoughts I hope he will be abit more fleshed out as the series progresses.
I much preferred Chaol and Nehemia, even if Chaol was again, a stereotypical "gruff, man of few words, Captain of the Guards". Nehemia was much more rounded character with a really interesting backstory, having her there really helped to flesh out the plot since, again, nothing much happens on the page, (competition tasks are only alluded to) So the conversations help propel the story a bit better. Celaena as a character was confusing, we are told she is a feared assassin, who has had a harsh upbringing and life that ultimately saw her wound up in a prison so harsh she :
Yet she acted more like a spoilt teen, complaining about lack of sleep, the clothes she was given, and the general lack of appreciation of her improved circumstance. Her actions barely supported the idea that she was fighting for her freedom. I hope she matures more as the series progresses as that would greatly improve her likeability!
What saved this book for me was that the writing style is very easy and even with the slow start there was a good flow overall. The story takes a turn after a certain point that I really liked. There are also enough hints about future plotlines that has me curious enough that I do want to continue on with the series. I feel now that we have left the competition behind and we will be delving more into her role as the King's champions the story will vastly improve, at least there will be more scope for a complex plot to develop.
As a whole I enjoyed it, I would have preferred more of a ''show'' then ''tell'' kind if plotline, and more developed characters, but as book one in a 8 book series (inc. prequel) I am hoping the character development will follow and the plot will become more complex and detailed. If you are looking for a long high fantasy YA series to sink your teeth into I would recommend you give this a try.
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“No matter what happens," she said quietly, "I want to thank you."
Chaol tilted his head to the side. "For what?"
Her eyes stung but she blamed it on the fierce wind and blinked away the dampness. "For making my freedom mean something.”
“Second place is a nice title for the first loser.”