Links: Amazon, GoodReads
Pages: 432
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction
Stars: 4
Synopsis:
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass–and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.
Review:
My outloud thoughts:
oh! the mouth on you!
Oh.MY.GODS…so many books..i think i’m in love
You both like to read? Since when?!
Boy i think i love this author- she makes characters who read!
Lady THEY BOTH ARE IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU DOLT!
*sighs* can’t you stay out of conflict for one minute Celaena?!
ooh he gave me the chills too!
BREATHE! YOu’re an assassin for god’s sake!
Oh my! Did he just..nuh uh! Stop it he totally just…
now you’re being haunted? Dude is there something i need to know!?
Ok so are you two related or what?
Nehemia – chick is badass…nice!
THE LIESS!!
Aww bye Nox
Like a boss!!!
Wow you two!
Celaena Sardothien
I keep forgetting just how young this girl is. She is so quick and just badass that it makes me jealous. Seriously this wretched looking girl has been beaten starved and thrown into hell on earth to still come out unbroken and untamed. She meets the prince for goodness sake and spits sarcasm and arrogance at him instead of cowering! She takes on men with twice the amount of weight and reach on her and still succeeds. For all the evil she has accomplished she is still so so good at heart. She obviously has some hidden magic power in her which makes her even more mysterious. She can see the world of living and reality AND the world of magic and sometimes the undead. AS for the assassin part we don’t see too much of that right now. OK thats fine its the 1st book. She does have these moments where i forget she is even an assassin though. With the crazy bipolar mood swings of a teenager she goes from bad ass to simpering foolery. *shrugs* it happens we were all teenagers once. Overall she is one of my favorite characters this year.
Lillian Gordana
I agree with Celaena on this one. This was THE LAMEST alias ever to be allowed to live. It didn’t really sound believable and was hard for her to pull off. However when celaena was in Lillian mode it was very hard to like her. She was docile and very nearly obedient. I mean yes some of the fantastic assassin showed through personality wise but otherwise i felt as though this “alter Ego” of Celaena was very very chicky and sucked so much 😐
Chaol Westfall
Ah Captain Westall….i feel like there’s so much more to him than the author is letting on. I love him a little bit. He’s a complete stick in the mud but he is smart and honor bound. He is terse yet has a soft understanding side that i adore. I hope in the next book I get his full story because i didn’t get enough of him this time around. He is Celaena’s keeper and he doesn’t do a spectacular job towards the end. He falls in
Dorian Havilliard
What a PANSY!!! ok, ok i get what he does and how he does it when it comes to his father is strategic. for him not to be thrown out of the line of succession and be able to rule fairly he must kowtow to his papa…fine but listen…You could be more constructive with your time and certainly less whiny because you’re a fucking prince. A PRINCE!! You have choices and options. Am i glad that you are well read and LOVE to read? yes i LOVE this about you. Am I glad that for once a strong male lead is able to recognize when he is wrong or how he has done wrong? YES! BUT i don’t really like the lack of motivation to change until a woman comes around…i mean don’t get me wrong Celaena is pretty bad ass and worth the change but to me he has to WANT to be better even without her. *shrugs* so she inspires him fine BUT he still isn’t making too much change or too many waves. He’s the typical court hoe – or so he is described as such. Yep one with feelings but hey as he demonstrates feelings change.
-Hey buddy thanks for saving Celaena but we know it was simply to spit in yo daddy’s eye at least at first.
King of Adarlan
I mean ICE COLD this one! He seems to have a bottomless pit of evil stored inside of him like the rest of the world doesn’t matter. all that matters is his goals and ambitions and god forbid anyone get in the way. He will decimate you in a heartbeat without issue or remorse. He gives me chills. Hell he scares the worlds greatest assassin but i want to know why. i feel like there is so much behind this character that i didn’t get to see and i hope! i get more of his story in the next book. What is his driving purpose to be so evil and powerful. The man is manipulative and merciless. Does he even have a soul? I would like to know
Lady Kaltain
This heifer is THIRSTY! I mean seriously she will stop at nothing and I mean NOTHING to get a crown on her evil little head. This opium junkie has it out for Lillian from day one and is set on catching the prince in her little traps to secure a position as nobility. She teams up with Duke Douchebag to take down Lillian so that she may lose the competition. It seems that Celaena is good at making haters if nothing else. Lady Kaltain is approved of by the rarely seen and seemingly frivolous queen yet Prince Dorian wants NOTHING to do with her [it makes for amusing scenes between the two]. Being ignored so well and on top of that insulted or threatened into a relationship with perrington pretty much makes her crazy though we find out why later on in the book….i have a feeling this one comes back in the next book and with a vengeance at that.
Duke Perrington:
What a dick! This guy even introduced himself as a complete doucher ugh! I really can’t stand his oily ginger ass (no i don’t have anything about gingers) He’s a hater and honestly no one but the King likes him. From go he is set on making Celaena’s life absolute hell. he’s crude and feels like he is only around for the money. He’s a slimy leech and unfortunately the king listens to him more than he listens to his own son.
Elena
Well then! How special does Celaena REALLY have to be to have the VERY FIRST QUEEN of adarlan come to her and not once but a few times? The first queen and part fae at that? your daddy must have been mad at you for choosing a human! I see a lot of you in Celaena, at least what i know of you. I am really happy that you are a warrior queen and not some simpering save me please lass. I need more of that. More bad ass warrior queens please!!!
Nehemia
Speaking of warrior queens this one is a fierce warrior princess! And one who is able to subtly stand up for her people in the face of all issues. I LOVE HER! She is scheming and conniving but she is so for a good reason. She isn’t afraid to jump into the fray and she has fought for her rebel people. She comes to this foreign land seemingly knowing nothing but knowing more than she lets on and turn after turn is accused, threatened, humiliated and insulted. Her classiness never Wavers. This one bears a huge secret and i hope to all goodness that we get to see more of her in the upcoming installations because i really loved Nehemia and her strength. In my opinion with her wisdom and quietness she is perfect for Celaena. Her and her people may actually provide the key to the wyrd mystery that Celaena is so curious about.
The Writing:
I mean it’s a YA book so i wasn’t expecting excellently executed sentences; i just wanted a damn good story. I like to read NOT be a grammar nazi. So that being said do I feel as though the author probably could have made friends with an assassin to write better about them sure. Do i think that this was the main purpose of this story: To inform young people about assassins? NO! so i’m not going to knock her for it. It was targeted towards young people so it comes off a little juvenile. I like to step away from life because it sucks. Who cares if it’s believable ESPECIALLY with a YA FANTASY novel.
This wasn’t difficult to read and i thought it flowed nicely – i could have sat and read it in a day if i had no interruptions. There were no weird confusing sentences or mismatching descriptions. I enjoyed the detailed descriptions and that there were simply somethings that i would have found on firehotquotes.com about love and stuff. There was no raunchiness and certainly no sexytime. I thought the characters were well built, in my opinion, and will continue to grow.
My overall impression:
I enjoyed the story even though i felt as though i had walked into a romance novel with hunger games type of setting and not just any romance novel but a love triangle at that i thought the author handled that pretty well. Things seem to be working out and i mean keep in mind the girl is SUPER YOUNG! I loved the concept and that there is this magnificent beautiful palace of death and secrets. I really hope to see more growth and more assassinating out of the second and third books. Do i feel like this was more of an information story first? yes BUT i feel that it will all come together later. I loved this though. Awesome Read for me.
Links: 
Baby Got Stacks 