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.

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“You could rattle the stars,” she whispered. “You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.”

I’m so excited to read this book finally and to have started a series that is so well-known in the book world! Of course, I’m a little late to the party, aren’t I? But that still won’t stop me from telling you everything I think and feel about it.

I went into it with more than a lot of expectations, but also with my mind very open and aware that I was reading a YA fantasy that came out in 2012. Of course, this is important nowadays because of the evolution not only of readers in general and books, but many social aspects have advanced overall during these last years so that’s something to keep in mind when you want to read a book that came out a few years ago. It has tropes that are perhaps controversial now and a love triangle that perhaps today wouldn’t be so much to my liking. But for its time, it’s a very good book, and it reads very smoothly and easily. I didn’t struggle with it at all and ended up having a pleasant reading experience which I’ll talk about in more detail below.

The Plot Explained in My Words: This book is about a young girl named Celaena Sardothien, the most famous and lethal assassin in this world, who after spending years captive in the salt mines of Endovier where she’s serving her death sentence, is taken to the castle where she will be allowed to be free with the condition that she must fight in representation of the prince in a tournament full of the most skilled assassins and thieves in the kingdom. But, while Celaena is there, many of the combatants begin to die in strange circumstances, so she has a lot more on her hands now. Who wants to finish off the participants before their time? And why? Besides, Celaena’s feelings start to get mixed up when she gets more involved with the prince she is supposed to hate.

The Plot:
Well, as I mentioned a little bit above, the plot is actually really good, I don’t know if I would say it’s something original, but as I said I’ll try to judge the book knowing that it came out a while ago. I think it’s a unique book in its style and manages to captivate the reader to make us want to continue reading to find out what will happen. One of the reasons why I think it’s so organic and easy to read is because it manages to captivate not only with the battle and the main character’s quest for freedom but there are also some very interesting subplots that appear more towards the middle of the book.

The magic one is very interesting and I hope it will be explored more in the next books because it’s one of my personal favorite points in the book, then we have the supernatural and more mysterious theme that comes with the passages, the secrets of the castle itself and the past of the kingdom. I also really liked the social plot and I would also be interested to know more about the rebels and the different towns that are part of this fantasy world. Overall, it’s a good solid plot with a lot to explore. I will talk a little more about the romance later because I know it was a strong point of the plot as well.

Characters
The characters in general are good, although I wouldn’t say they stand out. We have to talk about the elephant in the room, and that for me is Celaene herself (no matter how many times I write it I always misspell it lol) for me she’s a controversial character to be our main character, I have two points of view about this: one of them is that I like her because she’s different, she’s daring and she recognizes that she is good at what she does, she’s strong and also I consider it a positive thing that she doesn’t reveal all the information about her past and her personal life at once but it’s appearing progressively and we don’t even know 50% of her yet, that keeps me wanting to know more about her, which is good. On the other hand, I think her personality can clash at times, it’s obvious that she has some kind of problem with women on several occasions, maybe the author tried to make it “I’m not like other girls” too much, you know? And that at times can play against her and make the reader turn away a little bit. I also think she jokes around too much for my taste and can become quite irritating at times. I see her as a very self-centered character, but I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt here because it’s okay for a character to not be perfect at first, maybe she has a lot of growth to go through.

I love …Chaol! He might be one of my favorites along with Nehemia. I feel like Chaol is the type of character that grows a lot as the plot progresses and his development to me makes perfect sense. He is a very strong person with a lot of ideals, his interactions with Celaene are my favorite. Dorian is ok, I don’t feel so attracted to him as a character really and although the relationship with Celaene is quite addictive to read, I don’t think he’s as special as they make him out to be, though, I find that this relationship especially is rushed too much, they go from just met each other to love each other very fast and I would have liked a little more relationship building, I think it is that slow pace that we have with Chaol and it is much more interesting in my opinion.

Then we have Nehemia who as I said before is one of my faves, I don’t want to make it too long I just love her and I find her extremely interesting, as well as Nox!!! Who I would love to see more of in the next books.

Settings & Writings:
Of course, being a fantasy world it has a lot of world-building, although I don’t think it’s shown as much, it is mentioned a lot. There are places that are mentioned that I would love to explore more. I’m not the biggest fan of long descriptions about places; I find it a bit tedious, so I thought it was good, it has few settings but they are well used and described. The author’s writing style is very good, as I mentioned before it is also a book that is very easy to read even though it is high-fantasy which tends to be heavy in its subject matter. Maybe it’s because it’s quite heavy on romance, which always makes the plot lighter.

But beyond that, it also has a lot of dialogue which also makes it very easy to read. She is an author who undoubtedly gives much more importance to her characters than to the plot itself, not to say that the plot was lacking, in fact, I loved it, but you can see that there is a noticeable focus on the characters . So I expect great growth in these in the next books.

Book’s Weaknesses:
This is the part where I comment on some of the weaknesses of the book, situations, events, or aspects that I wasn’t really sure about. In this section, I would put the romance; I don’t think it’s one of the points that captivated me. I always prefer a more elaborate relationship construction even if it is between friends than a relationship so fleeting because of the hunger and need to include a passionate romance. It failed to captivate me, but I have hopes that there will be a little more drama in the next book, which I won’t deny is addictive. Then as another weak point, I could put that I think there are many things that failed to connect well and others that I think lacked development; one of the most important and notorious in my opinion is the magic system, there is a lot left unsaid and unexplained there, so when we are thrown into a very magical moment when we came from having nothing, it is quite a shock and is untied from the original plot. I would like to have more exploration of these little things, and a little more on the protagonists’ pasts. Still, I know these are things that maybe the author wants to save for what follows in this story, and I can understand that too.

Book’s Strengths:
The greatest strength of the book for me is the plot and the whole concept of the battles; in general, I am captivated very easily with scenes of action and combat but this book managed to entertain me a lot, I couldn’t stop reading! There is also something very captivating in the way it is told so I would say that the writing style is a great strength that makes the plot stay together very well and fluid. They go hand in hand very well. It is also a book that has a pretty shocking beginning and ending. The final scene is AMAZING!!! It has a little bit of everything, besides not only highlighting the main character but managing to wrap up many characters doing something unique and different to stand out, so it’s an individually good ending for each of them. Amazing! The beginning also manages to grab you right away; it’s raw and a little dark, and I love that tone for this kind of book, plus the fact that it’s winter gives it that touch!

To summarize, of course, I enjoyed the book! I don’t think it’s groundbreaking, and it didn’t captivate me, but I believe that considering the release date, it makes perfect sense that it became so popular and had the impact it did. Even today, nearly 1 million people have it on their TBR, so it’s truly a fascinating phenomenon for me to analyze, and I’m glad to finally be a part of it. I think the plot is solid and keeps you wanting to know what will happen. The characters aren’t incredible and have their flaws, but they fulfill their roles well, and each one stands out for being so different from the others, which I consider a very good thing. It lacks more exploration of subplots, so it’s intriguing to wonder what will happen. There’s a lot of action, plenty of dialogue, and also quite a bit of romance—all of which should be taken into account because I believe it will affect each reader differently based on their particular tastes. The book is also quite aesthetic as you read it; they wear flashy and vibrant clothing, which adds a fun element to the reading experience. I don’t think it made me feel emotional or connected on a very deep level, but I was interested enough to continue with this series, that’s for sure.

Do I recommend it?: YES, I would…! but taking into account several points that I point out in the review such as that it’s a book that came out in 2012, it’s romance-centric more than anything else, and although it has a very good plot the main character is a little bit unbearable. If you get past that, then it’s a book you’ll devour in no time and it’s really worth it!

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