Reread April 2023: It's funny noticing just how different this book is from her later installments. It has that air of nostalgia for me now. WHERE IT ALL STARTED.

AND SO THE STORY BEGINS.
Guys, totes forgot she dated Dorain for a bit there, haha. And he LOVED HER. That fact broke me a bit too. All he wanted was someone to really love. But it was clear Calaena never felt the same way.

The anger Calaena feels throughout this entire book makes you wanna tear down the walls at Endovier herself. I'm grateful that having her two [boy] friends by her side helped her begin to heal.

Chaol is currently so tender, I was all team him at first. Dorian and Calaena were never going  to stay together. We all know SJM adds a few lovers in before they settle on the perfect mate (real life, no?). 

I tried to pay a lot more attention to Queen Elena, and the Wyrdkeys, etc. Since, Aelin is in her own world of trouble I want to make sure I've gathered all of the facts before SJM drops a bomb on my soul.

Some language (with a salty assassin on hand, this is true through all of the books), definitely violence, again, assassin y'all. Some love-y scenes, but nothing crazy. She wrote this first book I believe in her teens, so this was before the loooove scenes a la ACOMAF/EoS.