Well, hello! I finally made it into the official world of Throne of Glass with this one. I started the series reading Assassin's Blade even thought that came out a couple books later. Since it was a series of prequel novellas, I was able to get a lot of backstory to Celaena Sardothien. Honestly, I cannot imagine going into this book without knowing who she was prior. Those prequel novellas really put a lot on the line: what made her tick, what broke her, who she was, who she is capable of being, etc. It added so much to her character. In this first installment of the official series, we just see Celaena as sort of... standoffish, catty, entitled, and self-absorbed? Those may be too harsh of descriptions, but I can see a lot of people reading this for the first time and thinking, "THIS is the character I am supposed to fall in love with and has spawned a total new fandom?!" But I am here to say, "YES! It's her!" It was quite a shock seeing her enslaved and being forced to tame down/mute her abilities for the sake of not being recognized. It was difficult balancing reading that while seeing how confident she was in her conversations with the few who know the truth about her. But in the end, everything worked out and I am sure that she and this series will only grow better and stronger with each book in the series. 5 stars!