It absolutely lived up to what I felt for the novellas--I needn't have worried.

 

I think I might be in love with this universe, or these characters, or possibly just the author. Or all of the above. This was fun.

 

It started out feeling a little Hunger-games-y, with the group of people that are going to have to fight each other (not strictly to the death, but hey, still similar) who begin by training together. I enjoyed that aspect of it, and watching Caleana try to learn a bit about these people without giving any of herself away was interesting.

 

BOOKS. Book bonding moments are the best, and there are a lot of them.

 

Watching these characters bond over the books they read, having them discuss the books and learning that they have similar tastes made my day.  Having a female main character that likes to read and has read something other than Romeo & Juliet and/or Jane Eyre eight thousand times is also amazing. Yes, I know, it is a fantasy universe and these books theoretically do not exist, but there absolutely are authors that would somehow make them exist just to hurt me, I know it, I've seen it before.

 

Sorry.

 

At any rate, the two primary male characters, Dorian and Chaol (I don't want to just call them "the love interests," although they are, because they feel like more than that) get to bond with Caleana by sending her books from the library and then talking to her about them. This is a love triangle because there are two male love interests Caleana is interested in, both of whom are interested in her to some degree. This is not an annoying love triangle because no one is flipping out. They realize that this is a minor thing, that there are other, more important, actual life-or-death circumstances going on and that those take priority.

 

I also just plain like them. We have the books, as I mentioned before (and will mention again, endlessly probably. Sorry about that. I am deeply pleased by that aspect.), but they also feel alive. I could explain them on paper and they could sound cliche. They tick off some boxes that lots of male characters in this kind of book do. But somehow they are more than that.

 

That is true of all of the characters in this book. They have a vivacity that leaves them hanging around in the back corners of my mind once I am done reading. Celaena is sometimes a bit of a snot, but somehow that doesn't matter. I roll my eyes at her occasionally, but I am right there rooting for her.

 

I was intrigued by the hints of background both of Celaena and of the kingdoms. I want to know more about her past, and the fact that what is now ancient history is clearly going to play a part in the events we are watching unfold is something that always fascinates me.

 

I had a lot of trouble writing this review. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I couldn't get the words to line up properly to explain why I like this so much. I'm still not sure I have managed that. It hits things just right for me, and I feel like this is not only going to be a series I re-read, it is something that might end up hitting five stars for me. That's about the best recommendation I can make.