So. Wow. This book has some serious hype behind it. I mean, it has a 4.24 rating with over 240K ratings. And really, the synopsis sounds like something I would really enjoy:

"When Magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison."

Sounds pretty intriguing, right? Unfortunately, I don't think this book lives up to the hype. Not at all. From inauthentic characters to sketchy world-building to a dull plot, this book wasted a lot of potential.

Characters:
Celaena is the aforementioned assassin. Now, in my mind, I was expecting a bad-ass female character with an edge and an air of danger around her. Someone who is stealthy, quick-thinking, and maybe a little emotionally shutdown. But that is not Celaena. Honestly, aside from being told over and over again that she was this infamous assassin, I didn't see any textual evidence SHOWING it. She is portrayed as this kind, compassionate, witty, flirty, fashionable girl. It was all very surface-level stuff. She didn't have any internal conflict or moral ambiguity that I would expect from someone who had experienced the horrors we are told she experienced. It doesn't feel authentic at all.

Chaol is the Captain of the Guard, assigned to be Celaena's bodyguard. He was fine, but I don't really feel like I got to know anything about him, aside from the fact that he is hung up on Celaena and he's been friends with Dorian since childhood.

Dorian is the Crown Prince. He doesn't like the tyrannical rule of his father, but doesn't actually do anything about it because...reasons? He is portrayed as a ladies man, but he falls for Celaena after a couple of flirty exchanges. Again, like Chaol, I didn't feel like I got to know anything about him, his motivations, or his inner struggles.


World-Building:
I didn't feel like I got to know the world at all. It was confusing. It's obviously a fantasy, complete with magical elements/creatures (although we're only TOLD about magical creatures) but then Celaena finds 'The Walking Dead' graphic novels in the library and I felt completely confused. I've heard that starting in the third book the world-building really gets much better...I don't know if I can wait that long.

Plot:
Sigh. So...the plot of this book was supposed to revolve around Celaena competing against other shady characters in order to win a job as the King's assassin. The only problem? The competition is not a focus of this book at all. There are 24 (I believe) competitors fighting for this job, and each week they have a different Test, with one person eliminated each week. Only two of these tests are actually depicted. Two. Others are mentioned, but just in passing. What ends up becoming the actual focus of the novel is the love triangle (because of course there is a love triangle).
The love triangle was actually not terrible. Her interactions with both of them were entertaining. You could see her with either of them, and the two men don't hold any animosity toward the other. Unfortunately, the love subplot end up becoming too big a part of the book, to the detriment of the story. It felt very 90s-romantic-comedy. I mean, people are being brutally murdered in the castle but all Dorian and Chaol can think about is Celaena.

One more thing. There are so many filler scenes in this book that do nothing to drive forward the plot or develop characters. The big one for me is an entire chapter devoted to Celaena having her period and vomiting in front of Chaol because it hurts so bad...ummm...what the hell? It was totally unnecessary. I guess it was supposed to show her vulnerability or something, but it didn't work for me at all.

All in all, this book just didn't feel authentic to me. The characters (especially Celaena) didn't act in a way that was authentic to what we're told about them and there was no depth to their personalities whatsoever. I'm sorry, but just because Celaena likes to read and is a musical genius doesn't mean she's a profound character.

As I'm looking through this review I'm kind of wondering if I shouldn't bump my review down, but at the same time, I didn't hate EVERYTHING about this book and I feel like it has just enough potential for me to consider checking out the sequel...

EDIT: I originally rated this story at 3 (2.75) stars. The longer I thought about it, however, the less I liked it and the more I found that I really disliked. I still feel like the idea behind this book had potential, but the execution was just abysmal. I will not be continuing with this series, nor do I have any inclination to pick up her ACOTAR series.