And here's another love interest for Celaena... Why can't we have someone who's only motivation is not that they love Celaena?

I'm wondering why we learnt about Aelin in the last book and not on the first if Celaena knew THE ENTIRE TIME! Like does she just not care? at all, 'cause that's the vibe I got. Seriously, her story could be solo compelling.

Celaena Sardothein, born Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, princess, watched her parents get assassinated. Now the world's deadliest assassin, she has been brought form her sentence as a slave to the salt mine to fight for the honour to be the king's assassin. The same king who overthrew her kingdom, outlawed magic, and is responsible for the death of parents.

IS THAT NOT A MORE COMPELLING STORY!!??? Why did we just delve into this now? I just feel like this isn't a plot twist reserved for the second story. This is what you start with. It gives Celaena character, and she needs it. Desperately. Nehemia is the heart of this story and she's not even alive. She died in the last book.

But other than that this book is a lot better than the previous one. I really enjoyed reading it and getting immersed in the world. It was very interesting. I liked the new perspectives and how much the world was growing, but I also could not shake wondering why this wasn't in the first book. I feel like the author missed a large opportunity to give some character to Celaena instead of just dumping her with a backstory and calling it a day.

I was a lot more engaged in this though, as it no longer feels like it's trying to be something else and is fulling embracing whatever it is. I'm genuinely excited for the next installment and am quite glad that it's sitting right beside me. This book didn't get boring near the like Crown of Midnight did and I got so lost in the story that I didn't notice the time passing.

Lastly, I'm not sure how I feel about the fairies. I feel like their sorta elves, but not and what I used to find terrifying about them isn't there. Of course, they've just been introduced and this could totally change, but currently, I like Cassandra Clare's treatment of them. I'm not huge on the modern take on fairies though, they don't really feel like fairies.

4.5

Umm, just wow, wow wow. That ending. It was so good. I can't wait to start the next one.

I found that this book would be a great jumping-off point for someone who hasn't read the series and doesn't want to start way back at the beginning as it summarized and talked about a lot of the events from the past books which I found rather boring at some times. Also, there weren't enough action scenes in the middle. Other than that, this was an amazing read. I'm so glad I've gotten back into this series.

The ebook read didn't have a distinction between who was writing what, however, it was pretty easy to figure it out. I found this pretty interesting but it was also kind of boring in some areas. I appreciate the map of Idris though. I love maps.

3.5

That was... I'm not sure not to recover from the ending.

There were a lot of perspectives in this book and I found a lot of them tedious, especially those for the characters who weren't very present in the last book. It also felt stretched, especially in the middle, with a lot of weird conflicts that took away from the action and made the story feel like it was wondering just to be longer. Or to possibly set something up for the finale? I'm not sure though as the ending did a very good job at that. There were quite a few plot threads in the middle that I think could have been cut to give the book a better flow and shorten the distance between the action scenes and really turn this book into an epic, fast-paced ride to the finale.

Other than that, I enjoyed it.

This was just perfect. I absolutely loved it. And I love this series. It's coming together so nicely. I am just in love. That's all I have to say.

2.5

I just did not connect with this book, the characters, the story, or the writing style. I can tell that it is a very impactful book, for the ending did have me feeling something, however, I was too disengaged to care that much about it. I have a strong feeling this will be a lot of people's favourite book though and I can totally see why. This really is not for me at this time though.

This started off really good and I was so excited about it, but about halfway through it got kind of boring. It's very interesting and original though. I just wish it was a bit more concise and tightly packed.

This book was very slow at the start. It was good 60% until something exciting really started happening. Then it kept happening and happening, and got more and more exciting. I just wish I didn't have to wait so long for it.

Victoria Aveyard is still amazing at endings. This one was so well written, though not as utterly stunning and devastating of that of [b:Red Queen|22328546|Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)|Victoria Aveyard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1449778912l/22328546._SY75_.jpg|25037051]. Red Queen also took off running while this one had quite the slow start. I'm very excited to read [b:King's Cage|30226723|King's Cage (Red Queen, #3)|Victoria Aveyard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1467121158l/30226723._SY75_.jpg|42721001] though, especially because of the ending.

I also found it hard keeping all of the characters straight. There are a lot of them with similar names and it's been since before I started Goodreads that I've picked up anything in the series. But I did not feel like I missed out on everything. I was able to get them straight in the end and was fully invested by the end.

In conclusion, I just wish this book had gotten to the good part a lot quicker than it did because the start was boring and nearly painful to get through, but once it got good, it got good. Very good. Like "I feel really bad for the beginning and the potential this book had" good. Because if the whole book had been like that last bit it would have blown me away, I can feel it. Hopefully one of the next installments does this.

Honestly, I don't even know where this came from, only that it's been on my shelf for a while so I might as well read it then unhaul it. I wasn't a big fan. I did not find it funny nor life-altering.