adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this book was so much fun, the writing has so clearly improved from the previous book and it was in so much more enjoyable and captivating. i’m glad this book expanded more on the world and gave more depth in the characters, that was done great.

but the absolute best thing about this book were definitely the twists and reveals that left me with so many questions, very exited to read the other books.

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dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A slow start and a great end - classic SJM really!
I loved the twists, I love the characters and the mysteries that aren’t rushed to be told, it’s so intriguing that you can’t stop reading - except for the first 150 pages. 

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dark sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Did I understand a single thing that happened in this book? No. Did I enjoy every second of it? Yes.

That ending was so predictable. If 1+1=2, then of course Celaena is Aelin… Idk why Chaol reacted like that at the end tbh.


Also, speaking of Chaol, his and Celaena’s romance felt so forced. I much preferred her with Dorian (please give him another chance 😪). Their relationship just felt like another plot device that was created to keep the story ‘interesting.’ Did I still eat up their scenes together? Of course I bloody did. 

All those things about the Wyrdkeys went straight over my fat head. I have no clue what’s going on but I loved it. I rated it lower than TOG because I didn’t enjoy it as much.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Review finally happening!

Enjoyment - 4
I liked this sequel more than I liked the first book, but less than I liked the novellas. The novellas showed how well edited and precise this series' writing could be, but I haven't seen that kind of writing since the novellas so far. This sequel did feel like a necessary part of Celaena's story and not like a filler book, so props for not falling into that trend like some other YA books have. Celaena's character also deepened in an interesting way when we learned more about her backstory. I had already been spoiled for her backstory, but I still found the rollout of it in the story convincing if not a bit predictable. What I didn't enjoy as much were some of the character decisions that were made with Nehemia's character arc. That's where my overall enjoyment ticked down.
I don't believe that anyone would sacrifice their life just to give another person "motivation" especially because of how drastic of a decision that is. That wasn't realistic to the character imo, especially with how intelligent Nehemia is written to be, I think she would have found another way. All of that is compounded with the fact that Nehemia was the only poc character in the story and she was killed off.


Start - 3
The start of this book was fine. Nothing super memorable happened during the beginning and most of it was building on the romance. I will say it wasn't a slow read to get through the beginning, so it gets a 3.

Characters - 3.75
I liked Celaena in this installment. We got to see more of her assassin skills and we got to see her fear. That made her reactions to situations interesting because she does have times where she is a coward and not just a straight foreword "super brave" hero. This book rounded her out as a character for me. I also liked Chaol in this book. He's not a super favorite of mine, but compared to Dorian (who acted pretty immature) was more interesting to be around. I get Dorian's stress and immaturity, but I can't say he was at all a good friend to anyone in this book really. Nehemiah was barely around in this, which I wish wasn't the case. Considering the friendship Celaena and Nehemia built in the first book, I would have liked to see more of their interactions and more of the growing strife
between them.

Atmosphere - 3.75
We're still in the castle, and I can't say it's my favorite setting. I tend to like it more when the characters venture outside of the castle setting and see more of Rifthold.

Plot - 3.75
My favorite point in the story was Baba Yellowlegs. Those were some fun scenes. The plot doesn't really pick up until the halfway point, then we get some hints at the King being suspicious (as he obviously) is, Dorian has his own side plot start, then the main plot is when Celaena is ordered to kill someone as she is the King's champion now. This order complicates her situation quite a bit. Laying it all out like this, there is quite a bit going on and that was some basic bullet points, however it doesn't feel like an overwhelming amount of stuff thrown into the plot. Plus information is rolled out in a way that feels semi-naturally, sometimes a bit too much just told rather than shown.

Ending - 4
This ending has a lot of things pop off, which makes it an entertaining read. There were some reveals, some added questions, some betrayals. It all ties together and kicks off the situation for the next book, as one would expect it to do, but I don't feel like any of the plot was dropped. There were some satisfying fight scenes as well.

Style - 3.5
Typically SJM writing style, except younger, more YA version.

Overall - 3.7 rounded 4

 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings