Author: Sarah J Maas
Edition: Hardcover
Rating: 5 Stars
There will be minor SPOILERS for the series.
My fourth time going through and this is the book that always changes the most for me. When I first read it, when it came out, I more or less hated it. I loved it, but I also hated it. A very strange relationship I had with this book. Most of that initial hate came from the change of ships in the book and the things that happen at the end that I was just not prepared for.
Of course, now that I know what to prepare for, and now that ships have changed once again in the series (for the best- Rowaelin is just everything) it's actually become one of my favorites for the past two years. But this time... it was just lackluster, I think.
The big problem? The characters I've come to love from the most recent books just weren't in it! I mean, they haven't been introduced at this point, but they're some of my favorite parts of the later series (I'm talking about Aedion, Lysandra, Rowan, and Nesryn... and Manon and Elide and am I forgetting anyone else? Basically the rest of the characters, haha). As much as I enjoy this book, it feels like a filler compared to the rest of them. Which is crazy, because so much happens during this one!
Here are some other things I really noticed this time around:
I remembered Archer. This may sound strange since he's a big character, but honestly, on my last two rereads I totally forgot to hate him when I started the story. How? I really don't know. But going into it and hating him has actually made it a really interesting game of seeing how much he fakes and is a liar.
Nehemia bothered me. I do love her to death (RIP you brilliant character), but she does bother me because of the way she treats Celaena. As much as Celaena holds Nehemia up on a pedestal as the best friend she's ever had, I know that so much more is waiting for her in the next few books. Better friends. Nehemia keeps secrets from her the whole time even though she expects Celaena to share things and gets mad at Celaena's own secrets. She also expects a lot from Celaena, someone who is still healing. Nehemia should be able to recognize this and yes, Celaena was being hard headed and not reasonable about certain things, but she wasn't even a year out of Endovier and has lived her whole life in fear. Also, I find it hard to forgive Nehemia for what she did and leaving Celaena like that.
I kept thinking of the song Castle by Halsey as I read this.
Reading this series is like watching a TV series. I hope some day it does translate onto the small screen.
I remember why I dislike Chaol. Okay, hold your horses, I don't actually dislike Chaol. He's just not my favorite. And I remember why he's not my favorite- he's kinda boring. Okay, that actually doesn't explain it, because later in the series he's really not boring. But in this book, I just get weary of his point of view. I think it has something do with the fact that I'm far more interested in Celaena and Dorian in this one (they're both on really, really interesting arcs and Chaol is just there in comparison). So, no, I don't dislike Chaol, and I actually like him and Celaena together during the first half, but I always seem to forget how little he actually does in this book.
Yep, that's it for now. Quite the longer post than I meant to write, but I'm pleased with it. On to Heir of Fire!
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