So here is the thing. Sara J. Maas writes beautifully.

"[...] a beautiful girl, that looked at the stars and the stars that looked back." {Or something along these lines, I read the entire thing in German.}

Had the scene not been so cheesy I would have cried. And I kind of felt like that the entire time while reading. Beautifully written and then: Her eyes change colour depending on what she is wearing... I spent a lot of time the first pages laughing because the character building was just so funny with me.

That being said, I can't agree with the critique Celaena gets in the reviews, because honestly? I love that the deadliest assassin in the world moans about the cold and likes pretty dresses and playing the Pianoforte. I think that's cool. Because yeah, even if she is the bad ass protagonist that is not all she is, so I think that is kind of cool.

I also really liked the world building and wished it was more elaborated on. But hey, there are still five parts to this, so I am having my hopes up to see if there's more with the elves and fae and so on. I also loved Nehemias and Celeanas friendship. That one was beautifully done.

So back to the things I did not like. As a lot of people have pointed out: We rarely get to see Celaena actually being a badass assassin and I think that is kind of sad. I wished there were more scenes with the training. I mean if you base the entire story on the fact that she has to win that bloody tournament? Please d0 not skip over the challenges left and right.

And also, could we just stop with the not-really-a-triangle-love-triangles? I cannot be the only one thinking, that making Chaol a bigger brother figure for both Dorian AND Celaena would be much more endearing and give the story a whole lot more of depth.

So yeah. It was a nice read and it was okay. But it was also not the most amazing story ever, that people praise it to be. ( )

I am extremely late to read this. But I prefer to get library books (and this was out for months and months and even more months) and then buy the series later on if I think I will ever want to read it again.

Anyway, I would not have read this if I had not read A Court of Thorns and Roses. Literally, I would have never found the premise interesting enough to pick up. It just didn't seem great. But, this book. It was addictive. I flew through this, I stayed up later than I should have two nights in a row (both school days) and I am amazed by this story.

My only actual issue with this is that as an assassin, I can't picture people trusting Celaena that quickly, like Chaol for instance, she gained his trust way too quickly. There were also a few minor too soon romance moments, but overall this was an intriguing novel. I was so thankful I also managed to check out the second book and really want to start it soon!

And as a girl who enjoys a good love triangle, I can't decide who I like more. Also, there is a third guy that I'm wondering about, maybe he will reappear in the later books? ( )

I am extremely late to read this. But I prefer to get library books (and this was out for months and months and even more months) and then buy the series later on if I think I will ever want to read it again.

Anyway, I would not have read this if I had not read A Court of Thorns and Roses. Literally, I would have never found the premise interesting enough to pick up. It just didn't seem great. But, this book. It was addictive. I flew through this, I stayed up later than I should have two nights in a row (both school days) and I am amazed by this story.

My only actual issue with this is that as an assassin, I can't picture people trusting Celaena that quickly, like Chaol for instance, she gained his trust way too quickly. There were also a few minor too soon romance moments, but overall this was an intriguing novel. I was so thankful I also managed to check out the second book and really want to start it soon!

And as a girl who enjoys a good love triangle, I can't decide who I like more. Also, there is a third guy that I'm wondering about, maybe he will reappear in the later books? ( )

Ho aspettato un bel po' stavolta prima di scrivere la recensione perché non so ancora bene quale sia la mia opinione su questo libro. Sicuramente, l'ho trovato migliore dei quattro prequel: Celaena è più coerente con il suo ruolo di migliore assassina di Adarlan, senza mai diventare Mary Sue.

E, soprattutto, è una donna. Nei fantasy, in molti fantasy con protagoniste donne guerriere, non è sempre scontato. Il leit motiv delle protagoniste è essere degli uomini gonnella: sono tutte dei maschiacci impenitenti, al punto da renderle pressoché indistinguibili dai loro simili (letterari) maschili. A questo proposito, continuava a tornarmi in mente questo brano:

«[...] Se le donne avessero il Potere, gli uomini sarebbero solo delle donne che non possono mettere al mondo i figli. E le donne sarebbero solo uomini con questa facoltà.»
«Ah!» esclamò Tenar e, con astuzia, osservò: «Non sono esistite anche delle regine? Anch'esse avevano il Potere.»
«Una regina è solo un re in gonnella» disse Ged.
La leggenda di Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin.

Una donna non è solo un uomo in gonnella: pretendere che sia così è sminuirla. Quindi ben venga la sua frivolezza nell'indossare abiti sfarzosi, il suo bisogno di curarsi le unghie, la sua voglia di flirtare. Celaena ha perfino le mestruazioni, bandite dall'esistenza di ogni guerriera, e ha perfino quei simpatici dolori che noi ragazze conosciamo bene (anche se vi auguro di no). Ah! Quasi mi vien dal ridere al pensiero che nessuno vi accenni mai... e il quasi è dovuto a tutta la mitologia negativa riservata alle mestruazioni.

Cosa non va, quindi? Mah, la mancanza di spessore, direi. Manca una visione di ampio respiro, che vada oltre i problemi del singolo personaggio. Mi manca il grande fantasy, quello che ti fa stare con il fiato sospeso perché la sorte dei personaggi decreterà la sorte del mondo. Ecco cosa manca. Per quanto la Maas abbia creato dei buoni personaggi (Celaena, Chaol, Dorin, Nehemia), nessuno di loro va oltre i propri problemi personali, nessuno di loro guarda oltre il suo piccolo microcosmo per darci quella visione di grandiosità che ha reso indimenticabili tanti fantasy. ( )

Teen girl with a Tragic Back Story and Badass Abilities is up against the world/The Man. There’s a love triangle. And lots of danger. And she’s involved in a high-stakes competition. And she lives in a fantasy/magics-type world. So. It’s a YA fantasy novel. And I’m good with that because I love those. This one isn’t my favorite, though. I like the main character alright, but I don’t *love* her, and I didn’t really feel any chemistry between any of the triangle members. And the high stakes didn’t really feel all that…high? I dunno. I adored Maas’s Court of Thorns and Roses series, so it’s very likely I’ll keep going with this series, and I suspect it’ll get better as it goes along. ( )