Seventeen-year-old Emma was the only one who
hadn’t given up on her boyfriend, Lucas. Everyone else—his family, his friends,
his doctors—was convinced that any moment could be his last. So when Lucas
miraculously returns from the brink of death, Emma thinks her prayers have been
answered.
As the surprised town rejoices, Emma begins to
question whether Lucas is the same boy she’s always known. When she finds an
unidentifiable object on his family’s farm—and government agents come to claim
it—she begins to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Emma’s
out-of-this-world discovery may be the key to setting things right, but only if
she and Lucas can evade the agents who are after what they have. With all her
hopes and dreams on the line, Emma sets out to save the boy she loves. And with
a little help from a distant star, she might just have a chance at making those
dreams come true.
I was given an ARC by
the author in exchange for an honest review.
My rating: One Worm!
I love
alien stories. Don’t ask me why, but I do. I was the only reason I gave
Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout a chance and my excitement behind Form A
Distant Star by Karen McQuestion. The premise sounded a lot like Invasion by
Robin Cook and that probably should have been a warning that I wasn’t going to
like this book.
Don’t get
me wrong, I liked that book but I found the idea that “love” could stop an
alien apocalypse was rather dumb, and although the same happens here, From A
Distant Star lacks interesting-or even likeable- characters, gripping
storytelling and a decent plot.
The main
character is Emma, who is struggling to find something to cure her terminally
ill boyfriend.
If well she was a nice turn from the usual “shy and useless”
main character. Emma was dumb, selfish, inconsiderate and a slut-shamer.
I
understand that when you’re young and in love you’re bound to make mistakes,
and especially when your boyfriend is ill and dying, but she was simply too
selfish for me to relate to her. She wants her boyfriend to live, no matter the
cost. It doesn’t matter to her that her boyfriend may not want to live as a
terminally ill patient, she just thinks of how much she loves him and how much she
needs him.
She never
leaves his side, even though it’s a great inconvenience to his parents. Imagine
this, they are trying to mourn for his dying son and she is always there,
always listening and not letting most people go near him, acting all enraged
because they want her to go back to her house. The kid is dying for Christ
sake! And they can’t even cry for him because she won’t leave his fucking side.
She keeps
talking about how she’s the only one who loves him, and how the cheerleaders
were just dumb whores who were preying on him because he was a great player but
that he “knew what was good” the second he saw her. Are you serious?
The
teachings and reasoning’s of the alien were kind of dumb and unoriginal, of the
kind “You say this but you actually mean something else? *shocked*”
The writing
is rather immature and cliché which didn’t help with the bland characters.
When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I’d pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring… until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something… unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon’s touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I’m getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don’t kill him first, that is
Oh how I wished you had killed him, Katy!
Alright, when I checked this out the first thing that came to my mind was Twilight, I mean, how couldn’t I? Girl moves to a small town with only one parent, hates it, has dodgy internet access and there is a family of hot, weird people that everybody stays away from.
However, it’s much more similar to The Vampire Diaries (Daemon, really?) and some say “I am number four” but I haven’t read it, so I can’t vouch for that. The writing was simple, but the dialogues were cringe worthy; it was stiff and awkward, people just don’t talk like cardboard.
My biggest problem (as you can guess) was the dickwad appointed as the “love interest”, who is, of course! An asshole to the MC because he wants to protect her; because it’s hard to find a book where the guy’s abusive behavior isn’t pinned down as the girl’s fault.
“Oh, I was just mocking you, insulting you, humiliating you and doing stuff that borderline sexual assault because I’m dangerous and you have to stay away!”
Well how about youstay away you little piece of shit?
Right from the start he is treating her like crap:
“Can I help you?” Full, kissable lips turneddown in annoyance.”
“You know, all I wanted was directions. This is obviously a bad time.” One side of his lips curled up. “Anytime is a bad time for you to come knocking on my door, kid.”
“You look like you’re twelve. No. Maybe thirteen, but my sister has this doll that kinda reminds me of you. All big-eyed and vacant.”
We are supposed to believe that Daemon is this way because they met another human before and things did not end well, so he’s not only trying to protect Katy, but him and his sister as well. The fault in that theory is that once our MC proves she’s loyal and won’t rat them out, and dear Daemon is no longer pushing her away, you would think he would start treating her with love and respect. HA HA HA, no he’s still the same condescending and abusive asshole he was before.
And the whole plot is so stupid I can’t even write properly.
Hot aliens are being chased so they need to hide, that’s why they go to a small town where being new and weird is the same as writing “I’M A FUCKING ALIEN” in big, green letters all over their body. But of course, to keep people away they just act like assholes, because if the bad guys ever find them, the citizens will, in no way whatsoever point them to their house and set it on fire. Brilliant!
Katy, I gotta be honest I liked her at first. How she dealt with moving to a new place after her father’s death, how she wanted to make friends but was a little nervous about meeting new people. I could identify with all of that, Katy even recognized that Daemon was an asshole when she met him. But it all means nothing when she keeps going after him and accepting his assholish behavior as something normal. He insults her and pushes her against a tree and all she can think is of how hot he is, and how much she wants him! Not that he’s a crazy dickwad that she should stay away from.
Book two of the dazzling Winner's Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.
The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement... if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.
As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.
I was kindly provided an ARC by the publisher in exchange of an honest review.
TheWinner’s Crime is the new novel by author Marie Rutkosky, and the sequel to the acclaimed book The Winner’s Curse. In this fairly interesting story of political games, war, love and betrayal the author uses rich vocabulary in beautiful prose. If well the writing style is lovely, the story is fairly simple and excessively long for its plot.
As I’ve said, this novel is part of a trilogy, and I recommend reading the first book if you want to see how the relationship between Kestrel and Arin developed. However, you can easily read The Winner’s Crime and understand it, even if you have not read the first book. Everything is well explained and there are constant references to the events occurred on The Winner’s Curse that are well explained, which I thought was nice and well done.
The story begins after Kestrel’s engagement to the emperor’s son, a decision she made to free the Herrani and her beloved, and former slave, Arin.
I will admit that, with the hype this series was getting I thought of two possibilities for this book:
1. That it would be a typical love story, boring and clichéd.
2. That it would be an interesting and captivating novel with well-formed characters, an intriguing plot and some fun political game.
In the end, it was both and neither. Don’t get me wrong, this was a decent book but it simply dragged on for too long.
One of the greatest problems with The Winner’s Crime is that nothing really happens up until 70% of the story. Before that we see Kestrel attending parties and being part of the gossips and funs of the high class society while she balances that with her desire to see Arin again and to save Herran from any more trouble. Arin is struggling with his new position as governor of Herran, especially now that after the liberation the Emperor has set high taxes they cannot afford and his reluctance to see Kestrel again at her engagement party, an honor that Arin as the new governor of Herran must fulfill.
I was excited with Kestrel for the first few pages. She seemed smart, resourceful and cunning. It appeared she could play the game and quite well in fact.
“No? You urged me to put an end to the Herrani rebellion by giving that territory self-governance under my law. You argued that this would free up troops and money to fuel my eastern war, and lo”- He flourished a hand- “It did. What clever advice from one so young.”
I liked her relationship with the Emperor, how he saw himself on her and wanted to teach her to be the ruler his son could never be. And how Kestrel was unsure if she wanted to be someone like him. Someone who ignored and belittled his son but who wasn’t sure whether it was inevitable. After all she already saw things in her that resembled him and she was unsure whether it was by choice or whether he was playing the strings.
“She could have asked why he had summoned her to dinner, and where the prince might be, but Kestrel had seen how the emperor loved to shape silence into a tool that pried open the anxiety of others.”
The Emperor is aware, of course, of the time she spent as Arin’s prisoner and of the, let’s say, “fondness” she had for him before the rebellion. It would be natural to assume that her stay there was not entirely against her will and he even admits that it doesn’t matter if she slept with him or developed a relationship with him. After all it was her who sent the army there and who solved the problem of the rebellion war. The Emperor then tells her that most people at court will assume the same and, if they think she shared his bed, they would believe it was “for the right reasons”. The legend of Jadis was one of my favorite parts of the book, so I won’t spoil it.
The first few pages, yes, Kestrel was all of this and more. I had my hopes high on her but when Arin comes again into her life it all goes to hell. Kestrel wants Arin but she believes that if she were to tell him of the deal she made with the emperor to free him and his people, Arin’s honor would get in the way and he would persuade her to run away with him. Or, at least he could do something really foolish to angry the Emperor, which he did the second he saw her. Sigh.
So she tries to act cold and uninterested but it really does not work when she changes her mind at every moment; Kestrel could be succeeding in pushing him away but then she would feel sorry and try and convince him that she still cared for her. Lady, it’s one or the other. I wished you would stick with a choice and go through with it.
Finally, he said, “I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“I know,” He muttered.
At first it was understandable, this reluctance to speak to him because it could put him in danger but at the same time wanting him near. Eventually however, it became annoying and down-right dumb. If they had just sat down and talked (which they actually did but it was more of the same) none of this would have happened and the book would have ended at thirty pages. But nooo, we needed the unnecessary angst, apparently.
“Arin, it wasn’t me.”
Literally seconds later:
“I could have arranged for it. That’s my dagger. That’s my seal. Why do you believe what I say? Why do you believe me at all?” “Don’t joke. You should blame. You must.”
“Kestrel, why are you trying to convince me of your guilt? … A moment ago, you insisted you had nothing to do with this,”
Arin, it was difficult at first, because he had been a slave, invisible and feeling worthless during most of his life. It was understandable that he did not want to give up on the first person that had shown him kindness and love. This soon became a problem, especially because he was risking not only his life but Herrani’s and Kestrel’s life as well just to see Kestrel again and convince himself that there was something going on, that he had not imagined everything between them. But he never stopped to think, “Hey, maybe there is a reason why she is acting this way and maybe it has something to do with the freaking Emperor who hates Herrani people.” But he never did, only moped because she had changed/he had never really known her.
It was this back and forth, back and forth between she cares for me and she hates me.
I was not fond of how this things usually resolved themselves, how the characters could discover the entire story by simply assuming things about one another just to make the plot move forward because they didn’t realize it forty pages before. At first I could let it slip but doing that more than three times was an abuse, it was impossible either of them could discover such intricate plans randomly. It became funny after a while, “Of course you could unravel a secret plan of such magnitude when you crave for her lips!”
To me surprise I ended up liking Verren, Kestrel’s fiancé and the Emperor’s son. At first he seemed like the typical hot-headed spoiled brat but once we get to know him we can appreciate him better and discover that he, in fact has the mind his father thought Kestrel had.
In the end Kestrel was rather dumb, doing foolish things that would anger the Emperor because “She does not fear him” yet when he confronts her she is terrified and tries to lie to him, lie when she knew there had been witnesses.
The plot was the mystery of what was the emperor really planning and for which Kestrel became a spy to Tensen, Herran’s Minister of Agriculture, passing off as a maid to gather information without being discovered. This was mostly what kept me going, I wanted to know what the heck was going on and who was behind what but, unfortunately, the end wasn’t all that shocking and definitely not worth all that waiting. It was rather simple and, once finished, I wondered why didn’t Kestrel/Arin/Tensen thought about it before.
The Winner’s Crime wasn’t a terrible book, there was no Insta-love, love triangles or girl/girl hate. It did suffer from the “Second book Syndrome” since it was clearly setting up things for the third book. Overall a regular book in which could have been avoided if people talked instead of doing dumb things. Do I want to know what happens next? Yes but if it’s more of the same I rather read a spoiled review and don’t waste my time.
It’s 1814.
Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four
fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of
Regency England’s dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who
don't fit high society’s constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be
reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth,
Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young
ladies—plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies,
diplomacy, and war.
After
accidentally setting her father’s stables on fire while performing a scientific
experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie
has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable
miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible—until she meets Lord Sebastian
Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for
the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together
without losing their heads—or their hearts...
My rating:
Two worms!
I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review through Netgalley.
The story starts
with Georgiana being sent to a especial school that will turn her into a “proper
lady” after an experiment gone wrong was the last drop that finished her parent’s
patience. But the place that is rumored to be run by a cruel headmaster is not
what Georgiana thought, and as she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt adventures ensues.
The premise
sounded fun, if it weren’t for the unoriginal character and heavy emphasis on
romance. Georgiana spends her entire time complaining about being “too
exceptional” for this world, while at the same time thinking too little of
herself.
“Being
exceptional is a curse. A curse I bear.”
She was the
typical YA heroine, skinny and with red unruly hair that instantly made her
hideous, for some reason.
“Has she
not looked at me? My figure is flat and straight. I doubt I shall ever acquire
much of a bossom. I have stubborn freckles that will not bleach out no matter
how many milk baths or cucumber plasters Mother applies. She detests my ginger
hair. Red is definitely not in Vogue.”
She suffers from a severe “not like other
girls” syndrome, in which she thinks she’s better because she doesn’t like
dances, dresses and doesn’t want to marry because no man would ever want her.
“I haven’t
the slightest desire to attend their boring balls, nor do I want to stand
around at a rout, or squeeze into an overcrowded sweltering soiree. More to the
point, I have no intention of marrying anyone. Ever.”
But of
course once she meets the handsome Lord Georgiana will fall into insta-love in
less than two days! Yeapy! *sarcasm*
Georgiana
is supposed to be extremely smart, yet she spends most of the book being
absolutely clueless. She never grows out of her insecurities and prejudices and
passes on a rather dangerous message.
Georgiana
thinks she’s worth less because she’s plain, with red hair, freckles and
because she dislikes parties and being “lady like” so, instead of learning to appreciate
herself and accepting her body and personality the way it is, she relies on a
man that tells her he likes her like that, and so her value is ultimately
defined by that guy rather than by herself.
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love
My rating: Two worms!
So, I finally got down to read the critically acclaimed (And with a totally spoiled ending by people on Goodreads) book about two cancer patients who find love. Unfortunately it was not as good to me as it seems to be for the rest of the world.
I got to say, I really liked the first few pages. I enjoyed how with a few words John Green managed to create the life of a teenager, I felt as if this girl was real instead of a work of fiction. I really liked Hazel and her thoughts on the beginning about the cancer group, her parents and life in general. Sometimes she would have these sarcastic comments that I could see myself thinking and that made me laugh. However, I had a problem with this:
“A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy … well.”
But, well no character is ever going to be perfect, right? So I kept on reading. Then Augustus showed up, and I think that was when things started to go downhill for me.
If I have to be honest, I found Augustus to be a rather bland, and kind of a snob character. He seemed to be nice, sociable and all but he just had this air of condescendence that truly annoyed me. It got worse as the plot moved along and Hazel got to know him better.
It was so weird, because I never felt that chemistry between them, their relationship seemed forced and it was as if I was being told what I should feel instead of figuring that out by myself. This is a feeling that accompanied me throughout the rest of the book, that I was being told how I should feel and think about everything. The dialogues were awkward, why did they talked like a textbook, who does that?
But maybe it was just me? I don’t know, everybody loves this book.
Nevertheless, my annoyance grew and it came to a point when I just didn’t care about anything (except maybe her parents and Isaac). It became all too boring and I just wished it ended already so I could read something else.
Another thing I found strange was that, for a book about cancer and the struggles and beauties of life I was hardly moved. Sure, there were emotional moments I could connect with but that was just because I imagined that situation in real life, because the book hardly put any thought to it, it was as if those moments meant nothing here. There was a time when Isaac talked about how his girlfriend, the one who had promised to be there with him forever, had broken up with him because he was about to have a surgery that would leave him blind and it was easier to dump him then than after. This was horrible and real, and Isaac started having an emotional breakdown screaming and kicking, and Hazel and Gus don’t give a fuck! Seriously, as Isaac starts breaking Gus’ trophies Hazel and Gus just talk as if nothing is even happening. I just sat there thinking “Do something! Your friend is suffering, for the love of God CARE ABOUT HIM!” but no.
A rather boring book, maybe it was because I knew the ending? Who knows, next time I’ll try Paper Towns a few people have told me it’s good.
Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.
Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?
My rating: One and a half worms!
Man, this was a major disappointment.
If you have been in Tumblr and stalk follow book-related blogs, it’s virtually impossible you haven’t heard about the“Throne of Glass” series featuring the deadliest assassin, Celaena Sardotien in her multiple adventures in the kingdom of Erilea.
So I read it. At first it was good, Celaena is confident (why wouldn’t she, she’s thegreatest assassin!) and then this happens:
“She loved clothes—loved the feeling of silk, of velvet, of satin, of suede and chiffon—and was fascinated by the grace of seams, the intricate perfection of an embossed surface. And when she won this ridiculous competition, when she was free …she could buy all the clothes she wanted.”
This was the moment I said YES YES YES, I’M GOING TO LOVE THIS MOTHERFUCKING BOOK. THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!
You may wonder, “Good heavens Cami! Why did this simple passage managed to get you in such a state of mind?” And I will answer dear reader, that it doesn’t take much for my state of mind to be altered, HOWEVER and most importantly because I’m sick and tired of “badass” female characters to be portrayed as “typically masculine” and by that I mean that a woman tends to be cool if she acts like boys do. Usually this implies hating everything “girly” or feminine, and mocking girls who do. It’s the common “Not like other girls crap” complex, when a character thinks she’s better because she doesn’t like dresses and stuff.
And that is why when I knew that Celaena liked “girly” things I thought I was going to love this book. However that did not happen, for several reasons.
Here is the overall plot:
The King of Erilea decided to vanish magic (for some unexplained reason) and so he started campaigns that began to destroy any magical knowledge as well as magical creatures. The people who held and practiced said magic, instead of fighting for survival, they simply died, vanished or gave up (for some unexplained reason).
Years later the King decides he wants a champion, somebody to do all of his dirty work for him and be loyal to death, following his every command blindly. So he organizes a contest to find the greatest champion and (for some unexplained reason) every nobleman chooses a petty criminal to become that loyal champion. Dorian, the crown prince with daddy issues, chooses Celaena Sardotien, who is (for some unexplained reason) the best assassin in the entire kingdom at the tender age of 16 (that’s when she was captured, now she’s 18). However, when the competition begins the trails are (for some unexplained reason) really simple and easy, and would in no way help to determine who would be the most loyal thug.
But wait! Suddenly the champions are starting to get killed, and it’s up to Celaenanot to give a single fuck because she’s too busy sleeping, reading, complaining because the prince won’t talk to her, whining because she-the deadliest assassin- is somehow denied attendance to georgeous parties she is too good for anyway, and labeling any female that is near Dorian as a dumb cunt.
Now that the plot is settled, I’ll get on with the characters:
First, Celaena Sardotien who is a major Mary Sue:
Warrior!Sues: The Warrior!Sue is usually loud, obnoxious and (of course) an amazing warrior. She’ll usually have some tragic past that led her to become a warrior, and she’ll upstage all of the Canonical characters with her mad Sueish powerz.
Remember that confidence I loved so much? Turns out it wasn’t confidence but rather delusional thinking, for there is no logical way that Celaena is the best assassin in the kingdom.
She’s completely undisciplined, so much so that despite the fact that she spent the last year in a salt mine, where she was regularly beaten, starved (her period stopped coming, that doesn’t happen when you skip a few meals!) and worked to death, Celaena doesn’t want to train because- And get ready for this since you’ll hear it repeated over and over again.- She is the best assassin in Erilea! Even though she could barely stand when they left the mines.
It had been three days since the first Test, ten since her arrival in Rifthold, and she was still horribly out of shape.
And yet, whenever Chaol, the guard set to keep her from escaping and killing people, wanted her to train she would cry out and complain because he was annoying her.
She groaned and slumped back onto her bed. “Don’t you ever sleep?” she grumbled, pulling the covers over herself.
“ ’Wake up.’ Not surprisingly, it was Chaol.-“It’s cold,” she moaned, holding her knees to her body.”
Everytime Chaol wants her to train, she’ll complain. How can she have become the greatest assassin if she didn’t have the discipline to train her way into it? If she had some kind of magical power I’d believe it, but Celaena started training when she was eight years old and by the age of sixteen she was already “The greatest assassin!”, how could this undisciplined child be better than people who have trained for decades?
But no, Celaena is the best assassin even though we don’t know why and she never kills. It’s kind of like a title that she walks around with “I’m the greatest assassin! The greatest!” but we never see her thoughts about it; does she like it? Hate it? We don’t know, it’s the same as saying she’s blonde, it does nothing for her.
Another thing, Celaena is unintelligent.
She would help her competitors improve their techniques, even though they were fighting against her. She even goes as far as to save another competitor’s life, risking her own (How the hell did she not die BTW?).
She has several escape options and takes neither. This one time she found a small boat in the sewage, but she chooses against using it because she wants to gain her freedom “The honorable way”, how the hell is being the King’s thug and lap dog “The honorable way”? And then she says that if she gets tired she could always get the boat and leave, but it doesn’t occur to her that the King would be more hell bent in finding her and kill her after she became his champion and knew all of his secrets, rather than when she was just a thin little girl.
It never occurs to her that people may want to use her or manipulate her and she trust every one with a pretty face (unless they danced with the Prince, that is, then they are evil cunts.) In fact, we learn about Sam, her boyfriend that was killed when she was captured, and even though she misses him so much it hurts, she tells about him to Dorian, despite the fact that she talked to him three fucking times before. That’s all it takes for Celaena to expose her greatest weaknesses, three talks. Their previous talk had been her complaining how the Prince only talked to her once, and that he did not cared about whether she liked books.
The greatest proof of stupidity I have read in a while was when Celaena was in the middle of the competition and people were dropping dead like flies. She goes into her room, finds a candy on her pillow, takes it to her mouth AND FUCKING EATS IT.
At some point I was afraid Celaena was some sort of lost fairy princess, I mean silver-like blonde hair? Strange eye color? Dead family? Looking for revenge? Destined for greatness? Magic burried deep in her blood?
Thankfully I underestimated the author.
I severely disliked Dorian, the crown prince. He confuses lust with love, believing to have an instant connection with Celaena even though he has talked to her three/four times. He also mocks her and completely underestimate her because she was a woman.
Granted, in this world Celaena would have died a long time ago, but in this book she is the greatest assassin in the kingdom. She is feared and her rap sheet is long with hideous crimes, however, because she’s a tiny girl with “enticing curves” he sees her as harmless, and even “cute” when she gets mad. If there is something I hate is when people think being mad is cute, especially if it’s a guy mocking a girl. It’s used as a way to minimize our anger, as if we have no real reason to be mad and it’s less.
I would like for Dorian to go to Cain, watch him loose his shit, and laugh and think Cain is cute.
He is nothing but a pompous idiot who uses women and then ignores them, fuck you Dorian.
Chaol was one of my favorites, the only one who had common sense for a while. It’s a shame his only duties were to babysit Celaena and Dorian. Although he too, for whatever reason, forms part of this love triangle.
Nehemia was Celaena’s only female friend and the worst diplomate ever. She is the princess of another Kingdom that is resisting the attacks of Erilea, unwilling to become subjects. Nehemia is supposed to be there to find a peaceful agreement between both parties while at the same time it is rumored that she helps rebels escape the grasps of the evil kingdom.
The only problem is that Nehemia does nothing to start negotiations, she complains and mocks the Queen, King and Prince, their kingdom and costumes, and rather spend her time with a low-rank lady (Celaena) rather disliked in court than actually being an embassador for her kingdom.
Still, with all the clichés and problems this book had I was truly afraid she would be killed off; she’s the only character of color in the book you see, and with her being Celaena’s friend I thought she would become her “woman in refrigerator”, which is when the death of a female character is used to cause development in a male character. In this case, and with Celaena’s immaturity, I thought they would kill Nehemia off to make Celaena grow and develop. That didn’t happen either, so cheers for that!
Overall a disappointing read, the characters hardly ever seemed to look past their childish behavior and grow up. Celaena was simply, the worst of all.
