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3.5/5
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Reread for maybe the fourth time.
Rating: 4.5/5
Pages:
Started: 18 August 2022
Finished: 19 August 2022
Summary:
Celaena Sardothien may have been sent by the King of Adarlan to Wendlyn to assassinate the royalty there, but her real goal is to seek out the immortal queen Maeve to get answers about the King's power: the Wyrdkeys. But Maeve refuses to tell her anything until she has mastered her power. And so she is forced to remain at a small fortress, training with the cold and powerful fae prince Rowan. With the combined weight of the losses from her past and the looming need for her to accept the birthright of her crown, Celaena struggles to even care enough to try.
Manon has her orders: To mount a Wyvern, bred by the King of Adarlan as trade for the witches' service in battle, and to win the War Games and become wing leader of all three Ironteeth Witch clans. And despite her lack of trust in the King, Manon, with her infamous coven, the Thirteen, at her back, Manon is determined to follow them.
In Rifthold, even as Dorian struggles to control his growing magic, Chaol can barely speak to him, the rift Celaena left between too great to cross. But as Chaol learns more about the king's cruelty, and about the bravery of the Rebel movement, he begins to question the unfailing loyalty to Adarlan that's been ingrained in him since childhood.
Thoughts:
This is one of my favorite books in the series, mostly because it is the turning point from Fantasy to High Fantasy, from novel to epic. The scope of the story broadens, as does the magic and world-building present. The clues begin to unravel here more as well, and having read the series multiple times before, I love being able to understand all the subtle hints that will come together later.
Celaena and Rowan are heaven in this book. I adore their antagonism, and then their change from enemies to friends. Their relationship is not gentle but it is strong and truthful, which is much better. This book is also where I start to hate Chaol: as Rowan sees Celaena for all she is, as he tells her "good" for murdering those who hurt someone she lived, it becomes obvious that Chaol was picking and choosing the more palatable pieces of Celaena and refusing to see the whole scope of her.
This book is exciting because more of Celaena's backstory comes to light, but also because Manon is introduced. She is so cruel and powerful and strong. Of course in real life the harshness and pain of the Ironteeth clans would be horrible, but I adore the control and precision of it, the beautiful brutality. Also, Manon and Abraxos are absolutely adorable. It doesn't hurt that I can't help but picture Abraxos like Toothless from the animated Dreamworks movie How to Train Your Dragon.
Also: the last line of the book? Absolutely freaking everything. I adore Aelin so much.
I am very excited to continue this series. I'm a little worried about finishing it before school, since the last book hurts so much to read that trying to finish it during the first week of school might be rough, but we'll see how it goes.