After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
*****
This book was about an assassin named Celaena Sardothien who was caught and had to serve hard labour in the salt mines for her crime, entered into a competition to become the King's Champion. She entered into a contract with the crown prince, Prince Dorian that if she wins the competition, she will have to serve the King for four years before she be granted her freedom. During the competition, one by one contestants were killed by mysterious creature and she has to figure out the killer before she becomes the next victim. She was also involved in a brief romance with Prince Dorian.
I was attracted by the book cover and the synopsis sounds very interesting. I end up buying this book from a local bookstore and I am glad that I only bought the first book instead of the whole series. To be frank, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. This book received quiet a high rating in Goodreads and I think some readers found this book very enjoyable. The cover was very pretty and alluring but I don't think I like this book that much.
I didn't like Celaena at all. She was a bitchy and arrogant character and for an assassin, she wasn't that scary or dark or enigmatic at all. I didn't mind her being arrogant but I think an assassin should possess dark, cold or twisted character but I just think Celaena was being plain boring. Her skills were mentioned in the book and the author kept bragging and repeating of how great and awesome she was, but all I can read was only her whining and thoughts that she was superior and far greater than others, it makes her so so so annoying. She complained a lot about her dress, her appearance and how bored and lonely she was and she was no different than some mean cheerleaders in contemporary books.
The book did not elaborate much on the characters' descriptions and side stories. There weren't any major character development throughout the book. I think the writer focused solely on the events that happened on Celaena. I have no problem with the plot or the story but if it wasn't because of Celaena, I might find this book quite likable. The language was okay and easily understood. The book was not very lengthy 400++ pages, I finished this book in two days despite of how much I dislike Celaena. The only thing I did like in this book was a character named Chaol Westfall. He was very calm and I can picture him in many anime/manga characters.
I give this book 3 stars.
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