This book has definitely soured on me since I finished it in May, which is a shame since I am quite literally about to start the third book tonight. This series for me has turned out so far to be a shoddily written, cliché-packed, predictable behemoth with an uninteresting not-as-smart-or-talented-as-she-or-the-author-thinks-she-is protagonist.
It’s very much a yo-yo book for me. One minute I’ll be rolling my eyes so hard I’m about to sprain my optical nerve, the next Maas writes something genuinely interesting. Also, both books of hers I’ve read now fall into the same traps. They start out pretty dull, lull you into thinking one thing, and then turn on you at the very last minute forcing you to pay attention again. I was seriously about to write this series off completely, but then the ending happened, and Celaena finally FINALLY fulfilled her promise of being a badass assassin. (Although, she is still written as very dumb because Maas needs her predictable plot twists to be a “surprise.”)
I’m also not a fan of the characters? There isn’t really anyone in this series that I like, except for maybe Chaol, but he started to annoy me a little this book, though it’s been a couple of months, and I can’t remember exactly why.
And I just have to talk about that “reveal.”
Be serious with me now for a minute, please. Is there anyone ANYONE who didn’t see that coming? If you’re out there and you’re not under the age of fifteen, please message or email me because I want to know where you have been living and why you haven’t read any books or seen any movies ever before in your life. If you’re going to do a reveal, DO A REVEAL. There was no reason this needed to be concealed from the reader for two (really, three) books. As soon as we hear that character’s name in book one, we know what’s going on, so why not acknowledge that your reader is not incompetent? It actually hurts the tension of the story not to acknowledge that you reader already knows this big twist you’re gearing up for that you think is going to knock everyone’s socks off. Only, you’ve provided them with old socks that have lost their stretchiness and they’re sagging around your ankles and you should be embarrassed.
Whatever, starting book three tonight. I’m gonna be on an airplane, anyway.