This book was an improvement on the first 3. Celaena finally leaves the kings court and just that helped tremendously. The author also started adding new characters and switching POVs more often and that helped keep me entertained even though objectively the story is still moving fairly slowly throughout this book. Like the last one, the action only really starts about 2/3 of the way through the book, but Manon especially helped keep my interest when I was getting frustrated. Rowan is one character I could see where it was going from the beginning, but I still enjoyed the journey and I’m glad Celaena finally has someone in her corner that knows and understands her on a deeper level. I’m no longer upset with Chaol, but despite him having a whole plot line of his own, I found myself completely uninterested in him. I also noticed a couple of references to her friend from Assasssins Blade, the one who betrayed the desert assassins. Enemies now, yes, but I’m wondering if it’s foreshadowing for a potential ally….

Also, we aren’t talking about what happened with Dorian at the end. He’s living happily with Sorcha and that’s what I’m sticking with until something nicer happens in the books.