I was really excited to read this as I'd hear so many raving reviews. Unfortunately it didn't really live up to my expectations.

The overall narrative was interesting. I enjoyed the concept of an assassin who has to compete in various trials to become the King's Champion. However, there was very little detail about the different tasks involved, in fact many of them were just mentioned in passing. I feel like I'd have enjoyed it more if the competition had been the main focus, yet it kept diverting to a large plot that still didn't really grab my interest.

The romance elements were also a bit disappointing, I know that there are many more books in the series so the relationships need time to grow, but the snippets that were included seemed disjointed and sometimes felt as though they were there for the sake of it.

I also couldn't find an emotional attachment to any of the Characters. Celaena isn't particularly a loveable protagonist. Perhaps she'd grow on me more if I read Assassin's Blade, but I'm not sure I'll be doing that any time soon. Both love interests and the other supporting characters also lacked any real appeal for me.

That being said, the action scenes were fun and the last 100 or so pages did seem to give a sneak peak into possibly more exciting adventures to follow. There were also some funny moments, which I always appreciate.

Overall, I don't think it lived up to they hype and I was bored throughout most of it. I am glad I finished though and maybe when I've gotten through some of my huge 'to read' list, I'll try out the second book to see if any of the characters grown on me more.