I officially do not get the Sarah J. Maas hype. Don't get me wrong, her world-building is brilliant, but there's things her books severely lack, and I have no idea what it is. Maybe it's just the genre that I don't like but I don't know.
I really wanted to like this book after hearing so many good things about it, but I really didn't. I feel like I'm in the minority for not liking it. It's the second book by this author that I haven't enjoyed, but I actually managed to finish this one.
First of all, it could be half the length. I expected the competition to have a huge part in the book but not much time is given to it. The tests themselves were short and rushed. I only thought that the duel at the end was particularly interesting.
I didn't like Calaena that much as the main character. She was described as being the most feared assassin in the world, but this is not shown at all. This could have been explored a bit more in the tests and maybe I would have believed it a bit more, as like I said, they were rushed. You'd think that after being held prisoner for over a year that she would be keen to practice her skills again, but she spends most of the book doing nothing but wandering around the hallways of the castle and playing piano. The other criminals in the competition were not believable either - half of them didn't even get a name.
I don't even have to mention how annoying and bad the love triangle was. How often does this happen in novels when it is not needed?
Having said all of that I did like the world Sarah J. Maas built and I would be interested to find out more about it. I'd also like to see what happens in the rest of the books, I just don't think I can be bothered to read through five more to find out.
Oh and by the way, the US cover is stunning. I do like the UK one but it's nowhere near as nice.
Date read: December 2016
Rating: 3/10.
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