Ravenclaw Tower

Not what I expected after hearing raving reviews from friends and seeing a line up of the series in the recommendation aisle at bookstores. Perhaps that's my fault for setting my expectations too high based on other people's opinions, but the quote advertised on the front cover of the book ("Fans of Game of Thrones and the Hunger Games will love it!" -Colleen Houck) is very misleading. Considering the impressive quote they decided to go with on their cover and the heroine's reputation known as the BEST assassin there ever lived, what I got was chapters trying to convince me that deep down she's a girl and not some killing machine.

This whole book seemed to want to humanize her after years of her being this emotionless, cold-blooded murderer by putting her in beautiful gowns and grand balls and hot situations with two different men. A lot of her actions didn't seem to resemble an assassin, like what assassin eats a mysterious bag of candy brought to her bed when there are murders happening every week? Also, with her experience in Endovier, I assumed she wouldn't be all "oh hey there" when she wakes up to a person by her bed. Wouldn't it take months, if not years, to shake off the need to protect herself by staying alert and slashing whoever dared to be near her during her vulnerable state? She's constantly reminding the reader that she's holding back a lot of herself to prove she can do this without unleashing her psycho past. And, yes, I appreciate Maas for showing us that there's more to Celeana than an assassin, but I had hoped for more blood and gore. I had hoped for the small details that showed how much abuse and slavery had taken a toll on her. I had hoped to see what Celeana was made of since I went through 55 chapters of her telling me she's all that. I want to read it to believe it.

What I expected...

What I got...

The fantasy setting was refreshing and the whole concept of Wyrdmarks and the Fae race intrigued me to read more. I enjoyed the girl-power vibe to the whole story. It was smart of Maas to mention Celeana's menstrual cycles during her training for it made the character all the more real. Princess Nehemia is one of my personal favorites and I'm glad all ties of romantic relationships in the story were brought to an end because that was getting pretty annoying. (But oh...wait...I wonder what the second book will be about now that Celeana's officially single) Anyways, I'll continue the series with hopes of Celeana actually proving her worth as an assassin and hopes of reading more on Wyrdmarks and the other side.

But really... Take that misleading quote off the cover. It's not like Game of Thrones.