Ughhhh, just thinking about this book is.....bleh. I totally got super excited for nothing! I'm sooooo disappointed. I was soooo prepared to love it. I can clearly understand why some people can't finish this book. Like me! I had a hard time just going through this book! Gosh! I actually thought I would love it as most people do, but....blehhhh. I couldn't stand Celaena, who was arrogant on her looks and was kind of a crappy assassin. No offence to those who actually think she is a professional assassin. You'll see why in my perspective. 
 Every time I think of this book or see it, all I think of is arrogant Celaena as the big picture while the story is a sideview. I wasn't able to feel her world (not literally). In my mind, it was a little stale. In the beginning, it was faint and it kind of stayed that way. It didn't stand out because Celaena blocked it most of the time and the story focused on the competition. 
 She was arrogant to the point where she made me think of her rather than the story and concept, which was horrible. She was just obsessed about dresses and her looks. Super judgemental on people like Dorian. Oh, she was swooning for him so easily. 
 So much for an assassin. Why? She slept through the night, not detecting that Chaol was moving around her chambers. She played the piano ignorantly not knowing that Dorian was watching her. She was also displaying her emotions which makes her vulnerable. Helloooooo? Any royal official or whatever can sneak in! Like I said, DORIAN! Moreover, I expected her to wear an assassin's clothing, not dresses! Look at the cover! She doesn't appear like that until the end of the book! (Sighs and shakes head)Assassins are ALWAYS alert, MASK their emotions, and SNEAKY. I'm sure there are more, but those are the pieces that Celaena clearly lacked! 
 This was the first book that didn't really make me swoon for the male characters! Yay! That was nice! Notice the sarcasm.... 
 So. Moving on. As I started reading, immediately after a few chapters, I was beginning to not like it and I wanted to just plain DNF it. I also had to take breaks. Yet, I really wanted to give this book a chance no matter what because books are not cheap and besides, I might like it. I just have to wait and so I did. If you asked me if the book was spell-binding, I would say, that some parts are, but not all, sadly. 
 Buuuuuuuuut, that never happened until the ending started. To sum it up, the ending was the only part of the story that I actually liked. Oh yes, there was some good things about it. As things start closing in, Celaena finally began to be the assassin I wanted to see from her. It wasn't really badass, but it was good enough. She also became focused on the matter at hand. I also thought the plot was a interesting, though the competition was....I didn't really care much for. I really wanted to know what would happen even though I had to plow through it. I didn't get to know the world, yet the subject of Fae was a fascinating thing for me. 
 I really hope Celaena's character improves because I can't stand her smug attitude with her looks. Furthermore, I really hoped to get a real solid feel of the Fae world or whatever. This was a dreadful story, but I heard it gets better so I'm giving this another shot. This was the first book in a long time and a hyped book that I didn't like. 
 I don't mean to offend any of you, but this was just my opinion of this book. I really wanted to love this book because the heroine was an assassin and the summary was something to anticipate for. 
 <-- 2.95 Stars -->