*UPDATED* MY PROBLEMS WITH THE BOOK SANK IN. 
 Celaena is an imprisoned assassin who strikes a bargain with a handsome prince for her freedom; to win the Hunger Games and serve as the king's lackey for four years, all the while being pretty and smart and good at everything ever and everyone falls in love with her/wants to kill her. That's basically the book, with some occult sacrifice thrown in and a sprinkling of friendship. 
 The magic was a major part of the resolution of the book, though several chapters would span with no mention of magic or any other fantasy elements. Even the main character is said to have this amazing power, but she only fights with herself. all the magic happens around her from other people. I'll admit, I kind of like that she's the non-magical entity, like Bitterblue. It makes her seem tougher to be on the level of the sorcerers. BUT, at the very end it's implied she was magic the whole time, and it just flies out the window. I like that she had her own non-magic set of skills; she KICKED ASS. And her dialogue with all the boys, mmm. Dialogue-porn. Maddie loves good dialogue. 
 I liked it because it was such a character piece, with two of the most fun archetypal romances; playboy learns to love and straight-laced Captain of the Guard gets his groove on. SO MUCH FUN. These boys are SO. MUCH. FUN. Dibs on Chaol. 
 The 5 Star rating is for the boys, let's be honest. Not the writing. We'll get to that shortly. 
 As expected from magical messiah, Celaena doesn't go through much growth, other than, "I have power, apparently. Awesome." But she's a blast to spend a book with, smart and sassy and strong and stylish and skilled...basically she has every positive character trait crammed into her, so she feels a little overstuffed at times, but it works well enough. She wears pretty dresses and kicks ass, which I can appreciate. I'm sick of the tough tomboy who hates all thing female. Celaena is a good balance. Her back story was tough, and she definitely had her moments of weakness and some very true emotion. AND SHE DON'T NEED NO MAN. The ending left me conflicted but...feminism. Yes, this is what feminism wants. Okay. I'll take it. Poor Dorian...but she's gonna choose Chaol. You just know. 
 The Villains, which are all but about four people in this book, basically have "I am a bad guy" stapled on their foreheads from the minute they step on the page. This was first published on fictionpress, right? It read like fictionpress. The beginning started weak and the story grew as it progressed. 
 The writing is not the best. Good concept, bad execution. It's third person omniscient but with lines like "oh! How she adored candy!" it got a little frustrating. And the author is trying SO HARD to make us love Celaena, perfect, perfect, perfect Celaena with her no flaws and tragic backstory and her endless amount of skills and virtues... you could tell the author is kind of in love with Celaena. Which was frustrating. She was an empty vessel of wish-fulfillment. no real character. I connect with flaws, and not the unintentional ones that were left up to bad writing in this book. honestly, she's selfish and kind of full of herself. But they author is trying to make her a selfless beacon of hope and a lot of other BS. 
 I feel like in a year I'm gonna look back at this book with less than lukewarm feelings, but I love it now. It doesn't linger, but it's a fun world and takes on a thrillride of sexy boys and fighting and more dialogue porn. So I will follow this series. I'm excited to see where it progresses. 
 p.s. This has been driving me crazy, isn't the author like, the most beautiful author you've ever seen? Holy shit, she's a babe. Sorry. That was weird.