Now that we are at several books into the series, I realise now it's going to get harder and harder from this point on to leave out spoilers for the previous books and still be able to give a good review. I will still do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum but from now on be warned. There may be facts in these reviews that will contain spoilers for the previous books.

Summary:

Celaena has lost her best friend due to her lover not trusting her with information. She has killed those responsible but is finding that revenge is an empty dish. Her now ex-lover having found out about her heritage (and that she is not all human) has organised to send her to another continent, Wendlyn. The King of Adarlan believes he has sent her there to kill their royalty to cause civil unrest, not knowing that Celaena is actually cousins with the present crown Prince of Wendlyn.

However with all of the above and no one to turn to, Celaena is neck deep in depression and has zero f**ks to give. She even considered following through with the kings order till she saw how beloved by the public the royalty were. So now she spends her days getting drunk in the sun, wallowing in self pity whilst stealing sun-baked flat bread called 'teggya' in order to get by, with the same sense of self-preservation as an emo left alone in a room with nothing but razors, nooses and a copy of twilight.

That is until she is fetched by an elf named Rowan to see her great Aunt Maeve. Immortal sister to Celaenas ancestor Mab who gave up her mortality to love and procreate with a human. Maeve gives Celaena an ultimatum. Stay at Mistward (a sort of fortress/convent for demi-fae to live and be themselves), train with Rowan to learn how to use the power that has been locked away inside her for the past 10 years and she will let Celaena enter Doranelle (City where only pure fae or the stongest of the demi-fae are allowed to enter) and get answers to her question about the Wyrdkeys and the strength behind the King Adarlan.

This is a story of Celaena fighting herself in order to come to grips with every aspect of her being and accepting the role her bloodline entails. It may be a training montage book, but it's a bloody good one.

Thoughts on the Storyline:

This book is technically Three story lines and strangely my favourite story line was not Celaenas.
The other two storyline, one was an intermixed story of Chaol and Dorian told by ones perspective or the other of life at the Castle without Celaena, the rift that developed in their friendship and both of them discovering that they're loyalties are shifting away from the King as they both come to terms with just how despicable he is and what exactly he did to wipe magic from Erilea.

The last storyline is my favourite and is actually told from the point of one of the villains (though I'm seriously hoping they switch sides). All irontooth witches lost the capability of flying on an enchanted broom when magic was wiped. Now the King of Adarlan has offered them a compromise.
He has been secretly breeding Wyverns in the Ferion Gap (A notoriously dangerous region dividing the White Fang mountains to the south and the Ruhnn Mountains to the north). The King needs ruthless killers who are used to flying to be riders on his Wyverns so he can begin mounting air attacks. If the witches fight for him in the coming battles using the Wyverns, then they can keep the Wyverns for the rest of their lives.
This third storyline follows Manon, direct heir to the Matron of the Blackbeak Clan. Her claiming of a Wyvern, the bond that grows between them and her realising that she may not be as cold hearted as she was trained and raised to be.

The Characters:

In this three segemented story line you meet a whole cast and crew with the Ironteeth witches. You get to learn of the dynamics between the clans and covens and just wishing that the Yellowleg Clan would just go and feed themselves to their mounts. You also learn to love the frustration of a witch being confused that her murderous flying mount with fangs as long as her hand, loves rolling in fields of flowers.

With Chaol and Dorian you meet four new characters.

• Two are Ren and Murtaugh. Displaced Lords of Terrasen that fell to the Adarlan army.

• Sorscha who technically we've met but never introduced to before. A pretty little healer that helped patch up Dorian and Celaena and Chaol and Fleetfoot and kept their secrets without them even knowing her name. She has loved Dorian in secret for years and now Dorian is only just noticing how very wonderful and precious she is.

• Lastly Aedion, cousin to Celaena, bound by blood to forever serve her. Thought to have become psychic flunky to the King but having not quite human blood allowed him to detect that the ring the King 'gifted' him had bad juju, he had a fake one made up and threw the cursed one into the ocean. So he had become a pretend puppet to the king and leader of the rebellions of Terrasen.

In Celaenas story we only really meet Rowan. Who Sarah J. Maas has written beautifuly in such a way that you despise him for a good chunk of the book. By the end of the book you can't believe that you used to hate him.

Thoughts on the world of Erilea:

Well we get to see a bit of Wendlynn described in the pages of this book, but there is no Map provided of the layout of Wendlyn for the reader which frustrates me to no end. There is also mention of vast countries to the east where Rowan once went to war. And also about a sentence giving away that there is another continent to the south where Celaenas mother once promised to take her to a place called Torre Cesme which though never described was likely to be a City, a hospital or a University to learn the art of being a healer.

Writing Style:

I normally don't like books that split the book like this but discovering that my favorite story had nothing to do with main characters was interesting and makes me curious for the next book. However I am glad that Maas didn't do any more than she did. It helped simplify it that two of them were basically training montages. One for Celaena and one for Manon and seeing the comparison of their actions converging to a similar story has me begging for them to meet.
Outside of this, Sarah J Maas once again pulled on the heart strings. She had me crying several times (though to be fair that's not hard because I am a sap). The depression that Celaena goes through is written in such a relatable manner that you almost can't help but feel it with her.

Final:

I give this a 7/10. This happens in book series a lot where you get a book that is nothing but transition book so that you can warrant the main character having the knowledge/power/training/courage/whatever to get to the next part in their journey. I understand the necessity of it. I like a good montage as much as the next person, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating that by the end of the book, though there's been same major upheavals in the power dynamics between characters, not much actually happened. The only Storyline where anything really happened at all was Chaol and Dorians, and even then, most of it is evident setup for the coming books.
I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series, but glad to have finished this book quickly.