Dorien had a sad in the last book but he has moved on in this one. Good for him.
Celaena’s – sorry Aelin’s – new environment is very different from her old one. She a nobody there, for a starter. With no connections she seems to be at a loss. It’s also interesting to me that seeing the public’s reaction to the King – Galan Ashryver – is what really knocks her for a loop. That’s the point where she gives up and just decides to spend the rest of her life getting drunk on the roof.
Her relationship with Maeve was also not what I expected. You would think Maeve would see a relative in need as a potential ally, but nope, Maeve don’t need no stinkin’ allies.
Aedion Ashryver, “The Northern Wolf” arrives just after she leaves, and I wonder if he would have recognized her. Given how she feels about her real identity at the start of this book, it’s probably just as well he doesn’t get the chance. I suspect he would not have gone well.
The fact that the King’s Champion and his greatest General – and eventually his Captain of the Guard – all end up working against him makes me think that the king is too arrogant. He thinks nothing can touch him so he’s not as careful as he should be. Mind you, he’s not entirely wrong.
By the end of this book it looks entirely obvious to me that Aelin is going to end up in a relationship with Rowan. They start off hating each other, but by the end they not only have earned each other’s respect, he is the only person she truly divulges all her feelings about all the horrible things that have happened to her and all the people she has lost. It occurred to me that this might be a regular Maas thing, she also pulls that flip in her ACOTAR series.
I do wonder if that stand-off with Maeve is going to cost her later. Her aunt is hiding out in her kingdom where she’s safe from King Havilliard but I can’t see her staying there when there might be power up for grabs.
So by the end of the book, Aedion is in prison, Dorian is enslaved, and Chaol is on the run. And Aelin is headed back into that mess with no idea of what is going on. Oops.
And that leaves out the King’s plans for the wyvern riders. Is it messed up that so far Manon is my favourite character? She is so toxic and so feral and she never thaws for mortals or for her fellow witches, but she questions everything when she falls in love with a wyvern who doesn’t know how to back down from a fight. She is a fantastic character and I can’t wait to read more of her story.