TL;DR: Look at the shelves I put this one on. Everything you expect from a fantasy, romance, YA with an 18 year old female assassin for a protagonist.

So what is it about. The setting is a classic fantasy kingdom/continent including the Fae. However 10 years ago, magic left the continent in one big rush after having been outlawed for decades before that. Magic users lost their abilities and ... suddenly no more magic was possible. The Fae have also left. Or have been killed. The sinister king of A. (a country of rather unrememberable spelling) has been trying to take control of the whole continent.

And now the king of A. is holding a competition for the position of court assassin. Enter Celaena. (How please is this pronounced?) She's a formerly infamous assassin with a mysterious past who just spent a year slaving away in the kingdom's salt mines, after someone betrayed her. Dorian, the somewhat recalcitrant crown prince, decides to free her and make her his champion for his father's competition (out of spite?). He sets Chaol, his best friend and captain of the guard, as her guardian and trainer. Of course she's attracted to both men (can't have a YA book without a love triangle). The last main protagonist to appear is Nehemia, a princess of another country who is rumored to support a rebel faction (rebel princess anyone?).

I found the plot pretty straight-forward. The competition is a series of tests the champions have to pass, while several side plots - including romance, friendship, murder, ghosts and mayhem - wind themselves around the central column. And while there shouldn't be any magic, weird things that can only be attributed to other-worldly powers are happening ...

I think the weakest part of the book is the unsubtle handling of emotions and relationships and sometimes character development seems to take a somewhat too-short path. But overall the characters and relationships are believable and sympathetic despite the mistakes they make.

I enjoyed readings this (currently on book #3), but the sometimes rather unsubtle emotions and descriptions, and the jolty pace of character development, made me deduct a star. It's YA and some things can and should be different and written in a more accessible way but sometimes this goes a bit too far. While at the same time the book also contains rather graphic descriptions of violence. But rest assured that the sex scene ends with "and she gave him everything she had." (Not that I could do any better I guess, and not every book needs to have hot, steamy sex) The kissing scenes are all right though and the relationships - despite the unsubtle emotions - do quite well. And: everything gets better with the second book in the series.

Nothing much revolutionary in here, no "big ideas" but it's a solid read for a few hours of easy entertainment.