Coming at you a little behind schedule, it’s the third checkpoint for the #TWOTOGCountdown read-a-long! By now I hope that everyone participating has had the time to get up to the end of Chapter 42. If you haven’t, beware of the spoilers below!
When we left off last week, Chaol had just revealed that he had been keeping information from Nehemia and Celaena regarding threats on the Eyllweian (did I spell that right?) princess’s life.
Rushing back to the castle as if she had magic running through her veins, Celaena does not make it back in time to save her friend but goes into such a blind rage she physically threatens Dorian as well as comes within an inch of murdering Chaol – after scratching his face off, that is.
As someone who is not a fan of Chaol, I was happy to see Celaena beat him up. However, I believe that Nehemia was taken from us too soon. There was so much depth and mystery in her character that I think her death would have been more impactful if she had died either at the end of this book or even just later in the series. At the very least, I’m hoping to be introduced to some more ladies for Celaena to befriend if only to try and fill the whole left my Nehemia’s death.
Of course her death prompts some pretty awesome violence from Celaena as she tracks down our old pal, Grave – one of the finalists of the King’s competition in the previous book. Recognizing his style of murder, Celaena goes full assassin mode and get some answers by treating Grave as brutally as he treated the princess.
I loooooved seeing Celaena get truly cut-throat and since I don’t enjoy Chaol, I’m pleased to see that they’re done. (A friend of mine is actually dying over my live commentary to her in which I’ve decided that Chaol’s dad is actually my new best friend because he just showed up and dissed Chaol for an hour.)
But while this section of the book got to the level of violence I was expecting and then some, I also enjoyed learning more about the Fae’s disappearance and the riddles. Although I will say, everyone spent half of the first book commenting on the black rings the King and his goon, Pennington, were wearing and yet Celaena can’t figure out what the riddle means when it mentions three things made of obsidian? Like….
But then again, the rebel uprising everyone is so focused on keep’s mentioning that they’re working with the lost princess of Terrasen, Princess Aelin, and yet no one has figured out who Celaena is.
This is why we don’t let 19-year-olds run a castle, my friends. They’re too busy banging or just being dumb teenagers to focus on the facts that are literally right in front of them.
But with all of that, Celaena is now probably cursed by legit the creepiest witch in the damn world so things are bound to get interesting really fast. Although it would have been neat to know if Baba Yellowlegs (even her name is creepy as hell) could tell who Celaena really was and I would have really liked to know what Celaena’s reaction to Dorian’s questions about magic would have been. But c’est la vie.
Anyway, I look forward to Chaol’s continued downfall while Dorian rises and figures out that he’s probably part demon. Ooh, and I’d itching to know how the King will react when it gets out that Celaena is Princess Aelin, unless she kills him first which would also be a wonderful moment.
What are your predictions for how this one will end? Let me know in the comments!
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(This post first appeared in Lucien's site)