Spoilers ahead! Also check out my take on Emrys's blackberry pie!
One plan, however insane and unlikely, to free the enslaved kingdom: find and obliterate the Wyrdkeys the King of Adarlan had used to build his terrible empire. She'd gladly destroy herself to carry it out. Just her, just him. Just as it should be; no loss of life beyond their own, no soul stained but hers. It would take a monster to destroy a monster.
Sent to Wendlyn on a fool's mission by the Captain of the Guard, Celaena Sardothien's journey is only just beginning. Rather than faking the deaths of the royal family, she travels to the land of Fae to learn the truth. However, immortals have all the time in the world to play their games. Celaena makes a bargain to hone her powers in return for answers about how to take down the King of Adarlan. But after shoving her magic and memories far, far down her whole life, she finds that calling upon them now could mean her own destruction.
Still dealing with Celaena's departure, Chaol and Dorian cannot repair what has been broken between them. With both of them walking down separate, risky paths, they must choose between the kingdom they have been bound to their whole lives, or accept the new truths that have been laid bare before them.
Far away in the mountains, Manon Blackbeak has been training ruthlessly with her fellow Ironteeth Witches. The King of Adarlan has been cooking up something particularly gruesome for them to use as weapons in his army, and as the Blackbeak Heir, it is Manon's job to be the best.
There was nothing left in her, not really. Only ash and an abyss and the unbreakable vow she'd carved into her flesh, to the friend who had seen her for what she truly was.
REVIEW
Uh, yeah, so this book was a little devastating. My heart hurts in so many different ways, and I'm pretty sure I've unlocked a new level of grief (it includes me laugh-crying while pacing my apartment, emitting loud groans every now and then). The novel starts out kinda slow-ish (Maas is just impeccably detailed and does not want us to miss a second), but again, we bump it up into high gear around the halfway point. I read the last 200 pages in one night because I physically could not put it down.
She could not remember what is was like to be free.
Remember how I said a couple reviews ago that I wanted to get inside Celaena's head and see what her mental state was like? Oh man, I regret saying that because I now feel personally responsible for the absolute hell that was unleashed upon her in Heir of Fire. This poor girl saw her parents slaughtered as a child, was trained by a ruthless, abusive assassin, her first love was tortured to death simply because she loved him, she spent a year in the world's most brutal slave camp, fought demonic creatures, her best friend orchestrated her own murder just to prove a point to Celaena, and NOW she's in a land that refused to send help 10 years ago when her family was killed. It is absolutely brutal being inside her head, knowing that everything that happens to her in this novel is just another step closer to the light inside of her burning out. And I hate that I wouldn't even blame her if it did.
Rowan, her Fae trainer, obviously knows none of this and makes life extra difficult for her in the beginning because he thinks she's just a spoiled brat. It's a bit hard at first to like him because he's an absolute ass. However, learning about his background and what he's been through helps us chip away at his hard exterior. His mate and unborn child were murdered and he's carried the burden of it for hundreds of years. The beautiful friendship that blossoms between him and Celaena is one of my favorite book relationships ever. Both of them are lost and for the first time are able to find comfort in another person. It's so, so easy to see from the beginning that he is Celaena's perfect match. They're both so opposite and yet, in the very simplest way, they're the same. They challenge each other and are exactly what the other needs in order to mend. I remember reading this book the first time and thinking oh man I love them together!!! but then Celaena kept being like "neither of us have ANY interest in each other like that" so I got pretty discouraged.
"I didn't. For a long while I couldn't. I think I'm still... not back. I might never be." She nodded, lips pressed tight and glanced toward the window. "But maybe," he said, quietly enough that she looked at him again. He didn't smile, but his eyes were inquisitive. "Maybe we could find the way back together."... And somewhere far and deep inside her, an ember began to glow.
MANON BLACKBEAK. Talk about your badass character, over here. I have to admit I was weirdly unsure of where the witch stuff was all going so here's some helpful clarifiers: the witches are being trained on wyverns (dragons) to be used in the king's army. Obviously: they will be anti-Celaena. However, Manon, over time, begins to realize that she has an interesting connection to her wyvern, Abraxos. Also, we learn quickly that her coven is clearly more loyal to her than to her grandmother (the Blackbeak Matron). Because of these two things and an unfortunate meeting with a Crochan woman (Ironteeth Witches' worst enemy), we see that Manon's non-existent heart might actually be beating. She continues to make choice after choice that prove she cares more than she lets on and I have a feeling she won't be anti-Celaena in the end. SO excited to experience their first meeting.
And Manon, because no one was watching, because she did not care, flung out her arms as well and savored the freefall, the wind now a song in her ears, in her shriveled heart.
Chaol get's a significant amount of our time in this novel and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I think I'm hard on him because he's the only one here who has yet to draw a clear line in the sand. Yes, that's definitely my problem with him: he can't seem to make up his damn mind. He's been loyal to the king for his whole life, I understand that, but how can Chaol just sit back and do his dirty work when he knows the truth of what the king has done? Not to mention the fact that he continues to help the rebels but refuses to call himself one. He's wishy-washy and I don't care for it. However, he DOES, finally, in the end, declare his side. I hate that it came out potentially too late, but he states that his loyalties lie with Dorian. I respected that and I'm happy he finally came to terms with it. Interested to see where it takes us in the future.
Chaol kept his sword drawn. "I will not go to Anielle," he growled. "And I will not serve you a moment longer. There is one true king in this room-- there always has been. And he is not sitting on that throne."
I have to talk about Dorian, even though my heart breaks thinking about him. He truly is just too good and I'm so sick of everyone in this book leaving him out of the conversation. How have they yet to realize he is not loyal to his father? The kid has MAGIC and is therefore ALSO at risk. But still, they try to keep him out of the loop with lame excuses of trying to "keep him safe". So my little cutie goes and makes his own friends (I talk about him as if he isn't an adult man, but instead, an innocent 4 year old). I was happy to see he also found a relationship that helped mend his heart, but something about Sorscha always seemed king of strange. Unfortunately, I was correct about that. Turns out, she was a rebel smuggling information out of the castle via letters to a "friend" in Rifthold. The final moments in the king's private council room are horrible and vile. The king literally uses McCarthyism to get Aedion, Chaol, Dorian and Sorscha to out themselves as traitors. Vaguely accusing someone in the room of being a rebel suddenly makes everyone want to be a hero and too quickly, everyone has outed themselves. Aedion admits that he is loyal to Terrasen, Sorscha admits to being a spy, and Dorian uses his magic. The worst part is that Sorscha is murdered in front of Dorian regardless of his pleading for her life. I've noticed that Maas doesn't kill her main characters; she kills the supporting characters who are most important to them which will therefore destroy their spirit. If that wasn't horrible enough, immediately after Sorscha's death, Dorian is locked in a collar that we all know will turn him into a terrifyingly powerful demonic creature. Sounds like a really happy ending, right? It ripped my heart out and shredded it up. I am so, so afraid for his fate.
And then Dorian, still screaming, was scrambling through the blood toward it-- toward her head, as if he could put it back. As if he could piece her together.
I want to end this on a happier note. I want to talk from now on about Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, because she isn't Celaena Sardothien anymore. She has a terrible encounter with the Valg princes (awful, scary demon creatures who feast on your worst memories), and instead of letting them devour her, she uses her horrifying experiences to climb up out of the darkness. When she walked into battle, she intended to die. But when she saw her younger self reaching to pull her out and save her, she destroyed not only the Valg demons, but also her personal demons. It was one of the most incredible books moments I've ever read. I cried over the people she lost-- the people like Sam and Nehemia who we lost along with her. Aelin spent so long in darkness and let it eat away at her soul, and yet somehow when she was forced to look face-first into that darkness, she somehow found the light. Not only would Aelin come back and claim her birthright and save her people, but she would also provide a place for others who were trapped in the dark.
She would not let that light go out... It would not take a monster to destroy a monster-- but light, light to drive out darkness. She was not afraid.
Everything before this-- even the good, happy stuff-- was still her climbing out of the hole she had dug for herself-- that was still Celaena trying to run away from her past. From here on out, this is Aelin, not Celaena.
Aelin Galathynius smiled at her, hand outreached. "Get up," the princess said. Celaena reached across the earth between them and brushed her fingers against Aelin's. And arose.
If you didn't know, I had already read a couple of the books in this series: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire. I read them all a while ago and recently had the urge to finish the series but couldn't really remember what happened. So, I decided to read The Assasssin's Blade first and then begin my re-read. If you hadn't already pieced it together, this was the last novel that was a re-read for me. That means, from now on, the rest of this series is totally unknown to me.
I will call in every favor, every debt owed to Celaena Sardothien, to my parents, to my bloodline. And then..." She looked toward the sea, toward home. "And then I am going to rattle the stars."
I am so excited and also beyond terrified. I care far too much about these characters and I know Sarah J. Maas doesn't pull her punches. Stay tuned to find out what happens (to me, obviously, not the characters).
She was Aelin Ashryver Galathynius-- and she would not be afraid.
EMRYS'S BLACKBERRY PIE
She choked on the piece of blackberry pie she was in the middle of devouring as the massive mountain cat trotted from the forest and across the rain-drenched grass, heading right for their door.
Emrys's general existence in this book made me so excited for this week's baking! Aelin spends almost 50% of her time in the kitchen with him and Luca, so I had my fair share of treats to choose from (a LOT of breads and meat pies, specifically). However, this little moment before we meet Gavriel grabbed my eye because I've never made a fruit pie before!
I have never particularly enjoyed eating berries because I'm not a big fan of seeds, so I've always stayed away from fruit pies. However, I recently changed my mind about strawberries and figured I'd give all the other berries a second chance! Here's how mine came out:
LET ME JUST SAY: THIS WAS INCREDIBLE! It tasted so good!! There was a perfect mix of sweet and sour flavors and the crust was nice and buttery. Everything came together beautifully!
Blackberry Pie Recipe: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/blackberry_pie/
I used that recipe as a base and changed it up a bit where I saw fit. I used a little extra lemon juice instead of lemon zest, I threw in a bit of nutmeg, I used vanilla instead of almond extract, and I cheated and used store-bought pie crust! I topped it with homemade whipped cream that I made with a little less sugar than I usually use because I didn't want to overpower the sweetness of the filling. Also if you zoom in you can see the cute little flowers I made with some extra dough!
I definitely recommend making this pie!! It was remarkably easy and totally worth it!
If you didn't know, I bake something from a book every week and post live updates on my Instagram. Tune in to @picklesandpages on Wednesdays to check it out!
NEXT READ: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
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