Celaena Sardothien has made her way to the city of Wendlyn to seek vengeance against the King of Adarlan. Heartbroken and full of rage, Celaena stumbles around Wendlyn, drinking and fighting every person she meets. When Prince Rowan Whitethorn of Doranelle finds Celaena, he brings her to Queen Maeve. Maeve claims that in exchange for answers about the Wyrdkeys, Celaena must learn to master her fire magic by training with Rowan. Meanwhile, in Adarlan, Aedion Ashryver, Chaol, and Dorian begin working on a plan to free magic in the kingdom. Manon Blackbeak, the heir to the Blackbeak witch clan, is introduced to the series. As Celaena builds her strength and power, her true destiny becomes clear. War looms in the future, and Celaena begins to weigh her responsibilities to protect those she loves.
The best part of this book was the slow build towards friendship between Rowan and Celaena, and I immediately adored Rowan’s character as soon as he stepped onto the page. I felt that this book was where the tension truly started to build in the series, and we slowly got introduced to all the main characters. Similar to the previous books in this series, this book was slow to start, but rapidly picked up and became stronger.