
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on...
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on...
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Levels-
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ATOS™:5.7
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Lexile®:790
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Interest Level:MG+
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Text Difficulty:3 - 4
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Library copies:2
Description-
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After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.
Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
Awards-
- Best Fiction for Young Adults
Young Adult Library Services Association
About the Author-
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Sarah J. Maas is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City series. Her books have sold more than nine million copies and are published in thirty-seven languages. A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, son and dog.
sarahjmaas.com
facebook.com/theworldofsarahjmaas
instagram.com/therealsjmaas
Reviews-
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fany13 - I first saw the cover on a random page, and decided to learn more about it. When I read that it was about an assassin, I immediately went to buy it. This book focuses on Celaena Sardothien, an assassin, and her participation in a competition almost to the death, similar to the Hunger Games. I loved the way the characters in this story are 3 dimensional. The aren´t completely good or completely evil (except the king), and they don't make me roll my eyes every three pages. The other books in the series are even better, following Celaena´s journey, and how she discovers herself. I seriously recommend this whole series.
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Starred review from June 18, 2012
Readers seeking the political intrigue of Kristen Cashore’s Graceling and its sequels or the deadly competition at the heart of The Hunger Games will find both in Maas’s strong debut novel. Celaena Sardothien is considered the best assassin in Adarlan, and she has been condemned to the salt mines for her work. As the story opens, she is plucked from slow execution by the calculating crown prince, Dorian, to be his candidate for champion, competing against “hieves and assassins and warriors” to become an enforcer for the king. The stakes are freedom or death: win or return to the mines. Youthful captain Chaol is charged with preventing Celaena’s escape, and though she fantasizes about killing him on occasion, he becomes a far different target of her attention. This is not cuddly romance, but neither is it grim. Celaena is trained to murder, yet she hasn’t lost her taste for pretty dresses or good books, and a gleam of optimism tinges her outlook. Maas tends toward overdescription, but the verve and freshness of the narration make for a thrilling read. Ages 12–up. Agent: Tamar Rydzinski, Laura Dail Literary Agency. -
August 1, 2012
A teenage assassin, a rebel princess, menacing gargoyles, supernatural portals and a glass castle prove to be as thrilling as they sound. Being the most feared assassin in Adarlan is a notoriety 17-year-old Celaena considers an honor, even though it has landed her in a slave-labor prison no one has ever survived. A year into her sentence, the Crown Prince offers to sponsor Celaena in a competition with 23 other criminals and murderers that, should she win, will result in her freedom. The only catch? She'll become the king's personal assassin for four years, the same dark-hearted king who sentenced her to imprisonment. Woven in the vein of a Tolkien fantasy, Celaena's world is one where magic is outlawed and power is snatched through greed and genocide. The third-person narrative allows frequent insight into multiple characters (heroes and villains alike) but never fully shifts its focus from the confident yet conflicted Celaena. And though violent combat and whispers of the occult surround her, Celaena is still just a teenager trying to forge her way, giving the story timelessness. She might be in the throes of a bloodthirsty competition, but that doesn't mean she's not in turmoil over which tall, dark and handsomely titled man of the royal court should be her boyfriend--and which fancy gown she should wear to a costume party. This commingling of comedy, brutality and fantasy evokes a rich alternate universe with a spitfire young woman as its brightest star. (Fantasy. 14 & up)COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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December 1, 2012
Gr 9 Up-Celaena Sardothien may be young in years, but she has seen more than most men twice her age. She was raised to be an assassin and until her capture and imprisonment in the salt mines of Endovier, she was known as the Assassin of Adarlan and feared the world over. No one lasts long in the mines, and when she is offered the possibility of release in exchange for a mandatory, four-year conscription as a hired assassin to the king who conquered and enslaved her people, she has no choice but to comply and play a brutal game to win back the chance at freedom. In order to succeed she needs to outfight, outplay, and outlast 23 men in a competition that many would not survive. There are other forces at work as well: an ancient and outlawed magic that she doesn't understand; fellow competitors turning up murdered; and the three very different men who are attracted to her and frightened by her. Maas has created a strong and sympathetic character in Celaena, who is able to best men in a fight but is laid low by the return of her monthly cycle. The world-building is complex, as is the political intrigue. Fans of Tamora Pierce will find a lot to love here and will wait eagerly for the next installment.-Genevieve Gallagher, Charlottesville High School, VA
Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- A fan on Goodreads Having waited for a long time to see on Sarah's blog that this would be published, I almost started crying when I found out it would be—the only reason I didn't was that I had gone quite numb from excitement.
- A fan on Goodreads It's not simply good, it's gorgeous and epic, and beautiful, and everything a book should be. Can't wait to get my hands on polished version.
- A fan on Goodreads Epic, witty, and brilliantly plotted... I am one of the thousands of people who read this book on Fictionpress several years ago and fell in love with it, and I am counting down the days until it gets published.
- A fan on Goodreads Magic fuses every word of this book together, and I found myself loving all the characters as I got to know them. This is a beautiful read
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