So, last chapter, Nox fell and Cally jumped off the wall to catch him with nothing but a rope around her middle to stop her own fall.

So, so many things wrong with that statement.

First of all, it’s dubious whether or not she could catch him, since Nox was already falling when she jumped, and also way over to the side, not directly below her.  You can catch up to someone in freefall, but that assumes you’ve got the space for it.  They’re about 60 feet up.  They’ve got a couple of seconds before hitting splat, if that.

Second, hello Gwen Stacey.

It’s not like Cally has a real harness on, just a skinny rope around her waist.  That’s going to cause some damage when her whole weight gets thrown on it, and Nox isn’t going to be having a good day either.

In this book, she catches up to him so fast that she actually slams into him, and even though it hurt to be stopped by the rope, she’s not really injured.  And they still stop 30 feet above the ground, so this all happened in a fraction of a second.

As they hang there on the end of the rope, Cain gets the flag, and Cally actually gives a damn.  Really.  She tries really hard to convince herself that saving Nox was the better thing, and then-

She clenched her jaw. Could she get back up there in time? Perhaps Nox could take the rope, and she’d just scale the wall with her bare hands. There was nothing worse than second place.

Sweetie, why do you care so much?

There is no benefit to being first place, second place, or really any place other than last place.  It’s an elimination process.  As long as you’re not eliminated, NO ONE CARES.  You’re not going to be picked based on your rank, you’re not going to be paid more or feared more or anything more, and only a few people even know this competition is going on.  There is literally nothing except your own ego that gains anything from placing high.

Verin, Grave, Pelor, and Renault climbed the last few feet to the spot, tapping it with a hand before descending.

…what?  The race is to get the flag to the ground, not to get to the top and down again.  Why aren’t they trying to wrest the flag away from Cain?

Going by the rules we were told last chapter, the best competitor should be the one that waits ten feet off the ground for whoever has the flag and then ambushes them.

But no, forget sense, instead Cally and Nox have to finish climbing all the way up.  The place last and second to last.  I guess enough people died that no one’s getting eliminated for coming in last?

Chaol isn’t happy with her because she was showing off with the ‘rescue,’ and Cally isn’t happy because she isn’t be adulated properly, so they sit in her room afterward and have a mutual sulk.

Arobynn would have flogged her for saving Nox, jeopardizing her own safety and place in this competition.

I really doubt Mr. King of Assassins became the best assassin ever by giving a fig about competitions, because ASSASSINS DON’T SHOW OFF THEIR SKILLS IN COMPETITIONS, THAT’S NOT STEALTHY AND SECRET.

Maybe Arobynn wasn’t really a good assassin, he just called himself one.  Maybe it’s like modern ninjutsu; there’s groups of ‘ninjas’ all over the place that just practice and showcase skills instead of kill people on the sly.  Maybe Arobynn is an ‘assassin’ instead of an assassin, and that’s why Cally’s all like she is.  But in that case, if she was, why did she save Nox?  She’s done nothing but whine and moan about her choice, so there’s not even a hint that she’s happy she did it.

“He trained you and then made you pay for it?”

She shrugged, but was unable to hide the flash of anger. “Courtesans go through the same experience: they’re taken in at a young age, and are bound to their brothels until they can earn back every coin that went into their training, upkeep, and wardrobe.”

“That’s despicable,”

That’s…really, really common.

Should these people be training young’uns out of the goodness of their hearts?  Using…what, all the money that they fart out?

If you’re going to make a big deal about courtesans because of the sex and the kids being pulled into it at such a young age and then having no escape, then complain about kids being bound into prostitution, not about the fact that they have to pay back their training.

Besides, in that time, it’s not like anyone got to pick their jobs.  Bakers and blacksmiths take on apprentices at really young ages, too.  And if your parents are serfs, lets not even talk about job prospects, because you have none.

Then Cally yells at him for being so mean to her in front of Nemmy, even though he wasn’t that mean to her then.  He just told her to go back to her room, that’s all.

“The truth? You treated me like I’m a crazed criminal!”

When, really, you’re a…wait, you are a crazed criminal.  You kill people for a living, and you’ve indicated that not killing people is actually harder for you than killing them.

And even then, Chaol didn’t do anything except say go to your room and stop handling pointy things around the important squishy people.

The new murder cast a pall over the next two weeks, and the two Tests they brought with them. Celaena passed the Tests

Wow, really?  Skipped over two weeks just like that?  Okay, whatever gets us to the end faster.

The rest of the chapter is a summary of how she keeps improving in her daily work outs, and Dorian is still hot.  And then, even though we had nothing except reports of her continued improvement, the chapter ends with

Cain would definitely be there, but who would the other final three be? She’d always been so sure she’d make it.

But, if she were honest with herself, Celaena wasn’t so sure anymore.

Where did that come from?

Next chapter starts with Cally having a nightmare.  While nightmares are often part of the aftereffects of trauma, they’re also part of drinking too much beer before you go to bed, so you really can’t leave it at that and call it a day.  You have to include some other stuff, too, otherwise it’s just nightmares.

She wakes up to find Chaol in her room.  He’d come in because she was screaming in her sleep.  Then they talk about how it’s “Samhuinn” today so there’s no training in case she wants to go to services.  Apparently there’s a feast and a bonfire to summon spirits, so it’s sounding pretty much like a Halloween expy.  At least we get confirmation that this is taking place at the start of winter/end of fall.

They banter a bit as Cally talks about all the traditions about ghosts and gods and such, and Chaol calls her superstitious.

“I never took you for a superstitious person. How does that fit into your career?” 

…how does it not?

Cally declines to go to the religious ceremony part of things, but Chaol is going.  By the way, ever since the holiday was brought up, Cally went back to her cheerful, bantering self.  The nightmare has no lasting effect on her, not even long term mind you, but not lasting for five fucking minutes.  So it has all the impact of a teenager having a nightmare after a bad movie.

Less than that, even.

Switch POV to Dorian, who is walking around the gardens after service. 

The worldbuilding in this book has been extremely sparce, and now we have a our first hint of a religion, yet we know almost nothing about it because we don’t even get to see what they call a service.  How prevalent is this religion?  It’s polytheistic, but that’s all we know.  The only two people we’ve seen expressing an opinion of it both are ambivalent.  Is this normal?  Does the church/temple have any power in this place?  Are they even considered respectable, or are they considered corrupt and debauched?  What counts as pious behavior?  Are we talking conservative, or maybe philanthropic, or perhaps just praying a lot counts and that’s it?

We finally get an area that could count as worldbuilding and our two main characters actively avoid it.

Dorian runs into Cally, Nemmy, and Chaol all walking together with Nemmy’s guards, and they exchange polite small talk.

For weeks now, Duke Perrington had been pushing for a plan to bring more forces into Eyllwe—to crush the rebels so efficiently that they wouldn’t dare challenge Adarlan’s rule again.

So Aldarlan is in charge, but the Eyllwe royal family gets to keep their titles?  It’s been done before (Rome) but a bit more detail would be nice.  We don’t even know if the king is really doing anything or if he’s just there as a placating measure.

Just yesterday, the duke presented a plan: they would deploy more legions, and keep Nehemia here to discourage any retaliation from the rebels. Not particularly inclined to add hostage-taking to his repertoire of abilities, Dorian had spent hours arguing against it. But while some of the council members had also voiced their disapproval, the majority seemed to think the duke’s strategy to be a sound one.

…because it is.  We’ve already been told that Nemmy is both actively helping the rebels and something of a darling to them, so keeping her hostage is a good move.  The other option to keeping her there is either let her go or kill her.  Dorian doesn’t like the idea of taking a hostage, but he doesn’t say why.  Because he doesn’t think they should be in Eyllwe?  Because she’s too dangerous and should just be made an example of?

Or is it more of Dorian’s insufferable waffling, where he’s bored of his peers but doesn’t want to actually do anything?  He doesn’t like this part of politics, but he doesn’t have any real convictions or alternatives, either.

They talk about the festival, and Cally and Dorian lie about why she’s not going to be there.  In reality, deranged criminals aren’t allowed to go to fancy feasts, of course.

POV switches to Cally and her group, as Chaol gives vocab lessons to Nemmy.  Naturally, when he does it, it’s fine.  Unlike evil Kate and her…exact same thing.

Cally thinks about how much time she’s been able to spend with Nemmy.

they discussed […] who at court had managed to annoy the princess that day. Which, to Celaena’s delight, was usually everyone.

Cally is happy that her new friend is annoyed by everyone in the place.

HAPPY.

With friends like these…

They all banter some more about the feast that Cally can’t go to.

“The feast isn’t that exciting,” he offered. “It’s the same as any supper. I can assure you the lamb will be dry and tough.”

Why?  With that many rich people in residence, why would the food be bad?  Did they spend all their money on the stupid glass-not-glass castle?

Nemmy begs Cally (quite out of the blue) to teach her to speak and write in the ‘common’ language.

So I don’t have to suffer through those horribly boring old men they call tutors.”

You can’t really care that much if you’re put off studying simply by ‘boring’ tutors.  Brat.

Cally asks Chaol if she can, then berates him when he says no, because she still thinks that being treated like a criminal is horribly unfair.

They go to the creepy clock tower and find Cain there.

Nehemia looked after Cain, and her dark eyes narrowed. “Something about him makes me want to beat in his face.”

So nice to know you are also the type to judge people based on absolutely nothing except sight.  Seriously, he’s not even doing anything, just kneeling on the ground and looking at something, and that alone makes Nemmy want to punch him.

She and Cally make great sociopath buddies.

They go to look at whatever Cain was messing with, and it was one of those weird marks that Cally noticed the previous time.  Nemmy says they’re part of some ancient language, but she can’t read it.  Nemmy thinks it’s very strange that they know nothing about the ‘Wyrdmarks.’

“You’re hiding something,” the princess said softly in Eyllwe, though it was not accusatory. “You are much more than you seem, Lillian.”

What makes you think that?  The whole previous conversation was ‘I don’t know what those are, how curious,’ and that’s it.  What about that was supposed to be false?

This whole thing is so awkward.  This is the second time these marks have had a big red circle around them.  This should be the first time, and it should be because of Cain, because that’s at least a logical cause and effect instead of making a big deal of them out of the blue.  Leaving them as a curiosity would be fine, because we have no reason whatsoever to assume they’re ominous, and yet Cally acts like she’s more worried than curious.

On top of that, for all the ominous description they get, they’re forgotten five seconds later as the girls go back to talking about language lessons.  They decide to hold them without telling Chaol, which makes me wonder why Cally asked his permission in the first place.

Drinking Game Count:  Epithets – 5, Bragging – 1, Exclamation Marks – 8

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