With this book, the Throne of Glass series enters epic fantasy territory. Maas starts writing from multiple points of views, and adds parallel story lines. We're introduced to a couple new character POVs - Rowan, Aedion, Sascha and Manon.
Rowan is tied to Celeana, Aedion is tied to Dorian (atm) and Sascha is tied to Dorian. But Manon is tied to no one at the moment. She is an Ironteeth witch who has been recruited with her clan to ride the wyrvn that the king has been raising in secret. Her clan is rival to Baba Yellowleg's, the woman that Celeana killed in the second book to protect Dorian. Her story shows that the king is planning something big, but maybe the king is not in as much control of everything as he thinks he is. Whether or not Manon's story ends up supporting Celeana's story remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Celeana is in Wendyl feeling sorry for herself. But is discovered by Rowan, who is a fae warrior sent to train her before she is granted admittance into Doranelle, the fae kingdom. Celeana's relationship with men inevitably start in a trainer/reluctant trainee situation. So much so that Celeana mentions it to herself a few times. The cyclical nature of this makes me think that Rowan will inevitably replace Chaol in her heart. However, she still clings to Chaol through most of this book, at least her memory of him. It's not until the end of the novel that she decides to let him go. In this book, you get more of why Celeana broke up with Chaol. It's her knowledge that he would never really truly accept her as she actually is - a powerful fae warrior, who would be queen. While Celeana trains in Wendyl, we learn how powerful she is, as she learns to control her power over fire.
Rowan, I don't have much to say about him. He's there. He's crotchety. Yes, he's suffered a lot, but too crotchety right now for me to say much about him. He definitely cares about Celeana, or Aelin as he insists on calling her. But otherwise... I think we will need to wait for the next book to see what he's really like. In this book, it was mostly just watching him thaw to her, and he's there as her therapy tool to get over the events of the previous book.
Back in Rifthold, Chaol's goal in life is still too small, and his world view too narrow to see all that is going on. He becomes allied with Aedion - Celeana's cousin when he returns from abroad. But the only reason Chaol is allied with Aedion is because he's trying to protect Celeana and Dorian. Everyone keeps trying to make him pick a side, but Chaol can't choose because then he would have to admit that his world view is flawed. And that only happens at the very end of this book.
Not much happens to Dorian in this book. He's still cranky at Chaol for helping too much without helping at all. The major thing that happens to him is that he meets Sascha, a secret rebel who falls in love with him and helps him hide his magical powers.
Now that I think about it, not a lot happens in this book - no, lots happen in this book, it just doesn't contribute to the overarching plot that connects the books. I call this an "inbetween" book, where everybody is just being set up for the events that will happen later. While everyone is being moved around the board, and their allegiances are being defined, we learn a little bit more about the king's plans. Besides the wyvrn and the witches, the king is revealed to also have Volg in his arsenal. The Volg are the legendary enemies of the fae. They're a cross between a doppelganger and a Dementor (from Harry Potter). And Dorian ends up being inhabited by one at the very end after Sascha gets beheaded and Dorian is forced to reveal his magical powers to save Chaol. His father snaps a Volg collar on him... (I've started reading the next book, so I know that we'll get to see his POV of living with a Volg - not far enough to know who wins yet tho).
But yes... all the earth shattering events happen at the very end of this book to set up the next one.
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