The story opens to the top assassin in the land, Celaena Sardothien,
trudging through her work in one of the most notorious death camps in the kingdom. She's pulled from her time there, enough time that most other folks would be dead, and escorted to the King's palace where she will compete with other thieves, assassins and cut-throats for the position of "King's Champion". The prize - after four years of servitude, freedom.
Throughout the story other plots and story arcs are introduced. The writing is fun and easy to follow. For the most part - assuming you are a fan of fantasy - it is believable. Some of the character development and interactions are clumsy. I was not surprised to find out that this story was created when the author was sixteen. It was worked on for ten years after that, then published.
All in all - it's a fun and fairly quick read. The pages turn rapidly and the eye rolling needed to get through the dialogue is somewhat minimal.
I intend to continue reading the other books in the series.