After a year of slavery, an infamous teenage assassin named Celaena is given the chance to become the tyrannical king's personal assassin by representing Prince Dorian in a competition against the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. She must survive every test and trial in order to proceed to the final, in which she has to fight her remaining opponents to the death. As candidates are found dead in the castle, their bodies ruptured, Celaena finds herself delving deep into mysteries concerning not only her, but her very own ancestors.