“Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin.”
-Throne of Glass
Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas Genre: Young adult, fantasy Pages: 404 Date published: August 2nd, 2012 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s My overall rating: ★★★★★ Synopsis: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 four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. 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. (Goodreads)
My Thoughts I admittedly wasn’t really aware of the Throne of Glass series and how popular it was until I joined bookstagram, where I constantly saw people posting Sarah J. Maas books. Seeing all of these posts made me decide to read the Throne of Glass, and I’m so glad that I did! The book was perfect for me, and I’m honestly surprised that I didn’t find out about it sooner. It had well-thought out characters and an immersive, fast-placed plot set in a complex world which was exciting to discover. First of all, I loved Celaena! Celaena Sardothien is an assassin who had to slave for about a year in the mines, and she is one of the strongest female characters I’ve read. One thing that some authors do when they write a strong female lead which irks me is that they make the girl hate everything girlish. Maas, however, gave Celaena an affinity to fine dresses and an appreciation of beauty. This was a nice contrast to the archetype of what one thinks an assassin would be fascinated with. I also liked how Maas portrayed Celaena not only as a killer, but as a human; she showed that a person can be both. This was a difficult task, but she accomplished this through recounting some of the past events in Celaena’s life (both gruesome and heart breaking) and the decisions that Celaena makes when faced with difficult choices. The plot is revealed mainly from Celaena’s point of view, although other characters do get a few pages from their view here and there. When I read about a “competition” with eliminations in the synopsis, I couldn’t help but think of the Hunger Games (of course). I mean, this competition was going to be with people like assassins and thieves, so I assumed that it was going to be grisly and dangerous. It was, most definitely. But Maas didn’t concentrate solely on the competition, and in fact skimmed over many of the elimination tests. I thought this was a smart move on her part, because it made the competition more of a part of the plot rather than the plot being about the competition. Recounting each elimination test would have been unnecessary and perhaps even boring/repetitive to read about. Rather, Maas focused more on the mysterious happenings in and out of the competition, intertwining them smoothly together. The final thing I want to touch on is the setting. Maas has done a wonderful job constructing a intricate world with its own complex history and rules. There was also magic in the world, which I actually hadn’t been expecting. Nonetheless, I loved the system of “magic” that Maas created and how it was utilized to drive the plot forward. I will definitely be reading the rest of the Throne of Glass series! This book was an action-packed read which any fantasy lover will enjoy immensely.Characters/character development: ★★★★★
Plot: ★★★★★
Setting: ★★★★★
Eloquence of voice: ★★★★★
Interesting/Captivating: ★★★★★
OVERALL: ★★★★
Advertisements Share this:
