Book Review - Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas 

Series: Throne of Glass #1

Genres: High Fantasy | Young Adult

Release Date: August 7th 2012

Publishers: Bloomsbury  Children's

No. Pages: 404

Source: Purchased

Rating: 

Buy From: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Waterstones

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 three 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.

So I've been staring at my screen for days no trying to review this, not because I didn't enjoy it, but the opposite. When I first read The Fault In our Stars, it was so hard to review it because how could I truly put into words what had gripped me about the book? how could I review it and say anything that hasn't been said before? the answer is I couldn't.  When I first started to read Throne of Glass I knew very early on that I was going to have problems reviewing it, and boy was I right.  

High fantasy wasn't a genre I really took notice of, that was until a while ago. I've always had a very soft spot in my heart for fantasy, slowly but surely though I'm starting to ride the high fantasy train, and it's books like these that are pushing me on it. Normally when a book is hyped up I'm very cautious because I expect so much, though this book was hyped up to the max, it's completely justified because this book had me hooked from start to finish. 

One thing I loved the most about this book was the characters. Each one, no matter how big or small a role they played in the book, had their own personalty and story. Each one was needed and the sub character were in no way overshadowed or forgotten about. But the main characters? just shut up. There isn't a single thing I could say about them that would come across as negative. One of the hardest things for me to find these days when it comes to the fantasy genre is a strong female lead. (if you can recommend me a book you think has one, I'm happy to have a look at them) Celaena is one hell of a girl, we are promised a female assassin in the summary and boy does Sarah J. Maas deliver. She was a strong minded, hot headed at times, deadly 18 year old and I loved reading about her. I think one of the things I loved the most about her was that even though she had a lot to complain about, she wasn't a woe is my type. She got on with it, which is a lot more than I could have done haha.

And lets not forget our leading males. Though I loved Choal more than I loved Dorian, they both were such likable and at times relatable characters. They were well thought out, well developed and just all around brilliant. I loved the playfulness of Choal while still acting professional, I loved how Dorian knew he was good looking and desirable and flaunted it at times, I just loved them both.

And of course we can't have a book without some sort of romance right? well  this yet again got high marks for me. Everything about it was subtle, with a slow build up. They weren't fighting one minuet and clutching at each other the next. I suppose you could say there is a bit of a love triangle in this book, one that at first isn't exactly obvious. It isn't over done, it doesn't take over anything else or overshadow what would be the main romance and there isn't a stupid competition between the two males for Celaena's attention. It was such a mature love triangle. She wasn't bouncing between the two either, she didn't declare her love for one only to go running to the next, and from the time the triangle became apparent there was no real indication as to who she would end up with or who she had the stronger feelings for.

 The only thing I would say about this book is the trails in my opinion could have been a little harder, given what was at stake. I know that towards the middle of the book the story was more focused on what was going on in between trails then the trails itself, but as the first book is about her may or may not working for the king, I still feel like they could have been more to them. (and I could be the only one on that)

Overall, as you can tell, I really liked this book. I can't wait to see what happens next and I'm so excited for the rest of the series that is looking to be a rather long one, and if it isn't then I'm thankful for the plethora of novella's to keep me going for a while. The book is over 400 pages, and I wasn't bored once. Well done Sarah, well done.