Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I have a deep respect for people who can write fantasy because of the worlds that are created and the imagination required to build them. This book is right up there with the best writers in that category.
Throne of Glass was everything I had hoped it was going to be when I started it. Celaena Sardothien is Ardalan’s Assassin. Trained to kill from the age of eight, she is incredibly skilled, but when we meet her, she’s just served a year of hard labor in a death camp. The salt mines of Endovier was where she was sent when she was betrayed by someone and caught. Prince Dorian offers her a chance at freedom by acting as his champion in a tournament against other thieves and murderers to become the Kings Assassin. If she bests her opponents she will be granted her freedom after four years of serving the king. When one by one contestants in the contest are being killed, Celaena is determined to find out what is going on and unwittingly has become part of something much bigger than what she expected.
The incredible characters that Maas created were a wonderful surprise. I found myself connecting with all the major players! But, I loved Celaena. She was strong and smart and witty and tough.. but underneath all that, she was just an eighteen year old who enjoys parties, and candy and cares whether people like her or not. Something unexpected for me because many view her as a ruthless killer and have little faith and trust in her.
The Captain of the Guard, Choal Westfall is in charge of Celaena and trains her, and I found myself really liking him, even though he keeps her at an arms distance and has a very hard time trusting that she will do the right things. I found myself having a bit of a soft spot for him regardless of the things he said and did around her. He struggled with the idea that he was the Captain of the Guard and she was an Assassin and that just maybe he might like her… just a bit. 🙂
So… let me just get this out of the way. There is a sort of, kind of, love triangle here… Though it’s not really blatant throughout the book, there are hints of it and I found myself leaning towards the less obvious choice and that’s all I’ll say about that.
Both Choal and Dorian have a big presence in the book. AND get this, I loved them both. They are both, strong and a bit similar. They are friends and grew up together, but their principles are alike. Dorian is not quite the spoiled prince one might expect and I really liked his relationship with Celaena… but I really also liked his relationship with Choal. It seems like neither of them have friends and so they rely on each other, so it will be interesting to see what happens with Celaena between them.
Not only the main characters were intriguing though – The secondary characters of Princess Nehemia, The King, Perrington & Kaltain were all wonderfully done as well and it will be interesting to see where the second book takes us with them.
At one point I mentioned that there was a lot going on in the story, but I didn’t mean that as a bad thing. Everything weaves together into this incredibly captivating story, with an action filled ending. There is magic and fae, death and fighting, backstabbing and new alliances and friendships. The ten years that Maas took to work on this has definitely paid off and I was completely entranced by this book. I’m definitely looking forward to the next in the series.
I know this review doesn’t say much about the plot but I don’t want to say too much about it because I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises, the twists and the turns. You need to experience it as I did, as you turn each page of this wonderfully told tale.
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