Throne of Glass (2012) (edit title/settings)

• Rated 5 stars

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When I first saw "Throne of Glass" when I was looking for books to read, I knew right away that I just found myself a kick-ass heroine. If you guys have read my previous reviews, you'd know that I love stories with strong female protagonists, and find whiny, save-me-I'm-helpless-and-I-love-you-so-much girls just plain annoying. And Celaena sure didn't let me down!

Eighteen-year old Celaena Sardothien has spent the past year in the mines of Endovier, serving a life sentence for her assassinations. Her only mistake: being caught. When the Crown Prince of Adarlan offers her a deal--her freedom for winning a deadly tournament--Celaena can't refuse. Brought to the gleaming glass palace at Rifthold, the infamous assassin has to best the most gifted criminals to become the King's Champion--his personal killer. But things bigger than anything she's known are brewing, and Celaena is plunged into a world of mystery, murder and even love.

Since I've already dipped into it earlier in this review, I'll start with the characters! Celaena was a really fun, believable character to be with throughout the novel. Haughty yet compassionate, confident but still only a teenager, Celaena is an incredibly likable, witty heroine who really knows how to kick some serious butt.

It was also interesting, though, to see things from some other characters' perspectives as well. The love triangle (come on, you knew it was bound to happen!) between Celaena, Prince Dorian and Captain Chaol Westfall wasn't overpowering at all; in fact, it was firmly more of a subplot instead. Usually, I'd complain, but I didn't think this would bode well with the personality of our protagonist or with the intense plot itself. Seeing things from Dorian and Chaol's points of view upped the "aww" factor, but also rendered the subtle love triangle more realistic. For example, I was a little skeptical about Dorian's feelings for Celaena, since I kept seeing him as a typical flirty playboy type, but through his point of view, I got to see the sincerity of his emotions. As for Chaol, you really wouldn't have noticed his romantic feelings so much if Ms. Maas had only told the story from Celaena's point of view. So subtly woven in--I loved it! In the end, I had no idea who to root for, and this is pretty huge since I almost always side with one guy. So eager to see how things develop in the sequel!

I would probably talk on and on about the characters, but I feel like I'm rambling, so I'll sum it up super quick: So many villains you love to hate. Heartwarming friendships, especially with Nehemia. Broad range of characters with different, unique personalities.

Now moving on to plot. "Throne of Glass" was amazing in that it started off with a pretty straightforward storyline, but began to get more and more complex with the added complications and plot twists and subplots. I swear I got chills at one point from how spooky it got! I loved how the climax was really a climax, and not one of those three-page scenes that aren't even that intense. My heart was literally pounding as I rapidly flipped through the pages. Ms. Maas has definitely done an incredible job with the plot--I really couldn't put it down!

To wrap things up with a nice, shiny bow, I enjoyed "Throne of Glass" immensely. The characters were believable and their relationships realistic, and the storyline never dipped enough to prompt me to take a little break after a chapter. This is a book that lingers in your mind after you've set it down, and is a perfect refuge from boring, mundane, routine life. I highly, highly encourage you to pick up a copy--you're in for an exciting adventure.

Rating: 5/5

Here's a fun fact: "Throne of Glass" started off as an online story that Ms. Maas wrote when she was only sixteen-years old! After ten years of editing and rewriting--and more writing!--it ended up as the published novel that we know it as today. So inspiring!”

• Rated 4 stars

“It has it all, action mystery, drama, romance, heroine, comedy, sarcasm! I really enjoyed it, the characters are really mature for their age, even though this is a YA novel. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Throne of Glass is an archetype book for any science fiction fan who needs a strong dose of romance and subtle story-telling. The story follows 19-year old Celaena, a former assassin, how is taken from something like an internment camp to compete in a contest to be the King’s champion. The crown prince orchestrates her rescue and asks her to be his entrant or stay in the internment camp for the rest of her life. The choice is hardly a choice at all. She goes with him and his Captain of the guard to the very centre of the kingdom, engaging in a winner-takes-all competition.

As you would expect, she is quite able but is asked to stunt her skills so none know who she really is. The entrants are a mix of soldiers, killers, thieves and the like, but one stands out above the rest: Cain. He is larger than the other competitors and has a strange aura around him that makes Celaena uncomfortable. As the contest continues, more and more entrants are killed outside of competition, the truth of this mystery does not reveal itself until Celaena is visited by the ghost of the first queen.

The story continues to unfold in a somewhat predictable manner, both the captain of the guard and the crown prince falling in love with her. The story itself is surprisingly strong, despite the lack of originality. Suspicion is cast upon certain characters in a measured way that makes the narrative long-winded at times. The character exploration was well worth it, but it was frustrating not understanding the motives of the main character truly. If someone had been left in an internment camp, the psychological damage should have been far more sever, but Celaena seemed fairly normal. The author alludes to this being a coping mechanism, but it didn't seem authentic.

The story has its moments, certainly, but the only reason I read this story was because my sister hates science fiction and fantasy and loved this book, so I thought I would give it a try. Considering the author was sixteen when she wrote the first draft, it is well worth a look and ten times better than say, Eragon, also written by a teenager. What I liked most was that she didn't borrow as heavily from established lore as Christopher Paulini did, and that made all the difference.”

• Rated 5 stars

“I love this book so much!!!!!!! Celaena, I mean Lillian ;), was so kick-butt! This book was so amazing I'd rank it up there with The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. SO good I wanted to read it again RIGHT after I finished:)”

• Rated 4 stars

“A first novel rarely comes with a built in fan base, but author Sarah Maas has amassed quite the enthusiastic readership with an original serial published for the blog world on a writing website called Fictionpress. She honed the character of Celaena Sardothien there and picks up her story after she has spent a year in a prison, literally a salt mine, that few prisoners survive.

Celaena has already established a fearsome reputation as an assassin without peer. Most know of her by reputation only, few recognize her or would suspect her if they did, because of her youth and extraordinary beauty.

The cruel and powerful king of Adarlan has decided to have a life and death contest among the strongest and most ruthless fighters in the kingdom, with the end goal of choosing the Royal Assassin who will serve him for a set number of years in return for total freedom at the end of the service period. The king's Council each have been charged with selecting a representative to sponsor in the contest, and the king's son has decided to select Celaena because of her fearsome reputation even though she is a definite enemy of the king. In his efforts to conquer the known world, the king and his armies have wiped out her parents and the nation in which she was born.

She was taken in as a child by a powerful trainer of assassins and proved to be his most outstanding and effective pupil. It was only because of a betrayal by a trusted associate that she has spent a year in the dreaded prison in Endovier, and is fighting fear of the unknown as she is suddenly taken by soldiers from the prison and presented with this unlikely proposal. Deciding that the unknown must offer more hope than additional years in the salt mine/prison, she agrees to travel with the Captain of the Royal Guard, the Crown Prince and a small batallion of soldiers back to the capitol, where the king and his powerbase live in the splendor of a glass castle.

Celaena has lost weight and strength and stamina in her arduous stay at Endovier. She and the other contestants will have a period to train and test their skills before the pivotal contests take place. The contest certainly reminds the reader of the deadly battles of The Hunger Games, but the contestants are anything but innocent children. The plan has contestants who are the least successful in the preliminary battles returning to whatever place they came from....some soldiers, some prisoners, some from shadowy unknown backgrounds, but all sponsored by one of the king's men.

The Captain of the Royal Guard, Chaol Westfall, is a young but very capable soldier who has proved himself to the king. He is charged with training Celaena. The crown prince, Dorian, is young, handsome, and highly desired by the ladies in the court. Before long his amorous interest are drawn to Celaena, just as her thoughts are drawn to him. But she is also intrigued by Chaol and they grow closer as they train together. But as the preliminary contests begin, some mysterious evil seems to be moving through the castle. The contestants are being found, one by one, not only dead, but with their bodies ripped open and vital organs removed. The only clues Celaena has seen seem to be chalk drawings of mysterious symbols of magic...something that the king has absolutely forbidden, even going so far as to kill magic practitioners and destroy their libraries. And what's more, a spirit of a long dead queen comes to Celaena and charges her with finding and destroying the evil force.

Celaena now must balance not only the delicate triangle developing between Chaol, Dorian and herself, but also the strenuous preparations for the final contest, the pursuit of the unknown and likely supernatural evil, and the intrigues developing among the ladies and gentlemen of the king's court.

Can Celaena possibly come out the winner when the odds seem so incredibly stacked against her? It will take more inner strength than she may have, and even supernatural help, to prevail. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“This Book is SOOO good. I think that everyone should read it. In the book, a teen assasin is sent to a death camp, then freed to serve the king in a compotition to see who is the best person for the job of Kings Champion. This book is from the view of a 18 year old girl, but it is very good. I could not put it down!”

• Rated 1 stars

“I CAN'T. I JUST. NO. It's disingenuous to say I read it, but I feel like I deserve fucking credit for those fifth of the novel I subjected myself to.”

• Rated 2 stars

“I fell head over heels with the cover, of course. Look at it, how could you not? It’s absolutely bad ass! The blurb, by itself, has potential and is quite appealing. And all the glowing reviews out there, well, my expectations were jacked up out of proportion.

Celaena was way too perfect for me – she’s really good at what she does (and I mean, really really good), she’s drop dead gorgeous, there’s a mixture of the kick-ass heroine and yet there also exists the giggly swoony girly girl in her. Maybe I’m just having a case of the green-eyed monster but I just couldn’t like her, much.

I may have mentioned the other month that I’m totally over YA love triangle? I think that was one of the reasons why I didn’t really enjoy this book as it was pretty blatantly obvious which triangle exists and that someone is bound to be hurt. At the end, thought, it wasn’t really that obvious ‘how much’ hurt was experienced but… I’m hurt :( - I liked this character the best in this book!

The problem lies with my expectations plus over publicity… I made the mistake to ‘like’ the Throne of Glass FB page before reading the book and everyday there is some feeds from the page and I was over the book before I began – it was my fault, I should’ve waited but the cover looks so good!! I’m the one who’s really sorry that I didn’t enjoy as much as others – makes me out to be an outcast too! ;p”

• Rated 1 stars

“I just can't finish this one. I had really high expectations, but the reasoning for my dislike may be more of a personal preference.
The 2 things that kept me from continuing: 1. Celaena, I despised her! There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and she definitely crossed it. She was also extremely vain. Those things added together made me hate her. 2. The romance.

If I'm being honest, I probably should have done more research before buying it. It was heavy on romance and light on the action. Celaena was supposed to be so awesome, the best assassin, beautiful, smart, yada yada yada. Why did she have to tell me? Why couldn't she show me? All she seemed to worry about was her clothes and the dirt under her fingernails. Psh, my 2 year old whines less.

They promised me an assassin not a princess!”

• Rated 4 stars

“I enjoyed this book even though it had two elements that piss me off,
1. a love triangle
2. all the good stuff happens at the end and is rushed
Despite all of this I enjoyed the characters, Celeana, Dorian and Chaol are great characters. Getting to know them made up for the fact that the plot and intrigue was really slow to develop and felt rushed towards the end of the book.
Can't wait for book two”