Sunday 8 September 2013

Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.


In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?





Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: August 2nd 2012
Source: Purchased

Rating: 4 of 5 stars


Thoughts:

Libraries were full of ideas - perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.

Throne of Glass stole my heart on the first page. We are introduced to Celaena Sardothien, a young assassin. She's arrogant - very arrogant - but has the skill to back it up. She has just endured a year of slavery in the mines when she's offered a way out: a competition to become the King's Champion. 

I had expected this to be High Fantasy (which it is - partly), but I didn't expect the paranormal part of the book. After the initial shock, though, I really enjoyed it and immersed myself in it. 

One of the best parts of this novel is Celaena. I immensely enjoyed her fun character. She's very arrogant - and I can see why some people would dislike her - and I loved it. She's just one of those characters that almost need their arrogance to make them real. Sure, she was a bit full of herself, but she was such an ass-kicking and awesome character that it can easily be overlooked. I mean, how can you not love someone who says stuff like this:

"Here's a lesson for you, Weaopns Master," she said, stalking past him. "Give me real men to fight. Then maybe I'll bother trying."

Go, Celaena!

The only slight issue I had with her is that she was that good at seventeen. How does one become the world's greatest assassin at seventeen? And pretty much unbeatable, too. However, it's something I can forgive because I was enjoying the novel and Celaena's character so much.

The writing was overall pretty good, but there's one trend of Maas' I noticed:

Oh, how wrong he was!

Oh, how she adored candy!

You see what I'm getting at? There were just a bit too much of these little hiccups in the writing for my taste. The phrase "Oh, how..." just feels a bit fake to me. Besides, would the world's greatest assassin really say that? It's a minor issue, though, and the rest of the writing is solid and flows easily. 

The other characters were well developed too - especially Nehemia. Nehemia, Nehemia, Nehemia! She's a black woman from an under-appreciated part of the country, and she was above each and every character in teh whole novel. She's kind, but fierce. She was a good friend to Celaena: she had her back and even trained a bit with Celaena. And damn if that girl isn't powerful and deadly. She's just awesome, and I love Maas for creating a character that consist of two (or maybe three) minority groups and making her the best of all. 

The love interests - Dorian and Chaol - were pretty well developed too, and their relationships with Celaena were build up slowly. I even think they speak of 'love', which is a huge plus in my eyes. Dorian seemed to be the main love interest with the story, but I just didn't like him that much. I don't know why, but he was working on my nerves. I preferred Chaol, and I hear he plays a bigger part in Crown of Midnight. I was also very pleased with the ending: (spoilery, so I'll make the text white) Celaena dumps Dorian. Not only was I cheering because I didn't like Dorian that much, but also because she dumps him, not the other way around. And she didn't spend any time moping around, so major props for that!

The biggest flaw of the novel, for me, was the villain. It was painfully obvious from the start who it was. It was even so obvious that I thought Maas was just leading us on a wrong path to make someone very unexpected the villain. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. I was sorely disappointed by that, but that fight on the end at least made up for it a little.

Overall, Throne of Glass is an engrossing novel that features a solid plot, strong characters, and a slowly build-up relationship. It left me craving for Crown of Midnight, which I will read very soon. 

6 comments:

  1. I don't know if I'd say that the fantasy aspect of the book is "paranormal" per se, because that kind of implies that the world the book is set in is our actual world, in a sense. I think that the magic is incorporated in "high fantasy".

    I actually really love Dorian. I liked him in Throne of Glass and adored him in Crown of Midnight. Although of course Chaol is the better choice for Celaena :)

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    1. Hmm, that might be right! Thanks for pointing it out. To me, any paranormal aspect usually means that I'll classify it as paranormal or partly paranormal. But you're right, so thanks.

      Yes, he was pretty nice! I just didn't really feel him, although I don't know why.

      Delete
  2. CoM is WAY better than ToG, trust me. I love Chaol but Celaena felt too arrogant and un-kick-ass. I'm glad you enjoyed it overal!

    Awesome review, Celine! <33

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    1. Ooh, I've seen ravey reviews everywhere! I can't wait to read it :D

      Thanks, <3

      Delete
  3. Yay, yet another glowing review for Throne of Glass! Oh, how I liked your mention of the jarring writing, I'll have to watch out for that. I also kind of love the character of Nehemia. Can't wait to read this one!

    Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I saw that phrase a little too much. But otherwise, this was pretty good! And yes, Nehemia, she was AWESOME. Underestimated by everyone, and the best of them all.

      Hope you get to read it soon!

      Delete

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