Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas REVIEW

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Started: 25/02/17

Finished: 10/03/17

Spoilers: No.

Throne of Glass is one of those books I've been putting off reading for a long time. There's been so much hype surrounding this whole series that my expectations were lower, having read so many mixed reviews. It's a series I'm desperate to love. I need a long fantasy series in my life right now, and though this book was pretty average, I might continue with the hope that it'll only get stronger and stronger as it goes.

Setting I love a good map. I actually referred to this quite often, as many of the places were mentioned, which was rather refreshing. I hate it when authors have their own entire world to help build their story but trap themselves in one tiny corner and never make use of the map and reference other places. I'm enjoying this world and would love to see more of it. Shame Celaena spends the entire first book stuck in the castle, but I guess I have world exploration to look forward to in the next few books. Hopefully.

Characters Celaena is strong and feisty, and damn, does she know it. I liked how aware she was of her assets. She's a skilled fighter and killer, she's attractive, she's smart, and she's not afraid to use them to her advantage. She's also observant and very aware of everything happening around her, what she can risk, what she can't. She is a little at risk of being a Mary Sue, but I guess I'll let it slide just once.

Sometimes I liked her, sometimes I didn't. I struggle to decide if she's wild and spirited, or just a whiny bitch.

And, god, she's a moaner. She can come across spoilt at times, if not a little immature. I mean, she's the greatest assassin in the land, she survived longer in the mines than anyone has, she's the only person to almost escape, basically she's one hardy badass, so I'm sure her poor little feet can tolerate a cold floor in the glass castle. The bed's not good enough, the food's not good enough, her clothes aren't good enough . . . Celaena, please, you've only spent a day in the castle and you're already moaning like a pampered princess, have you forgotten your gruelling year in the mines already? Be grateful. Dorian owes you nothing but has provided everything.

I can only hope that she develops and matures as a character as the books go on, cause seriously, I can't listen to her moan for the next five books.

Chaol came across overly grumpy but generally vaguely caring, though I preferred Dorian, to be honest. He seemed pretty decent and was always kind to Celaena. I also enjoyed her friendship with Nehemia. It's nice to see a strong female friendship; normally female characters are the catty rival in books: enter Kaltain. Didn't like her, didn't like her name, found her chapters boring and annoying. Sorry, not sorry.

Plot For a long time, I felt like I was waiting for the book to get started, waiting for shit to go down. I guess I just don't find these 'competition/fight to the death' storylines all that interesting and was hoping for a little more, a more noticeable overlying plot that might hint at the sequel. There were times when the competition felt like a secondary storyline and was often rushed through to get back to the main storyline: the love triangle.

I'm not a big fan of love triangles, though they're more tolerable than Insta-love. This love triangle wasn't too painful either, as both Chaol and Dorian seemed to be on even ground, though she clearly had more moments with Dorian. They both stood a chance at winning her affections and it was never overly obvious which one she preferred.

The final fight chapter was intense as hell, like edge of the seat, page-turningly good. The last seven or so chapters were exactly what I wanted from a book with a badass assassin and mysterious magic; shame the rest of the book wasn't quite so gripping.

Writing Style This book is written better than I was expecting. I thought it would be Snow Like Ashes standard but was pleasantly surprised to find it read like a book actually aimed at adults as well. (YA books can be terribly guilty of reading like middle-grade) So that alone deserves a star from me.

Final Impression An average start, but I guessed that already from a lot of reviews. Apparently, it only gets better from here, so I will try and read the next one.

*edit from 2019 - Given up on the idea of finishing this series. Too much else to read.