Description from Goodreads:
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 exhilirating. 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.
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I had been dying to read Throne of Glass since the first time I heard about it. Everything it about it sounded perfect: an original idea, a high fantasy setting, a female assassin (who happens to be the best of all), action is guaranteed by taking a look at the description, and there seems to be even a little romance thing going on! I'm not going to lie, my expectations were sky high, and unfortunately they weren't fully met. Nevertheless, I found the book entertaining from the beginning to the end.
I adore the idea that the main character is a notorious assassin. How cool is that?! Like one can imagine, Celaena definitely is one the most kick-ass heroines there are out there. Even though we don't get the full demonstration of her skills, she definitely has the attitude of a warrior - she is excellent, she knows it, and isn't afraid to show it. She doesn't care what the others think about, but thrives only for own purposes.
But Celaena isn't only this tough, cold-blooded warrior. To be honest, she can also be the complete opposite. She also is very beautiful, flirty and fragile. I really like the idea of the characters being multidimensional, but Celaena's emotional swings were rather extreme. So extreme, it got even annoying at times. I do understand she has had a rough patch for a looong time now, but I think Maas could have tone it down a bit. I didn't find it extremely realistic her first to be dancing and laughing in a ball, and the next second, crying in her suite.
Throne of Glass was filled with action and mystery. I really loved the fact that there was almost constantly something going on, even though the pacing was a little off from time to time. Despite the fact that it was rather predictable who was behind the murders, I enjoyed Celaena's quest to solve them. The mystery was surrounded by the magic element. I wish the author would have given a slightly bigger role for the magic or not at all - I felt a bit confused whether it is going to be thing in the future books, or did she just want to add only in the first book; at first the magic element was really overwhelming and the next it was completely subdued.
There also was a love triangle going on. The Prince Dorian and The Captain of Royal Guard both become infatuated with beautiful Celaena, even though at the beginning it isn't so obvious. I have to admit that Celaena doesn't end up with the guy that I was hoping to be the main love interest. I'm not going to say who it was, I want to leave it as a surprise. Nevertheless, I'm hoping the situation will change in the future books!
In the end, I found Throne of Glass as an enjoyable read! I know that I ranted quite a bit and brought up quite many things that I didn't like, but I did like the book in general. As the book was Sarah J. Maas first novel, I think she is going to step up with her future books. In fact, ironically I have even higher expectations for the book 2 than I had for the book 1!
I adore the idea that the main character is a notorious assassin. How cool is that?! Like one can imagine, Celaena definitely is one the most kick-ass heroines there are out there. Even though we don't get the full demonstration of her skills, she definitely has the attitude of a warrior - she is excellent, she knows it, and isn't afraid to show it. She doesn't care what the others think about, but thrives only for own purposes.
But Celaena isn't only this tough, cold-blooded warrior. To be honest, she can also be the complete opposite. She also is very beautiful, flirty and fragile. I really like the idea of the characters being multidimensional, but Celaena's emotional swings were rather extreme. So extreme, it got even annoying at times. I do understand she has had a rough patch for a looong time now, but I think Maas could have tone it down a bit. I didn't find it extremely realistic her first to be dancing and laughing in a ball, and the next second, crying in her suite.
Throne of Glass was filled with action and mystery. I really loved the fact that there was almost constantly something going on, even though the pacing was a little off from time to time. Despite the fact that it was rather predictable who was behind the murders, I enjoyed Celaena's quest to solve them. The mystery was surrounded by the magic element. I wish the author would have given a slightly bigger role for the magic or not at all - I felt a bit confused whether it is going to be thing in the future books, or did she just want to add only in the first book; at first the magic element was really overwhelming and the next it was completely subdued.
There also was a love triangle going on. The Prince Dorian and The Captain of Royal Guard both become infatuated with beautiful Celaena, even though at the beginning it isn't so obvious. I have to admit that Celaena doesn't end up with the guy that I was hoping to be the main love interest. I'm not going to say who it was, I want to leave it as a surprise. Nevertheless, I'm hoping the situation will change in the future books!
In the end, I found Throne of Glass as an enjoyable read! I know that I ranted quite a bit and brought up quite many things that I didn't like, but I did like the book in general. As the book was Sarah J. Maas first novel, I think she is going to step up with her future books. In fact, ironically I have even higher expectations for the book 2 than I had for the book 1!
“In the garden, ____ stared up at the young woman's balcony, watching as she waltzed alone, lost in her dreams. But he knew her thoughts weren't of him.
She stopped and stared upward. Even from a distance, he could see the blush upon her cheeks. She seemed young—no, new. It made his chest ache..
Still, he watched, watched until she sighed and went inside. She never bothered to look below.”
☆☆☆
I'm sorry you didn't love it, what a great review! I just finished it today and I absolutely loved it!
ReplyDelete-Scott Reads It!
It definitely was good, but not my favourites unfortunately. :( But I did love the book 2, Crown of Midnight! That one is probably one of my favourite books at the moment. :) Thanks for commenting!
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