Throne of Glass
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Genre: YA Fantasy, Medieval Fiction
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's, Penguin Canada
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads Synopsis
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.
My Thoughts
I am a little sad that I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I was thoroughly entertained while reading it, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Fantasy with a little bit of Medieval setting mixed in. There were many elements in this novel that I loved, and the biggest of them being the main protagonist. Celaena is a strong and independent young woman who will do anything to attain the freedom she has always wanted. I loved that she was a mystery throughout the entire novel. We never really understand her past or the reasons behind her becoming an assassin, although we are given clues. This mystery leaves some intrigue for the rest of the series.
I also loved the contrast between Celaena and the other female characters in the novel. It is through these comparisons that we really see how different she is from the society that surrounds her.
I felt myself a little confused about Celaena's relationship with the Prince. I felt that the past that we were allowed to see didn't favor the Prince or his Father, and I guess I just thought her disgust for what they did to her people would have hindered her admiration for him a little more than it did. Although I liked that their relationship highlighted some of Celaena's character flaws, it in no way hindered or tarnished my view of her character as a whole. But I will say that I liked the other love interest a lot more than the Prince, and I am very excited to see where that relationship goes in future novels, because I have been routing for this person since the beginning :)
The writing in this novel was extremely vivid and enthralling, I felt myself emersed into the story on more than one occasion, to the point that I didn't realize how much time had passed. I loved the action scenes the most because Sarah Maas has a real talent for writing very intricate fighting scenes that seem very real when you read them.
There was one writing technique that got under my skin a bit and that was when Celaena was refered to as "The Assassain." I felt that this was a little redundent because the entire novel was written in third person, and it would have been better to just call her by her name. We know that she is an assassin and the reference was a bit of a distraction for me as I read.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, just simply for the fact that it was extremely entertaining from beginning to end.
3 comments
Hi!
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Rainy Day Reads
www.rainydayreads.com
I am looking forward to reading this book. I have heard so many good things.
ReplyDeleteI nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award! Check out my post here: http://theapbookclub.blogspot.com/2012/08/versatile-blogger-nomination.html
I've been wanting to read this book for a long time, it sounds really good and I love fantasy and medieval settings. Thanks for the review!
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