Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's USA
Source: ARC via ALA
Find it Here:  Goodreads, Amazon

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

My thoughts:

Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!!! Now I understand what all the hype is about and why everyone is loving this series sssssoooo much!! And why is it that Throne of Glass has been sitting on my shelves for almost a year and a half? I picked this book up at ALA 2012 having no idea what it was. There was just this pile of books sitting on a table and the publicists told me to take one! So I did and a year and half later….whoa!!!!

The story of Celaena is as fascinating as the world she lives in. We meet her at a death camp where has been sentenced for being a world famous assassin. She works in the salt mines and has surprisingly survived this place for a year when the Prince of Adarlan has an offer she just can’t refuse. She goes to the castle to compete in a five month competition in the hopes of becoming the King’s champion which means she would still be an assassin just killing the people that the King wants her to kill. And then there’s the mystery of where all the magic went when the King banned magic and why it all disappeared so quickly! This world is going to be quite fascinating when we get more into the history of it because apparently there are also magical beings that most people believe don’t exist anymore! We’ll see about that.

I am not usually a big fan of love triangles especially when they just pop up out of nowhere. But the love triangle in Throne of Glass is a pretty good one. Both Prince Dorian and Chaol (the captain of the guards) keep their distance from Celaena because they know that she is dangerous and possibly going to try to escape. But as they both spend more time with her they both get to know her better and see the person she really is and they both start to fall in love with her!! Yes, it’s good and it happens slowly and I am literally torn between the two of them. They both have their strengths and weaknesses but yet both of them can be really good for her. I’m definitely interested to see where the love part of the story goes in Crown of Midnight!

Celaena is such a great heroine!! She’s likable, funny, strong, sensitive, kind and an animal lover! She’s funny at all the right moments and serious when she needs to be. She’s not one of those annoying sarcastic characters that I've been seeing a lot of in YA recently. You know the character: something as serious as life and death is happening but the main character always makes some stupid, witty comment in her mind like, “I’m about to fight the lord of the giants. No big deal. It can’t be much harder than climbing the rope in P.E.” I hate shit like that. I want to punch characters like that. And Celaena is NOT like that at all!

I loved Throne of Glass so much! It’s an instant favorite series for me! And from what I've heard Crown of Midnight is just as good and as exciting! It’s a really quick read and for those who love fantasy out there, it is now part of the top five that I would recommend in fantasy!