Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
pages: 416
released: August 2012
publisher: Bloomsbury
cover love: ♥♥♥♥
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 exhilarating. 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. (from Goodreads)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 9/3/2012 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET
Review:
So Throne of Glass has been all over the radar for the last couple of months. I’ve read review after review praising its glory. I came across it at BEA when Sarah J. Maas was standing right in front of me on an autograph line talking about it. I took a mental note of her name and went around looking for her book. I was really excited to see what Celaena the Assassin, a castle made entirely of glass and a deadly competition had to offer.
Honestly, after reading it, I can’t fathom what all the fuss was about.
Celaena Sardothien is a captured assassin serving her time as a slave in the salt mines of Endovier when she’s offered freedom in the form of a competition to become the King’s Champion. Many months at the castle, she trains and is put to small test trials against 23 other opponents (all men) where one is always eliminated. Soon after the trials begin, her opponents are being found brutally murdered all over the castle and Celaena fears she might be next. With the help of a little research and a little magic, she tries to figure out why and what is killing them and how she may stop it before it reaches her.
I had a few issues with this book. First off, there’s way too much telling and not enough showing. There’s also too much emphasis on Celaena’s assassin abilities and not enough evidence to prove it. Right from the first chapter, the word “assassin” is sprinkled heavily around, along with a few threats about how many men this said assassin can take down in a matter of minutes. She’s known as one of the most feared murderers yet her actions and personality do nothing to back up these claims. And neither does the treatment she receives from the captain, his guards and everyone else perusing the castle. Celaena is only treated like the deadly killer she claims to be in the beginning, on her travels to Rifthold. She’s shackled and watched over carefully. Now, once she arrives at the castle, she has her own suite, someone to tend to her needs, beautiful gowns to wear and many many books to read. Not to mention complete access to the whole castle. Really? This is how you treat the legendary Adarlan’s Assassin?
Because Celaena’s assassin title is so stressed in Throne of Glass, I expected a lot of action and fantasy elements to swim all over the pages but mostly got a pretty girl, walking around in pretty dresses and two men falling for her. In between her flirting with the Dorian (aka the Crown Prince) and Chaol, the Captain of the Royal Guard and wondering who is killing her competitors, there is very very little adventure to follow. The scenes involving the tests she endures to weed out the weakest link are glossed over heavily and the big duel at the end to determine the winner wasn’t exciting at all. All she had to to win is engage in a sword fight…that’s it??? All those months of training and sweat and tests and you can’t have something just on the brink of challenging for the finale? FAIL! I didn’t really see the point of having all those tests if it all came down to swordplay in the end.
Throne of Glass is a book built on convenience. It bends and sways to the liking of the characters and it made everything seem unrealistic because of it. I never felt like Celaena was a danger to anybody or that she was in danger herself. I never connected with her or the story. It wasn’t terrible but at the same time it wasn’t as fascinating as it was made out to be. I feel like there was a lot of potential there to make the story more interesting.
Damn it, I had such high hopes for this book. Everybody raved about it. But it really fell short of my expectations. I won’t be coming back for seconds.
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