Title: Throne Of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: 2nd August 2012
Genre: Fantasy/Young Adult
Rating: ★★★★
Summary:
Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.
Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?
In a nutshell: A female assassin with lots of sass, a tournament and duel, mysterious evil mutilating and killing competitors, unexpected
bonds, friendship and romance!
From a book focusing on an assassin, one might expect a story
filled with assassinations and assassin action; however this is not what Throne
of Glass delivers. There are no actual assassinations and little action until
the latter half of the book, so if you’re expecting a wealth of violence and
action, you may be a little disappointed. Rather, Throne of Glass offers the story of
a typical eighteen year old girl, who just so happens to be an assassin.
Between training and solving magical mysteries, Celaena manages to
spend a generous amount of time fawning over extravagant dresses and her appearance,
to the point where she even asks herself, 'How had she gone from the most
feared prisoner in Endovier to this sappy mess?' However, I found the
inclusion of such femininity quite refreshing; Celaena is both physical strong and
a more than capable assassin whilst retaining her femininity and emotions, breaking the mold of strong female
characters being either one or the other. Celaena is strong, confident and
determined to win her freedom, her perseverance is both inspiring and
compelling. Although at time she is terribly vain and arrogant, I found this
quite excusable as she is the most
notorious assassin in Adarlan and with a wealth of sassy quotes such as 'My
name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or
Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me'
it is hard to dislike her.
Alongside encapsulating a uniquely strong female protagonist, Maas writing is enjoyable and easy
to read. The descriptive
passages are neither lacking nor too heavy, allowing the reader to easily imagine
the world. The world building is not extravagant but it is just enough to complement
the story and Maas throws in some pretty interesting and captivating scenery -
glass castle, wow!
Third person narration works well in Throne of Glass, allowing an
insight into the motivations and mind-set of not only Celaena, but a whole cast
of characters - who may have been misunderstood by Celaena had the book been
written using first person narrative. This makes Throne of Glass fun to read, and while the plot is a
little slow and somewhat predictable (what are the chances of the protagonist
failing the tournament?) unexpected mysteries, relationships and strong character
dynamics keeps the book both captivating and entertaining.
On the topic of character dynamics, the
supporting characters are interesting and well layered; Chaola and Nehemia stand out particularly.
Chaol is Captain of the Guard, stoic and guarded, he keeps his emotions buried
deep down; his true feelings are only implied through gestures and hinted at
through subtleties. His relationship with Celaena develops from one of cold
disregard to warmth as he gradually begins treat her with more acceptance and
respect, despite her assassin status; he even manages to smile in her presence!
The contrast between Celaena’s
and Chaol’s differing personalities is
very entertaining, amusing, and definitely one of the highlights of the novel! Chaol
undergoes a slightly foreseeable but nonetheless interesting character
development which makes him a joy to read about and I highly anticipate discovering
more of backstory in the next book!
Additionally, the inclusion of Nehemia, depicted as both a
person of colour and female friend to Celaena who has a greater purpose in the
story other than simply being another female friend to gossip and discuss boys
with, is both commendable and refreshing! Unfortunately, Prince Dorian lets the side down; although
nice, his character comes across as quite dull. His only major flaw is his failure
to stand up to his father - he begrudgingly carries out his father’s orders but
never makes any significant objections, which was irritating. Dorian
comes across as quite entitled and despite his inner turmoil he disappointingly fails to make any major changes. Here’s to hoping he shows some development in
the next book.
On a similar note, I found
the romance sections of the novel quite boring. A love triangle is implied and I found the
relationship which does develop to be quite awkward and flat. The relationship
seems to be built on lust and mutual good looks, which makes it hard to believe
that one specific character (avoiding spoilers) could harbor such strong feelings
- only supported by the flimsy notion that ‘she's not like all the other girls,
she reads books and knows about mythology’ (cue the eye roll) The
romance might be to some reader’s tastes but in my opinion, there just seemed
to be a lack of chemistry and substance to the relationship.
Overall, if you can get over the lack of assassin action and a bit
of a bland romance, Throne of Glass offers a fun read with a well-rounded
female heroine and interesting cast of supporting characters. Although Throne of Glass has some minor
flaws, Maas’s sets the foundations for a series with lots of potential and
upcoming action; I would definitely recommend a read!
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