Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (Review)

Series: Throne of Glass #1

Genre: Fantasy

Book Length: 404 pages

Publication Date: May 7th, 2013 (original publication date: August 7th, 2012)

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Format: Paperback

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Synopsis:

 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.

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You guys are probably aware that Heir of Fire, the third book in this series, is being released in only a couple of days, so this is the perfect time to marathon the first three books so you could be on the bandwagon before every human ever joins it. And it is a great time for me to discuss this first book today.

This is a fantastic read. I would say that if you are new to the fantasy world, or you want to try the genre out, this would be one of the best books to start out with. However, before I get on with the positives, I want to discuss a couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of or didn't like.

First off, is Celaena herself. I did not like the fact that, despite her talking on and on about how great of an assassin she was and what she could do, we never really got to see it in this first book. Now, I have a strong feeling we will actually see more of that in Crown of Midnight (I actual have started it while writing this, but only the first chapter). In the climax, we kind of did but it only lasted like one minute before it ended.

Another thing that really got on my nerves was Kaltain. Now, it's not because of what she did late in the novel, but it's because I didn't really see a point in her existing in at leas the first book. I have a feeling she will play a more prominent role in the sequel, but she was just annoying, and she infuriated me so much that I was considering giving this book three stars (don't worry I didn't).

One more thing that I didn't like was how this first book just felt...too simple. I mean, we all knew from the very beginning that Celaena was going to be the one who won and became the King's Champion. And...I don't want to say anything else for spoilers but that's what the majority of the book felt to me.

But aside from that, I loved this book a whole lot.

The world is so massive and there is so much in that it makes me excited there will be six books in this series. I can not wait to see how it expands in the future books because there is so much potential and I don't doubt Sarah J. Maas. The writing was probably my favorite part of the whole book. It is just fantastic, especially from a debut novel. It is just so descriptive and it was just great.

The characters...I had mixed feelings about them. I loved some, I hated some, I liked a few and I didn't like a few. My favorite character would have to be Nehemia. She just felt like such a cool character and person! The relationships, at times, seemed to take over the book and plot, but I do like the love triangle that was set up and it feels a little realistic for this world. (BTW, I am Team Dorian).

So, I would give Throne of Glass a full 4/5 stars. It was fantastic, fast-paced first book in this saga. While I feel mixed for the characters and relationships, the world building and writing really stood out in my mind and I can't wait to see what this series becomes in Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire.