Book Review : Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Publisher/Year: Bloomsbury Publishing, August 2012
Genre: Young Adult , Fantasy 

‘She dropped into a crouch. As the blade sailed overhead, she lashed out at his legs. He didn't even have the time to cry out as she swept his feet out from under him, nor did he have the time to raise his weapon before she crouched over his chest, the iron-coated tip of the staff at his throat. She brought her mouth close to his ear. "My name is Celaena Sardothien," she whispered.’

Plot

Celaena Sardothien is a 18 year old trained assassin who is sentenced to work in the most dangerous mines in Endovier after getting caught by the King of Adarlan. Three years later she is given the choice to either keep working in the mines until her inevitable death or to fight for a chance to become the King's Champion and to have her freedom back. To her there is no choice.Live or die, she will be free.

Level of Feels

Honestly I expected to be a raving maniac throughout this book the way everyone on booktube and on the book blogasphere were raving about it but I kept my cool the entire time. I did shed an almost tear at one point but I don't even remember why. Hmmm 

More on the plot and My Thoughts
*Spoilers*

So we start off this book when we meet Calena for the first time while working in the mines in Endovier also known as a death camp. The crown prince Dorian who is a total dream boat by the way and his guards which includes Chaol arrive at the mines and escort Celaena to Adarlan. Ofcourse Celaena has no idea why she is being taken back to the palace after she had been sentenced to death and suspected that the King wished to have her killed instead of waiting for her to die in the mines. It is only after she met with Dorian that he informed her that he wants to sponsor her in the competition that will determine who will become the King's champion. This competition will be grueling and Celaena will have to compete against 24 of Erilea's most dangerous criminals because the best part of becoming the King's champion is the chance at freedom! The prospect of freedom is what initially sells Celaena to the idea of becoming the champion to the man who had sent her to her death and who has destroyed every inkling of magic that once was in Erilea.

Once at the castle Celeana starts her training with Chaol and meets her fellow competitors. Most of whom don't seem like much of a threat but even Celaena has to do a double take when she spots Cain. A man who is as vicious and skilled as he looks and maybe even more so. While focussed on the competition and her training Celaena finds herself not only slowly but surely entangled in some kind of love triangle but she also discovers that there is something lurking in the castle and as champions begin to turn up dead all around the castle the competition begins to take a dark turn. Celeana is visited by a Fairy queen who had died more than a thousand years ago and told that there is more at stake for her in this championship. It is no longer her freedom that is on the line but the future of Erilea hangs in the balance.


With everything around her falling apart Celeana has to try and keep her barings in the competition as well as in the castle. She's not safe anywhere. Will her rein as Ardarlan's greatest assassin come to an end  or will she win her freedom.

*****

I went into this book with my expectations fairly sky high. Literally everyone was raving about it and I couldn't find one bad review on the interwebs. I obviously had to pick it up for myself and see what all the hype was about.

First of all I have to say that I actually did enjoy reading this book. The main character Celaena was funny, bad ass and whip smart which was such a great change of pace for me since I've been reading a lot of books where the heroine is such a Judy broody downer (haha you get my point). Celaena was nothing like that she could be a little too concerned about her appearance at times but she made up for it by being a total book nerd which is something you wouldn't expect from Adarlan's greatest assassin but made for a really good character trait. Side note: I think we could be the best of friends:)

I enjoyed the fight scenes but with the exception of the last duel they were all pretty predictable to me. I absolutely loathed Cain I wanted him to die pretty much from our first introduction, he basically just gave me goose bumps and not in a good way in a way that makes you want to go take a shower and scrub yourself raw.

To me the love triangle wasn't so much as forced but I don't think that It was necessary to the plot at all. I don't know maybe I'll have a bit more clarity once I've read the second book but in the first one it just seemed like Dorian was a forced love interest. I mean she doesn't even really like him all that much(-_-)
Over all I did enjoy this book. As I said before I wasn't in love with the book I can probably go a while without finding out what happens next but I wont because apparently the second and the third books are much better. Here's to hoping that's true!

Who should read this book?

They say that if you are a fan of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones that you will love this book but I personally do not agree. A: nothing will ever be as good as the first book in the Hunger Games Trilogy and B: Fans of Game of Thrones will read this and think that it is a total girl fest which I'm sure they will not enjoy as much. I will however recommend this to people who loved reading Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers.
Read the first 2 Chapters of Throne of Glass here

Have you read this book? What were your thoughts? We should discuss:)