Review : Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Posted by on February 7, 2016 1:08 am in 3.5 stars reads | 0 comments

throne of glassThrone of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Pages : 404
Genre : YA, Fantasy
Series : Throne of Glass, book 1
My Rating : 3.5/5

About the Book  :

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 four years and then be granted her freedom.

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.

My Thoughts :

Oh, Throne of Glass! How long I have waited to read you!

Once upon a time, when it was first released, I wasn’t so sure about Sarah J. Maas’ fantasy series. The cover was, in itself, okay, but not really inspiring. And yet, the reviews kept coming, each new one more glorious, and I decided to give it a try. I got 50 pages in I think before I put it away.

The past week was a bit tough for me and I needed something light and fun and a bit magical to read. Throne of Glass felt like it could be what I needed, and happily, I was right.

Despite its high fantasy type of setting, Throne of Glass is actually quite easy to get into. The author is careful not to share huge amounts of worldbuilding, leaving just enough to nourish your imagination while you read. Celeana’s fantasy world is also quite standard when it comes to fantasy : kingdoms fighting, princesses in fine dresses, magic made illegal, etc. The narration is engaging, the pacing is good, and the twists and revelations keep things interesting.

There’s a lot of good to be said about the book, but there were also a few aspects I enjoyed less. The first one was the romance. I (mostly) don’t read romance novels, but I do love some romance in my stories. However, Celeana’s love life was so unoriginal, and so lacking in subtlety, it really did nothing for me. I liked Dorian and Choal as characters, and both have some entertaining banter with the all-amazing Celeana, but I wish the romance would have come at a slower, more natural pace. I’m also not a fan of love triangles, so this certainly didn’t help.

The second thing that bothered me was how perfect Celeana was. Oh, she has a bit of a temper, she’s not in the best shape at the start of the story and she’s also not the best at guessing poisons (but still quite good at it). Other than that? She’s pretty much awesome at everything : she’s gorgeous, athletic, witty, an excellent assassin, curious, a bookworm, intelligent, great with a sword, great with a staff, great with a bow, great with daggers, great at climbing walls, great with animals… I might have forgotten a few, but I’d say this is quite a list of achievements for an 18 years old lady! I’m hoping further novels give her some flaws and expand on her past; I’m willing to accept most of her perfection without blinking (too much) if something in her blood (magic? fea? child of gods?) justifies it.

Despite these flaws, I really enjoyed Throne of Glass. I had a great time with the book, which offered me exactly the right kind of entertainment just when I needed it. It was so easy to slip into Celeana’s world, that I went on to read the sequel as soon as I finished with this one. It’s also supposedly better, and I can’t wait to see exactly why – stay tuned for a review of Crown of Midnight soon!

(As a side note : If I continue to enjoy the series, I’m really, really, really tempted to try to get my hands on a hardcover copy of the book with the alternate cover, which matches the rest of the series. It’s such a better representation of Celeana, I believe it would look great on my shelves!)

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