Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass (#1)
Genres: Young Adult, Adventure, Fantasy
Published: August 2, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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.

Review ~

Oh man, this was good. If you were wondering, I am Team CHAOL! Not Durian, Dorian. Yes, Chaol, and to all you Dorian fans out there, I won't be ranting much about Dorian(probably will, but not much), so stayed tuned! Haha. Okay, let me tell you that I loved the world building and the character building too(also known as: character development). The thing I didn't like was the storyline. I mean, it was alright, but I feel like it's not a young adult storyline, it's a middle grade one. I just couldn't feel it.

"Libraries were full of ideas–perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

Let's start with the character building/development. I like the word "building" better, but I'll use development. So, yea. Umm, I don't know. Sarah J. Maas did a wonderful job creating the characters though, I loved their personalities, each had their own. Even Dorian had his own(obviously). There's always that bad ass dude(in which this case, is Chaol)who's like the perfect guy with the strength and knowledge. Well, his ranking isn't quite high(Captain of the guards), so he listens to Dorian 24/7 which is god dang annoying(well, he listens to Dorain because they're good friend, but still, it's annoying.). And then we have Dorian, the guy who's ranking is top notch(not exactly)and can basically command people to do whatever he feels like they should do(depending if they've received orders from the King/Queen). I REALLY don't know. I can't really describe the feeling I get when I read this novel filled with well written and developed characters. I just love her writing of the characters and I'm very excited to read Crown of Midnight, and to see what new characters there will be.

“We all bear scars,... Mine just happen to be more visible than most.”

The love triangle. I must say I wasn't much of a fan of it(because Team Chaol, you know?), but I liked it better than the other love triangles from other books. Chaol had to back down, Dorian stepped up. It kept going back and forth, back and forth. One thing I liked was the fact that Calaena wasn't going to let her love interest conquer her life/assassin skills. What I mean was: She didn't choose.

“Names are not important. It's what lies inside of you that matters.”

Why didn't I like the storyline? Well, I kind of explained it in the first paragraph, but I'll say it less vaguely. Let's try it again. I did NOT like the storyline. It sucked balls. Okay, not that bad, but it wasn't the captivating point of this novel. The characters and the very detailed world were the elements that kept me reading. I don't know(3rd time I said it?), I just wasn't feeling it to be so interesting. Calaena wasn't the pissy, sympathetic kind of protagonist you would hate to read, but she kind made the whole plot less Young Adult-ish. Overall, I really like Sarah J. Maas' writing, I can simply imagine her typing/writing with her hands flowing freely with amazingly vivid details and fascinating characters!