REVIEW: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas

 

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass

Pages: 416

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books

Genre: Young Adult

Amazon Pre-order: Throne of Glass

Release Date: 7th August 2012

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

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 kings 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 exhilirating. 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: 5 out of 5 stars

Throne of Glass was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for Bloomsbury Children's Books.

Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien is feared amongst most as being Adarlan’s most dangerous Assassin, trained by the best since the age of eightshe has spent the past year serving for her crimes in the brutal and deadly salt mines of Endovier.

Given a chance by Prince Dorian Havilliard of Adarlan to leave the mines in exchange for her participation against other criminals in the king’s competition to find a new royal assassin or champion, Celaena readily accepts in the hope she will eventually gain her freedom.

Celaena spends her days in the glass castle of Rifthold, training with the broody Captain of the Royal Guard, Chaol Westfall, which she finds challenging but it is an outlet for the boring court life and is a way for her to regain her strength and compete for the title of Champion.

I absolutely adored Celeana, her sharp wit, snark, intelligence, kick-butt but caring attitude and no fear mentality was refreshing as was the banter between her/Dorian and her/Chaol; she was so much more than a feared and notorious assassin. She was a deadly killer but also loved all things girly and I respected how much she enjoyed her books and music, she was a character I wanted to learn so much about, especially her past.

The boys were just as great, I loved the mysterious Chaol, he was strong, moody, untrusting but also understood Celeana – he rarely let down his guard but when he did it was really sweet. Prince Dorian grew on me as the story progressed but there was something about him I didn’t trust. Both did have appealing qualities.

There was certainly mystery and intrigue surrounding the castle and when a few champions end up brutally murdered Celaena begins to question whether she could be next but with the help of a dead queen, and a bit of research on the unusual Wyrdmarks which appear around the castle grounds she learns a lot more than what she could have ever imagined about the evil which still lurks.

The world building in Throne of Glass was brilliant! magic, fae and faeries supposedly no longer exists and the king has taken over most of the lands in the most brutal of ways, he is relentless and cruel. There were a number of key players out to stop his ruling and to bring back the ways of the past. I found it all completely and utterly mesmerizing and the evil which was about gave me the creeps.

I really liked each of the secondary characters, even those that made brief appearances such as Phillipa Spindlehead, Nox and Brullo. Cain & Lady Kaltain were horrible, their behavior made me squirm and I was curious about Princess Nehemia and her true purpose and motivation for being in Adarlan.

The plot was solid, the pacing perfection and the promise of more to come utterly intriguing! I was riveted by Ms. Maas beautiful writing and amazing characters and cant wait to read more in this series.

I don’t think I can rave about or recommend this novel enough; it has left me thinking about it long after I finished it which isn’t something that has happened in a long while, I was enthralled from the very first page. The fantasy world Ms. Maas has created is pure brilliance.

Overall, Throne of Glass is a wonderful debut filled with action, mystery, endearing characters and a world that will leave you with a million and one more questions. I am so looking forward to following Celeana’s journey in the next book.