Thursday, December 12, 2013

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title:  Throne of Glass
Author:  Sarah J. Maas
Genre:  YA fantasy
Series:  Throne of Glass #1
Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA
Pages:  404, paperback
Acquired via:  BEA giveaway


Rating:  

Synopsis (from goodreads):  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.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Why did it take me so long to read this?!  I had to go to jury duty the past two days, so I figured I'd bring a book for all the time you spend waiting.  I grabbed the first book in my TBR pile that caught my eye, and it was this one.  As soon as I started reading it, I was hooked.  I didn't want to put it down, even when they called me to be possibly selected for a jury (I wasn't).

Throne of Glass is an amazing fantasy novel with great characters, good world-building, and a fast-paced & exciting plot.  I'm practically hitting myself for not picking up Crown of Midnight at BEA too, because then I could be reading that right now.

I love the characters in this book so much.  They're three-dimensional and interesting, and Maas does a good job with character development.  As more details about each of the characters were revealed throughout the story, I got more and more attached to them.  Celaena is a kick-ass heroine with more depth to her than simply just being a killing machine.  And I was so worried that Prince Dorian was going to be one of those typical handsome and smug ("sexy-and-I-know-it") princes that would annoy me.  But then his personality turned out to be so much better than that.  Mostly though, I love Chaol Westfall - the strong, silent Captain of the Guard.  Definitely my favorite character thus far.

The writing and the world-building are also fantastic.  The way Maas describes Celaena's world just made me feel like I was there.  I also enjoyed the way she builds up the history throughout the book, rather than having a long introductory prologue or chapter that goes on and on.  It kept the book from losing its fast pace.  The story's constant movement made the book "unputdownable".

And of course the romance.  How can I talk about this book without bringing up that romantic tension?  It's built up slowly and realistically (hooray for no insta-love), and while it is definitely a love triangle, it's a really well-written one, one you could actually see happening.  Especially since both of the men in the triangle are great characters, and you could see Celaena with either one of them.

I cannot wait until I can get my hands on the next book, because this one was so awesome!


1 comment:

  1. I can't believe I still haven't read this one! I finally bought my own copy after picking it from the library a long time ago and not being able to get to it before I had to return it. So happy to see your enthusiasm for it! I really need to read this one in 2014 :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for commenting! I always appreciate reading what you have to say.