Throne of Glass: My Thoughts on a Long-Awaited Read

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

My Rating: 4.5/5 Stars!

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Publish Date: August 2nd, 2012

Received: Christmas Present!!!!

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

“Nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose. You were meant to come to this castle, just as you were meant to be an assassin.”

When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King’s Champion and be released from prison.

Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.

And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she’d have again: a friend.

But something evil dwells in the castle—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.

Opening Sentence: “After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point.”

Musings:

Throne of Glass was nothing like I expected it to be, but also just as good as I had hoped. Waiting so long to get to read this series has put a lot of expectations in my head both good and sometimes not as good. Reading A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury adding the most to these expectations. I thought that Throne of Glass was going to be kick ass, full of that spicy romance that ACOMAF had, and brewing with intensity and plot tension. What I got was more subdued, yet still kick ass and fun, with a lot more ambiguous love relations, and it made me love reading Throne of Glass all the more.

In ACOTAR and ACOMAF, the ships are clear, you got Tamlin and you got Rhysand and we all know that things are clear in how those relationships are meant to go. However, in Throne of Glass you have The Crown Prince and The Captain of The Guard and at some point you realize you don’t know if you ship Celaena with either of them. The thing is, at least for me, I know I don’t ship Celaena with The Crown Prince in any way and I feel like he doesn’t match her fire or her person in any real way. With the Captain of the Guard I see way more potential and I kinda like them together, but I need to read more about them for it to feel right (Plus, I get an overwhelming feeling that their may be another or several others potentially in Celaena’s future that have yet to be seen). Honestly, it feels so odd to me that I feel so indecisive about shipping someone and that usually doesn’t happen. However, I am happy to say that this book has shaken things up for me in that way.

One thing that I do LOVE however, is the fact that we have a girl who cares as much about a gorgeous dress as she does being an assassin. I felt so powerful reading this book because of that cool balance between amazing fights and just wanting to get dressed to go to a ball or for no real reason at all. As well as Celaena’s love of books which is a treat I really liked having with someone so outwardly harsh and strong.

Something I’m looking forward to is the magic stuff that I believe will be happening later on. We get some cool magicish stuff in TOG, but I’m sensing some hints for some more magic to come in future books and I’m so excited for it!

Throne of Glass for me was fun, addictive, oddly both slower and faster paced then I thought, and ultimately an amazing good time. I know I am in it for the long haul with this series and as of right now Crown of Midnight is calling my name and I think it’s time to see where Celaena’s story goes from here!

Thanks so much for reading! All of you TOG readers out there shout down in the comments below. What are your thoughts on this phenomenon of a series?

-Till next time!