The Good, The Bad, and The Spoilers: Throne of Glass

After multiple tries, I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED IT!

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. 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. -goodreads.com summary

INTRO

I believe I originally bought Throne of Glass freshman year when I was going to a convention that Sarah J Maas was signing at. I got the book signed and began attempting to read it, but I stopped not too far into the novel for some reason that I don’t remember. After that, I attempted to pick the novel up at least one other time but don’t remember getting very far. After finally picking up A Court of Thorns and Roses recently and really enjoying the series, I decided it was time to go back and give Throne of Glass one last shot! And this time I had no trouble getting through it! I have concluded that I must’ve been in some reading slump the other times I tried to read it, because I really enjoyed the read and I can’t wait to see where the series goes!

THE GOOD

Celaena: AKA MY FAV DORK ASSASIN! Can we just apricate the fact that the most fearsome assassin LOVES PUPPIES AND READING! Honestly, I really love that not only can she kick butt, but she is also a total dork. I can totally imagine her and Dorian sitting around talking about books with Fleetfoot curled up next to them :)

Fleetfoot: Adorable and my favorite character… nuff said

Romance: I actually enjoyed the subtle romance in Throne of Glass. Hopefully it doesn’t turn into some annoying love triangle since I really think she has more chemistry with Dorian but I guess we’ll see where that goes. As long as the romance doesn’t begin to take over the story, I think I’ll be happy.

MAGIC: Yeah this doesn’t really come up until the second half but I love it! I love that there is dark magic still lurking in this kingdom and people might just be messing with it. I want to know more about how magic works and I hope that opens the door to more high fantasy elements (Fae come in at some point right…?) I believe Sarah J Maas is at her best when she is writing these high fantasy elements so consider me excited!

THE BAD

The First Half: The plot about a king having a tournament to find an assassin was nothing new. For the first half of Throne of Glass, I kept thinking how it was really similar to other novels, and that left me a little bored. But then the second half kicked in and it kind of found its own identity. I love the second half so much more than the first so hopefully that will be what the rest of the series is more like.

OVERALL

I enjoyed reading Throne of Glass. It’s nothing too new or special but hopefully, similar to A Court of Thorns and Roses, the series will really find its stride in the second novel. I look forward to seeing how the series and characters progress in the future novels. I mostly recommend to anyone who finds the synopsis interesting or has enjoyed Sarah J Maas’s other books.

BEWARE! SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

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***SPOILERS***

THE ENTIRE SECOND HALF: Like I said before, the second half gets so much better! It’s like a completely different novel! When Celaena found the passage in her bedroom is when things began to pick up for me. Now magic elements have been introduced so I really can’t wait to see where that goes!

The End Duel: SPEAKING OF MAGIC! The reveal that Cain was the one killing the champions was meh. Nothing too special but I’m cool with it. But I pictured that end duel between the two of them trippy as heck! I really loved it. The fact that Celaena was seeing all these demonic creatures when no one else could see them I imagine as kind of hilarious (she probably looked insane), but that would be terrifying if I was Celaena. Chaol killing Cain at the end was kind of surprising to me and I’m glad he didn’t get in lots of trouble for doing it.