Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Overview
Genre: FantasyPROS:
engrossing fantasy elements, murder mystery excitement, heroine hall of famerCONS:
mildly confusing plot leapfroggingThrone of Glass is an entertaining read for lovers of strong heroines, beautiful fantasy, and understated, satisfying romance.
REVIEW:
Celaena Sardothien, aka her country Adarlan’s greatest assassin, is given a glimmer of hope when Prince Dorian plucks her from the salt mine slavery that has been her life for the past year. He gives her the opportunity to represent him in a competition against 23 other murderers and criminals to become the King’s Champion.
While she may not like the idea of fighting for the amusement of the cold-hearted conquerer who sentenced her, or the “prize” of working for him for four years before she’s set free, Celaena is smart enough to take whatever chance at freedom she can get.
Once Celaena arrives at the glass castle in Rifthold, we are sucked into an exciting tale of action, romance, and magic. Throne of Glass is getting a lot of hype, so I was a bit wary while reading it (almost DARING it to be overrated). I have to say, it is absolutely deserving of the buzz.
Here are a few reasons this is such an enjoyable read:
Heroine Hall of Famer: Celaena, the Tough Assassin Chick
Celaena is the kind of heroine a fantasy/action/adventure junkie wants to read about—strong, beautiful, deadly, witty—and not afraid to show it. She absolutely deserves to stand alongside my favorite YA ladies of high badassery—Alanna, Katsa, Ismae and Rose Hathaway (to name a few). She relishes costume changes and fashion—if Throne of Glass ever became a TV show, she’d have as colorful and varied a wardrobe week to week as Sydney Bristow did in Alias. Best of all, she is a complete bookworm! And she has no shame in her reading tastes—from dry historical tomes to adventure stories to bodice rippers.
Unfortunately, because Celaena’s name and reputation precedes her in the competition, her trainer, Captain Chaol Westfall, and sponsor, Prince Dorian, force her to take on a fake name and downplay her abilities to avoid suspicion. But you can’t hold a master assassin down for long. While I do wish we’d seen a bit more of her assassin skills in action outside of the confines of the competition, the few times she does fight at full capacity are thrilling.
Love Triangle (& It’s Not Annoying)
I don’t think I’m spoiling much that hasn’t been hinted at in the synopsis—yes there’s a love triangle. And no, it’s not annoying. The guys don’t just fall in love with Celaena for no good reason, and she doesn’t string them both along. She’s forced to live in the castle with them, and train with one of them. We see her through their eyes frequently, and there is slow-burning friendship and admiration that develops between both guys and Celaena before any googly eyed mooning begins. I will say that one side of the triangle feels more genuine and natural than the other (I’ll leave the subjective LT team declarations to your personal taste buds though).
Supporting Scene Stealers
While Celaena was a wonderful protagonist, my favorite character by far was Nehemia, the visiting Eyllwe princess who takes a liking to Celaena. She’s rebellious and sassy and tough and imperious, and she plays her cards very close to her chest. I won’t say more to avoid spoilers except OH MY GOODNESS IT’S FRIEND LOVE.
Whodunit?
Someone is killing the competitors off in a most gruesome fashion. Since they’re criminals and miscreants, these murders are not enough to stop the competition. Given that Celaena IS one of these competitors, she is pretty motivated to get to the bottom of the murders, and it’s great fun to try to solve the mystery with her.
Intriguing Fantasy
Maas takes wide-ranging familiar fantasy elements (the Fae, parallel universes, demons) and weaves them into something unique—a world that is dark and dangerous and fantastical. I can’t wait to read more about this world and Celaena’s role in it all.
Overall, Throne of Glass is an entertaining read for lovers of strong heroines, beautiful fantasy, and understated, satisfying romance.
My only real complaint about the book is a total nitpick: toward the middle we do a few plot jumps past competitor murders and tests and it left me a teensy bit confused about what happened, who was left, and where all the characters were in the story. It is quickly forgotten when the plot picks up and delivers much welcome action-packed excitement.
Prequel fun:
References to Celaena’s difficult past left me wanting to know more, and I suspect the history that is hinted at but left unexplained unfolds in the prequels. By the end of the story, I was definitely invested and hooked on Celaena’s story, so I’m totally ready to tackle them. Luckily there are FOUR ready for download.
Check out the US trailer:
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My favorite tough chick would have to be Buffy. She is an awesome fighter and she’s sassy too.
Tris from the Divergent Trilogy RULES!!!
Hunger Games, Mockingjay, Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird…those would all be choices among mine as well. And I got some great recs from this post. Thanks!
Princess Adele from the Vampire Empire series kicks tail as does Merit from the Chicagoland Vampire series (adult). For YA I’ve always loved Dru from Strange Angels And as far as tough chicks go in movies, I think anyone would be hard pressed to beat Gina Carano, though Kate Beckinsale would put up a good fight!
My favorite is Katniss! I mean she is so good at shooting and hunting and outsmarting the competition. She’s definitely the fiercest.
My fav toughest chick would have to be Clary from The Mortal Instruments! She never gives up and keeps on fighting!
Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games is so kick-butt.
My favorite tough and dangerous heroine would have to be Tris from Divergent by Veronica Roth. She gradually becomes a force to be reckoned with in her faction and although she faces numerous obstacles and situations that should have broke her spirit, she finds the strength to go on.
Its a tough choice. There are so many, but I think my favorite is definately Katniss. I like her because, yes, she is tough, and yes she is dangerous (her squerriel shooting is superb) but then theres every once in a while when she shows how vulnrable she can be as well. She is tough, but she isn’t invicible.
Ooh, ooh! I heart Aeon Flux. Remember those old throw-back, twisted-ass cartoons that came on MTV? Yeah, that chick is ten kinds of awesome.
I definitely have to say that Katniss is my favorite kick-butt heroine. She is just awesome! But Saba from Blood Red Road is pretty dangerous with her cage fighting
Does Katniss from The Hunger Games count? If not, definitely Rachel Adams from C.J. Redwine’s up and coming Defiance! She was so amazingly kickass.
Books: Katniss, Dru Anderson, and Rose Hathaway
TV: Arya from Game of Thrones
My favorite would have to Rose Hathaway. She kicked butt through out the whole serious and risked her life for the people she loved the most so it shows that she is really noble in what she does.
My favorite tough girl is from the Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce, known as Alanna. ^_^
I liked her because she was not afraid to be different and to go do something she really wanted, even if it was against the laws of the kingdom she served.
I like Raven from the Vampire Kisses series. Eve though she doesn’t really do anything heroic like Katniss and Rose, she does it i her own way. She is very protective of her family and chases away vampires that threaten them and her boyfriend, Alexander. She also faces challenges head on and does whatever she can to help out.
I think that Tris from Divergent was one of my favorite strong and tough characters. I absolutely loved that book and would love to win Throne of Glass.
The first person I thought of was Rose from Vampire Academy!
Hello! My favorite kick-ass heroine would be Katsa from Graceling, Alina Starkov from Shadow and Bone and the our very own Celaena Sardothien! It’s pretty difficult to pick between the three, to be honest. In a movie, out of the top of my head I think my favorite would be the Underworld with Lycans and Vampires <3
Katniss from the Hunger Games
I love Calla from the Nightshade series. She is strong and doesn’t take any bull from anyone! Plus she can morph into a wolf.
My favorite heroine and tough chick would be the bride, Beatrix, from the Kill Bill movies by Quentin Tarentino.
My favorite tough chick of the moment is probably Katniss from the Hunger Games. I know, it’s not very original, but there’s something about her. Her badass abilities aside, she just has this tougher-than-nails spirit.
My favorite would have to be Tris from Divergent/Insurgent series…with Clary from The Mortal Instruments series coming in at a very close second. Katniss was my favorite, up until the last book of the series…although, I’d say she’d be my third favorite.
I like Mary Ann from Intertwined because she does not even know that she is dangerous to the people around her for a long time.
Loved Ismae in Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers.
Katniss Everdeen definitely!
My favorite Female warrior had to be Arya from Eragon. She fought with grace and power and she was absolutely beautiful and ferocious during the battle scene.
My favorite heroine is Catwoman from Batman. She’s tough, and strong enough to take on the most ferocious villians but she’s also complex and interesting. She is super smart and can put up a mean fight against anyone.
I totally agree with you about Katsa, but a few more heroines I would include are Elisa from The Girl of Fire and Thorns (she’s soft spoken at first but WOW does she change–I loved her story arc), Saba from Blood Red Road, Annah from The Dark and Hollow Places, Mary from A Spy in the House, Lina from Between Shades of Gray, and Alina from Shadow and Bone. Just to name a few. =] Great review! Just another one to add to the list that’s making me salivate over this book.
Katniss from Hunger Games.
Vin from the Mistborn Series (Brandon Sanderson)
Violet from the movie Ultra Violet
Tiffany Aching from Terry Pratchett’s books
Tough heroine… Clary Fray most definitely! She’s been through a LOT! Thanks for the chance!
I really liked the Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but Mockingjay was redarted. It was basically 200 pages ofthis happened and then I got seriously injured and blacked out for days and then this happened and I blacked out for days and then THIS happened and I blacked out and when I woke up the war was over!JIGGA WHA GURL.
Favorite tough heroine, that is difficult. I have a few I like, Zoey Redbird from the Marked series and Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy, and definitely Katsa, I mean how could she not be mentioned she is such a beast.
Rose hathaway is my favorite cause she never gives up.
BUFFY!!!
Tessa from the Infernal Devices series ties with Clary from the Mortal Instruments series. They are both tough and kick-butt and overall awesome. They both deal with anything from demon-fighting to lost identity to that sexy guy who lives down the hall.
I love Tris from Divergent, Katniss from The Hunger Games and Dru from Strange Angels
I loved Aria from Under the Never Sky!!!
Donia from the Wicked Lovely Series by Melissa Marr. She isn’t always the hero, but she is certainly tough and dangerous. Don’t ever underestimate her. I believe she is considered something of a heroine…most of the time. (That is what I love about all of Marr’s characters… they aren’t always the hero or villain… except for Bananach. She’s always the villain.)
Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy, she’s awesome!
Favorite touch chick? Oh my goodness how to choose. Katniss from Hunger Games, Rose from Vampire Academy, Tris from Divergent, and I’ve recently added Allison from The Immortal Rules to my list of favorite bad ass heroines.
There are so many awesome tough chicks, how am I to choose? There is Rose from The Vampire Academy series, Katniss from The Hunger Games, Tris from Divergent, Merit from the Chicagoland Vampires series, Ismae from Grave Mercy, Cat from the Night Huntress series, and that’s just to name a few!
Books: Hermione Granger, Katniss Everdeen, June Iparis
TV: Nikita, Kate Beckett, Ziva David, Olivia Dunham, Andy McNally, Annie Walker, Arya Stark, Kahlan Amnell, Sarah Walker