Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Published: August 7, 2012
Publisher:  Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Pages: 416
Series: Throne of Glass #1
My Rating:  3 of 5 stars


Synopsis: 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 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.

My Review: Throne of Glass reminds me of Grave Mercy and it sort of reminds me of Graceling too. The synopsis also made me think of The Hunger Games but thankfully it wasn't anything like that.

I love the idea of a strong female character that can actually give the men a hard time. Celaena wasn't afraid to speak her mind and she's an assassin. But not just any assassin. The best assassin. So Celaena is supposed to be the best assassin in her world but she came off as arrogant and in the beginning of the book she was all talk. I got tired of reading how she could take down a man in three moves I wanted her to actually show me that she could do it. Just telling me that Celaena is an amazing fighter isn't enough for me.

Throne of Glass was also extremely predictable. At one point I guessed who the killer/evil in the castle was but then I thought no it couldn't be. That would be way too obvious. Maas does try to make the reader think its someone else but it was kind of obvious that it was a distraction.

Then there was the love triangle. At first I was perfectly ok with the love triangle but by the end I was kind of annoyed by it. I did not understand Dorian and Celaena. When did she stop hating him? This also leads to the part about Celaena hating the King. Why? It seemed personal but I don't know why she's afraid of him and she hates him. Yes he's killed many people but Celaena is an assassin. She's also killed many people. Then there was also Chaol. His relationship with Celaena felt more real to me. It didn't really seemed forced at all.

There was also the part where Celaena wakes up and finds candy. She of course eats the candy right away. What? She is an assassin in a competition with other questionable people. Why in the world would you eat that candy without knowing who it is from? What if it was poisoned?

At least the book was fairly action packed and Celaena was hilarious. As the book continued I started to like Celaena more especially after she saved Nox. Despite the little annoyances in this book I was completely sucked into Throne of Glass and I will be eagerly awaiting the next one.