So I know I'm extremely late to the party on this one, even though this has been on my TBR list for so so so long. Throne of Glass has been a cult favourite for years now but up until recently I hadn't really been too interested in reading fantasy books. As I got interested in the genre more I knew that this had to be my next read considering how many people loved it. Initially I wasn't sure whether to do a review, purely because I know there's already so many, but I thought maybe there's people who live a hole and haven't read it yet. Just like me.
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 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.
My Review
Characters
I'd heard that the main character Celaena was known as a 'badass' assassin which really pulled me in. I love strong female characters especially badass ones. However, I was slightly disappointed as in my opinion I didn't feel like she was very badass. Granted she was a good assassin and had some major fighting skills, but I couldn't help but feel like she still acted like a damsel in distress at times. Even though this slightly bothered me it wasn't a major issue for me and I still loved her character as a whole. Considering this is the first book in the series I think it set up her character nicely for the rest of the series and I'm intrigued to see how she will develop.
There were also two main male characters. Prince Dorian and Captain Westfall. I have to say that I liked both these characters but slightly favoured Captain Westfall. I do however think that both these characters could of done with more development but once again I'm willing to forgive it because I'm hoping that will come throughout the rest of the series.
Plot
Okay, so let's just get out of the way. I DO NOT like the way the romance turned out in this book. There's a love triangle going on and I'm just really not a fan of that. Regardless of that though I felt as though the romance was slightly rushed and abrupt. I feel like it really has potential in the future though.
As for the actual plot, I thought it was fantastic. I was completely gripped from the start and just needed to know what what going to happen. I felt like it was a really original plot and I couldn't see anything coming, which I loved. I also feel like this set up the rest of the series perfectly because there's so many ways this book could go and I'm incredibly excited to read the rest of the books.
Writing
I've never read anything by Sarah J. Maas before now so I had no idea whether I'd enjoy her writing style or not. I have to say that I think she's a fantastic writer and I found myself completely engrossed in the book. However, there isn't anything notably different about her writing style to many other authors. This didn't bother me at all though, I'm not looking for different, I'm looking for good!
Overall
I can honestly say that I really enjoyed this book, even though I had some problems with it and felt like 'hype' slightly affected my opinion I still gave it a 4/5 stars of Goodreads and I can't wait to carry on with the rest of the series. I'm excited to see where it takes me and what is going to happen to Celaena and all the other characters. If by some chance you haven't read this then I highly recommend it!
Thanks for reading! Have you read this book? Or do you plan to? Let me know what your thoughts are!
