Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass 

by Sarah J. Maas

Published: August 7, 2012

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's

Available: Amazon (pre-order)

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 kings 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.

I featured the Throne of Glass book trailer earlier and you can see it here.

Review:
I've never really been into fantasy books, although I absolutely love watching movies based on them. I always find myself lost in these worlds that just don't make sense to me, where I have absolutely no frame of reference to even begin envisioning the characters and what was happening in these (usually) incredibly long stories. But the description of Throne of Glass was so intriguing that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read and review it. Best decision ever!

Maas manages to create a world which feels so full of life without it being overwhelming, mainly because the characters are the focus, while the fantasy elements are simply part of their world and simply help build the mystery. And the characters are amazing.

The main character is Celaena, a trained assassin. She is strong, deadly, brave, intelligent, and independent. She never once relies on anyone else to protect her or even help her. But she is also an eighteen year old girl, who has never had a real friend, who likes looking pretty, and who is drawn in by the charming Prince. This softer side gives her the depth needed for the reader to care for her. She longs for her life to be different, but she doesn't pity herself and she doesn't sit around waiting for her love interests to rescue her.

The other primary characters, Prince Dorian and Chaol (the captain) are both well developed, and the few scenes shown form their points of view add to their depth. Although the two are friends, they are also vastly different. Dorian is a playboy prince use to women falling all over him, while Chaol is much more serious in meeting his responsibilities and making moral choices. By the end of the book both are developed to a certain degree as love interests for Celaena, and although I won't give any hints to her final choice, I was happy with it. I just hope that the next book in the series continues to develop the love triangle in the same smooth and believable way as this first book did.

There is some violence in the book, but considering the main character is an assassin that shouldn't be surprising. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking to read a book with a strong female lead, lots of action, and a bit of romance.