Tuesday 20 August 2013

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

13519397
Age Group: YA
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Pub Date: August 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
                                                                          
I had mixed feelings coming into Throne of Glass, mostly because I had been hearing a lot of different opinions about it. My conclusion is: I totally get why people love or hate it, and I really can’t decide how I feel.

Celaena Sardothien is an assassin in slavery until the Crown Prince, Dorian, pulls her out to become his champion in a competition held by his father to find the new royal assassin. Along the way, she is trained by the handsome Captain of Guard, Chaol, whilst trying to fit into the royal court. Yes, it’s a little ridiculous, but sometimes you have to shove away logic and sit back and enjoy the ride.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the love triangle. Shockingly, I am not opposed to love triangles, as over-used as they are, as long as they are done well and this wasn’t the worst one I’ve read. I liked both of the male characters, and it wasn’t blatantly obvious which one Celaena was going to pick, so my issue wasn’t with the triangle itself, but more with the number of clichés used. Up-close-and-personal-training, masquerade balls, childhood-friends-turned-love-rivals… Do I need to go on? I quickly stopped reading this as a fantasy book with a healthy dollop of romance, but as a romance with a fantasy background. Which is fine, as long as the writer knows what she’s writing.

I found both the plot and writing jumpy. It felt like Maas couldn’t decide if she wanted to write a riveting romance or an action novel, and the book wasn’t long enough to accommodate both. I found the stark contrast between cute and real romance, and grisly murders really bizarre. And the writing was painful to read. It was melodramatic, over-written, and sometimes made no sense. “Her blood grew warm and glittering” is an example of the problems I had.

Once I got past the writing and accepted the crazy premises, I actually enjoyed reading the book. I really loved the characters: Dorian was fun and Chaol serious, but most importantly both seemed like they had some depth to them. As for Celaena? I liked her character, but I didn’t feel like it fitted with her story. She was cool, witty, confident, and smart, but she didn’t strike me as an assassin. As much as I liked this version of Celaena, I wanted her to be darker and grittier, as the only way I kept on remembering that she was an assassin was because everyone kept on saying it.

Throne of Glass was a guilty pleasure for me. It was good in a bad way, and I understand why so many people love it. Despite it all, I found it really addictive and fun to read. However, if you’re looking for a more meaningful read about a teenage assassin, I would look elsewhere.

Sum It Up: Romantic fantasy, which is at sometimes a bit contrived and far-fetched, but really fun to read.


Rating: 6/10

10 comments:

  1. Great review Rachael (I found it on Goodreads!) I've heard lots of hype about this one and I'm glad it checks out. The love triangle here sounds like a good one, and I love how the main character is an assassin.

    Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

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    1. Thank you! I have to say the love triangle was pretty good, and so was the concept, even if it was all over the place

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  2. Hi Rachel,
    Great Review! I'm glad you enjoyed it even though some things irked you. It's funny you mentioned the whole forgotten Assasin thing because I too had to be reminded. I found it to be a intresting novel as I'd never done that whole Assasin thing before. I guess it's not to be taken too seriously cos like you said it was a fun novel. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us :)

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    1. Thanks Sunny :). And I see where you're coming from with why you liked it, and agreed with it shouldn't be taken too seriously.

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  3. Great review! I've been thinking about reading this for a while now but I'm not usually a big fan of love triangles, but I think I might give it a go! :)

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    1. Thanks! And this was definitely one of the better love triangle books I've read :)

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  4. Hi Rachael, I too found this review on Goodreads, and followed your blog. Great review! I was on the fence about this book, but now I'm adding it to my TBR. :)

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    1. Hey, thanks! And its a good book if you don't go into it expecting much :)

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  5. I loved this book, but I know what you mean when you say it was hard to believe Celaena was an assassin. I was expecting her to be grittier as well, she was meant to be the best! She got pretty sick looking at those murders, so how did she have the heart to kill someone?
    Great review Rachael!
    ~Tilly @ Hardcore Heroines

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    1. Thanks Tilly! I think Celeana's character issue re-highlights my point about me feeling like Maas didn't fully know what she was writing. I think if she made it into more of a fantasy-adventure Celeana wouldn have been grittier. But then would the book have been less enjoyable with less romance? So many questions...

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