Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Mass

BOOK INFORMATION


Title: Throne Of Glass
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Author: Sarah J. Mass
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Action
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Source: Brought
Published: August 7th 2012 by Bloomsbury

Summery:  Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.
Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament - fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin's heart be melted?

“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me.”

Why I read this book

I read this book because I wanted to know if it would like up to all the hype it’s been getting on Goodreads. And, also this book has a serious case of cover porn going on.

What I thought of the book as a whole
Throne of Glass is one of the first Young Adult Fantasy novels I've ever read,  and it blew me away. I have tried to read fantasy in the past, but with the strange character names and the major world building it can be a little overwhelming. I truly believe this is the fantasy book to choose when first venturing into that genre for the first time.  The world that TOG was set in was really beautiful and magical. . . I really do hope this book gets made into a move or TV show, as I think it would be wonderful to see all the fantastical landscapes and clothing in real life.

Celaena Saradothian - Main Female protagonist
I thought Ceaena was a phenomenal female character, I really did find it easy to connect with her. Of course, It wasn't the whole killing people for a living that made her so relatable, it was the way she wasn't afraid to show her love for clothes and how much of a sweet tooth she had.

“She loved clothes- loved the feeling of silk, of velvet, of satin, of suede and chiffon – and was fascinated by the grace of seams, the intricate perfection of an embroidered surface”

Prince Dorian  - Male Protagonist
I wasn't the biggest fan of Dorian when he was first introduced, I thought he seems arrogant and kind of like an ass, and he still is. . . But his douchiness grew on me throughout the book, you really got to see a softer side to him, but at times his character ark did seem a little predicable, spoiled, rich, prince with daddy issues wants to have an journey with the one girl he can’t have.

Captain Chaol Westfall – Male Protagonist

Ok guys I have to admit. . .  I'm team Chaol

I didn't feel that we got to know that much about Chaol in this book, I’m hoping we will see more of his past and thoughts in the future ones. He was so serious all the time, but we did get to venture into his head a little. But I would have liked to see just a few more pages in his POV as I think it would have helped flesh him out a little. But, just the few pages we got from his perspective made me swoon a little.



The Romance
I loved the romance in this book, or the lack of it. The romance wasn't the focus in this book, which is really uncommon for a YA novel. We have been told that this is going to be a 5 to 6 book series. . . That's a lot of time for love and fluffy scenes. . . Now this book did have gooey and fun scenes but I felt there was just the right amount to keep the reader interested in the Love Triangle, but not make it the main focus of the book.

The Plot
This plot was very interesting, I never felt as though the book was dragging, I absolutely loved the competition aspect of the story , Sarah J. Mass did such an excellent job with it . . . It never felt rushed or repetitive, which is something that I have noticed can happen with competitions or trials in YA books.

My Dislikes
This book did have a few thing that just bugged me a little when reading. First of, I hated that they called The King Of The Assassins the King of the Assassins, It seemed a little odd, I would have much preferred if he was referred to as the leader of the assassins or something like that. . .  The second thing that I noticed was Spelling Mistakes, Now, I'm one of the worst spellers I know, so if I can spot 3 or 4 spelling mistakes it is kind of bad.

Overall Impressions – Fantastic
Throne of glass was a action packed fantasy book. It was really well passed and it never felt repetitive or slow, I would definitely suggest that everyone picks this book up. . .  I am definitely going to read Crown Of Midnight before September so I can pre order Heir of Fire.

What are some of your favourite YA fantasy books ?