Throne of Glass

by Sarah J Maas

"I will end you."

"Does my hair look okay?"

*Originally called Queen of Glass*

Type: Book One of Throne of Glass

POV: Multi-third person; Celaena, Chaol & Dorian

Rating: 4/5 stars

Cover ~ A+

An A+ for cover #1. As for cover #2, let's just say good recovery with the second publication.... (as always, click on the covers to go to Goodreads for more book info)
Never judge a book by its cover! I first saw the right cover and kept pushing this book further down my to-read shelf! Big mistake. HUGE. (lol at my Pretty Women reference)

Plot ~ A

Celaena Sardothien is the most notorious assassin in Adarlan and she has done the impossible: she has survived one year in the salt mines of Endovier. After enduring a lifetimes worth of brutal work and punishments within the course of one year, she is dragged before the Crowned Prince who has a tantalizing offer for her. Celaena is offered freedom on one condition: she must act as Prince Dorian's champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves, 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 will serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. She must endure tough training, suffer through life at court, and avoid the prince who is starting to show much more interest in her. But when a contestant turns up dead, followed by another soon after, is anyone is the royal castle safe? Can Celaena find the killer before she becomes the next victim? As the assassin investigates, she uncovers a destiny that may be a link to her past....

Characters ~ B

Celaena (Sell-laynah) Sardothien (Sar-doth-ee-en) is an 18-years old (loved that she was older/closer to my age-- it seems like nowadays most female characters are 16 which frustrates me to no end....) and has become the most feared assassin in Adarlan. She is a badass, with a soft side. There is more to her than meets the eye. She has a dark and secretive past that she tries to avoid and even completely ignore.

"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."

Prince Dorian seems down to earth, but I just could not like the guy. He just seems too needy and I am just not attracted to him. He is looking for approval from his father which is why he found the best assassin in Adarlan to win his father's contest.

Chaol Westfall is the Captain of the Guard who is in charge of Celaena's training and seems to understand Celaena best. He seems really dark in this book, he likes to hide in the shadows, which I found intriguing.
(I am team Chaol, by the way, though it does not look good for my team in this book...)

Writing ~ B

I have currently read the first three books of this series and am anxiously waiting for the fourth to release on September 1st 2015! This book is so much more than meets the eye! Being the first book in the series, I think this was mainly focused on introducing the reader to the new world. I can say, with all honesty, the series gets SO much better as you read. I mean the third book: WOW! After reading this book, I became a huge fan of Sarah Maas' work. She has a brilliant imagination and I love her world building. I think it is safe to say that I will buy anything she publishes in the future. Back to TOG: it was a excellent first book to the series. At times I wished there was more bloodshed and less to do with the court life, but it was not too frilly or girly. If you gave it at least a 3/5 stars, I would most definitely recommend proceeding to the next book. There is a lot of things in this book that do not make sense unless you continue reading. You find out why Celaena is who she is, and each character grows significantly. It seems like the plot will completely flip back when you think back to this book, it will make perfect sense. Maas drops plenty of crumbs in this book to lead to the answers in the next ones. Love, love, love this series.

Rating: 4 Stars

My tags: love-triangle, assassins, badass-female-character, fae, high fantasy, first-in-series, YA, romance, action