Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Book one in the Throne of Glass series maintains a passionate following from fans of SJM's work but has much to be desired for new readers just getting into this series.

I question whether I am the target demographic for the SJM fantasy world - while fantasy is one of my favorite genres, I also like the occasional palette cleanser romance and a good scary book. I honestly like a little bit of everything and have some pretty reasonable expectations. My only expectation going into Throne of Glass was that there was no way it was going to be bad given the fact I still find new-to-the-series readers proclaiming their love for this book.

Insert confusion. Did I read the same book?

Celaena is an assassin, serving a sentence in the salt mines with no chance of freedom, until she is plucked from the prison by none other than the Crowned Prince and Captain of the Guard. She is propositioned for a chance to earn her freedom if she wins a competition hosted by the King who is in search of a Champion. If she wins, after 4 years of service as the King's assassin, she will be released.

I knew several chapters into this I wasn't going to have the love for it that others seemed to have. I fully understand that this is SJM in the early stages of her writing and I anticipate things improving as I continue to the series.

**********BOOK REVIEW WITH SPOILERS**********

Characters

Celaena had way too much going on - Assassin that doesn't need training, plays the pianoforte, avid reader, loves nice clothes and shopping, quick-witted, doesn't like/ trust girl friendships, multi-lingual, the belle of the ball, badass, etc. A fictional character can do whatever they want but this - it was like adding frosting to a warm cake. Pretty quickly what was meant to give her character more depth just became too much and unappealing.

Prince Dorian was the least interesting person. Was he meant to come off as mean and harsh when it came to Celaena? Did he only start falling for her because he was bored and lonely? Or because he saw Chaol's interest in her? His sudden desire for her and clinginess was weird and the way she indulged him just made it worse. So when she had to turn him down in the end, choosing herself and her freedom over his attention, it kinda fell flat for me - at least for their relationship, I do think that was one of the few badass choices she made.

Chaol on the other hand - this is how I know I'm totally off base with my perspective - He was my favorite. A take no shit kinda dude, but still protected Celaena even if he didn't trust her and his care/feelings for her felt like a natural development. He reminds me of Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones. He even killed to save her while Dorian was on standby and of no help.

Are we headed in this direction? I hope so!

Plot

I actually really liked the idea that Celaena has to win her ability to be the King's Champion, and will eventually get her freedom. The challenges were kind of lame, and I'm not sure I fully grasped how they were winning/being eliminated if they weren't already killed. Also, I was missing the urgency and concern for the Champions dropping left and right - after the second murder, someone probably should have shut it down. Of course, Celaena was going to win, but I still tried to have fun with the plot twists.

Setting

For the life of me, I must have lost my imagination right before I started reading this book. I could not envision anything - from the glass castle, the rooms, the training, the library... I got nothing. The descriptions of portals, another world, secret passages, an army of dead, fighting scenes... these all sounded so cool but were lacking in depth for me and I found that most of the time I didn't understand how badass Celaena was or couldn't imagine the events unfolding.

Summary

Overall - I have very little to no emotional connection with any of the characters. I think Celaena has potential and I will keep rooting for her. A large portion of the writing lacked connection and detail to elicit the emotion that I crave from a fantasy read.

Some of the scenes were comical and I think that actually brought me some enjoyment in reading this. Books can be a capsule of the times in which they are written - what is considered relevant to readers at the time, to the author, and what draws people in. I laughed at so many parts that just seemed odd - chocolate cake and billiards, goblets of hot cocoa, and the almost youth-like vibe of the romance - playful, lighthearted, not what I was expecting at all.

I'm happy others found a deeper connection and understanding of the story than I may have. I hope to gain a deeper connection with these characters in the next book, Crown of Midnight.

Rating: 2 Stars

Mood: Challenging and adventurous, complicated characters and potential to laugh, a lot.