Throne of Glass

Oct 21

Throne of Glass #1

By Sarah J. Mass

TheStory

Adarlan’s most infamous assassin, Celaena Sardothien, is removed from slavery in Endovier by Crown Prince Dorian and his Captain of the Guard Chaol. After the king decides to host a series of challenges to find his new Champion, Dorian decides that Celaena is his best bet to win the competition. While initially having absolutely zero interest in “performing” for the King only to gain a position serving him, Dorian guarantees her permanent freedom after four years of service.

Celaena agrees to the deal and goes to the glass castle where she will live during the competition. Throughout the competition, relationships change and grow across the glass castle - some for the better, some for the worse. But Celaena soon realizes that her world may have been small in comparison to what is arising in Erilea. Everyone is not who they seem and there are worse evils lurking about than Celaena ever imagined.

TheReview

So, this book IS a fantasy book but it really plays out more like a mystery than anything else. There is quite a bit of world building throughout the book that will clearly be important throughout the series - so pay attention to it. Then of course there is the romance - which we all know and love. A bit of a love triangle so keep that in mind. But truly, at its core, this book reads a mystery. Lots of mysteries going around. And given that this is a seven (technically eight) book series, those mysteries don’t necessarily all get answered in this first book, so you’ll have to keep reading if you want all the answers.

The secrets and the backstories of the characters are rather vague, and those particularly left me with a lot of questions that BETTER get answered eventually (and not after I’ve forgotten what my questions even were!). In addition, some of the storyline is a little convoluted by the end but my assumption is that a lot of it will be answered in the next book. It seemed to set up for relatively quick resolution.

Now, back to the love triangle business. Frankly, I don’t find neither Chaol nor Dorian to be anything to write home about. Dorian is low-key a little man-child… and high-key a spoiled brat. Chaol is so judgy. He’s also a hateful, arrogant little thing. Honestly, I don’t think either of them is a good choice especially considering Celaena is a badass assassin with gray morality at best. Dorian is too much of a sissypants to handle her and Chaol is so judgemental that I just can’t see him bending to accept her as she is unless he changes everything about himself. Which I also don’t foresee.

It wasn’t the greatest book but I was also expecting a bit more fantasy (though there was some) as opposed to mystery. However, it did give me high hope for the rest of the series. There was so much foreshadowing in this book. I don’t know exactly what is coming for the series but I feel that this book was just a set up for the rest of the series to be dope.