Book Review–Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass honestly started out as a book that I didn’t really care for and then as the story continued on, I fell in love with.  So I decided to get this book because of all of the hype I hear constantly on this series.  I see it on youtube, and on blogs, and every time I walk into a bookstore and so I decided I just finally need to pick it up.

The story follows Celaena Sardothien, one of the greatest assassins in the world.  Celaena, when we meet her, is rotting in Salt Mines, where she was sent as her punishment after she was caught for being an assassin.  But then Dorian, the Crown Prince, comes to visit her and offer her a deal.  If she goes with him, she will go to Rifthold and compete against twenty-three other killers, thieves, and warriors, to try to become the King’s Champion, basically the King’s personal assassin.  If she wins, she would be contracted to do whatever the King wishes for four years, and then after her servitude, she would be granted her freedom.  Celaena agrees and thus enters the competition.  But when the other potential champions start being murdered viciously by an unknown force, Celaena must fight to survive and find an evil that threatens to destroy everything.

So I started out really not caring for this book but as the story continued, I fell deeper and deeper into the story.  Celaena is honestly not my favorite character ever, I find her to be kind of vain and show-offy.  And for somebody who claims to hate the King and everyone who stands with him, which would include his son, she sure does fall for the son rather quickly.  One of my biggest annoyances with young adult novels is the love triangle, and this one has one that seemed to come on too soon.  Personally my favorite character of the novel was Princess Nehemia.  She becomes friends with Celaena but she holds some secrets in her that we find out later in the story that make her even more awesome then she already is.  She, like Celaena, is kind of a bad ass and she’s also not your typical princess in that she’s not stuffy and she doesn’t rely on others to protect her.  She’s also incredibly smart and I really hope that we see more of her in the later novels.  I also really like Chaol, the Captain of the Guard.  He is Dorian’s best friend and also Celaena’s trainer during the competition as well as the one leading her security and I really ship him and Celaena over Dorian and Celaena.

As you get farther into the story you find out about this magic that used to exist in the world, before the King destroyed everything and killed the people who used it, and it was just so neat.  You also find out some of the characters aren’t exactly what they seem to be, including the King himself.  I really look forward to picking up the next book in this series and really recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy read.