Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Goodreads Summary:

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. 
Her opponents are men-thieves and 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'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. 
Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined

Release Date: August 7, 2012
Series? Yes! #1
Pages: 416 (Hardcover)



LONG STORY SHORT:

If this was school and I was the teacher and had to grade Throne of Glass it would get an A- from me and I'd smile, pat the book on the shoulder and say "Very well done." Or - to sound a bit less freakish - I'd tell the author that. Because Throne of Glass is just that: very well done. Realistic, developed and developing characters, well figured-out plot, interesting relationships, one or two fabulous twists and a showdown ending. The only thing that's missing is the blow that throws me off my feet.

REVIEW:

Throne of Glass is a great fantasy story that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. Although the main character, Celeana was a bit strange to me at first I liked her more and more the further the story went, the more I got to know the character and her history and the more of her personality was revealed. Celeana is incredibly strong, has her own opinion on things but on the other hand shows this girly side that makes her love puppies and everything that has to do with fancy dresses and balls and all that good stuff.

I know that many people were let down a bit by the love interests in this book and their lack of personality and development and I must say, thinking back now I get what they mean. The guys really just appeared, had their scene and left it and didn't really show any flaws or edges or anything. They were a bit flat, I'll admit that, but the thing is I didn't even notice because I fell in love with one of them (okay, Dorian) immediately and was concerned about nothing but their happy ending throughout the rest of the book.

Anyway, if there is a happy ending you have to find out yourself and I highly recommend you do, because Throne of Glass is the kind of book that you might not keep thinking of days after you finished it, but you definitely are sad to leave the characters and move on to another story.

All in all, if all this hasn't got you convinced just yet, let me tell you the finale is the bomb as I couldn't put the book out of my hands until I knew how it ended. Oh, and the plot twists that totally caught me by surprise? One more reason to read Throne of Glass.

RATING: 3 out of 3 Smarties