Review: Throne of Glass <3

By Rachel
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas Book Cover

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas, published and available to purchase.

Read: September 2014
Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy/Adventure
Source: Purchased
#Pages: 406
Get It Now: Wordery

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Goodreads Synopsis: Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught. Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament – fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

The Review

Emotion

ASDFGHJKL;

I just can’t even cope with this book right now! You guys picked this for me in my Top Ten Tuesday – Books People Tell Me I HAVE To Read poll, and you were all SO RIGHT! I don’t read a lot of fantasy, so I was hesitant to try this one in case I really hated it, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a slow burner initially, and I put this down to the introduction of a whole new world, as it takes a little while for what I’m reading to become “real” in my head when it isn’t based in our world as we know it. But from around the halfway mark there was no way I was putting this book down. In fact, I instantly went on-line and ordered books 2 and 3, as well as the bind-up of the novellas. Then I (im)patiently sat waiting for them to arrive.

I hadn’t felt anticipation like it since the Harry Potter days! I usually prefer waiting until a series is fully released so I can marathon them and not have to play the waiting game. This started by accident, as when I got back into reading most of the popular series were all already out, or the last instalment was due in a few months (The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments). Buying a series in full, to binge, just became the norm for me, so I took a leap of faith with this one, and I’ve fallen head over heels for it! The last book is expected in 2017, and part of me wants to cry, scream and throw a tantrum (after having only read one book), the rest of me is looking forward to the delicious agony of “the wait” that I haven’t felt for so long…

Being someone who doesn’t read fantasy a lot, I thought I would struggle with world-building, and though it took me a few chapters to get into the swing of things, by the halfway point I was completely immersed in this world. Maas writes some great characters. There are the ones you want to be BFFs with, the ones you want to smack, the ones who are so evil they make your skin crawl, the ones who keep you guessing… Just all-round amazing-ness really. I know there are a couple of character traits, if you really wanted to be fussy, that you could pull Maas up on, but puh-lease, this book is so practically perfect in nearly every way that I’m not even going to try. There is a slight love triangle going on, but it’s not a stereotypical one, and I actually enjoyed it (and where it looks like it’s heading!).

I was surprised at how dark the book would get sometimes, especially when it came to the more paranormal aspects of the story. While I wasn’t really expecting it, I found it to be really enjoyable, it was a pleasant surprise. The only negative that irked me slightly was an element of the story that I felt was quite obvious, we had been given a couple of hints as the omniscient reader, but none of the other characters seemed to catch-on, and I just wanted them to figure it out already. But I have to say, even then, Maas managed to put a twist on it that I wasn’t prepared for. Before reading Throne of Glass, I’d heard that it was the weakest of the three that are currently released. If that’s true, then I have a whole lot to look forward to, especially as my gorgeous new books arrived today!

The Rating

5/5

I wanted to knock my rating down to 4.5 because of those minor issues I had with certain more obvious elements of the story, and because it was a slow-starter. BUT, once I’d finished the book I wanted to instantly reread it, when I was just over halfway through I ordered the other three books, and I can’t even tell you how excited I was to find a book/series that truly ignited the LOVE of reading in me that all of us readers experience when we find something we’re excited about, so for all of those reasons, Throne of Glass gets a full house.

Interesting information for fans who want to know if they’re pronouncing names correctly, Maas has released this guide. I was only messing up two of them!

Have you read Throne of Glass yet? Are you addicted?? Tell me in the comments what you think of this series! (No spoilers please!

About Rachel

Avid reader & #bookblogger. Lover of all things business. A fan of drinks & dancing. Ever optimistic. Feminist.

23 Responses

  2. Reviews from a Bookworm

    YAY! So happy you loved this one. I felt the exact same way, I hadn’t been that excited for a series since Harry Potter. I can’t wait for the next book, no idea how I can wait until next year! My only problem with Throne of Glass was that aspects of the story were really predictable, that’s why I gave it 4.5. I love the series though, can’t wait for the next book.

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    1. Rachel

      I wanted to give it 4.5 because of that slight predictability and the fact it was slow to start… but with all those feels and all that excitement, I just had to go 5! I haven’t read the others yet, but they’re staring at me right now!! I’m dreading getting to the end of book three, I don’t want to have to wait forever for the rest of them!! How’s your break going? Doing anything nice? R x

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  4. Trish @ Between My Lines

    I love that you loved this as like you I’m not a huge fantasy reader but I do enjoy some. I have this to read (since last Christmas, opphhs), I’m really excited about reading it soon now. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series just as much.

    Thanks for joining in my feel-good feels feature! I only discovered your blog fairly recently but I always enjoy visiting. Your reviews are well thought out and very articulate and make for interesting reading. I also love your new feature He said, She said as it’s not just a surface level discussion. You are going really deep and getting into the nitty gritty and I love the dual pov. Really looking forward to more of these in the future. And you TTT post caught my eye, I love that your image included the Fall leaves, when you add little extra touches to your posts like that, it does stand out.

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    1. Rachel

      I love, that you love, that I loved it! (I’m seeing that Friends episode in my head right now – do you watch Friends?? – the one where they all find out about Monica and Chandler). Apparently, the series just gets better, and when I looked it up it appears that this is classed as High Fantasy, which makes me really happy, because I didn’t think it was a genre I would ever get into. It always seemed to complicated to me, but apparently some of them are brilliant!

      Thanks for your feel-good comment! It certainly did what it says on the tin! 😀 R x

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  8. BringMyBooks

    I love that you mentioned the anticipation being similar to Harry Potter – I felt the same way! I rarely get involved in long series these days (anything more than a trilogy and I’m out!!). Something about this series (and how many of my twitter/blogverse WERE LOSING THEIR MINDS OVER IT) got me to start reading it – and I’m so glad I did. My anticipation for the fourth book is extreme, and it really is akin to the feeling I had while waiting for the next installment of Harry Potter.

    I’m definitely going to have to do a reread though, because Maas’ books just got progressively longer (and more detailed!) and I don’t want to miss anything important because I forgot a detail from a previous book! Great review, Rachel! 🙂

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    1. Rachel

      This is the first series where I’ve really felt that – probably because I usually start a series when all the books are released too – but also because Maas builds brilliant worlds and great characters. I was so afraid that the hype would really put me off, or that it would struggle to live up to it, but for me it really did and then some! I just can’t cope with the wait for the rest of this series, and it’s going to need to be one hell of a finale…

      I want to reread them already, I’m sure just like with HP, while you enjoy the first read, you’ll pick up more details in further reads and find them just as enjoyable. Must start Crown of Midnight soon, I’ve been in a slump, and it could be just what I need to pull myself out of it.

      Thanks! R x

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  9. bendingoverbookwards

    I wasn’t sure about starting this, but I keep hearing good things so I’ll deffo pick it up soon. Also excited that you loved it so much, even thought its meant to be the weakest- a good sign :). Thanks for the review!

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    1. Rachel

      Oh do! It’s fab! It is supposed to be the weakest, and to be honest it’s a genre I don’t read a lot of, so I can see why big fantasy fans may mark it down slightly, but for me it blew me away. It did take until the second half for me to be hooked as well, so stick with it! R x

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  11. Top Ten Tuesday – My All Time Favourite Reads! |

    […] Popular Pick – Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas – This is a series where I am genuinely super-duper-EXCITED-peeing-my-pants for the next releases. I haven’t felt like this in a long time, the anticipation, the eagerness. It’s so… invigorating! I love Celaena, and Chaol. Chaolaena <3. //My Review// […]

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  17. Review: Queen of Shadows |

    […] took off in Heir of Fire, and it continues to grow and evolve in Queen of Shadows, so much so that Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight now seem simple in comparison. Especially when you also consider all of the […]

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