Bookish Monday ~ Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 404 (hardcover)

Published Date: 7th August, 2012

Genre: Fantasy

Status: Throne of Glass Series (Book 1)

Synopsis from Goodreads: 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 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 four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. 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.

***

This novel made me want to smack someone and I do not know why. After reading it I had the wildest dream that I myself became an assassin and killed people (I faint at the sight of blood, ironic much!). It was an interesting read to say the least. Did I enjoy it as much as The Assassin's Blade? Not really.

I feel like The Assassin’s Blade had a lot more to offer in terms of action and making Celaena look like a strong assassin. It gave a vibe that she could do something and was the best at it. I found myself straining to find that in this novel but it was mostly about everyone including Celaena boasting about her being the best (ironically, she gets beat up way too much for my liking!).

Dorian is a character one can easily fall in love with, he is expected to be a bad person because his father is one, but in reality, he is such a sweetheart!

Chaol on the other hand I found to be slightly annoying for some reason, like he was too clingy. He is indeed a lovable character but this thought kept occurring to me sometimes. 

The fight scenes in this novel were either too short or was not described enough to get a good picture out of it. When the fights were actually shown, well, Celaena seemed to be on the weaker edge of that scenario.

Even so, there was a good connection that I had to the novel that made me want to stay up a while longer on a weekday to actually keep reading it to see what happened to Celaena in the end of it. 

P.S. can we talk about this book cover? I have the paperback edition of the next 2 books and ordered the 4th in hardcover, the cover's material feels amazing!!! Just the way the woman is portrayed in all these covers make an image of Celaena pop into your head to be a great assassin! Just take a second and look at it! 

There is also another version of the book cover with just a girl's face on it, I personally did not find that as attractive as this one.

Overall, read the series people!!!

 

BookNerdSue