"Still the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back"
Celaena Sardothien has spent the past year in the slave mines of Endovier. She's the world's best assassin, but she was betrayed…
The Crown Prince offers her a deal; Celaena represents him in a tournament to find the king a champion to use as his personal assassin, and after four years, she can finally reclaim her freedom. Celaena is all at once provoked by the prince, protected by the captain of the guard and befriended by a foreign princess… and someone starts picking off the contestants.
Maas's world is rich in culture and history. Ten years ago, however, the king banned magic, slaughtered many Fae and began his overthrow of royal families. Maas's vivid descriptions transport you to Erilea so that you're standing with Celaena throughout her (mis)adventures. The sprawling medieval-style world is brought alive by detailed imagery of open landscapes bordered with mysterious forests and cloud-topped mountains.
Throne of Glass has been criticised by some for its protagonist being a world famous deadly assassin and yet enjoying dresses and make up. In my opinion, it makes it even better! Celaena is still a teenage girl; these things make her more realistic and more easy to relate to. I'd love to be able to fight like a badass but it doesn't mean I couldn't still like to look nice doing it! This doesn't mean that main characters like Katsa from 'Graceling' are bad for not being girly enough, I just like Maas's particular and different take on girls in combative settings.
The main point of view is obviously Celaena but it is mixed with little instalments of Prince Dorian and Captain of the Guard Chaol which allows you to get other perspectives, seeing how they view Celaena, and get to know them better as they become more and more important to the storyline and begin to start their own. Often in young adult novels, the dreaded Love Triangle occurs, driving a rift between characters and starting an endless ship/OTP war online, but Throne of Glass in my opinion doesn't have one. The friendship is more of a Harry-Potter-golden-trio relationship. That doesn't mean there aren't some hints at a possible love story…
Maas manages to flawlessly blend heartbreaking drama, which allows you to see right to the heart of the characters and connect with them, with laugh out loud humour at the easy banter between the characters as they poke fun at each other.
Throne of Glass is a breathtaking first instalment to the series. You feel completely at home immersed in the world. Maas eases you in by setting off with a fairly simple storyline of a tournament where the protagonist aims to be champion. But the underlying main storyline takes off in book two, Crown of Midnight, allowing you to ease yourself in and fall in love with the characters gradually rather than tumble in head-first.
I hate to give books five star ratings as I feel a book can always be improved, but Throne of Glass will forever remain a firm favourite on my shelf as I find it appeals to everything I like; a strong female lead; a fantasy world; and a deep and gripping storyline full of political intrigue and betrayal, leaving me wanting more, all with a dash of humour and romance. I can't fault it.
5 Stars.
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