Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: Hardcover, 404 pages
Release Date: August 7, 2012
Source: Mid-Columbia Libraries
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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 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.

My Review:

First of all, I just want to say that there’s going to be lots of flailing in this review and just a general sense of freaking out. Because this book took a piece of my soul. I was so enthralled with everything: the story, the characters, the romance. My heart was racing almost this entire book and I marked so many passages that I absolutely adored. I don’t even know how I’m going to choose which ones to include in this review. Maybe I’ll just put them all and this will be one giant awesome quote. Fine. I’ll narrow it down to two or three. Okay, I’m done. Ready for my review?

Celaena is an assassin who has been working in the salt mines of Endovier as punishment for her crimes. She has survived an entire year, but then one day, the Crown Prince shows up and offers her a proposition. She can come back to the castle with him and participate in a competition to become the King’s Champion. If she wins, she signs a four year contract, serving the King. After the four years are over, she’s free. Really, truly free. Celaena readily accepts and heads back to Adarlan to compete.

In this world that Maas has created, magic has been banned and the King of Adarlan is slowly taking over every country he comes across. The King is pretty much the most evil person ever. He wasn’t even present for most of the book, but the little parts that he was, I hated him with a burning passion. He is cruel and ruthless. He will stop at nothing to conquer the world. But there’s something dark about the King. Something that he’s hiding. We sort of find out what it is, but not to the full extent and I’m dying to know what he’s truly up to.

Celaena was such an amazing main character. She is hopelessly broken and damaged. She has the blood of many on her hands. She was a slave in the salt mines of Endovier and withstood daily whippings and beatings. But through all of this, Celaena is still able to smile. She is still able to laugh and joke. These experiences have not hardened her heart, have not turned her into a cold-blooded killer. Rather, they have shaped who she is. They have made her the strong, fierce woman that we are presented with in the book. But although she is strong, she is also weak. This is what truly made her such an outstanding character. I don’t think I’ve ever loved an MC as much as this one.

“I like music because when I hear it, I…I lose myself within myself, if that makes sense. I become empty and full all at once, and I can feel the whole earth roiling around me. When I play, I’m not…for once, I’m not destroying. I’m creating.”         –Celaena Sardothien

Love triangle time! I know. Love triangles are really overdone. But this one. THIS ONE. It literally ripped my soul apart. The love triangle in this book destroyed me. Bachelor #1: Crown Prince Dorian. Dorian was sweet, kind, funny, and at times swoony.

“And…no matter how frivolous and twisted that competition was, I’m grateful it brought you into my life. As long as I live, I’ll always be thankful for that.”                                                      -Dorian Havilliard

I mean, read that line guys. Read it! Who wouldn’t swoon over something like that? And that’s what made this love triangle so heart-wrenching. Because Dorian truly loves her. And he’s a good person. He is going to make a great King someday. But I couldn’t root for him. Because I was in love with another man…

Bachelor #2: Chaol Westfall. He’s Captain of the Royal Guard. I just love guards, don’t you? Chaol is sarcastic, funny, and at times gruff. He is careful to hide his feelings for Celaena, though there was no hiding them from me. There’s just something about Chaol that I fell in love with. He refuses to voice his feelings for Celaena and it drove me crazy. But the reason that he didn’t was because he felt it would be inappropriate and I also think he knew how Dorian felt and was being a good friend. Honor. I’m going to start crying right now. There was a scene during the final Test of the Competition between Celaena and Chaol where I was literally trying to claw my way into the book. It was so moving and breathtaking and I just can’t. I can’t even. (Told you there would be flails and freak outs.) The fact that Chaol was so destroyed over what he had to do at the end (I won’t spoil it) made him even sexier. He’s a new Top Book Boyfriend guys. He might even be the top book boyfriend. It’s real close between him and Warner now. I have a feeling he will bump Warner after I read Crown of Midnight. *Gasp*

“Their eyes met, and Chaol didn’t hide his smile as she grinned at him. Perhaps four years with her might not be enough.”      –Chaol Westfall

This is definitely my new favorite fantasy series guys. I thought The Girl of Fire and Thorns was good. It is. I absolutely adore that series, but this book just absolutely blew me away. It stunned me into silence. I had to sit there after reading for like half an hour just digesting everything that had happened. There is mystery and suspense. Plot twists and action. Heartbreaking romance. The story was amazing. The characters were spectacular. There were so many feels in this book that I literally need a few days to recover. So sorry if this review is a bit incoherent, but I just can’t really put into words how much I love this book. If you haven’t read it yet, go buy it right now. That’s an order. You will not regret it, I promise. This is literally my new favorite book ever. Seriously. I’m not joking. I want to start reading it over again right now. Happy reading all!

Have you read this book? What did you think? Are you Team Dorian or Team Chaol? Did you get all the feels like I did?