Book Review : Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

• Release Date : August 7th 2012

• Genre: Fantasy

• Publisher: Bloomsbury

• Pages: 416

Synopsis: 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.

I was very excited to read Throne of Glass after learning the story originally gained a large following as Queen of Glass on fictionpress.com. I think it’s great when an author has a built-in fandom e.g. Amanda Hocking, Marissa Meyer and Cassandra Clare.  How could you go wrong with a  story and character that enthralled many before it had an official publication?

The first few pages of the novel throws readers into the salt mine prison of Endovier in the magic stripped land of Ardalan. Here Celaena Sardothien a.k.a Ardalan’s Assassin, the country’s most dangerous assassin, is being released into the custody of the crown prince to fight for her freedom in a competition to win the title of the King’s assassin.

The novel starts off strong, but overall the story feels watered down. It seemed like there was supposed to be this fierce competition but it was just really boring. I mean there was very little action involved  and  the other competitors where throwaway characters.

The real star of this novel is Caelana. I mean come on, she is an eighteen year old assassin and I wished the story would have been more focused on her, than on a competition that was more than a little predictable.

When inside the King’s Castle, Celaena must compete in a series of test over the 

course of a few months. This leaves  time in-between  test  for two other mini story lines; including foreign princess staying at court and the ancient queen of Ardalan. Although they seemed more like distractions than storylines

Another character I like in the series was Kaltain. I suppose you could call her an antagonist. She is a young girl at  court who schemes to get the attention of the prince. I sometimes wonder if it’s a good thing when I find myself more interested in the antagonist than the protagonist.

From what I understand from interviews, the novel originally featured  flashbacks that were edited out of the finished copy. I think that is where much of the disconnect comes from. Everyone in the novel knows who Celaena is and her past; they know why she is feared; but the readers don’t. All we know of Ardalan’s Assasin is what we learn from Caelna’s POV.

This novel also features a love triangle between Celaena, Prince Dorian and the Captain Of The Guard. I really didn’t understand why these two men are smitten with Caelena, I just didn’t get the connection. To be honest I had a hard time telling Chaol and Prince Dorian apart.  I mean I guess Dorian was more open than Chaol butwhen it came toChaol/Celaena/Prince Dorian it just bored me.

Much like inThe Goddess Test what didn’t work in the novel was the isolated setting. We hardly ever leave the castle.

There seems to be a running complaint in YA assassin books that the assassins don’t get to assassinate enough,I think this is also one of the downfalls of this books. I’m sure the four novellas released add more padding and depth to the story, however as introductory novel this book left me disappointed.

I wish had the opportunity to read  Throne of Glass in its original incarnation. I would  be really interested to see how the two compare.

Throne Of Glass is an epic fantasy with a few good characters and a storyline tilting more towards love and loyalty than assassination and action. If you are going to read this book I would highly suggest reading the four prequel novellas first. A decent debut novel, but a bit to claustrophobic for my liking.

* ARC Received for review from BookExpo America

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