Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

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About the Book

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. 

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world. 

Review

Let me start off by saying, that I’ve heard many incredible things about Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. The booktube world is practically in love with her. So it is safe to say my expectations for this book were pretty high. 

After reading less than three chapters of Throne of Glass, I stopped. It started off too slow for me but I couldn’t fault it. I hadn’t got to the heart of the book yet. I finally decided to give it another go but was disappointed. I think part of that is because my expectations were too high. In theory, this book would have been perfect for me. I mean who doesn’t want to read a book about an assassin? I do understand the hype. It has all the ingredients there, it just wasn’t for me. 

One of the main issue, I had was that it was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. Did Celaena kill anyone in this book? I don’t think she did. We were told she was this great assassin, but we were never shown. Don’t get me wrong, I completely believe she is a great assassin; we’re only reminded once every page. I just wanted some proof that she was. 

Also, a lot of the action happened off screen. We barely got much of the challenges for the competition. I would have enjoyed for there to have been more about the competition. Personally, I feel it would have made the book stronger for me. Because of this, I felt like the book skipped around a lot; it would casually mention what happened in the competition and other important details. 

There was a lot of information withheld. I know this is the first book and you wouldn’t want to give too much away, but I at least wanted something that would have gave me a little more insight and left me drooling for more. The withholding of information was sort of annoying. 

Main Character
It took me more than a few hundred pages for Celaena to grow on me. There were times where I was frustrated at her. 

I admire that she was a strong assassin who kicked butt. I really liked that about her. Celaena is smart, sarcastic, and like mentioned earlier pretty BA. Also, Celaena is great; she’ll remind you a lot. I read some reviews where some people didn’t like how often Celaena told the audience that she was great, but I didn’t mind it as much. 

I enjoyed Celaena's friendship with Nehemia. 

Romance
The love triangle wasn’t very prominent in this book. And as of right now, I don’t want Dorian or Chaol to end up with Celaena. That might change if I continue on. I personally feel like there hasn’t been much development from either sides. I’m enjoying their friendship as of right now. 

I liked Dorian. Like Celaena, Chaol took a while to grow on me. 

The Plot
Throughout, the book I was expecting something BIG to happen. When it finally happened, I was a tad bit disappointed. The plot was predictable, and because of this I felt that some parts dragged on a little too long. I must admit that while I was listening, it was easy to get distracted or zone out. 

The one part that I did really enjoy was the final competition between the two competitors. That part actually made me want to sit down and read what is going on. It was very intense and the description was great; and I feel like that if the entire book had been like that scene, my rating for it would be much higher. Also, I assumed that the glass castle would have played a somewhat bigger role in the plot.

Final Thoughts
I’ve decided to read the next book with the hope that maybe I will grow to love it like the others. I’ve read some reviews from the newest book in the series, so I’m highly aware of the issues that some people had with it.