ARC Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication Date: August 7th, 2012
Genre: YA - High/Epic Fantasy

"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 kings 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." ~See it on Goodreads

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This year I’ve been coming across some really fantastic books and Throne of Glass was no exception! I’ve always been a huge fan of Epic/High Fantasy so I was immediately drawn to this one after reading the synopsis.

The world building was wonderful and everything was so realistic and easy to visualize. The author really pulls you into this world and makes you feel like you’re actually there. I’ve read a few books like this where the history or back story of the world that the author created seemed slightly lacking, but I’m glad to say that this one wasn’t. There was enough information to satisfy my curiosity and there were some really fascinating and unique aspects like the Wyrd marks and the general magic in the story.

I think Calaena was a really interesting character, she’s very intelligent, sharp witted, strong, and determined. But at the same time she also has a vulnerable side, and I think that and the fact that she actually does have flaws helps her to be relatable because no one in real life is perfect. In the beginning she comes off as slightly rude and arrogant but as the story progresses she grows and you see that she is so much more than a snarky, kick butt assassin. She’s a truly admirable person and you’ll find yourself easily rooting for her.

There were a few small nitpicks I had that kept it just shy of reaching a 5 star rating. First off there were a few questions that I wish were worked out or explained a bit more, but I’m hoping that in the second book it’ll all be more fleshed out. And secondly, I just wasn’t a fan of the love triangle idea; it’s not that I’m completely anti-love triangle because some of my favorite books have them. But for this particular book I had a bit of trouble seeing the need for it I guess. I loved Chaol and Dorian, and I think from a first impression Chaol would probably be the most sensible match for Calaena and most people would likely agree. With that said, I still just like Dorian a bit better lol. I just adore him and his personality is great so I’m actually rooting for him lol.

But those small things aside, I still really loved this book! And when I absolutely had to put it down to do silly things like work, clean, or eat, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and wondering what was going to happen next. The only issue now is that I have to wait quite awhile to get my hands on the second book... *sigh*

4.5 Stars!