Throne of Glass

This was a very enjoyable book. It was a very fluid and smooth read that made me want to just read one more chapter (then one more, etc).
The heroine was a refreshing balance of strength and femininity. The love interests were both very well balanced and intriguing.
I have already started on the 2nd book.

0/5 stars 5,000/5 stars

“Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: a lovely girl gazing at the stars, and the stars who gazed back.”
warning: anything marked spoiler is a spoiler for the entire series. so maybe beware or something if you are that one person who hasn't read up to Empire of Storms okay? there may also be some unmarked spoilers bc this review is 3,000 words long and i'm too lazy to read through it a thousandth time.

So even though I am certified trash™ for the ToG series, and will actually die for any SJM book even if they have the most fulgiest cover I have ever seen cough tower of dawn cough , this rude elf decided that I remembered absolutely nothing about the series and roped me into a reread.

Which was probably for the best, considering it's been two years since I first read Throne of Glass and all I remembered going into this book was

• Celaena gets her period
• There's a dog
• Talking doorknob aka bae
• Celaena dies and is overtaken by some snowflake named Aelin
• Rowan is the worst thing to ever happen to me

And after rereading, i realize now that only two of those things even happen in this book. I know, I know. I am such a fake fan. but considering this book is so unnecessary to the rest of the series, who hasn't forgotten a detail here and there????

And I was promised a talking doorknob and the fact he isn't in this book is so insulting. THe only reason I agreed to this reread was for him and i'm mort-ified rn. Sarah J Maas will be hearing from my lawyers any day now.

I'm also suing because not once is there a throne mentioned that is made out of glass. the title is misleading and i'm triggered. What is next? Are you going to tell me there are no crowns made out of midnights???

things that did happen in this book that I totally forgotten about:

• Dorian having a brother? like wtf since when?
• Kaltain??? i swear she wasn't in the book the first time i read it
• the castle is actually made of glass.what kind of architectural advances are in this regressed society? also that can't be safe? one dropped item and the entire castle is broken. how do you even get enough glass to make a castle? Like i understand maybe an accent wall of entirely windows but an entire building? that would be like a giant pain in the glass??? Also is there any privacy? what happens when feyre and rhysand visit and need some alone time? everyones gonna see them get naked.
• there's no manon and i'm still crying over that
• cain and how obvious it was that he's the villain. honestly the entire book you are like “cain is acting really suspicious, it is way to obvious that he's the bad guy” and guess what? he is.
• mort the doorknob doesn't show up until book 2 and i'm still upset
• there was a time when celanea was a normal human being who wasnt' magical at al
• i would literally predict this series to go in any direction except the direction it went.

but those things actually happened and I'm still in shock? It's only been two years since I first read this book and I can't believe how forgetful af I am. What did I forget in the later books? Am I imagine things? I am really such a fake SJM fan. Is there even a talking doorknob at all or did I just make him up????



URgh this book is so cliche and tropey and so predictable why am I such trash for it? Since this review doesn't already have enough lists, here's another to get you through the day.

This book contains the following:

• long lost princess Celaena who is both beautiful not like other girls
• the amazingly young and single and hot bachelor prince Dorian who is not like his tyrant father
• the young and successful and hot best friend guard prodigy Chaol with family issues
• the mean tyrant king who is so unimportant to the plot SJM forgot to give him a name but he's mean and hates life
• a love triangle bc all YA fantasies published in 2012 need a love triangle
• also bc it is 2012 and we are trying to leech off the success of the Hunger Games probably there is a lot of weapons and archery and “will she survive” stuff going on
• the beautiful princess, Nehemia, who's somehow still a princess even though her country was overtaken like five years before that seems to have ulterior motives but we also need her bc friendship
• The main character is a strong independent women who don't need no man so obviously she needs a man
• Forbidden magic bc that's such a game changer. never before seen in a book ever.
• ALso smart, beautiful rich girl is also a really big bitch



If this book was written by anyone but SJM I would probably just shrug it off and be like “nope” and forget it even exists but of course it's SJM and her writing and stories and characters are addicting af. I want rattle the stars tattooed on my forehead and i cry everytime i hear the words “will not be afraid” and will probably ship Celaena and Sam until the day I die. #SamDeservedBetter

this book is the absolute worse don't read it

I love this book. How could anyone ever give it less than five stars??????

I mean i did consider giving it 0 stars bc I was misled to believe mort was included in book #1, but then I remembered rowturd doesn't exist yet in this series and obviously, that is the greatest thing ever and I'd give it a billion stars if I could

Let's discuss some things I just don't understand for a minute, okay? I tried my hardest to either ignore these things or pretend they make sense but I can't let it go. They all make absolutely no sense.

1. Dorian, the Crown Prince of Adarlan, travels in person to Endovier go recruit Celaena to be his champion. He abandons all his princely responsibilities to make the long trek to a concentration camp to personally invite a notoriously dangerous criminal that could very well have died months prior to compete in a tournament thrown by his asshole of a father. Obviously, this is a ~great~ idea.

2. Also, who's brilliant idea was it to recruit a notoriously dangerous criminal to compete? It only took your country years to capture her, so why not? All that time and money and effort that was spent trying to arrest her will be wasted, but it's not a big deal right? Honestly, thank god Dorian ends up being run out of Adarlan in book five because he'd be a horrible king

3. The king may be a horrible man throughout this entire series, but at least he has some heart in between prequel and series to not murder the infamous assassin that has been wreaking havoc on his streets like any intelligent ruler would and instead send her to a concentration camp where she won't die instantly or else we'd not have any series to be trash over

4. Chaol is like 19? 20? in this book, but somehow he is able to snatch the highly elite job of Captain of the Guard. I'm sure he's great and all, but what about Joe or Frank over in the corner who's been working at the palace for twenty plus years, has a family of five to feed, and learns that they lost their promotion to some inexperienced teenager????

5. The entire love triangle thing why even waste the words when rowturd shows up in book three and ruins everything

6. Also Celaena agreeing to serve as the king's champion? This man killed your entire family and overtook your country. Just kill him in his sleep and get the hell out of that castle you idiot. don't just stand there and take his orders HE MURDERED YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY GET YOUR REVENGE

7. The book kept on mentioning that Sam is dead????? Sam isn't dead. He's alive. The events in The Assassin's Blade never happened. He was never killed. He's happy and alive.



But anyways, let's ignore all those for a second because I haven't even started talking about the plot of this book. Which is soo innocent compared to the rest of the series. Like what do you mean this fire breathing bitch queen was once a small naive girl who liked puppies, cake, and books??? What do you mean her only issues involved beating a bunch of boys she was already way more talented then??? Where's the evil fae queen tryign to kill her? where is some old ass white boy who needs a haircut proclaiming he's her mate????? where's the awkward sex on the beach????

If you somehow don't know, which I strongly doubt, this book starts out with the infamous Celaena Sardothien imprisoned in a concentration camp bc of some shit that went down in books prior. Then she's rescued by Crown Prince Dorian and Captain of the Guard Chaol in order for her to compete in this competition to become the king's personal assassin. Both boys eventually fall in love with her. Someone's killing off other competitors. If you haven't read this yet, ignore all the obvious tropes and go read it bc don't judge a series by its first book.

Let's talk about characters now shall we?

“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me.”

Celaena Sardothien.

Like, Aelin Ashryver Galythinus who? I only care about Celaena.

having her entire family murdered by the dude she's competing for

When I first read this book, I was pretty quick to guess that Celaena was the long lost Queen of Terrasen bc it mentioned A) she's 18 B) her parents died when she was 8 and C) The royal family of Terrasen were killed ten years prior. Also it's a YA book.

But during this reread, I was actually shocked about how obvious SJM makes it without explicitly stating it. For example, there is a quote on 37 pages into the book that left me so shook.

Magic was dead, the Fae were banished or executed, and she would never again have anything to do with the rise and fall of kingdoms.

Dorian Havilliard.

I know he gets magic in book 2 but that still doesn't add much to the plot tbh

August 16, 2022 edit:

“You look radiant, he said. “And you look radiant as well, Chaol.” He winked at his friend.

Chaol Westfall.

Sam Cortland.

Nehemia Ytger.

Honestly I can't look at her the same after that one scene from Empire of Storms. Like stop your lying girl. You know Celaena is Aelin. You know you are gonna die in a few months. You probably even know Rowturd is gonna show up in book three and ruin everything.

She didn't deserve to die in book two and I will never, ever be over it

Nox.

Sam.

Manon.

The King.

it takes way too long into the book series for him to finally die

Duke Perrington.

Still waiting for him to die....

in conclusion...

I have read this series and discused it with so many people and yet I still don't understand how we go from infamous assassin who likes puppies to fae warrior fire queen trying to take down a country and marries a bird

Celaena is Adarlan's Assassin who was captured and has been in a slave camp for an year. When Crown Prince Dorian and Captain of the Guard Chaol arrive at Endovier to offer her a chance to win back her freedom, she finally feels some hope. She participates in the competition for the King's Champion, makes unexpected friendships with Dorian and Chaol and Princess Nehemia of Ellywe but discovers that nothing in Rifthold is as it looks. When her competition starts dying and ghosts and beasts from the otherworld becomes both help and hindrance, she has to race against time to figure out the killer before she becomes the next victim.

Celaena is very very hard to like initially. She is very full of herself, her internal monologue mostly consisting of ways in which she can kill everyone around her. She comes across as very arrogant and may be even narcissistic, but slowly we get to know that it is just a kind of mask to keep going in the face of utter defeat and despair. She is also just a teenager who has seen way too much death in her life and become great at bringing it herself. I loved getting to see all facets of her – the bookworm, the clotheshorse, the chocolate lover – a typical young girl but also an assassin.

Nehemia is a wonder in this book. She is compassionate, strong, confident, fierce defender of her people and a great friend. I loved her relationship with Celaena, the kind of BFF we would all love to have. Nehemia always has her back and protects her and I loved how she defies everyone for her convictions.

Chaol is a hard person to both like and dislike. He is very good at heart and brave and loyal and I can't help but like him for these qualities. But he also sees everything in black and white, cannot look past Celaena's past as an assassin but doesn't really say anything about his King who is a mass murderer and tyrant. His friendship with Dorian is obviously one of the highlights of the book and I also liked he started to accept Celaena a little by the end and may be even consider her a friend.

Dorian Havilliard is an absolutely adorable sweet baby cinnamon roll. He is charming, playful, kind, intelligent and everything that his father is not. We can see his transformation from a slightly spoiled Prince having a gala time with his court ladies to a young man trying to come to terms with the brutality and cruelty of his father while not being able to do anything about it. We get to see glimpses of what kind of a King would he really be in the future. His relationship with Celaena was like a young cute college fling full of banter and fun and flirting. Their conversations are especially enjoyable in the audiobook. I really wish they become best friends and remain together. I love their pair.

The plot of the competition itself is like Hunger Games but thankfully not a very long time is spent on it. And the outcome of it is anyways quite obvious, so we don't really feel invested in the process. I liked the whole mystery part with Celaena trying to find the killer and doing some extensive research for it too. The book can get slow at times but the action sequences at the end are totally worthy it. The writing is quite simple and easy to follow and I could see how SJM has improved through the years (because I read ACOTAR series first). But the book is enjoyable and fun for the most part and definitely made me decide to read the Crown of Midnight. Though I love this book more after multiple rereads, I will still keep my original rating here.

Amazing!!! Celaena is such a strong female character. Loved her attitude and strength. Chaol was also an interesting character.

I really enjoyed the different perspectives we go throughout the book. Whether it was Celaena, Chaol, Dorian, Neehemia, or Kaltain's perspective. Cannot wait to read the next book.

Very quick read. I didn't realize this was YA until I started reading it, nothing against YA but I'd like to be prepared... the writing is pretty amateur but I read the interview with the author at the end of the book and she said she started writing it in high school - unfortunately it shows. A lot of exclamation points and italicized snarkiness. However the story is entertaining enough that I read all 400 pages so there's that. This is NOT for Game of Thrones fans. This is more like the Divergent series, a step above Twilight but not as good as Hunger Games. I am grateful it got me back into the high fantasy genre that I'd abandoned a few years ago. And I liked the story enough that I'm willing to read her new novels, with the expectation that her writing will have improved by now.

Bem, os livros que tenho andado a ler devem estar amaldiçoados, ou então eu é que tenho andado exigente! Mas sinceramente, quando é que isto melhora...? Falando mais concretamente deste livro, a minha expetativa era ler fantasia cheia de história, aventura, romance, ação! Mas não, acabou por ser, monotonia, triângulo amoroso e vestidos vestidos vestidos! Este livro tinha tudo para dar certo, contudo dececionou-me imenso.

Começando do início, temos uma rapariga chamada de Celaena (WFT? que nome é este? acabei por chama-la Selena), ela é uma assassina badass pronta a matar qualquer um, no entanto, ela foi capturada e mantida na escravatura durante 1 ano. Ao fim desse tempo, ela é libertada pelo príncipe Dorian, que pede que ela seja assassina pessoal do seu pai, mas para isso acontecer ela tem que ganhar no torneio, onde vão estar outros 23 concorrentes igualmente prigosos. Se ela ganhar, ao fim de 4 anos é libertada e nunca mais tem que se preocupar em ser escrava, mas se perder nalguma das fases durante o torneio - volta de novo para a escravatura. Okay, estão a ver? Muito potencial!!! MAS NÃO!!! LOL!

Sim, há uma parte boa em que ela treina com o Chaol (meu amor pessoal), e vemos o corpo dela a recuperar da escravatura, mas ao fim de 50 páginas já estava aborrecida... A escritora nem teve a criatividade para descrever os desafios, limitando-se simplesmente por dizer, por exemplo: “nas últimas 3 semanas fizemos 3 desafios”. E a parte que mais me irritou foi a instabilidade da personagem principal, passava de uma assassina toda agressiva para uma menina bonita preocupada com o aspeto, de um momento para outro, literalmente! O que para mim não fez qualquer sentido.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas was a really fun and interesting fantasy to read. It has so much potential to be an amazing series and I cannot wait to dive into the other books that are already out at the moment! I loved the first one about 200 pages in and decided to buy all of the other books.

Throne of Glass follows this kick-ass assassin named Celaena Sardothien who is currently a slave in a salt mine. One day she is taken away from her duties and brought to the Crowned Prince. He gives her a proposition to be set free in four years if she will become the King's Champion. This means that she will be his personal assassin for four years doing whatever he wants her to kill. She takes this deal but she will have to fight other contenders to become his champion.

Celaena has to deal with a lot of obstacles while she is at the King's palace. She is being watched by the Guard Captain and trained also. His name is Charol. I really enjoyed his character because he felt real and would understand Celaena. The other love interest is obviously the Crown Prince himself. There is sort of this love triangle of forbidden attraction because they all shouldn't like each other. The two boys obvious like Celaena over time but she has mixed feelings for both. I didn't really expect there to be a love interest in this fantasy story because I assumed it would focus more on the competition and mystery itself, but it was a nice touch.

I really enjoyed this book and Sarah J Maas' writing is really spectacular. I got really into each characters story. The writing is in third person though and I got confused at times who was talking because at some points they just switch over right after each other. That is no big deal though. I just needed to pay attention more.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first book in this series and I think it has a lot of potential. I am starting Crown of Midnight right now and am already enjoying Celaena journey again. I think any fantasy lover would enjoy this series but it has enough of everything for any type of person to enjoy it.. not just because it has Prince's and Kings makes it a full on fantasy. There is love, mystery, and hardship in this story.

I really enjoyed this one and definitely plan to read the rest of the quartet. The main characters are terrific and they develop wonderfully over the story. The world isn't too different from our ancient past but it is well crafted. This book does take a few chapters to really get going, so I would be patient with it. But it was well worth the read. A good, light fantasy read.
Can't wait for the next one!

“What's the point in having a mind if you don't use it to make judgments?” “What's the point in having a heart if you don't use it to spare others from the harsh judgments of your mind?”
~
Tortured past assassin, Celaena, brings her A-game to the palace of the glass throne to kick some butt and get herself out of sticky situation, while getting mixed up in so much more. There is action, hints of flirtation, a pinch of magic, and lots of sparring. Looking forward to the rest of Celaena's journey.

Packed to the brim with brilliance

This book has to be one of my favourite of all time. Everyone has heard of terms such as “unputdwonable” or “page-turner”. This truly was both of those. I couldn't out this book down.. the point where I made myself late for multiple appointments.

If you're looking for a very interesting fantasy story that's easy to read but well written, FILLED with plot-twists, involves slight romance, evil people and more... Look no further. This has it all. It also sets up some interesting questions for the sequel. Which I'm now buying!

DNF at 45%. Yes, I feel almost 200 pages were enough for me to judge this dumpster fire. Don't even bother trying to convince me I need more of it or that the next book is better. This is just... No.



What is the female version of ‘edgelord'? Edge...lady? Celaena is that, with a bit of Mean Girls added in. I will develop that a bit more later.

So we have an 18-year-old girl who is the bestestestest assassin EVER. We don't know, she just said so and because the best assassin said it, she can't be wrong. And we know she is the best, because she just said it. Stop asking questions.
She got fucked over in some way. No questions. So now she is a slave in a mine for a year already, which makes her special, as people die after like a month normally. BUT! The crown prince shows up at the prison colony (what did I tell you? Shush) to take her out and give her an offer she can't refuse. She competes in a tournament thing, wins, becomes the king's own killer for a few years she can buy her freedom. YAY.

Basically Sarah J. Maas just took a basic idiot, put her in a Middle Ages type fantasy setting she doesn't know shit about, didn't research or give a fuck and made her heroine (AHAHAHA) act like a high school girl. I know it is fantasy. I KNOW. But that doesn't mean I can totally forget about facts of life, like mines fucking you up bad. You won't just go on days long horse rides literally hours later. You don't just get better after a night of sleep and a bath. You won't keep up in a swordfight with a grownasss male soldier on your very first training session.
Sarah J. Maas obviously never tried riding horses, never looked into swords and fighting with swords, never did any physical labour and never missed more than one meal in her life for any reason. Which is fine. But then at least GET INFORMED.
But hey... it all doesn't matter when you use your world as a fancy backdrop for bullshit teenage girl drama.

Because this was teenage girl non-issue drama galore.
Celaena Sardothien is a bitch. You see the cover? There is none of that. But she squees about dresses. Judges other based on their dresses or appearance. Hot guys get a pass. She gets bitchy if she is not automatically the best at everything. She is stupid as fuck and others have to tell her how to survive. She has no manners and in this world nobody sees any issue with her asking private questions of the bloody crown prince of... Arlanda? (Yes, that is a Swedish airport, but the country's name is similar and I don't care. Arlanda it is.) She is boastful.
Also, doesn't make any sense. She flippity-flops between “my master made me break my own arm at like age 8 to train me, it was brutal”, but then legitimately makes one of the guys bring her slippers to her bed, as she refuses to step on the cold floor. She has NO SKILLS and as much as she hates on the rich girls around her, she is not one bit better. NOT ONE BIT.
She is edgy, though. Uhhhh. She keeps fantasising about murdering this or that person. Everyone. All the time. Never does it. But hey. I was almost as edgy as her at age 13, when I bought a fake nosering, but only dared to put it in once I knew none of my mother's acquaintances were gonna see me.

We also have the issue of how this is going to be a love triangle and a “kiss her ass” contest between the two hot guys. They are best friends, though, he prince and his super duper soldier boy. Both are like... really cool and have super sassy conversations with the protagonist. Giggity. She wants to kiss them. She really does. Especially the prince for now. But like... the other. But the prince.

What about the competition, you ask? (Even though I told you not to ask questions.) They are bullshit. Bull. Shit. What is the first trial? Pffft, an archery competition? Then there is “climb the castle wall”. Then we don't even see the sneaky one and tracking, because who gives a shit? Show me more of Celaena being a bitch because she is not invited to the ball. The boys fawning over her. Celaena judging this other girl based on her dress and because she dareth being pretty in the vicinity of the prince and is even interested in him. (That is strong from a literal assassin, which means murderer in my country.)

But hey, Celery gets a new BFF, who is a PRINCESS, who is also super rebel and rude as fuck. Together they can judge the shit out of everyone else while they frown through the country of Arlanda.

This book is absolutely awful. The worst I've attempted to read this year so far.

First read: September 2014Not a great start to the series. Celaena is a vain spoiled brat and the book is just soaked in overused tropes. After being brutally exploited in a mine as a slave, she only needs a good bath and a dress to look amazing, apparently. And she's very focused on this aspect and quite proud about it, despite the fact that she's not there to look good, ya know? Priorities. She reminds me of Mac from Darkfever. I could bet SJM was inspired by that series. I still can't fathom how she can be so chatty and flirty when she was just one step away from death at Endovier. Anyone going through that experience could've barely gathered their thoughts and summoned enough energy to open their mouths for a good while. I know it's fantasy, but does she have to be so blatantly unrelatable? Celaena wasn't the only thing that bugged me about this book. The love triangle is ridiculous. Dorian is so stale, I don't see what's so great about him. I also can't see why he fell for her so quickly. Why he trusted her immediately despite the fact that she was, supposedly, the kingdom's deadliest assassin. Then everybody is so bloody gorgeous and masters deadly skills at such a young age. But Chaol's and Nehemia's characters were better. I wasn't too invested in the plot because I was too put off by Celaena's irritating demeanor. I heard the next book's better, so I'm going to give it a try.Re-read: August 2021I finally read The Assassin's Blade novellas for the first time and the collection wasn't that bad so I thought a re-read of the first Throne of Glassmight be worth it. But my experience with it was no better than the first time, I can't bring myself to care about Celaena and her world. I have to accept these books are just overhyped and not for me.

Having read and loved the Court of Thorns & Roses novels by Sarah J. Maas and with it being around a year till we can expect the next installment from that series I decided that in the meantime I should try the other series from this wonderful author, Throne of Glass. I've heard lots about this series as well and the reviews are very positive so with that in mind I started off the series with this first novel in what is an ongoing and developing story, Book 6 having just been released this week.

The first thing that struck me about this book was the absolute no nonsense delving into the story, right from the first page the story kicks off with Assassin Celeana being taken to meet the Crown Prince who is looking for someone to be his Champion in a contest his father the King is holding to find someone to fulfil the role of Royal Assassin. In this contest, she must compete against a variety of thieves, murderers, professional soldiers and other Assassins to win her freedom from the mines where she is currently a prisoner. This story is Celeana's fight to win each round of the competition and to ensure that she never has to return to the brutal mines at Endovier again where she knows she will die.

The essence of this story is Celeana's relationships with the people she meets in the royal palace, the Head of the Kings Guards Chaol who mentors her through the competition and helps her train, her relationship with the Prince, Dorian who she is building a close relationship with which could turn to more than just friendship. The other contestants in the competition, a foreign Princess in the palace who as a political pawn is trying to cope with the wrongs done to the people in her country by the King. Against this backdrop, people are being murdered in vicious circumstances and Celeana is scared she may be next.

I loved this book. I liked the sheer range of characters, there are so many we are introduced to in this novel that I'm sure we are going to learn more about through the series that you feel you can forgive Maas for not exploring all of them in depth at this stage. I like that we have a love triangle setting itself up that you cannot quite decide on which side of to fall. You want to root for both sides. Celeana is a kick ass lead character, she is feisty and strong and intelligent. You want her to succeed and we are sure that there are lots of stories still to explore about her past. I really enjoyed the introduction of paranormal elements to the story, the demons and fight against good and evil during the final duel.

I am excited to see where this story takes us next. Having read Court of Thorns & Roses and its expanding world I know how capable Maas is of building stories that are all encompassing and I can see a great deal of potential in this world and its history and the development of its future. I gave this one a 4 out of 5 stars because I have a feeling the best is yet to come.

I am trying to do a SJM marathon, and I decide to start with throne of glass. As much as I love SJM books, this one wasn't it. I know a lot of spoilers and that this is "just" a setup, but still.... Most of the book Celaena resembled a 14 year old girl. Besides that, I have never read so many exclamation points in a book or dash marks.

The last 100 pages made up for quite a bit and I can't wait to start the next book.