Throne of Glass

So, full disclosure: Once Upon a Time, I read the original Throne of Glass on Fictionpress. All the cool (and even the not cool kids!) were doing it! I'd wait for updates and eagerly phone a friend who also read, and we would eagerly discuss the newest developments and debate the pros and cons of love interests. She was Team proto-Dorian, and I was Team proto-Chaol but figured she'd probably end up with Dorian.

Even if I had not known Queen of Glass, however, I think there is no way that I would have been surprised to learn that this was a fictionpress original. Mostly because it has pretty much all the greatest hits of Fictionpress Fantasy Cliche. Throne of Glass ft. Corset Hate* (I'd Much Rather Wear Pants), Evil Tyrant Who is Evil, Heroine with Unusual Eyes, I'm Not Like the Rest of These Airheaded Twits (The Casual Misogyny Song), and In Your Dreams (Destiny Is Bossing You Around).

Okay, here's the thing about Calaena. I like her-she's flawed in unusual and interesting ways. I like that she's vain because I'm tired of plain heroines who complain about being plain and beautiful heroines who are convinced they are plain and beautiful heroines who act like it's a curse. You go, girl. Make it work for you. She's fiercely proud. Now, these would be great if the book would just let them stand on their own instead of beating you over the head with them with oh she's stunning, oh she's so talented. Worse, it does this without usually not by showing but explicitly telling. Yawn.

So like I said I like Calaena, but I could have liked her a whole lot more. The major problem is that I find it hard to root for her and hold my breath in suspense because her flaws and faults have so little weight. Sure, they pop up all the time, but it's easily brushed away either by the narrative or by other characters. Go to the ball that you're not supposed–a few cross words and then all is forgiven. There's never a lack of surety to her or the narrative. It never seems like a struggle. Sure, in most narratives it's a fairly safe bet that the protag is going to succeed, but still watching them snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat is exhilarating! There is none of that as Calaena sails through test after test.

Even more annoying during possibly the only tense moment, the day is saved not by our heroine or cleverness from one of our heroes but rather by a rather deus ex machina apperance.

There's also a strange discrepancy between her history and some of personality traits. Like, okay, she's been trained to be an assassin since she was eight, but despite this, she's pretty street dumb. Yeah, you eat that candy that randomly showed up in your bed despite the fact that you know an ancient evil is lurking somewhere in the palace and killing your competitors. Despite there being an explicit discussion of there being no honor among assassins, trust pretty much every random person who offers you assistance.

There's also some minor continuity issues. For example, Calaena complains that Chaol never laughs and jokes with her like Dorian does even though there are literally a dozen scenes of them doing just that.

There's some sloppy editing. Maas has a weird penchant for adding comma, and there is an appalling amount of sentences that start with And.

Mostly, the thing I find most distressing is that Throne of Glass is distressing shallow compared to the Fictionpress Queen of Glass. Really! I don't know if Throne of Glass was dumbed down for the YA market, but it really lost a lot of the things that made it great, leaving you with a shallow, fluffy read that isn't even fun to read.

A tepid two and a half stars out of five

I loved this book even more the second time I read it. I loved getting to know Celaena all over again, watching her grow and become better. I cried and I laughed with her, fell in love with Dorian, the blue-eyed Crown Prince, all over again.

Celaena is an assassin. The best one in Adarlan. She's also known as “Adarlan's Assassin”. Due to some unknown circumstances, she was captured and found herself in Endovier, a salt mine for slaves. Beaten, whipped and humiliated, Celaena struggles to survive in the awful prison. She is such a strong character and she is stubborn and selfish sometimes, she is smug and arrogant and I can see why some people don't like her. I couldn't like her at times, but because I now know her whole story, I can't help but love her.

I am so excited to read the other books for the second time and see if my opinions on them change.

Well what can I say... this book was not good...

I gave it one extra star for the cover.

The characters are unconvincing in a very fundamental way, the plot is unbelievable, and the protagonist leaves one ultimately confused by her muddled portrayal of a “World Class Assassin”. (At one point one member of the love-triangle [or square? I was never quite sure] asked the land's most deadly assassin if she was okay after having SEEN a dead body... and neither of the characters recognized how empirically stupid that was...)

So no, don't read this book... I know, I can hear you... that cover is really cool... but trust me...

I LOVED IT. It is a great story that I just can't get enough off! I started reading this book with reservations because of all the hype surrounding it but I loved it which is funny because I was told it doesn't get that great until book 2/3 so I cannot wait for more.

The best thing about this novel is the characters. Sarah J. Mass did a wonderful job creating characters you can't help but adore and want to see their journey. SPOILER. I am not a person who really enjoys a love triangle but Mass executives it wonderfully that even I am in turmoil about which guy to choose and love the feeling of it.

In addition, her writing is beautiful and she is clearly very talented. She has the gift that when she writes about fear, you feel the fear with every bone in your body. (I can't help but tense up when the king is mentioned)
Also the plot line is amazing which is always a plus. ☺️

The only reason why it is 4 stars is because I know their is more to come and we need room for growth!

I expected so much more out of this book. The plot was predictable and the characters were just bad. I have never before met an assassin who has an obsession for....clothes shopping? Seriously? And how does she have an issue with being a murderer when she's an ASSASSIN. Does she not kill people? I'm confused. Maybe I am just too used to assassins who are bad-ass and well...kill people and prefer knives and swords over pretty pink clothes. Magic was trickled into this story with too little back story. We were introduced to the fae, I think, and were told of Calaena having some sort of power, but we never see or hear of it again. I thought this book would predominately focus on her training and tests, but instead these more interesting parts were glossed over for a weak love triangle that made me want to gag, cliche after cliche. Not a series I will continue.

Nice start to a series, but would have liked more action and focus on the competition the main character was in, as opposed to the romance angle. But I know a lot of people are into love triangles. I know who I want her with, and have read a million romances in my lifetime, but I picked this up to read about a female assassin. [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses 16096824 A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) Sarah J. Maas https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1491595796s/16096824.jpg 21905102], also by the author, focuses on romance, too – but the cover and the plot ask for it, beg for it. I have all the series novellas, which I plain on reading fairly soon.

When I decided to get back into reading I decided some light and breezy YA would be the perfect place to start. I logged into TikTok for maybe the fifth time in my life and searched for the book recs of the yout and this popped up. Without knowing anything except it contained romance and fairies I downloaded the eBook and my god it's an irritating read. Dreadfully composed, with dialogue that makes me convinced that the author has never actually met a human person, I would not have advanced so far if it wasn't the only entertainment that I can access on my phone when I've got no 4G on the tube. Obstinately refusing to download another because I'd spent money on this one, I recently had the revelation that it's worth the £8 or so to read something, anything else and I probably won't complete this after all.

This is my second time reading it, I want to continue on with this series, I have only read the first 3 books, rereading this made me realize how much I have loved and miss it, I also noticed some similarities between this and ACOTAR.
The premise is what intrigued me to pick this up the first time, and it was executed perfectly, I loved rereading so much and it reminded me of how much I adored it.

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Celaena is a fascinating character, and she had been through so much, which is what made her seem insensitive and savage, despite that she still shows her joyful and caring side which is wonderful to see. I personally think this book is a great first book and it set the rest of the series quite beautifully, it gave an excellent impact.

During my first time reading this I overlooked what a man-whore Dorian is, I like him with Celaena so maybe that is part of the reason, uhh I usually dislike any character that is written like that so I don't know why I didn't notice it much, all though he is a decent guy despite looking at every woman that came close to him. And he does have the potentials to be a much better king than his father, I can not fathom how different Dorian is from his horrible father, his father literally is the worst, and there is Dorian and he is so sweet. I noticed Celaena sharing personal stuff about her past to Dorian and she doesn't seem to realize till the words are already out of her mouth which leads me to believe she trust him, and when Chaol asks her about anything she tries to dodge his questions.
Chaol he was mean and tough on Celaena till the end of this book, I enjoyed them teasing each other a lot, I understand how low he thinks of her, and that she kills anyone without remorse, by the end he starts to understand a bit the cause of her actions, I have LOVED when he subconsciously took the sword and killed Cain with it, that scene made me like him more.

There weren't much world-building in this one based on the fact that magic vanished like 10 years ago, but I did like the things that we got, it fits with the story, I enjoyed seeing Celaena figuring out what the symbols mean and how she fought Cain while she had Poison in her system, he almost killed her and she would have died if she didn't had help, but that doesn't make her less of a strong warrior.

This book was “recommended” by Goodreads, but honestly, it was straight up terrible. I had to stop at page 26. The reader is constantly told how beautiful and talented the main character is, as well as how handsome everyone else is. In the very first paragraph, the main character is “Adarlan's most notorious assassin.” On the second page: “It was true that she had been attractive once, beautiful even, but – well, it didn't matter now, did it?” A little later, “She was important enough to warrant an execution from the Captain of the Royal Guard himself.” (Thanks for letting me know!)And, “She looked at her rags and stained skin, and she couldn't suppress the twinge of shame. What a miserable state for a girl of former beauty!” (Truly a tragedy!)And others are described thusly: “Yet there was something in his eyes, strikingly blue – the color of the waters of the southern countries – and the way they contrasted with his raven-black hair that made her pause. He was achingly handsome, and couldn't have been older than twenty. ‘Princes are not supposed to be handsome! They're sniveling, stupid, repulsive creatures. This one... this... How unfair of him to be royal and beautiful.'” (How unfair indeed!)That's only up to page 8. Nope, Nope, Nope. Edit: Almost forgot to add books that are actually worth reading. If you liked the idea of this book, read either [b: The Blue Sword 407813 The Blue Sword (Damar, #2) Robin McKinley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1286927812s/407813.jpg 2321296] or [b: The Hero and the Crown 77366 The Hero and the Crown (Damar, #1) Robin McKinley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386642407s/77366.jpg 2321243]