Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas | Book Review

Throne of Glass is a YA Fantasy novel by Sarah J. Maas and is the first in the seven book Throne of Glass series.

I want to begin with a spoiler alert, not because I want to ruin the book, but the back cover already does it so, hey, if the publishers thought it was alright...

When I was debating on whether or not I should read this book I went on Goodreads to see what people were saying and the first thing I saw was a 5-star review by Rick Riordan that said:

“Caleana Sardothien, young woman assassin, is betrayed and sentenced to the salt mines of Endovier. After a year, however, she is given an opportunity: If she wins a contest to become the king's champion, she will be granted a four-year contract, working as an assassin for the empire she hates, at the end of which time she will be freed. After reading the premise of the book, I thought, "Sign me up!" After the first chapter, I knew I was in good hands. This book has plenty of mystery, magic, humor and romance -- a perfect brew for fans of good YA fantasy. If you liked Graceling, Grave Mercy, Shadow and Bone or other fantasies featuring strong female protagonists with scary good skills, I think you'll enjoy this quite a lot. And it's the first of a series!”

Looking at it now that review does feel a bit like a paid endorsement especially because the first chapter doesn’t really assure you that you're in good hands (although the misspelling of Celaena really does brings it back) but initially, because I’m a huge fan of Rick Riordan, I dove into the book without scrolling any further. After reading the book I am mixed. The book is not bad by any means but after watching reviews on YouTube constantly jerk this book off I had to throw my own opinion into the fray. I’ll be honest, when I started writing about books, I knew that eventually I would talk about a book that was against seemingly popular opinion. I never thought it would happen so soon.

To start on a high note let’s talk about my favorite thing about this book: the world. Sarah J. Maas creates a well detailed world that, given you take the time to understand it, is great to immerse yourself in. Whenever a location or character’s point of origin is discussed, if you flip to the front of the book to look at the map, it will really give you a feel for the world these characters live in. When the White Fang Mountains and the Wastes to the west are detailed (with their witches and what not) I was pretty intrigued and wanted to know more. Same goes for the castle. Every time something about the castle was described (like secret tunnels) or something happened (like mysterious murders) I was really excited.

Now almost as much as I love the world of Erilea I have problems with its most famous assassin. Celaena is an alright character but has some problems including some contradictory traits that maybe some of you can clear up for me. So (take a long deep breath) let’s begin:

The cover of the book describes Throne of Glass as similar to The Hunger Games so let me compare Celaena to Katniss. Katniss is also a badass female lead (who could easily beat me up and I would still reply by saying “right on Katnip”). But I was immediately with the character and by the time she says “I Volunteer” I was ready to go on this journey to the Capitol with her. However, from the opening chapters of Throne of Glass, Celaena comes off as psychotic. (One second she’s inspecting the threads of a particularly nice dress, the next she’s contemplating about a friend’s blood on the white marble floor.) In fact, it took me until around Page 50 (where she first visits the library and we find out she likes to read) for me to really have some connection with her. She has her good moments, don’t get me wrong, but there's a lot weird things that removed me from the otherwise immersive tale.

Next, when you think of an assassin some of the things that come to mind are: great hand-eye coordination, strategically smart, weapon master, etc. So you would think that she would be good at pool of all things. However, she can’t even hit the billiard balls. And then it hit me that the reason why she’s bad at pool was because Dorian had to come in and have a romantic moment where he pulls the classic reach-around to help teach her. Honestly, I would much rather have had Dorian be bad at pool (even if he was just lying to talk to her) and SHE teaches HIM how to play.

Last thing I’ll say is that she is rather rude and superficial. (No I am not just saying “oh she is rude to Dorian and Chaol and I don’t like it”) Celaena is just flat out mean. (Like the time Dorian was pouring his heart out about his idea of love and she makes fun of him to his face.) And ignoring Chaol and Dorian (because it’s actually true love and I am just blind about such things) she is also rude to Elena. WHAT? The spirit of a magical queen who lived over 1000 years ago manifests herself in front of you and you just treat her like an insignificant side character? (I’m talking about pg. 236 if you want more details.) And also, being an assassin I would think it would take her less time to figure out that the “evil” that Elena talks about has something to do with the murders going on in the castle. (But hey maybe I just like my assassins smart.) And before someone says “oh it’s just because she’s a female character. it would be different if it was a guy.” YES! It would be different if Celaena was a guy. I think Celaena is rude sometimes. But if it was a guy I would say “WOW!.....he’s a huge asshole.” So yea, adjectives would be different, but the general message remains the same. Being a rude, is being a rude. Doesn't matter what your gender is.

As for the superficial part, it’s pretty self explanatory. Not only does she (and the author) describe every single thing that a character wears. Celena, for an assassin, cares WAY too much about her clothes and appearance. You don’t see Altair or Aveline worrying about their clothes. (They are main characters from some of the Assassin’s Creed games by the way.) They just focus on the job. And honestly if Celaena wasn’t addressed as “the assassin” I might have forgotten because there is little to no assassinating that happens in this book. I rest my case about Celaena.

However, many of the other characters don't fare much better. (Let me give you a simple metaphor to explain. If you are given a circle and pick a bland grey to color it all in, it will look like you filled in a bubble for the SATs. If you included different tones of grey and some whites and blacks you will get something that will look like a three dimensional object.) Consequently, writing one note characters makes them flat. Whereas adding layers to them (layers that aren't annoying, superficial or psychopathic) can make the reader understand them better. If you need an example, look at the blatantly one toned characters: Lady Kaltain and Cain. (Those are just two examples of many more.) As far as I can tell, their only redeeming feature is that they look good which isn’t saying much if you look at how many times the word (or should I say wyrd) “beautiful” is used during the course of this book.

Okay look, before you keyboard warriors jump to the attack, hear me out till the end. I’m not saying I HATED the book. Like I said in the beginning it was rather enjoyable at times. (Like when Celaena kicked that one champions ass without taking out her weapon or when Dorian and Celaena have a heart warming night chat.) For almost every frustrating moment there is one that was rather enjoyable. And my interest is peaked enough to where I will, eventually, go on to read the other books. But as for this first book goes, it feels like Sarah J. Maas took out a checklist of mismatched traits and wove them together to make an alpha female character. If you don't believe me here's a small description of that list:

Meet Celaena, AN ASSASSIN who is notorious because she killed a lot of people and was betrayed by her own kind and then sent to A LABOR CAMP where NO ONE ever makes it out alive. But SHE survived for a YEAR. Now she has to win the King’s competition against BAD MEN even though she hates the king. Also TWO HANDSOME MEN, in a castle, A GLASS CASTLE, filled with beautiful people, love her. But Celaena loves DOGS. And CLOTHES. And LONG WALKS in the gardens. Plus she LOVES to read. AND she’s an independent woman who don’t need no prince or guard. But she can’t help but blush when those men look at her. Or talk to her. Or give her books. That makes her feel both hot and cold and wet and dry and other CONTRADICTORY things at the same time. This summer...

In the end, I enjoyed Throne of Glass to an extent. I had my fair share of “let me read that again” and “you go girl” moments. But when I see people give it 5 out of 5 I cannot help but point out these blatant flaws. And I am well aware that I won’t be able to change people's opinions about it once they have been made. But if you are debating on whether you should buy this book or not then...well sample the first few chapters. If you like it then bite the bullet. If you are unsure then maybe wait it off. And while you are waiting, quench your thirst for YA fantasies with good books like Graceling, The Mortal Instruments series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Hunger Games.