Due to the recent release of its fourth installment, the series “Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Mass has been everywhere lately, and so I thought, why not take a shot at it myself?
And, wow. Definitely the best book choice I’ve made recently.
This fantasy novel takes place in Adarlan, a region in the country Erilea, a land devoid of magic due to the ruling of Adarlan’s current dictator, King Havilliard. His actions have caused rebel groups to form, and the most famous assassin in Adarlan is main character Celaena Sardothien. After guards captured her at the age of 17, she was sent to become a slave in the Salt Mines of Endovier, a prison for rebels.
About a year later, instead of being escorted to her daily work in the mines, Celaena is brought out of Endovier, at the request of the king. He is holding a competition with 24 well-known criminals in Erilea to select the best as his servant, and he wants her to participate. All will go through weekly challenges and, each time, the weakest competitor will be eliminated, until there is only one left. This person will become the King’s Champion – basically, a professional criminal to do the king’s dirty work.
The book opens with a third person narration of Celaena’s journey to the castle. Here we also meet Dorian, the king’s son and Celaena’s sponsor in the competition, and Chaol, the captain of the king’s guard, two men with very different personalities. They intrigued me, and I became skeptical of the writing style, thinking I wouldn’t get to know much about their thoughts. This is why I’m usually not a fan of third person; I don’t get as good a sense of the characters as with first person. But again, wow. Maas’ beautiful writing quickly dismissed my doubts.
As the story continues, Maas becomes an all-knowing third person and the book switches focuses between Dorian, the King, Chaol and Kaltane, an interesting and cunning Courtier who comes in a little later, but I won’t spoil that.
As the competition for the spot of the King’s Champion picks up, Celaena starts training again, which brings back memories of her previous tasks as an assassin before she was sent to Endovier, and it opens up a great new world of her feelings. I absolutely fell in love with Celaena.
Usually, other reviewers talk about Celaena being cool and tough, but that’s not why I like her. It’s the fact that she is still just a girl that makes me enjoy her. Being an assassin hasn’t weakened her ability to joke, love or fear. She’s so complex and so much more than Chaol and Dorian first see her as. I also love that she’s a bookworm, because that made her all the more relatable for me. One of my favorite quotes from the book was her thought when she first went to the castle’s library: “Libraries were full of ideas – perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”
Overall, I’m giving “Throne of Glass” five out of five stars. It was a great balance of magic, mystery, romance and action, and it’s a must-read for every fantasy-lover.