Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’ve been on the lookout for a good fantasy series, and I’m sad to say that this book was just okay… I’d read that the first book in this series isn’t as good as the rest, so I may keep reading, but I haven’t yet decided.
Things I did not enjoy…
First of all, the main character is basically the definition of a Mary Sue. She’s pretty much amazing at everything with very little effort and every guy is totally into her. Yes, she has to work on getting back into shape, and there are references to her tough training, but we don’t see that at all. We come in with her already being the best at everything. That’s not to say the author doesn’t give her flaws, but the flaws the author gives her are stupid and only serve to make her even more “likeable” in the author’s opinion. Like her anger and toughness, for example.
It’s just annoying because Celaena is supposedly the most dangerous assassin in all the land and she never once lived up to her name. We’re just expected to take the author’s word for it that she’s a powerful killer. I get that she’s been weakened by her imprisonment, but still… She did plenty to demonstrate her skills while training, and she hardly ever used them. And when she did, she blundered through her victories. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for flawed/imperfect characters, and I’m all for characters struggling through an uphill battle. What bothered me was that this character was so built up that it was almost impossible for her to fulfill my expectations. The way she’s described, you’d think she could basically kill you with one blow and you wouldn’t see her coming and no one would know she’s the one that did it.
Things I did enjoy…
The actual writing was good. There were a few sentences and phrases that made me pause and reread them, simply because I enjoyed the way it sounded. This author certainly knows how to string words together in beautiful and sometimes unique ways. The plot wasn’t bad. It was a tad predictable, but I suppose that’s to be expected with most young adult fantasy novels. It could have used more rounding out, however. Maybe more flashbacks to her past and more moments of her actually being an assassin. I’m assuming that was a note the author got after the first book was published because she did later write some prequel novellas. Maybe I should have read those first. Another positive thing: the other characters weren’t bad. Prince Dorian was alright, though he didn’t have much of a backstory he was at least intriguing. I really liked Chaol though. He was probably my favorite character and in my opinion the one with the most depth. I appreciated how he was multidimensional.
Overall
This book was just okay. I’ll probably try the next one and if it doesn’t suck me in I’ll give up on this series. My hopes are high though. I want the next one to be good because this story does have some promise.