Saturday 6 September 2014

Throne of Glass review

I'm considerably late to the Throne of Glass party, the same as I usually am with all the really popular reads.
I get incredibly apprehensive when buying new books, because I hate it if I don't enjoy it. Honestly, I feel like a bad person if I don't like books.
As my holiday neared, I knew I wanted to take away something new and not a reread. So when I saw a second-hand Throne of Glass for only £2.51, I thought, well why not? And I can happily say that I'm glad I'm finally at this point, and that I've done it in my own time.

This book had me gripped from the very first pages. If I knew how consumed I would become while reading this, maybe I would have chosen a less all consuming book. I got seriously sunburnt because I was so engrossed. It was totally worth it though, because I loved this book.
Though I feel I was slightly cheated with the way this book is promoted as an Hunger Games-esque /high fantasy/violent assassin novel.

This one of those books that seems like the book equivalent of Marmite. People love it or hate it.
Their main problem being with the main character herself, Celaena Sardothien.
She's arrogant, vain, impolite, witty, and a whole bunch of other traits that people either felt endearing or just plainly hated. I fall on the side of endearing. I really liked Celaena as a character, though I didn't quite like her as an assassin.
I mean, that's my main problem with this book.
We are constantly told by Celaena herself how good of an assassin she is, and yet we hardly ever see her living up to that. She's told to dial back her skills in training and tests, and then at the final battle, though she's drugged, she gets absolutely wrecked.
I was so hoping for a novel with fight scenes after kick-ass fight scenes, yet instead I was shown countless flirting sessions and a lot of walking around a castle.
Though I suppose if Celaena was out killing people and actually showing us how she became Adarlan's Assassin, she couldn't be a 'hero' or a literary 'role model'. Even though that's how the book is labelled.

I love the beginning of this novel. A prisoner assassin being brought forth from the slave salt mines of Endovier. That was quite cool, I kind of wished we got a little more scope on it.
The writing is engaging and witty, though I felt the pace slowed slightly in the middle, leading up to the big competition.

Though the plot can be quite easily guessed, I still thoroughly enjoyed its setting and characters. I liked Princess Nehemia, and Chaol Westfall. I also enjoyed Dorian's banter.

As can be expected of love triangles these days, I didn't much care for it. It was pretty pointless really. The book centred more on the romantic side of things than whole reason she was actually there: the competition.

Taking all these slight grievances into account, I still loved this book, and already I've bought the prequel and the next instalment.
I feel very much compelled by the world and characters in this series, and I can't wait to see how Celaena's story progresses now she's the King's Assassin.

I don't want to give this book any less than five stars, but because there is only one or two things I found at fault, it deserves more than 4.5, so I guess, in its own category, Throne of Glass gets a rating of 4.8 stars out of 5.

1 comment:

  1. You should read The Assassin's Blade and Crown of Midnight! It definitely has more of Celaena being an assassin. I'm a little bit over halfway of Crown of Midnight, and wow. It is a lot more action-packed than Throne of Glass!

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