Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Pages: 404 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Published on: August 7th 2012
Source: Bought from Fully Booked
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined. 

(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:

Throne of Glass has got to be the best Fantasy novel I've read this year. Sarah Maas has written a book that is filled with heart-stopping action, "aww"-worthy romance and the only love triangle I tolerate, if you could even call it that. Reading Throne of Glass is like walking through a really thorny maze filled with roses, extremely beautiful but alarmingly dangerous, and the fact is that you don't know which path you'll be taking and all you can really do is go with the most sane path but really, that won't stop you from being extremely shocked with what you'll be encountering. There were literally times when my heart would stop and I'd end up biting my nails in anticipation.

Those shiny blades

Celaena honestly reminds me of a blade; a knife, a sword or a dagger, take your pick. There's just something so sharp with her humor and her dialogues that appeals to you no matter how dangerous it might be. Celaena is an absolutely badass herione that knows what her priorities are and is willing to do anything to get what she wants, freedom. The fact that at the age of seventeen she was sent to such a horrible place like Endovier and yet she still survived not knowing what'll happen to her afterwards, if there even was an "afterwards". So obviously when she was given the chance to finally get a grasp of the freedom she'd always been reaching for, she takes it... even if it means that she'd have to become to the lapdog of the king, the very king the sent her to Endovier in the first place and this is where we really see the story unfold. We not only catch a glimpse of who Celaena is but we also experience first hand her capabilities when it comes to ass-kicking. Celaena is definitely #1 on my Most Badass Heroines of all times. Sometimes, I wonder if she can sharpen her blades with her teeth...

Two guys and an assassin

This is where we get to the sweet and mushy parts. You guys are probably wondering how anyone can write a really "aww"-worthy romance when you have an assassin, the Captain of the Guard and the Crown Prince but trust me, Sarah Maas did it so it's possible. And no, it did not turn out as one giant dysfunctional sandwich. What I really loved about the romance in this book is that it took some time to build but not too long either and when it got there, it was pretty shaky but there was a sweetness to it anyway. I'm honestly not sure whose Team I'm on, there's Dorian (the Crown Prince) who's is extremely handsome and really charming and there's Chaol (the Captain of the Guard and whose name I still cannot pronounce) who's really handsome in a rugged kind of way and whose hilarious (and sometimes sweet) conversations with Celaena will pretty much force you to be in his Team. So what say you, reader? Team Handsome-and-Swoon-worthy-Crown-Prince or Team Badass-Sword-Wielding-Caption-of-the-Guard?

Would you like your head served in a platter or doggy-bagged?

This is where the story gets pretty intense. Since Celaena pretty much sold her soul to the devil in the form of a creepy king, she has to compete in a tournament against other notorious people. People famous for killing or stealing things and the like. And while the tournament might've been a pretty okay idea, it pretty much crashes and burns when they start finding the Champions' bodies completely torn apart. Now we are left to wonder, who IS killing these Champions and what are their motives? Trust me, you won't see this one coming... Ladies and gents, please fasten your seat-belts for this is going to be one hell of a ride! Yeehaw!

Cue the bombs... and I don't mean real bombs!

I literally wanted to tear my eyes out and rewind the last few minutes before I finished the book. And while the ending wasn't a complete cliffhanger, I just could not live another year not knowing what happens next and leaving all those questions unanswered. And while I think that Sarah Maas did a really good job concluding the first book and clearing up those minor details and questions, I am still left unsatisfied and I would gladly poke a person into submission to be able to get the next book ASAP. The ending of this book is explosive and will really just leave you wanting more and more! Trust me, reading this book once is SO not enough.

I completely fell in love with Throne of Glass not just because of its characters but as well as the witty dialogue, really cool sword-fighting and even showed me the true value of friendship and finding it in the most surreal of place. Throne of Glass was completely amazing and managed to enthrall me from the very first page, this is a 2012 debut that you won't want to miss. (Yes, and I'm totally dying to read the next one right now...)

Rating:

Oh yes, I want to thank Nancy from Tales of the Ravenous Reader for recommending this book to me because really, everything she's told me to read have all been awesome so far and did not disappoint. (Thank you, Nancy! :D)