Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Young Adult
Series: Throne of Glass (#1)
Page Count: 404
Publication Date: August 7, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

I picked up Throne of Glass because of its intriguing synopsis (and of course, the beautiful cover image). It wasn't as good as I expected to be. It was better. The unpredictable twists and turns made the novel interesting and suspenseful at every point of the book. I finished this book in two sittings (it definitely strained me to put the book down in the first sitting) and once I did finish, I was fangirling all over Twitter and Google Hangouts :D

Throne of Glass starts in Endovier, a salt mine, or a death camp that Celaena Sardothien, an assassin trained since the age of eight is enslaved in. Summoned by The Crown Prince of Ardalan, Prince Dorian has a proposition for her -- to die in Endovier or participate as his Champion in the King of Ardalan's competition. But there's a dark magic that lurks in the castle, a mysterious killer, killing the Champions off one by one...

For me, the characters are the most important aspect of a novel, and all of the characters in this novel were beyond phenomenal. They were beautifully crafted, with so much character development in each and every one of them. While Celaena was the main focus of the book, we get to learn so much about Chaol and Dorian, whom were both lovely. 

Celaena became one of my favourite badass heroines after finishing the novel. From the first 50 pages, we learn that she isn't just an assassin. She's a human. She's girly, fun, hilarious and sometimes it's easy to forget that she's also an eighteen year old girl. She's real, not robotic or perfect. She loves candy and parties. That being said, there's a great deal of character development in Celaena. 

So, there's a love triangle in this one. If you read my previous review of Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L. Armentrout, you might have known that I loved the love triangle but this one is amazing as well! I was a bit afraid that the love triangle would be a very obvious one (such as the one in the Selection) but both Chaol and Dorian put up a great match for Celaena.

It was Chaol for me ever since the beginning. He is just so adorable! Chaol is so loyal, brave and sweet that every time there's a chapter with Chaol I can't help but go "awww..." every time. Those sections that focused on Chaol tore my heart :') They just match each other so well, and in my opinion, Chaol is in the lead. He offered Celaena his sword during the final duel, and even though he doesn't show his love for Celaena like Dorian does, Chaol definitely loves Celaena a lot more on the inside.

As for Dorian...he's fine as a prince, but he's everything you'd expect him to be. Perfect personality, "excessively handsome" as Celaena even stated, kind and unlike his cruel father with a heart of iron. Perhaps it has something to do with Dorian being a prince and how protagonists end up with a prince in fantasy stories too often. Dorian was likeable, but he didn't spark up to me as much as Chaol did. Aside from that, I call Dorian for keeps though if Celaena doesn't want him :D

I highly recommend this book to high fantasy lovers. This book doesn't just focus on the romance though, there are other things that make this book an interesting read, such as the mystery and suspense, the competition, the dark magic, and Nehemia. She was a wonderful friend! There's also a lot of fighting and hilarious moments that you'll certainly enjoy. I also can't help but say that I'm eager to know what happens with Chaol, Dorian and Celaena. I hope to see some more action happen between Chaol and Celaena, but nonetheless, I have a feeling that I will be hooked onto this series no matter what happens in rest of the series. A fantastic read!