Early Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #1

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s

Publication date: August 2nd 2012

Source: Received an ARC from publisher via NetGalley.

From Goodreads:

Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

LOVE this cover! It’s awesomeness.

My Review

Throne of Glass is quite possibly the best fantasy novel I’ve read to date. And that’s saying something. Especially as fantasy is usually a genre I run away from—though recently I’ve been trying to give it more of a chance.

And, boy, am I now glad that I did.

Because from the very first page, this tale is captivating.

Within minutes of reading, I had a handle on the kind of character our MC was. I also understood Chaol would play an important part, as would Dorian—though reading their characters took a little bit longer—and I pretty much understood the main conflict of the story. For the reader to be absorbed so easily and be willing to grasp so readily is a result of great talent by the author.

I loved Throne of Glass. I loved Calaena’s personality, loved her spirit, her self-awareness, her grit, her energy, her will to survive, as well as her empathy that developed as her character progressed and she learned to trust as well as care for others.

I also loved Chaol and Dorian; though, to be honest, I had a hard time figuring out who to like more. And even whilst happy when things progressed between prince & assassin, I couldn’t help but feel her heart seeked warmth in the wrong place—so I’m very interested to observe any future development in that department.

Then there was the plot. From start to finish, I was swept away, taken to a world that entranced and entertained, even whilst sometimes revolting and offensive, and suckered into the lives of fictional characters, who I fast came to care very much about.

Throne of Glass is enthralling and thrilling, and heart warming and chilling, and full of excitement and action to boot—it is pretty much everything I would expect if a fantasy novel is to hold my attention, and I seriously cannot wait for the next instalment.

Loved it!

Did I mention that I loved it?

That is all.