Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) in A Little Bit Of This

Apr 07, 2017 Johanna rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, won-t-continue

This review is filled with spoilers
This book … is a mess, a huge chaotic mess, and I really don't know why so many people loved this book enough it was made a series. I'm really glad I didn't buy it and instead got it from my local library. It would have been so painful if I had actually paid money for it.
But let's start at the beginning.
Throne of Glass is about Celaena Sardothien, a badass female assassin, the best of her kind, feared through all the countries. Sounds awesome, right? Who does This review is filled with spoilers
This book … is a mess, a huge chaotic mess, and I really don't know why so many people loved this book enough it was made a series. I'm really glad I didn't buy it and instead got it from my local library. It would have been so painful if I had actually paid money for it.
But let's start at the beginning.
Throne of Glass is about Celaena Sardothien, a badass female assassin, the best of her kind, feared through all the countries. Sounds awesome, right? Who doesn't like a badass heroine? Well, yes, it sounds great. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to it. First problem: She is eighteen years old (and that is after she spent a year in a work camp). Please be so kind an explain to me how someone becomes the most badass assassin to ever live at the age of seventeen. A couple of years of training, she likely hasn't started killing before she was fifteen. So within two years she managed to make a name for herself as an assassin (please note here, we never actually hear a single name of any important person she killed or how she did it or what was so amazing about it). Also, I might be wrong here but who knows, isn't it more a sign of a bad killer if everyone knows your name? A nickname I get that strikes fear in people's hearts but why her real name? One of the major skills of an assassin is getting close enough to your victim to kill them without anyone noticing … difficult to do when everyone knows who you are and you proudly carry around your name.
Anyway, back to the little existing plot. Our deadly not killing assassin was betrayed by someone in her past, caught, and sent to the salt mines for hard labor as a punishment. That was a year before the story starts. Now, the quiet and brooding but obviously hot Chaol, Captain of the Royal Guard, comes to get her out of there. Why the Captain himself you might ask, that's exactly what I was wondering as well and I kept asking myself throughout the rest of the book. It isn't answered or explained, so just roll with it. He brings her in front of the equally hot but less quiet and less brooding crown prince, Dorian. He offers Celaena her freedom if she agrees to become is champion and participate in a competition about becoming the king's champion. What does that mean you might wonder … yeah, I don't know either. A personal assassin? A secret weapon? A personal body guard? Don't know, doesn't make much sense. If she wins the competition she will have to serve the king for a couple of years (I don't know exactly how many because that weirdly changed throughout the book. There was the mention of six years, then five and at some point it were suddenly four, I also don't quite understand how anyone but the king can decide that but well she doesn't really talk to him at all). There, kneeling in front of Dorian (who by the way she hates because he is his father's son and his dad is responsible for all the evil in the world), she contemplates attacking Dorian and strangling him with her chain … why she doesn't at least try is beyond me it would have made for such an awesome scene and set a very different tone. But well, she doesn't, instead she is ashamed because she is dirty and smells … Girl! You've been stuck in a work camp for a year! You've been whipped and tortured and starved! You have bigger problems than not being pretty in front of the hot crown prince you hate!
This scene is a bit symptomatic for the whole problem of the book. Lot's of telling, no showing, a shit load of crappy teenage romance and not nearly enough action or plot, and then there is the obligatory random magical/fae-ish/ghosty stuff. Now, that last part might not be a problem for everyone, but I happen to dislike fae stuff. I don't know why, but I don't care about this particular paranormal creature and I mostly avoid stories involving them.
Anyway, back to the 'plot'. Celaena agrees (why I didn't quite get, also why she never tried to escape is beyond me) and they travel to the castle where she starts to train with the other competitiors … you read correctly, the people competing to become the king's champion are being trained … and that stretches for the biggest part of the book only rarely interrupted by some kind of competition to eliminate some of them. I constantly wondered why. I mean I get why Celaena has to train. She's half starved, but why make that part of the over all competition? Wouldn't it have been better to just make her train in private, start the competition a couple of weeks later, and then pit them all against each other? Wouldn't it have been cool to have them all live in the castle and they should kill each other using their skills. If they are caught in the act or leave too much evidence behind they are disqualified and whoever stands last without leaving proof of their actions gets the job? That would have been exciting! Instead, the whole training and competition feels like its only a distraction to the more important romance subplot and a lot of nothingness.
So, some champions are killed, quite brutally I might add, and nobody knows how, why or who … but it's not like anyone really cares, not even Celaene (shouldn't she be worried she might be next). But she doesn't try to figure out who did it or take any precautions to protect herself. Everything she does eventually learn is practically delivered to her on a silver platter … because she is chosen! Of course she is, what else.
There are a few moments where some cool action happens, but they are few and far between.
Most of the characters don't make sense, but particularly the main three. The king is evil for the sake of being evil. We don't really see anything of him, he doesn't really do anything, he's just evil and horrible! Chaol is supposed to be the Captain of the Royal Guard … but he has never killed anyone, or even just seen someone die. How did he get his job at such a young age? It's made clear he's a good fighter, but why not make him the personal body guard for Dorian? That would have worked just fine. The king clearly doesn't trust him so why would he make him Captain of the Royal Guard … speaking of which, is the Captain the highest post? Dorian … he almost works. He's flat, spoiled, and arrogant … but then SJM tries to make him seem human by … making him hate is dad? But again, he doesn't do anything, he just says he doesn't like what he does. Wow! What a character! But worst of all is Celaena! She makes absolutely no sense! She is a world class assassin, who hates what she is (she always wanted to be a healer … does it get any more clichee?) but at the same time she looks down at her fellow competitors for not being as great at killing people, for being random murderers, or worse, thieves! She is ashamed of having to pretend to be a thief. Actually, she doesn't even understand why Chaol doesn't want everyone to know who she is! Clever? Not so much. She is jealous that their trainer doesn't complement her enough!!!! What the hell? How weak is your ego that you need that?! She really isn't the brightest bulb of the bunch, honestly. She's extremely judgemental and entitled not to mention hypocritical. In one scene she is angry with Dorian because he considers putting down a puppy that doesn't allow people to touch it. She asks: 'What has she ever done to you?' … pretty big coming from an assassin, right? Someone who kills people for money … people they generally don't know at all! And she can't do anything herself! If she wasn't the 'Chosen One' and constantly protected by other she would have died pretty early on in the book before she even realized she was in any danger (not that she did anything to protect herself once she did realize it). Oh, did I mention, she is also a master pianist, an avid reader, a wanna be psychologist and she has a bleeding heart for slaves? Oh, and she constantly wonders if Chaol and Dorian like her or not (while her relationship with neither felt real and honest), and how pretty they are … Save to say I disliked her a lot!
After this little rant I think it's clear I will not continue this series. The really interesting premise of a female assassin was totally overshadowed by the boring and generic magical plot. The characters were flat and inconsistent (not in the good way). Also, SJM is absolutely not great with subtlety. It clear where this story is going in the next books and I'm not interested. Luckily there are more books now about female assassins. I'll just turn my attention to those. Red Sister, I have my eyes on you!
Despite the fact that I enjoyed ranting about this book and updating so much more than I ever did before, this book doesn't get more than one star from me. ...more

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Jun 15, 2016 Alex rated it it was amazing

My adventure with Sarah J. Maas books started with "A Court of Thorns and Roses" and I was so enchanted by this book, characters and whole world created by an author, that I started reading first book about Celaena Sardothien without doubt. As I expected "Throne of Glass" provided me great two days.
We meet the main character when she is going from mine, she was sentenced to work in for earlier murders, to meeting, where she gets a proposition which can give her freedom. She is supposed to partic My adventure with Sarah J. Maas books started with "A Court of Thorns and Roses" and I was so enchanted by this book, characters and whole world created by an author, that I started reading first book about Celaena Sardothien without doubt. As I expected "Throne of Glass" provided me great two days.
We meet the main character when she is going from mine, she was sentenced to work in for earlier murders, to meeting, where she gets a proposition which can give her freedom. She is supposed to participate competition and after winning to become a royal assassin.
Celaena is strong, smart, pretty young for being assassin girl, who can not be pushed around. She is not irritating type of girl, who needs to be constantly saved, she can deal with many situations by herself. And that's her great advantage when ot comes to me.
Interesting story, fast-paced action and well developed characters don't let put the book away even for a moment. I liked "Throne of Glass" from the very beginning and it is one of my favourite books now.

Swoją przygodę z książkami Sarah J. Maas zaczęłam od "Dworu cierni i róż" i byłam tak oczarowana tą książką, jej bohaterami i całym światem stworzonym przez autorkę, że bez wahania sięgnęłam po pierwszy tom cyklu o Celaenie Sardothien. Zgodnie z moimi oczekiwaniami czytając "Szklany tron" tak po prostu przepadłam całe na dwa dni.
Główną bohaterkę poznajemy w momencie gdy z kopalni, na pracę w której została skazana za wcześniejsze zabójstwa, jest prowadzona na spotkanie, na którym dostaje propozycję, dzięki której może odzyskać wolność. Ma wziąć udział w turnieju, a po wygranej zostać królewskim zabójcą.
Celaena jest silną, sprytną, dość młodą jak na swój fach dziewczyną, która nie daje sobą pomiatać. Nie jest typem irytującej damy w opałach, którą ciągle trzeba ratować, potrafi sama radzić sobie z wieloma sytuacjami i to jest jak dla mnie jej wielki plus.
Ciekawa fabuła, nie zwalniająca ani na chwilę akcja i dobrze przedstawieni bohaterowie nie pozwalają ani na chwilę oderwać się od lektury. Mogę powiedzieć, że "Szklany tron" od samego początku przypadł mi do gustu i na pewno będzie jedną z moich ulubionych książek. ...more

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Oct 29, 2017 Lexy rated it it was amazing

I thought that this book was good when I read it

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Dec 04, 2016 yitmarak ✨ rated it really liked it

******4.5/5*****
I am so excited to continue this series! I have zero regrets about picking this up. Throne of Glass left me wanting more about this world because it is epic! I am a huge fan of both ACOTAR and ACOMAF and Throne of Glass might just finally be what I need to fill that hole in my heart that was created after reading ACOMAF(*cries*). Mind you, they are very different stories! But Sarah just has a way with words that I am wrapped up in her books once again. I enjoyed all the character ...more

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