From the Bookshelf of 2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge…

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)

Sarah J. Maas

Start date: November 1, 2022

Finish date: November 30, 2022

Discussion: November 2025 Group Read

Why we're reading this: Group Read for November 2022
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November 2025 Group Read

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What Members Thought

Mar 18, 2019 Kristi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-challenge-2019

3.5 stars. Once a skilled assassin, Calaena Sardothien was betrayed and sent to the mines of Endovier to die. But one day, the Crown Prince of Adarlan arrives and offers her a bargain: her freedom in exchange for serving for four years as the Champion of the realm and doing his father’s bidding. The catch is that first Calaena has to beat other assassins, mercenaries, and thieves for the title—and a mysterious force is killing off her competitors even more quickly than the competition itself.

** 3.5 stars. Once a skilled assassin, Calaena Sardothien was betrayed and sent to the mines of Endovier to die. But one day, the Crown Prince of Adarlan arrives and offers her a bargain: her freedom in exchange for serving for four years as the Champion of the realm and doing his father’s bidding. The catch is that first Calaena has to beat other assassins, mercenaries, and thieves for the title—and a mysterious force is killing off her competitors even more quickly than the competition itself.

** spoilers ahead **

I picked up this book because I really loved A Court of Thorns and Roses. I enjoyed Throne of Glass, but it was a bit clunkier and less sophisticated than ACOTAR. I appreciated the world-building and the hinting at things much beyond the scope of the Champion’s competition, but in this particular novel, I felt like we ended up hearing a lot of bluster and bravado about how bad-ass Calaena is without really getting to see any of that for the most part. I would have probably bought into it a bit more if the reputational element had been dialed back about 50%. I will probably eventually read other books in this series, so maybe I will get to see Calaena at her peak at some point, but in this novel, she is mostly trying to recover from being starved to death—and even when she feels better, she has to hold back in the competition, so we don’t really get to see much of what she can do.

The love triangle element of the story was ok, but again, it seemed clunkier than in ACOTAR. Also, I got attached to the idea of Calaena and Dorian (I thought it was a cute romance), so I was a little put off when she suddenly decides to cut things off with him after she becomes Champion and then suddenly pivots toward Chaol (who is ok but kinda boring to me at this point). I realize that it’s entirely possible that she’s just putting up a front to keep people from getting hurt, but if that’s the case, I wish that some of their internal anguish had come out a bit more in the narrative. As it was, the way that she dropped Dorian seemed way too abrupt.

I’m interested in hearing more about the Wyrdmarks, magic, etc. in future installments, as well as in hearing more about Calaena’s past. It seems like there’s a lot of promise there. ...more

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