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Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)

Sarah J. Maas

Start date: July 1, 2014

Finish date: July 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Read

Why we're reading this: Fantasy Book of the Month
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Group Read

December's Book of the Month: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
By Riya · 2 posts · 6 views

last updated Dec 06, 2014 07:58PM

December's Book of the Month: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
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last updated Dec 06, 2014 06:03PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 15, 2018 ★ Belinda the Happy Dark Witch ★ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

I cant wait to start reading Crown of Midnight (book #2)!!! =D I have no idea why I couldn't get into Throne of Glass the first time I tried reading it about three years ago, probably because I didn't like how it was written in 3rd person but whatever. I am already getting the sense that the rest of the series is going to put me in emotional distress and, to be honest, I don't mind. ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Dani rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!!

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 22, 2016 Veronica rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

With the summary on the back I expected this to become one of my favourite YA Fantasy books, but alas, I was to be disappointed.

Plot-wise the story has potential, I'll give it that much. The premise is promising, hinting at quite an interesting mythology and backstory. It doesn't go further than what's needed for the basic plot, however, which renders it quite shallow. It foreshadows things that might become interesting in the sequels, but does little for this book in and of itself. I find this With the summary on the back I expected this to become one of my favourite YA Fantasy books, but alas, I was to be disappointed.

Plot-wise the story has potential, I'll give it that much. The premise is promising, hinting at quite an interesting mythology and backstory. It doesn't go further than what's needed for the basic plot, however, which renders it quite shallow. It foreshadows things that might become interesting in the sequels, but does little for this book in and of itself. I find this quite sad since I can see the potential, but the author falls short and doesn't make me feel like I want to read the continuation of the series.

My main issue is with the characters. Let's take it in order:
Celaena is supposed to be the world's greatest assassin. To start with she's 18yrs old (although she was captured at the age of 17), which makes it quite unbelievable that she is the world's best killer, surely there must be someone out there who has more experience than here?! Also, if everyone in the world knows your name then I must assume that you didn't get the memo about what an assassin is supposed to be. Then comes the fact that she has been enslaved for a year, and yet the moment she is out of there it seems like all the hardships, pains, and memories of the place just magically disappears: she's now a borderline spoiled girl who, after less than 100 pages in, seems to forget all her hard-earned skills as an assassin, and all her intelligence just flew out the window. There's so many issues with this character that I can't mention all of them here, but I will say this: in the author's need to make the character flawed her shortcomings feel slapped on and entirely too superficial.
Dorian is a surprisingly predictable character and right from the starts it's obvious what's going to happen with him. I don't have anything else to say about him.
Chaol is arguably the most redeemable character out of the three. He is the Captain of the Guards and he's barely in his twenties, and have never killed anyone. I'm sorry but that's even less plausible than an 17yrs old being the worlds most renowned assassin. Had he been the captain of the Crown Prince's guards then I could have let it slide, but sadly that's not the case.
Nehemia is the only real good character in this whole thing. Hell, even her guards who are barely mentioned intrigue me more than most than the other characters. If there's a story about her I'd like to read it. I have nothing negative to say about her.

I don't think I'll recommend this book. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. If you feel like you want to kill some time then I'd say that it works, but don't think too much about the details. ...more

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