Review: Throne of Glass | Sarah J. Maas

This review is spoiler free.

“We all bear scars, Dorian. Mine just happen to be more visible than most.”

Series: Throne of Glass
Published: 2012, by Bloomsbury.
Pages: 404
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Magic, New Adult, Adventure, Paranormal
Contains: Death, Murder, Violence, Blood/Gore, Anger, Strong Language

‘Throne of Glass’ tells the story of Celaena Sardothien, an eighteen-year-old serving a life sentence in the dark, filthy mines of Endovier. She’s a trained assassin, the best of her kind, yet she got caught. However, Captain Westfall offers her a deal, to represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament against the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. 

This book has been on my To Read shelf for far too long, collecting dust and desperate to be delved into. After pulling it from my To Read jar this month, I was anxious to begin. However, I was just left disappointed.

Celaena was a promising protagonist. I expected her to be fierce, sharp-tongued and badass to the core. However, she was nothing of the sort. She was naive, childish and downright dull to read about. I couldn’t gel with her, finding her dialogue so out of place and the narrative incredibly boring. She was just too childish and whiny, and I was supposed to believe that she was the worlds most successful assassin? Not a chance. She pulled me out of the story, finding it far too unbelievable to immerse myself into. 
Chaol was another character that I simply couldn’t connect with, being an increasing dull character the more the story progressed. There’s not a shred of dialogue or action that I recall from him, allowing him to blend into the background the majority of the time.
Dorian, however, brought a little colour back into my life, being slightly more entertaining and frustrating the protagonist which actually lit up the pages for a little while. However, his scenes were far and few in between.

The story itself moved at an incredibly confusing pace, the story-lines shifting between the tournament, which was the interesting part, and the love triangle; the not so entertaining part. The dialogue felt out of place for the characters and the story itself just didn’t seem to flow. The world-building was also weak, pulling me further and further out of the story; I just didn’t get gripped by it.

Overall, I’m deeply disappointed by this read. The premise held so much potential, but reality let itself down. I don’t think I’ll be continuing with this series, the first not gripping me enough to feel motivated to keep going, which is a little disheartening for such a talked-about series.

2/5