Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)

by Sarah J. Maas

[Angie]

I really enjoyed Throne of Glass, even though it wasn't what I was expecting at all. Celaena has spent the last year as a slave in the salt mines, but now she's being offered her freedom. If she competes to become the king's personal assassin and wins, she can go free after four years of servitude. Celaena may hate the king, but she's no fool. She knows she'll die if she stays in the salt mine, so she agrees. But with any competition involving thieves and assassins, someone isn't playing fair.Celaena's opponents are dropping like flies and she might be next.

Throne of Glass was great! Even though Celaena doesn't do any assassinating, there's plenty of action and death! The novellas had hinted at magic having been part of the land once, and something magical seems to be happening to their competitors. But that's not possible and Celaena will stop at nothing to uncover what is going on before it gets her, too! While I didn't figure out what was going on, I did guess who was behind it from the beginning. I think that's fairly obvious, but the details are quite weird and twisted. I just wish I had been more surprised.

Throne of Glass isn't all combat and death though. There's quite a bit of fun stuff going on, like Celaena getting to play dress up again! She's kind of undercover, and the courtiers think she's the prince's latest plaything. She doesn't like being seen that way at all, but it keeps her in the lap of luxury. Yulemas also seems like a great time! Obviously, it's like Christmas, but not exactly. And romance! I'm not behind the romance though. At least not yet. I did like Calaena's decision at the end, although it's obvious she won't stick to it.

In the end, I think Throne of Glass was a great start to this series. Yes, the novellas are better and may have gotten my expectations up a bit, but that's okay! I'm curious how Calaena is going to handle her new position. She's warring between earning her freedom and keeping her sense of self, so it'll be interesting to see how she gets around that in the next books.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.