Title – Throne of Glass
Author – Sarah J. Mass
Publisher – Bloomsbury
Pages- 404 (hardcover)
Published –August 2nd 2012
Series – Throne of Glass (1/7, Uncompleted)
13 October 2017
“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name’s Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I’d still beat you, no matter what you call me.”
Characters are important, without good ones a book just doesn’t work. They don’t have to be fun or kind or even nice, but they do have to be interesting. My inner critic is killing me for using that word – interesting, as it is valueless, but it is what I want from a character, for them to engage me, to intrigue me, to make me interested.
The reason why I bring this up is because Throne of Glass has one of the best sets of charactrs that I’ve seen in a while.
First off, we have Celaena Sardothien, Ardarlan’s Assassin. Celaena is very complex. We first meet her in the Endovier salt mines, a death camp where she has been imprisoned, beaten and tortured. At the beginning of the novel Celaena is not at her best, neither mentally nor physically. She is weak from the abuse and sees a chance to enter a competition to become the king’s personal assassin, she sees it as an opportunity to build back her strength as well as finally find her freedom. We also get some great backstory for Celaena throughout Throne of Glass, which really helps to develop her character and motivations, this is especially important as this is the beginning of a series.
Though Celaena is the main character, the third person narration does sometimes jump around a lot. This means that we see from the positions of: Dorian – The Prince, Chaol – Captain of the Guard and Kaltain – a lady in waiting, and other characters. I find all of these viewpoints raelly interesting, as we are able to get more information about what is going on.
I dont think that it is too much of a spoiler to say that there is romance in Throne of Glass and this includes a love triangle. Though love triangles are often very cliche, I think that this one really does work and the situation feels genuine.
The world building here is also great, the way that Celaena talked of book burnings and executions in order to try and rid the world of magic was truely shocking, and showed the desperation and power of the monarchy. I think that this will definitely be developed more in future installments, but for know the information that we have been given really helps us to understand the context of the story.
Overall, an excellent read. If you have not picked up Throne of Glass yet (I know I’m one of the last!) then I really reccomend that you do, you won’t regret it!
Buy on Amazon:
Throne of Glass: 1
If you’ve read Throne of Glass, let me know what you thought in the comments down below and, as always, Happy Reading!
– Betty Xx
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