Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) in Obsessed With YA & NA

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Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)

Sarah J. Maas

Start date: November 1, 2014

Finish date: December 1, 2014

Discussion: November Book of the Month

Why we're reading this: Voted most for Young Adult- Fantasy!
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November Book of the Month

WEEK 4: Throne of Glass
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last updated Nov 25, 2014 09:09AM

WEEK 3: Throne of Glass
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What Members Thought

Jul 15, 2012 Kassidy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

*4.5*

I absolutely loved this book, especially the main character, Celaena. She is such a strong character with an entertaining and unique personality. I was also captivated by the world building, magic, and mystery. The love drama definitely intrigued me, but I don't know what team I'm on. I will just have to see how it plays out in the next books. The love interests are for sure swoon-worthy! I just couldn't give this book the full 5 stars because I was not WOWed. I thought some of the plot was ...more

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Feb 23, 2014 Mom2triplets04 rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-books, ya-read-before-2015, books-i-donated, audio-listened

2 1/2 stars. Gave it a half star for the purple cover. I love the cover! In my opinion, it definitely didn't live up to all the hype. Doubt I will continue the series. ...more

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Dec 14, 2023 Jennifer rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, my-own-read-books, to-read-2022, 2023-reads, 52-book-challenge-2023, my-own-books-i-read-in-2023

Wow, I'm glad I finally started this series, so much happened. Can't wait to continue. ...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Zoe rated it really liked it

For me, Throne of Glass is an average book - I enjoyed it, but it didn't make my favourites. I was gripped to some parts, but sometimes I just wanted to put the book down in the middle of the chapter.

In the story, 18 year old Celaena is an assassin and is captured by the Crown Prince who offers her freedom in exchange for representing him in a tournament. She longs to be free, so of course accepts his offer. In the big competition the outcome is final - she wins, she is free; she loses, she dies For me, Throne of Glass is an average book - I enjoyed it, but it didn't make my favourites. I was gripped to some parts, but sometimes I just wanted to put the book down in the middle of the chapter.

In the story, 18 year old Celaena is an assassin and is captured by the Crown Prince who offers her freedom in exchange for representing him in a tournament. She longs to be free, so of course accepts his offer. In the big competition the outcome is final - she wins, she is free; she loses, she dies.

I love how this book is based on the popular fairy-tale, 'Cinderella'. I haven't read a story like this before, but I think I am definitely going to in the future. I liked how the book linked in with the fairy tale - the name Celeana and the prince. I loved seeing how they coped with certain situations and whether any parts would link in with the book. If a book is re-told in a different way, you would expect the ending to be predictable. It wasn't! At all! I just adored all the different ideas drawn into the words on the page - and who doesn't want to read Cinderella as an assassin?!

The main character, Celeana, is the perfect protagonist. Recently, a lot of books have heroic main characters who are brave, witty and dauntless; this one is no exception. I love seeing character's evolution throughout stories and how her personality changed - but not in a hypocritical, annoying way.

One of my favourite parts of this novel was the moments with Dorian. Their relationship was so passionate and desirable. Although their moments were cute, I'm not sure how to describe them both together - 'adorable' just sounds so... credulous. I mean, we are talking about an assassin and a son of a murderer! However, I enjoyed reading about their controversial relationship. The ending broke my heart, though! D:

Echoing other reviews, I also experienced the same problem with the book. The slow beginning. It didn't captivate me, and I found myself losing interest among the first few chapters. However, after a few pages, I started to be hooked into Maas' world. The beautiful, detailed and lyrical writing had me in awe and I loved how they flowed onto the page. And then..... I got bored again. There are a lot of 'stop' and 'starts' within this book which is the reason I wanted to pick up something else.

Throne of Glass involves realistic characters, an intriguing plot and the ability to draw you into the book and meet the characters. Unfortunately, this isn't one of my favourites, but I am 99% certain I will be reading this again. ...more

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Sep 19, 2013 Sara rated it liked it

Honestly I want to give it a lower rating, but I loved the story overall that I can't let my pet peeves lower the rating. Here is my full review! ...more

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Jul 17, 2013 Katie Johnson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: covers-to-die-for, wishlist, read-in-2014

Throne of Glass wasn鈥檛 at all what I expected, but I found it enjoyable. After reading the blurb, I was reminded of Graceling鈥攂oth are YA Fantasy, and both feature a heroine who is an assassin鈥攂ut the similarities end there. Throne of Glass is ultra-lite as far as Fantasy goes, with world-building and politics taking a back seat to character development, as the assassin heroine Celaena (pronounced Sell-LAY-na) builds relationships with the Crown Prince Dorian, the Captain of the Guard, Chaol (KA Throne of Glass wasn鈥檛 at all what I expected, but I found it enjoyable. After reading the blurb, I was reminded of Graceling鈥攂oth are YA Fantasy, and both feature a heroine who is an assassin鈥攂ut the similarities end there. Throne of Glass is ultra-lite as far as Fantasy goes, with world-building and politics taking a back seat to character development, as the assassin heroine Celaena (pronounced Sell-LAY-na) builds relationships with the Crown Prince Dorian, the Captain of the Guard, Chaol (KAY-all), and Nehemia, a princess from a foreign land.

THE CHARACTERS
I鈥檒l admit it: I wasn鈥檛 sure about Celaena in the beginning. She was arrogant, obnoxious, and incredibly immature for someone who survived a year in a death camp. But as the story progressed and more about her past was revealed, she started to grow on me, because Celaena鈥檚 past is so dark that her snarky and sarcastic demeanor seemed like a logical way for her to deal with everything (and her snarkiness is pretty amusing, too). I absolutely adored Princess Nehemia, and I hope she has a larger role in the sequel. As for Chaol and Dorian, I liked them well enough, but the love triangle unfortunately didn鈥檛 feel genuine to me. Hopefully it becomes more believable in later books, because Chaol and Dorian are going to be stuck with Celaena for four years, and their relationship with her and with each other has the potential to be greatly entertaining. As for the minor characters, I鈥檓 not really sure if there鈥檚 anything to say at this point. The King of Adarlan, Duke Perrington, and Kaltain (the baddies) are all pretty mysterious for now, but I鈥檓 sure they鈥檒l cook up plenty of mischief in books to come. The Queen of Faerie, Elena, was an interesting twist, and I look forward to seeing what other revelations she has for Celaena.

THE STORY
Upon reading the synopsis, I expected that the competition Celaena was forced into would occupy much of the story; what I didn鈥檛 expect is that the Tests would be so uneventful (target shooting and identifying poisons are among them). On the other hand, the wall-climbing Test was exciting. And the duel at the very end was seriously epic. I was so glad when Celaena finally showcased her abilities; after her endless bragging, I started to dread that she wouldn鈥檛 be able to live up to her own hype. Fortunately, I needn鈥檛 have worried.

Overall, I would recommend Throne of Glass. Just don鈥檛 expect an assassin who assassinates. Yes, that鈥檚 right; Celaena never actually kills anyone in this book, (or in the rest of the series, I鈥檓 quite certain). Strangely, this ended up working for me. Why? Because Celaena admits that she enjoys playing the piano because she鈥檚 creating instead of destroying, and because, before she became an assassin, she actually wanted to be a healer (Yes, I know, it鈥檚 ironic). On the plus side, though she doesn鈥檛 kill, Celaena has no qualms about handing out ass kickings to people who really deserve it. I can鈥檛 wait to see what the next book holds in store for her .

BOTTOM LINE: A solid start to the series. I am definitely going to read Crown of Midnight, but I hope it has a little less talk and a lot more action. ~
...more

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Sep 16, 2013 Briana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2k23-tbr

4.5-4.7 stars.

Fast-paced and just fantastic. Such a strong and kick-ass female protagonist who just makes you root for her all the way through. Not a full five because I would've wanted a stronger ending or I suppose "cliffhanger" into the next book. But UGH. The FEEEEEEELS in this book. Just go out and read it. You'll understand. It's action-packed, cleverly written, and a great book. This book has actually been my first fantasy book/series and I have to say this book has definitely gotten me i ...more

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Feb 22, 2014 Yesenia rated it it was amazing

Why did I wait so long for this? it was to amazing. I have no idea who I love more though , so undecided.

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Jan 02, 2013 Amy Hayes rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-book

With all the hype and talk that this book and series gets, I was expecting a lot more than what I got. I didn't care for Celaena or Dorian and I didn't think much of the story either. I will continue this series, as I own all the books, but I probably wont be keeping them after I finish them. ...more

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