Date finished: 27 January 2015
Series: Throne of Glass, no. 1
Rating: 5/5 stars
This book is perfection. I wish I could
start off with a wittier and more entertaining analogy of how the scale of
1-to-awesome should be changed to a scale of 1-to-Sarah J. Maas, but I think
that makes ‘Throne of Glass’ sound a little tacky and overrated.
And it is so not either of those things.
Let’s face it, ‘Throne of Glass’ has
everything I’ve ever desired – and more – in a YA fantasy book. Magic? Duh.
Swords. Check. Badass heroine? Check. Who also happens to be trained as an
assassin? Check. And has a possible personality disorder? Check. Not to mention
the two arrogant “heroes” that she manages to absolutely humiliate within the
first chapter, and continues to surprise throughout the book.
Celeana Sardothien is far from perfect.
She’s arrogant and rude and pretty much blind when it comes to noticing
people’s attraction to her, but she’s also compassionate and perplexing beneath
her oh-so-tough infamous assassin status. Moreover, she manages to prove that
just because she’s a beautiful woman with flowing hair and puffy skirts doesn’t
mean she still won’t be able to absolutely destroy every single male assumption
about her sex that’s presented to her. In most cases, she actually beats the
unassuming male to a pulp just for underestimating her.
With regards to the storyline – I have no appropriate words. I think I was speechless for most of the book, and probably sounded a
lot like a babbling idiot when I tried to explain to my friends and family
exactly why they could not possibly disturb me under any circumstances because
I was too engrossed by the cannonball climaxes that Maas kept throwing at my
already aching head.
And then to top it off, there is now a
single author on planet Earth who has finally written a credible love triangle.
Right from the start, I thought I’d guessed who Celeana would fall for, but
then it turned out I was wrong and I didn’t know how I felt about that… I couldn’t even decide whether I
preferred Prince Dorian or Captain Westfall, and I’ll usually make up my mind
about that within the first half of the book. It was emotionally draining, as
love triangles should be. Love triangles are the furthest thing from romance –
they aren’t supposed to create excitement; they’re supposed to make you feel
sick to your stomach because of the tension and confusion and what if she ends up with the wrong one?
But in the end I actually set down the book
and had a moment of silence followed by a moment of applause for Celeana’s
intelligence. Finally, a character makes a decision with minimal consequences
and minimal complications. Not that my heart didn’t break just a little on that
final page…
To sum it up: incredible storyline,
stunning characters and the ability to incite way too many emotions. Highly
recommended.
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