Throne of Glass
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
By: Sarah J. Maas
[Fulfilled ‘A book with a king or queen’ prompt as part of Shelf Reflection’s 2024 Reading Challenge]
[Nominee for ‘Best YA Fantasy/Sci-fi Fiction’ in the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards]
“‘You could rattle the stars. You could do anything, if you only dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.’”
I know I’m late to the Sarah J. Maas party. Throne of Glass is her debut novel from 2012. Since then she has finished this series and written ACOTAR and Crescent City series that have become very popular.
I opted to read the Throne of Glass series instead of the ACOTAR (do you put ‘the’ in front of that??) because I was told the TOG series is less spicy. It’s hard for me to read series like I used to (my TBR is too long and I read a lot of different genres) so I am more selective of what I start. Since I can’t really commit to both series I decided the less spicy one was more speed. I’ve only read one book but the ‘less spicy’ descriptor holds true thus far.
There are some common tropes in this book. Our main character (Celaena Sardothien) is a young girl and warrior with the destiny to fight for her oppressed people. She most likely has some sort of magic ability; she is an orphan and must pretend to be loyal to the ones (most likely) responsible for their deaths; there is a bit of a love triangle, including someone from the ‘enemy side’.
“The King of Adarlan had outlawed it all— magic, Fae, faeries— and removed any trace so thoroughly that even those who had magic in their blood almost believed it had never really existed, Celaena herself being one of them.”
Some elements remind me of Tahereh Mafi’s This Woven Kingdom series as Alizeh too is an orphan destined to help her people who has special powers and falls in love with a prince; she also is up against dark magic. In both worlds aspects of magic are outlawed.
Some elements remind me of Hunger Games or Red Rising series where youths are fighting each other. Similar to Red Rising, if Celaena wins her competition she earns a spot defending or fighting for the king, but like Darrow, will seek to secretly help her people when she can.
The setting for this series is your classic Medieval type world with horses and castles and swords mixed with the magical realm of faes and demons and some sort of sorcery known as the Wyrd.
Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself.
The main premise: Celaena is approached by Prince Dorian while serving her sentence in his father’s labor prison (Endovier). His proposition: Come be my competitor in the king’s tournament. Winner becomes the king’s champion. Serve four years as his assassin and you’ll earn your freedom. Refuse, and you can remain here where death is imminent.
Of course, Celaena isn’t your typical eighteen year old. She’d been trained to be an assassin since the age of 8. We don’t know how she was betrayed, but she is serving her sentence for being the renowned ‘Adarlan’s Assassin.’ To fight other thieves and criminals is in her wheelhouse.
“Yes, she could go anywhere, even through the Gates of the Wyrd and into Hell itself, if it meant freedom. After all, you aren’t Adarlan’s Assassin for nothing.”
Of course she would compete and win her freedom.
But she wasn’t quite prepared for what awaited her in the glass castle. One, a couple love interests, including Prince Dorian, the womanizer. Two, the supposedly outlawed black magic that has been unleashed inside the castle taking out competitors left and right.
Can she survive long enough to win; and if she wins, can she stomach the thought of killing for the king?
This was a good first book and has drawn me into the world and the story. I suspect that this isn’t going to be my favorite book of the series and that the best is yet to come.
Throne of Glass feels like a good introductory book. The stakes start off high, but we’re still getting to know our characters and getting our bearings on what this world is about and who the good guys and the bad guys are.
There are plenty of unknowns yet to be uncovered like: What happened to Celaena’s parents? Who is Sam and what happened to him? Who betrayed Celaena and how did she come to be in the death camp? What is the wyrdmark about that was on her forehead? What’s the deal with Philippa— maybe there’s nothing here but it seems like there is something to learn about her and her role in Celaena’s future. What kind of chaos is Dorian’s brother going to cause when he returns home? Whose side is the Queen on? Is the assassin trainer going to reach out to Celaena now that she’s no longer imprisoned? How will Celaena be able to justify killing for the king and can she work around his plans to help her people? I have a feeling Kaltain, Nox, and Nehemia will resurface in important ways. And Fleetfoot has to become some sort of heroic dog, right?
So we have some major pieces of the puzzle and the pieces show us the puzzle is worth trying to put together. The series (at this point) is worth continuing to read. I like that Maas laid the ground work for more avenues to traverse in the series without trying to cram too much into the book.
When I explained the book to my husband after I read it, he was like- ‘So not much happened in the book?’ and in some ways, that’s a little true. But when you’re reading it, it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of dead space. (Ha… well there’s space with death but you know…)
Because it’s a romantasy it has to have some scenes of action and magic and fighting and plot movement, but there are also relationship building drama scenes that slow the book down in some ways.
I felt like there was good balance in this book. Hopefully the balance is sustained as we go deeper in.
I jumped ahead and looked at some reviews of the later books and it’s really hard to tell where I’m going to be with it all. There are some who love every book where this series is one of their favorites. And of course you have others who felt disappointed or hated the writing or the characters.
You’re pretty much always going to have both. The trick is figuring out which voices and preferences line up most with your own and following those people’s advice.
For now, I plan to continue to read, but 600+ page books are a big commitment and if I start to lose interest, I might have to give the series a rest.
Reading Order
I am no expert on this series at this point by any means, but I have been told that there is a recommended order for how to read this series. It’s not crazy, but there’s a prequel— The Assassin’s Blade— that is recommended to be read after book two.
Some also suggest reading books 6 & 7 in tandem. It sounds intense, but if I do that, I’ll be using this reading plan that tells you what chapters to read together.
Pronunciation Guide
I found this reference guide for the character pronunciations if you’re interested:
CHARACTERS:
Celaena Sardothien: Sell-Lay-Nuh / Sar-Doth (like 'cloth')-ee-en
Chaol Westfall: Kay-all (like "chaos") / West-fall
Dorian Havilliard: Door-ee-en / Have-ill-yard
Nehemia Ytger: Neh-heem-ee-yah / Yet-gerre (like "garrison")
Kaltain Rompier: Cal (like "calcium)-tane (like "cane") / Rom-pee-ay
Arobynn Hamel: Arrow-behn / Heh-mel
Elentiya: Elle-len-tee-yah
PLACES:
Eyllwe: Eel-way
Erilea: Err-rel-yah
Terrasen: Terra-sen (like "sent")
Adarlan: Ah-dar-len
Endovier: En (like the letter "n")-doe (like "dough")-vee-er
Orynth: Or-inth
Anielle: Annie-elle
Melisande: Mell-iss-sand
Wendlyn: Wend-lin
TERMS:
Wyrd: word
Wyrdmarks: word-marks
Recommendation
I would recommend this book. If you’re looking for a new series to get into and don’t want something too heavy or too spicy, this may be a good option. (Again, I’m only one book in, so it’s quite possible I don’t have a true grasp on the vibes of this book)
If you read a lot of fantasy books it’s possible that this may not feel super new or unique, but I don’t know because I don’t read enough from that genre. Based on the Goodreads Choice Award nomination and the ratings/reviews, it would seem that this book was well-received by fantasy lovers.
[Content Advisory: minimal if any swearing; romance but no sexual content; dark magic]
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