Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

 Title: Throne of Glass

                                                      Author: Sarah J. Maas

                                                      Pages: 416

                                                      Published: August 2012, Bloomsbury

                                                      Genre: Fantasy, YA

                                                      Stars: 4.5/5

Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

Okay, where on earth do I begin? ‘Throne of Glass’ is such an AMAZING book, that I don’t think putting my thoughts about this book into words, would do it justice. But first of all, I would like to say a massive thank you to ‘Net Galley’ and ‘Bloomsbury UK’ for giving me this ARC! Safe to say, that this book will be one of my all time favourite novels. Sooooo let the fan girling commence!

This book introduces the reader to the land of Erilea, a kingdom is in chaos and at war as the King of Adarlan seeks to conquer all. Celaena Sardothien was rescued at the brink of death at the age of eight, after waking up to see that her parents had been murdered. She is the most feared assassin there ever was after being trained by the King of Assassins, who ruthless as he is, trained Celaena to be the best. 

However, her capture placed her in the Salt Mines of Endovier, a death prison, where criminals are starved and beaten, especially Celaena herself. She receives a proposal to become the King’s Champion, a King that she despises, but the freedom she is promised after serving him for three years is too much for her to say no to. So she enters a competition to become the King's Champion along with other thieves, assassins and criminals. However it soon becomes apparent that something is not right as one by one the competitors are brutally murdered, Celaena must find out who is behind the killings before she is next!

I LOVED Celaena! She is one kickass female and contains all the qualities that I so desperately wanted to see in a female character and for once it felt good that these qualities were embodied in a woman, rather than a guy for once! Move aside Katniss, there’s a new kid on the block. Raised as an assassin and who has been through a hard time, she is extremely strong, can kill you at an instant clever, sly and charismatic. Not only is she very blunt and hardly shows any manners (one of the things I like about this girl, for example was her displaying contains of her food whilst it was in her mouth!), she is very fond of all pretty things and is extremely gorgeous....and she know it, hence why is also cocky and arrogant. However, underneath all that bravado and tough exterior, she is still hurting from her past. She has a soul, which makes it all the more possible to love her.

Not only, did I LOVE (yes that word any again) Celaena, but I loved all the other characters. 

They were brilliantly written, very unique and loveable, from the hot headed, moody Captain Westfall, to the spoiled, but yet caring prince, Dorian.

Now, I would say that I always enjoy reading about love triangles, I mean that is what gives it the extra umph in a YA novel and normally I have already decided which guy (or girl) the main character suits better with. However, this was the first time that I found it hard choosing between Dorian, the prince and the King’s main guard, Chaol a.k.a Captain Westfall. 

I was seriously TORN! They are so both gorgeous, loveable and suit Celaena in different ways. Chaol is a very serious guy and doesn’t open up to anyone, let alone his closest friend, Dorian. But he is also sweet and protective. His very cautious about Celaena, who is under his supervision to train, however, the more he is around her, the more he soon finds admiral qualities about her. There is this love-hate relationship between the both of them, not to mention they had both experienced a similar childhood history. Normally I love those love-hate relationships however, we have Prince Dorian. He purposely went to the Salt Mines to persuade Celaena to join his father’s competition and to sponsor her himself. Immediately, I knew that something was going to happen between the two of them. Whereas, Celaena and 

Chaol share similar history, Dorian and Celaena have both similar personalities. He is cocky and slightly arrogant. He makes the ladies swoon at their feet and enjoys doing it. He teases Celaena, makes her blush (which hasn’t happened in a long time), is funny and incredibly sweet. But there is much more to him. He cares about the people who are suffering under the hands of his father and desperately wants to make things right all over the place. He hates what his father is doing and wants to go in a different direction, which is to make peace.

For most of the book, I do have to admit, I was leaning towards Dorian, especially when they both kissed!!! EEIKEEE! But there was aspects where Chaol would do something or say something, which made my heart tug for him. I am still torn between the two characters! 

The only thing that I would say I was disappointed is that some of the romantic aspects did seem to be lacking and undeveloped. It seems like in some aspects none of the three characters put much effort in their relationship.

I loved the aspect of magic being outlawed by the King. We get to find out that Celaena has some sort of element of magic in her, which has been suppressed from an early age. However, we don’t get to know anything beyond that. Perhaps this will be revealed in the later books.

The writing was absolutely beautiful, as if it was written to be made into a movie. Everything was described in detail and it wasn’t even too much description. It really delves into the fantasy genre. There were breathtaking creatures, places and stories that this book delivered. A new world, full of secrets and creatures lurking around. The book is fastpaced when it needs to be and slows down, whenever Celaena reminiscences about her past, her first love and her training with the King of Assassins.

The book keeps you on your feet at all times. I was especially gripping the pages when I desperately wanted to know who was killing off the competitors one by one!

This book is a MUST read and I urge everyone of you to go out and get this book!

Notable quotes/passages:
“Enjoyed that, did you?" Chaol growled.
"Immensely." Celaena patted Chaol's arm as she took it in her own. "Now you must pretend that you like me, or else everything will be ruined.” 

Book Trailer: