"You could rattle the stars," she
whispered. "You could do anything, if you only dared. And deep down, you
know it too. That's what scares you most." -Throne of Glass
My Synopsis: This is the story about a girl and
an assassin, whom happen to be the same person, Celaena Sardothien. She is a very
flawed human being with a lot of unrevealed baggage, but she also has the
potential, unseen by most, to be a hero. A prince with daddy issues, Dorian
Havilliard, tracks her down where she is in a prison camp in order to sponsor her as his champion in a competition put
together by his father, choosing her mainly to annoy his father. The winner of the
competition will become the King’s Champion and after serving a term of years
will be freed and forgiven of all crimes. She comes to the castle to win her
freedom. She is trained and carefully watched by the Captain of the Guard,
Chaol Westfall, and she befriends a foreign princess, Nehemia Ytger. However,
things are complicated when Celaena’s competitors begin being brutally murder
and for some reason it falls to Celaena to do something about it.
I think it is very fitting that
since this is my first official book review I use the words of some of the
characters I fell in love with during this book to explain a philosophy I
always follow when critiquing anything whether it be in judging some
competition or reviewing a book.
“What's the point in having a mind if
you don't use it to make judgments?"
"What's the point of having a heart if you don't use it to spare others from the harsh judgments of your mind? ” -Throne of Glass
"What's the point of having a heart if you don't use it to spare others from the harsh judgments of your mind? ” -Throne of Glass
Put simply when I critique something
I like to give at least one example of something that was bad or needed
improvement (because I have a mind to make judgments and nothings perfect) and
at least one compliment (because I have a heart and there is something good in
everything).
So, since I loved this book, I will
start with something I didn’t like. So many unanswered questions! Now this book
is not a stand-alone but the first in a series that is supposed to be like 5 or
6 books, so obviously not everything could be explained, not all questions
could be answered. However, particularly with Celaena, the main character and
assassin, there was a lot of background information that was hinted at without
going into any detail. I assume that her past is going to be a big deal in the
future, but I would have liked just a little more. Or if there was really
nothing else that could be revealed about Celaena’s past, I would have liked to
hear more about Dorian or Chaoll. I’m always big on back stories, so… I have
the bind up of the novellas so hopefully that helps. And of course I have
already started Crown of Midnight, the next book in the series.
Easily my favorite part of this book
is Celaena. Honestly I loved all of the characters! At least all of the
characters that I was supposed to love. I thoroughly hated the characters that
were, well, evil. But Celaena… I have not identified with a character that was
so unlike me ever before. (Not that I’m perfect by any means. I’m just differently
flawed.) There is a blurb on the back of the book by USA Today that says “[Celaena is] a truly remarkable heroine who
doesn’t sacrifice the grit that makes her real in order to do what’s right in
the end.” I could not put it better myself. Celaena is vain, arrogant,
competitive, angry, overly distrustful and selfish at times. This is a girl who
was complaining about how dirty she was while she was chained up in a death
camp! Yelled at a cue ball because she missed! She is an assassin! Still you
fall in love with her. She is very flawed, but more precisely, she is beautifully
flawed. Like the worn cover of your favorite book.
While Celaena now has a comfy place
as one of my favorite characters of all time, she was not the only thing I
loved about this book. I loved Dorian, the prince, and Chaol, captain of the
guard. Both of these men could easily be any girl's prince charming, but what I
found so interesting about these characters was how Maas used them to show this
world she created, and Celaena specifically, in two very different and both
accurate lights.
I don’t want to have any spoilers in
this review even if they are pretty obvious one, so I won’t say much about the
villains in this book. The villain, at least the true villain, you don’t really
see much in the book, but when you do… you feel it, physically feel it. There
is just enough of this evil presence in this first book that you can began
hating and, honestly, fearing him or her ;). I think that is what I loved about
how the villain was presented in this book. You always have someone you can
hate, but I can’t think of the last book where I actually feared the bad guy.
As for Erilea, the world where all
these wonderful characters live, I want to see more. This first book takes
place largely just in the castle, so understandably we haven’t seen much. The
characters also seem to have a lot to learn, so we can’t as readers know what
they do not. A lot is hinted at and some history is reveal, but I just want
more. So I’m going to get off here so I can start reading Crown of Midnight!
Oh! And any book that
both recognizes the power of books and the power of music wins for me. =)
“Libraries were full of ideas–perhaps the most
dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”
"It was a mournful piece, but it made her
into something clean and new...She forgot about time as she drifted between
pieced, voicing the unspeakable, opening old wounds, playing and playing as the
sound forgave and saved her."
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