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Saturday 27 December 2014

Throne Of Glass #1: Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Mass

Published: August 7th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Children's
Genre: YA Fantasy
Goodreads Summary: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. 

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.


-MY THOUGHTS-



At last, I read one of 2014 most hyped up book. It’s not as if I didn’t already know the gist of Throne Of Glass, I had read several reviews about it. I’ll be honest and admit that I entered this book with low expectation because two bloggers I like, Ashana Lian and Julia both disliked it over valid reasons. 

Strangely, I actually enjoyed the beginning of Throne Of Glass. I found myself thinking “this thing ain’t that bad after all”. I kind of liked Celaena. She was anxious of what was to come, longed for freedom and was seemingly terrified by her past. I was intrigued by her. However, that was as I said, the beginning, the very beginning. 

Everything went downhill once she arrived in the Glass Castle. Sarah J. Mass definitely knows how to write, but I thought she didn’t use her writing skills to their full potential, in this book.

Celaena is an A-S-S-A-S-S-I-N (I’m looking for emphasis there), yet for all her sass, she acted like a regular team with a cocky attitude. 

The girl was trained by the goon of Assassins since she was 8 years-old. Before her imprisonment and even after it, her name is feared and respected. Celaena boast about her skills 24/7  and if she isn’t, other characters are doing the job for her. So, what prowess did that killing machine showed me? Hmmm, let me think for a sec. Nothing. The girl was all sizzle and no steak.

On Assassin by Carla Wynker, 2014 

*beginning*

An assassin prefers stealth over direct confrontation because it makes it easier to kill target. Celaena prefers to show off, because well... she’s freaking CELAENA SARDOTHIEN!

An assassin is always alert no matter how tired or impaired he might be. Celaena sleeps like a rock. If any of her opponents wanted to kill her, they could have crept inside her room at night and cut her throat.

An assassin knows that betrayal may be lurking behind any words someone utters. Celaena always goes by someone words. She trusts people so easily, I wondered if she had ever worked as an assassin for even one day in her life. In this book, there was only one person wary that the Havilliard might decide to not fulfil their end of the bargain and prefer to get rid of her: it was me. 

An assassin knows when to leave his wants and likes aside in favour of what he needs. Celaena was a creature of desire. What she wanted, she wanted it now. And what she liked, she couldn’t resist. I’ll wager that if they had been a little slyer Dorian or Chaol could have had her for a night. 

*end*

But who cares that Celaena is only a mockery of an assassin? She’s beautiful, mysterious, witty, smart and soooo deep! Did I mention that she has the rarest pair of blue eyes in the world, that she can play the piano, that she loves books and that she underwent a try-to -survive or die type of training?

Oh and yeah both, Dorian, the prince and Chaol, the captain of the guard are into her. The love triangle was unnecessary and unconvincing.

I sort of enjoyed Chaol because he was responsible. Dorian was a whole different matter. The prince was like our assassin, depthless. Dorian is apparently a womanizer yet he want to marry for love (the contradiction gives me a headache). 

He dislikes his father yet does nothing to oppose his tyrannical rule. He’s into Celaena even though she’s an assassin, a criminal whose hands are drenched in blood, for absolutely no reasons. Dorian wasn’t simply childish and selfish; he was also an incoherent character in my opinion.

The plot was as disappointing as the characters. I wasn't convinced by the idea of a tournament. I couldn’t see the point of it. I mean if the King wants a champion, why doesn’t he ask his master of arms to appoint one as he sees fit? 

But if that is the author’s premise, well, let it be. The tournament was dull. I expected murders, fights, spies, poisons, intrigues but I got some uninteresting tests instead. And except for Celaena who’s supposed to be this top notch assassin, the rest of the participants were for the most part random criminals.

Throne of Glass in three words or more: shallow, superficial and borderline tongue-in-cheek. But, I know that many people liked it, so I won’t discourage you to see the book for yourself.

Besides, the book was kind of entertaining. I read the first part of the book effortlessly, however I skimmed through the second part. At that point, I became throughfully bored and annoyed with the (lack of) action in the tournament, the love triangle and the characters.




8 comments:

  1. Ah désolée que ça n'ait pas aussi bien marché. J'ai les deux premiers tomes mais je n'ai lu aucun des deux. Il faut que je m'y mette pour voir ce que j'en pense.

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    1. Peut-être que sa te plaira. Mais bon, je sais que t'aime Kate Daniels (moi aussi d'ailleur), bien que Celeana est supposer etre un assassin extraordinaire, elle ne fait au final pas grand chose durant la majorite du livre. Malgré cela, elle se vanter ENORMEMENT, lol. C'etait agacant a la longue.

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  2. I wasn't a fan of the book either. It was the overuse of the word "assassin" that pretty much destroyed it for me. The second book is a tad better though but the third one kind of made me snooze. So I gave up on it (for the time being). I may take another crack when the time comes just because everyone I know just raves on and on about it. Fantastic review though m'dear!

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, I've heard that the second book is better and the third not that interesting. When I'll be bothered, I'll try to continue the series. It's on my list of least important book to read, lol.

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  3. OH BOY. I agree though: Celeana was not an assassin haha. Maybe in title but that's all. LOL. I guess I didn't mind her non assassin-like personality during my reading because she was at least more fierce and strong that many MCs I had read about at that time. I'm sorry you didn't like it but, at least, you were prepared with low expectations. Heard the sequels are more badass though ;D Awesome honest review!

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  4. Thanks for commenting!

    LOL, she was NOT an assassin! Yes I've head the second book is much better, but apparently the third is a bore! This is such a shame because this series had the potential to be amazing.

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  5. First of all - APOLOGIES for taking so long! Life is just kicking my butt this month.

    Ahh see I enjoyed the beginning as well !! Where did it go so wrong?! And I LOVED your comment about sizzle and no steak. In another book I adore called Uprising by Sarah Cawkwell, there was one character that kept being described as 'brave', but she didn't DO anything brave through the majority of the book. I think it's a lack of 'Show, Don't Tell'.

    "An assassin is always alert no matter how tired or impaired he might be. Celaena sleeps like a rock. If any of her opponents wanted to kill her, they could have crept inside her room at night and cut her throat."
    You can't hear how loud I'm applauding you, so I'm telling you that I am. XD Sad to say, I also felt the characters and the plot unconvincing. I really wanted to get into this book because so many people rave about it. I still kind of do. Tempted to try and read it again. But then I think, who am I kidding, my TBR is just too huge. =/

    I like that you point out Sarah J. Maas knows how to write because that IS true. It's what pulls you into the book in the first place. It's the characters that throw you off. I feel like maybe a different story from her will be more successful.

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    1. LOL, that's alright! It such a shame having such a good beginning, but nothing to live up to it. "Show, don't tell", that's exactly what was missing from this book. Yes, the main and only problem in this book are the characters. If the story had more depth, this book could have easily been amazing. But, oh well *shrug*.

      Thank You!

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