ARC Review: Throne of Glass

Young Adult

ARC ebook

350 pages

August 7th 2012

Bloomsbury Children's Books

Summary from Goodreads:

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 kings 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.


Reveiw:

I'm going to try to keep this spoiler free.

I will be honest I didn't think I would like this book very much so you can understand my surprise when I realized that I LOVED it.  The whole idea for this story is truly amazing.  There is a young girl named Celaena that has been forced into being an assassin at a young age.  She is then betrayed, captured and sent into slavery in a salt mine to die.  She gets a reprieve when the Crown Prince shows up to offer her freedom in exchange for her to compete in a competition to become the Kings Champion. 

Once she gets to the castle everything changes.  We get to see a side of Celaena that is a bit more relatable to.  Even though she is an assassin she is still just a girl.  She wants to forget about her past, have friends and fall in love.  I just feel so badly for her. 

There is a small love triangle that forms but I find that it was done very well.  Both men are amazing and I didn't find that I picked a side.  I love them both and I feel like I will be happy no matter who she chooses.

Once the competition gets started champions begin to get murdered.  Even though Celaena is scared for her life she begins to research how they die.  It is something evil.  Magic is still alive in this world.  It gave the novel a wonderful twist.  I believe that Celaena has some magic in her blood and I cant wait to find out what happens next in her story.

There is such a large mix of things going on but Maas tells the story impeccably.  I truly recommend this book to everyone.  I think that whether you like paranormals, romance or even contemporary books you will love Throne of Glass.  It has a little something for everyone!!

*I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.