Book Review: Throne of Glass (Book 1 of the Throne of Glass Series)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Overall Rating: 4/5

Spicy Rating: 1/5

Genre: Action, Adventure, Dystopia, Fae, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic, Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Young Adult

Throne of Glass centers on Celaena Sardothien, a legendary assassin trained by none other than the King of Assassins Arobynn Hammil, as she participates in a competition to become the King’s Assassin.

I know, that’s a lot of assassins and Sarah J. Maas uses the word “assassin” with an overzealousness that borders on religion, so before you pick up the book, prepare to see this word used hundreds of times throughout the book’s 416 pages.

Celeana, who we first meet in the prequel, Assassin’s Blade, proves her skill and reinforces the attitude of an arrogant, sassy teenager that we came to know and grew to love in the prequel. She has endured a year of slavery in a concentration camp where most prisoners succumb to death from the hardship within a month of being sent there, a feat that is shocking unto itself, but while there she also nearly escaped and took out a number of guards in her attempt.

She has been selected by Prince Dorian Havilliard to be his choice and champion and is being guarded and watched by the Captain of the Royal Guard, Chaol Westfall. What they don’t realize is that some of the competitors are using magic to give themselves an unfair advantage and now Celaena has to find the monster that’s hunting her and her competitors before it turns its sights on her.

One of the things I absolutely love about this novel and this series are the characters that are developed throughout. In this book, we get our first real look at Dorian, Chaol, and Nehemia and see Celaena for the first time since her fall from grace and the death of Sam Cortland in Assassin’s Blade. I love the journey back from rock bottom that Celaena experiences and the friendships that she forms with some of the other major characters in this novel and series, especially after the brutal betrayals that she experienced from some of the people that she trusted in Assassin’s Blade.

One of my least favorite characters of the Throne of Glass Series, Chaol, is introduced in this book and he is my least favorite because I find him incredibly boring and predictable. I do feel that he balances the chaotic personalities of Dorian and Celaena, but without them, he feels like a piece of stale sliced white bread. Despite that, I enjoyed how Celaena and Chaol’s relationship shifted as this book progressed.

In attempting to solve the mysterious murders occurring throughout the castle, we also learn about magic and Celaena makes some troubling discoveries about the history of magic in Adarlan and how it no longer exists but no one is sure why. She remembers when it existed in her childhood and knows that now it is a dangerous thing to possess or to have fae heritage because the King of Adarlan has made it his personal mission to hunt them to extinction.

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Read the rest of the Throne of Glass Series: Assassin’s Blade, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, Kingdom of Ash.

If you enjoyed Throne of Glass you might also enjoy the A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, the Crescent City Series, the From Blood and Ash Trilogy, The Folk of the Air Trilogy (also known as the Cruel Prince Trilogy), the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, and its follow-up the Six of Crows Duology, the Serpent and Dove Trilogy, and The Shadows Between Us.

Buy the book here:

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Or find a local book shop to purchase through at Book Shop or Indiebound.

You can also purchase digital books and audiobooks from local and indie bookstores through Libro.fm or My Must Reads.

If you can’t afford to purchase the book, consider subscriptions like Scribd which I reviewed here, or by visiting your local library or using the app Libby to borrow books from the library digitally on your own devices.