Review: Throne of Glass

Title:  Throne of Glass
Series:  Throne of Glass #1
Author:  Sarah J. Maas
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Pages:  404
Format:  Hardcover
Source:  Bought

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 exhilirating. 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 Review:  This book completely knocked me off my feet.  I had not been expecting this adventurous, interesting, witty story when I flipped to the first page but that's what I got!  I was hooked immediately and refused to put this book down!  I needed to find out what happened next and unravel the mysteries that were rapidly popping up.  

The world was absolutely stunning.  I was caught up by it's history and the suppressed magic.  I loved the in depth look we got and all the little details we were given.  It made the descriptions and the images pop off the pages.  Everything was so realistic and believable and it was very easy to be swept away by it.  Even though there was a lot of unfamiliar and strange words and names, everything was very easy to keep track off which I was grateful for.  There's still a lot more I'd like to learn about this world and I'm hoping that we get to see more of it in the second book.

Perhaps my favorite part of this book was Celaena.  Dang, talk about a strong character.  I adored the fact that she was a kick ass assassin and could handle herself better than most of the other characters in this book!  This was no damsel in distress story.  She was tough as they come but also had a softer side to her, though she kept it under wraps for the most part.  I loved her one liners and her confidence.  And she has a pretty mysterious past.  I'm really interested in learning more about how she became who she is now.  

And then there is Chaol and Dorian.  Wow.  I have never been so torn between two boys in all my years of reading love triangles.  Throughout the entire book I was going back and forth between which one I liked more and I still haven't decided!  Both were equally likable and fun to read about and they each had chemistry with Celaena.  But, despite the fact that they were two points of a love triangle, I still really enjoyed them.  The romance never became tiresome or annoying and it never distracted from the main story line.   

The world was absolutely mesmerizing, Celaena was strong and witty, and boys were both drool worthy, and the story kept me hooked and interested throughout the entire book!  If you have yet to pick this up, you are missing out!  

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