Here is the thing. Sometimes I hear many people laud a book that I feel is just alright. In the case of Sarah Maas' Throne of Glass, I was hoping to add my own applause as so many of my fellow librarians told me it was a must read. While I can't say that this was a bad book by any means, I didn't love it either.
Celeana Sardothien is the most notorious assassin in the kingdom. When she was caught (betrayed?) she was sentenced to hard labor in the prison of Endovier for her crimes. Her crimes of assassinating several people. We are told this many times. Celeana is a well known assassin. The assassin. I get it. In fact I was having a bit of "show don't tell" trouble when it came to Celeana's checkered past. I will get back to exactly how this affected by feelings about the book.
So, yes. Celeana was an assassin. She was caught and thrown in a labor camp. But now the Crown Prince Dorian has sent Captain of the guard Chaol Westfield to retrieve her. Dorian has a proposal. For her freedom Celeana can agree to become the King's personal assassin (or champion, because it sounds far nobler) or she can return to jail and rot. If she chooses the former she can earn her freedom in four years time. If she chooses the latter...she dies horribly. The catch is that Dorian's father the King does not trust Celeana or her skills so he has set up a tournament of ruffians to determine worthiness of the title.
If this sounds a little like Hunger Games, don't worry. The tournament is only a small part of the plot. Someone has been killing off the would be champions in gruesome ways. Celeana herself may be the key to uncovering the who and the why.
Now that I have covered the plot I will move on to the issues.
First issue: We hear Celeana mention how much of a bad girl she's been. We hear other people talk about how bad she's been. She clearly has skills. We see this during the tournament segments of the novel. As far as Celeana as an assassin goes, I don't need hearsay. What I need are details. Names. Instances. Body count. Please? Call me morbid if you will, but I have a hard time buying Celeana as a boogieman when I don't see blood. Sure, I heard how she killed a foreman in prison for pushing her too hard but that is entirely different. I hear about her harsh training which began at age eight, but once again this doesn't paint the big bad wolf. Compared to say, Katsa in the Graceling series who is also a well written heroine with a brutal past? We can smell the blood on her hands not only when first we meet her, but even as we grow to love and respect her. Celeana didn't do that for me.
In a way, this problem is also the strength when building Celeana's character. She is not just a killer. She puts forth a good front at first and she has Chaol, Dorian and her guards weary of her behavior due to her reputation alone. However what we do see (and are not told) is how Celeana adores reading, candy and puppies. She is indeed a warm and fuzzy type of girl who enjoys a trashy romance novel as much as a historical text.
We get a feel that she has been raised and trained in a brutal environment to be a killer. That much is true, but the rest of the novel builds her as a person. This works. At first we meet her Celeana is arrogant and rough. When we get to know her she is a full person. Someone we can like. Someone both Chaol and Dorian can love? This brings me to-
Second Issue: The totally unneeded love triangle. I didn't read the back of the book so I didn't actually see the tag line, "Two men love her. The whole land fears her. Only she can save them all." However, the love triangle was so painfully obvious from the start. Of coarse Chaol and the Dorian were gong to fall for her. It isn't even a spoiler for me to write this. I won't even reveal who she chooses, but it is also very, very obvious. I doubt this will change throughout the series, but I challege Maas to prove me wrong.
Non Issues:
I loved the character of Princess Nehemia. A great female character who was strong intelligent and cunning. She was a great friend to Celeana and not once did they get into a fight over a love interest. That is refreshing. Also, the low magic world where a mystical heritage exists but remains subtle making the setting stand out in a sea of titles with themes of overt high magic.
Sure, I liked it but I didn't tear through it with white knuckles. I didn't stay up past my bed time to squeeze in one more chapter.
If it were, say, an anime series and not a novel I may have forgiven some of the issues. I tend to hold YA literature to a higher standard when it comes to certain tropes.
So was Throne of Glass worth a read? Sure. Did it have some good qualities? Yeah. Was it phenomenal? It had it's moment. So will I be reading the sequels? When I get around to it.
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