Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - Book Review

When you first start reading the journey of Celeana Sardothein in Throne of Glass, you are immediately sucked into a fantasy world that is hard to leave. Set in the kingdom of Adarlan, whose tyrannical king has pillaged all the other kingdoms, to create an empire, and kills anyone who has any magical power or knowledge of it, lives a teenager and famous assassin called Celeana Sardothein.

Celeana can be perceived as a sarcastic and temperamental girl, whose attitude is doubly not surprising, since she’s been enslaved to work in the terrible conditions of the mines of Endovier, for a whole year. Afterward, the son of the king, Prince Dorian Havilliard, comes with the Captain of the Guard to offer her, her freedom.

There is a catch however, to regain her freedom Celeana has to enter a vicious competition against other assassins, thieves, and military personnel in an attempt to be the King’s champion. Only if she wins and works for the king, who she hates, for four years thereafter, can Celeana be free again.

Over the course of the book, we see this eighteen-year-old assassin train for the competition, as well as interact with those around her with varying degrees of distrust, snarkiness and playfulness.

She forms friendships with the unlikeliest of people, including a princess from the faraway Kingdom of Eyllwe, Princess Nehmia Ytger, the Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall and even develops a relationship with Prince Dorian.

There is a problem with how things are progressing however, because contestants have begun to show up dead and viciously disfigured. Before she herself becomes a victim of this mysterious killer, Celeana has to get rid of the killer with the aid of a ghost, an amulet and some luck, thrown her way.

This is the first of Maas’s seven-book series. The moment you start reading this book you will not be satisfied unless you’ve read all the books and novellas of the series. You will grow to love the characters, understand their actions, fears, and watch their development throughout the book.