Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a book I didn't know anything about. I just stumbled over it and thought "This might be nice". I mean, how could assassins, action and fantasy go wrong?

In this book we follow Celaena, the famous Assassin of Adarlan, who has fallen from power and slaved a year in the mines of Endovier. One day she is given an offer: to compete in against other criminals to decide who would become the King's Champion. If she wins, she will get her freedom after four years of service. She takes the offer.
She travels to the Castle of Glass where the competition is held, there she finally get some sort of life back. Apart from training she discovers the castle library and makes friends - always overlooked by guards. When the final stages of the competition comes closer she realizes she's got a lot more to fight for now than just her own freedom. Going back to Endovier is not an option.

I liked this book. Or at first I thought it was kind of boring. I read maybe a hundred pages and then left it for about a month. Then I remembered it again yesterday and finished the whole thing. Om my it was good. I really connected with the character and forgot the world around me. It was as it is supposed to be.

In the book, there is one thing I honestly don't like, how Elena is described. She just seems boring, not at all the warrior queen of old. There should be improvements to the character and somehow the whole story could have worked fine, if not better, without her involvement.

But this book was fun and easy to read. Someone had described it as the female version of A Game of Thrones, which is ridiculous. This is a YA novel not at all feeling as big or epic as A Game of Thrones (I liked this book more though). Does this imply that (stereotypical) women aren't meant to read "heavier" books/material? Just asking.

Finally I just have to say how lucky I am to have found this cover of the book. I'd never have read it otherwise. Click here to see two of the covers compared. (That last link actually works.)