Throne Of Glass Series Review

You could rattle the stars," she whispered. "You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.” 

― Elena, Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass is a fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas, which takes place in a world where magic has disappeared. It is a planned series of 6 books, 4 books and a prequel book have already been published. The first novel starts with the main character, Celaena, an assassin who is trying to earn her freedom by competing against 23 other killers to be the King's Champion. These books are full of well developed characters, amazing world building and stories, romance, and so many twists and turns. I absolutely loved every second of reading this series. I fell in love with the characters and stories, and I had so much to say about these books so I decided to do a full review. So here are my thoughts and opinions on the Throne of Glass series:

The Assassin's Blade - This is a bind up of five prequel novellas. The author recommends that this be read before reading the first book, but I read it after reading Throne of Glass and that's the order that I would personally recommend. This is a slow read compared to the other books in the series. I enjoyed some of the stories more than the others. This provides a lot of insight into Celaena's character, and I loved all the details about her relationship with Sam. These stories also include a lot of important characters and details that are referenced throughout the series.

And basically everything from here on out is spoilers, so proceed with caution...

Throne of Glass - Pretty much right off the bat, I was hooked by this series. I really loved the main characters, and I found the premise really interesting. I found the competition so important, Celaena is fighting against 23 guys who immediately write her off because she's a woman and I was so happy when she would prove them wrong. I shipped Celaena and Dorian so much while reading this, they are my favorite relationship in this series and I know that they probably aren't going to be endgame but as long as I get more of their friendship I'll be okay. Overall I think this book is my favorite in the series, this book is such a solid base and I love how the characters, story, and the fantasy elements develop through out the whole series.

Crown of Midnight - I didn't love this books as much as rest of the series, but I still really enjoyed it. Nehemia's plot during this book really angered and saddened me, because she was such a fantastic character and I still think she could have accomplished so much. I wasn't a huge fan of Celaena and Chaol's relationship, and that's maybe because I was not a huge Chaol fan to begin with and his actions bothered me in this book. I had a sneaking suspicion that Celaena was secretly Aelin, just because of her reaction when Chaol first brought her up. But that did not stop my heart from racing from reading the last couple of pages (I actually finished reading this book after midnight and couldn't fall asleep for an hour because I was so worked up over the ending).

Heir of Fire - I really enjoyed how the story expanded in this book along with the introduction of some new characters. I really liked the introduction of Rowen, and his relationship with Celaena. Rowen and Celaena's friendship became one of my favorite of the series and I really love how they understand and help each other. I also liked the introduction of Aedion, I really enjoyed the similarities between him and Aelin, especially how they both would defy the king. It took me a while to get into Manon and the witches storyline, but I ended up really liking her character after she claimed Abraxos as her wyvern. This book overall did take a while for me to get into because of the change of setting and how the narrations was split between more characters. I like the contrast between Celaena's character at the beginning of the novel, where she is hiding her true identity and seeing her absolutely defeated, to the end of the novel, where she is embracing her identity and she's realized her full power. I loved Dorian's character development during this novel, one of my favorite moment of this books was when he stood up for himself and Celaena against Chaol. I also felt that his relationship with Sorscha was so sweet, and I think they could have been really great together.

Queen of Shadows - This book kept me on my toes, and I shed some tears while reading it. Each chapter that Dorian had left me in tears, he's my favorite character and I was so scared for what would happen to him throughout the book. I'm really concerned for his mental state after this book, I hope he'll be okay because I think he'll make a fantastic king. Aelin's plan was so well thought out and I was blown away by how everything came together. I was a little disappointed that the author chose to go with the romantic route for Rowen and Celaena. I think they function better as friends, but I don't hate them together (I'm still wishing that Celaena and Dorian will somehow pull through). I absolutely loved the reintroduction of Lysandra, and I love how her and Celaena absolutely hated each other during the prequel stories, but how they ended up becoming friends. Female friendships like theirs are rare in YA literature, and I can't wait to see how the author continues to develop their friendship. The ending to this book was so satisfying, and I'm really happy that it did not end on a cliffhanger because my heart might not have taken it. There are still events that took place near the end of this novel that I'm not sure what the author is going to do with them, but I anxiously awaiting for the last two books of the series.

“Let's go rattle the stars.” 

― Aelin Galathnyius, Queen of Shadows

Alright so that's most of my thoughts on the series that I had to get out. I highly recommend this series, it's one of my favorites behind Harry Potter. The last two books are scheduled to come out in 2016 and 2017 respectively. It's such a long to wait, but I have so much faith that it will be worth it because I don't think that Sarah J. Maas' writing can disapoint me. - Jessica