The Throwback Thursday review is where I take a book I recently reread and review it with new eyes. It could be a book I’m reading for the second, third, fourth or millionth time. Some books haven’t been read in years so its fun to throwback and see if my opinion has changed!
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
Please keep in mind that Throwback Thursday reviews are based on reread books. They most likely will contain spoilers as the books have already been released for some time. This is your only warning if you want to avoid spoilers for these books.
GENRE:
Young Adult, Fantasy
PAGES:
454 pages
PART OF A SERIES?:
1st novel in the Throne of Glass series
RELEASE DATE:
August 7th, 2012
YOU CAN FIND THE BOOK AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass–and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.
MY REVIEW
I read this book for the first time over five years ago (read my review here) and I’m fairly sure that I have not read it since then. I started rereading this book because the last book comes out in October and I’ve only read 2.5 books…and then I got caught up with being on deadlines and such so I fell so insanely behind. I knew I’d have to reread the first two before I continued and I am seriously so glad that I did. I honestly had forgotten how much I truly enjoy this novel. It is purely great fantasy and I forgot how seriously well written it is too!
Celaena is such a great character; I love that she’s as feminine as she is badass. She’s a fighter who could split your throat in less than three moves but also loves to read and wear dresses and rescues runty puppies. I love her from the first moment we meet her in the salt mines until the moment that she wins the tournament. She’s incredibly strong, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. I know that things are going to change; I believe her name changes later too? I’m not sure because I didn’t get far the first round so I’m insanely excited to see where she heads. Even when she’s making mistakes, she still thinks of the best choice or the best path, and it just doesn’t work out.
One thing that I noticed about the second read around is how much I disliked Dorian this round. I liked both Dorian and Chaol the first time but I truly disliked the love triangle that was appearing as the two of them fell for Celaena but this time around, I was just seriously irritated with Dorian. I have a feeling that there’s going to be a third player in the future, which I’m interested in seeing but I like Chaol a lot and Dorian was just so annoying. I couldn’t even take him seriously. He just seemed slick and privileged and so “poor me” but without actually DOING anything. He’s just such a frustrating character. I’m so annoyed by him whereas in the first read of the book, I liked him for the most part.
I honestly like how there was so much being encompassed in one book. You have Celaena wanting her freedom, Chaol stuck in his duty, Dorian torn between his duty and his desires, the king stuck in his evil ways, Nehemia stuck as princess in a foreign country, doing work for the rebels of her home country…there are so many stories and so many webs and I know that they are going to intertwine in so many ways. I know the stories of magic and fae are going to hit hard eventually and I’m seriously excited for it. I’m usually not a fan of books about fae, but Sarah’s ACOTAR series seriously sold me and since she’s the writer of this one haha, I’m really excited to see what twists and turns she brings in the future and I’m ready for MAGIC.
All in all, besides Dorian, I really enjoyed this book even more than I did the first time around. I truly think Sarah is a wonderful fantasy writer and an incredible world builder. I seriously can’t wait to make my way through the rest of the series to get to the last book, agh!
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