Throne of Glass Sparkles!

I recently started reading Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.  Well, I’m waiting for the second book to become available at the library, but I got to read the first book.  I thought it was excellent and can’t wait until the next one becomes available.

Celaena Sardothien has had a difficult life.  After her parents died, she was trained to be an assassin, and was pretty good at it.  Unfortunately, she was caught and was sent to be a slave in the mines.  Although most people die in the mines fairly quickly, Celaena survived for over a year there.  When the king needed a trained assassin to do his bidding, Celaena as picked as one of his potential “champions.”  If she became picked as his champion, she would receive her freedom after several years of service.  Otherwise… back to the salt mines she goes (literally).

When she gets to the castle where the competition is going to be held, she has to train hard and regain her strength.  It takes her a while to get up to speed.  All the while, other things are going on in the castle.

We find out that the king is corrupt, but the prince, Dorian… maybe not so much.  There is something out there that is killing some of the competitors vying to be the king’s champion.  Celaena makes a friend for the first time in probably eons, and maybe… there still is a little bit of magic in the world after all.  This story is full of court intrigue and political maneuvering.  Celaena also has a love interest in this story; I’ve seen other reviewers say that there’s a love triangle, but she really only seems to show interest in one person for most of the book, even though another person seems to be developing an interest in her as well.

There really is a lot going on in this story, and it doesn’t all get resolved by the end of the book.  It’s a good thing that there are more books in this series, because there is so much happening that it will probably take a while to resolve everything.

I like the main character, Celaena.  She might be a little bit too bad-ass to actually be believable in real life, but this is a story, so anything is possible.  I like the fact that she actually has interests beyond killing — she is also a girl who is into fashion and reading books.  There are also a few funny scenes in here that are pretty cute.

It seems like most people who read Throne of Glass either love it or hate it.  Most people who hate it seem to dislike the main character.  I happen to like her, and also happen to like the books.