Thursday, September 12, 2013

Same Book, Second Look - Throne of Glass - Sarah J Maas


Published: August 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Pages: 404
Copy Provided by: 
Summary: Goodreads

Goodreads:

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. 

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. 

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. 

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Review:

I love reading about strong female heroines.  Don't get me wrong, some guys exhibit some fairly awesome traits as well but there is something about a kick butt heroine who can look feminine and demure one minute and then turn around and pull open a can of whoop ass.  This is how I pictured Celaena Sardothien at first.  When she was first pulled out of the mines, she was so incredibly suspicious and mistrusting.  I did not see her necessarily as an assassin but more of creature of caution.  She had a right to be mistrustful of her captors and their motives.  Slowly, she began to open up and strip away the layers of complexity that she had built up over the years.  At 18 years old, I still found it hard to believe that she was the world's greatest assassin but I grew to like her and appreciate how young she had to grow up and miss her youth.  

At first I found it odd that an assassin would enjoy balls, parties and dressing up in gowns, wearing make-up and being such a girly girl but it was refreshing to also see another side of Celaena.  Something that was not so harsh but softer and more human.  

Throne of Glass brings together some fantasy and a bit of the supernatural which I was surprised about.  Overall, it was a great title and I wish I would have read it sooner BUT the upside to reading it so long after the original release date is that the story is now fresh in my mind for book #2 - Crown of Midnight.  I would highly recommend this read for someone who enjoys fantasy and is looking for a fast-paced title with action, mystery and a little bit of lovin'....

Not 100% sure you may be interested in this assassin?  There are some awesome shorter novellas  that can be purchased for your e-reader (I REALLY enjoyed The Assassin and the Desert).  In fact, I enjoyed this title so much that I downloaded a whole swack of the novellas to tide me over until Crown of Midnight came out (currently on shelves now).

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