THRONE OF GLASS
by Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pub Date: Aug 2, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Length: 404 pages
Spoilers: N/A
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Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly.
Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?

Starting Point
One thing I really liked about this book was the starting point. So many books of this plot style start from the beginning where main character must learn new skills to become great or achieve their goals. However, Throne of Glass starts off with Celaena already having skills. She’s already strong. And that was a great alternative from the age-old path.

Interwoven Plots
While it got a smidge confusing sometimes, I really liked the interwoven plots. There wasn’t just one plot. There wasn’t just one character with something they wanted, but a variety of wants and stakes, which offered a variety of plots. Many, if not all of them, wove together and a good handful inter-competed with each other. It added an extra layer to the story that kept my interested.

Predictable
I’ll admit that the plot, the relationships, and the characters’ secrets were rather predictable. The subtle foreshadowing that was supposed to allude to the eventual reveals weren’t so subtle. Well, at least to anyone paying attention. Thus, it was a little disappointing to know the ending before it unfolded, especially when I wasn’t too happy about what was going to happen.