Reviews

MASSIVELY SPOILERY so I recommend only reading if you don't care or you've read the book.

From the author of ACOTAR and ToG comes the third book in a high fantasy series, which, very creatively, is called Throne of Glass even though the Throne of Glass itself has shown up once and is really completely irrelevant to the entire series.

Take a journey with Celery, whose name is actually Aardvark the Gastrovascular or something like that, to her evil aunt's fortress, a place made entirely of stone with a super interesting villain--oh, wait. We're going to spend exactly two minutes here, in the most interesting place we've encountered so far in this series, before leaving for...

THE FORTRESS OF THE DEMI-FAE.

*yawning, falling asleep*

The main draw of this journey is not Celery herself. No, it's the Hawt Immortal Fae male, Rowan, who's sent to accompany her. We've already watched Celery kiss Prince Dorian and have a forbidden love relationship that died really fast. We've also watched Celery have an Incredibly Serious Relationship with Chaol, the dude's best friend. BUT that's okay, because she's far away from them now, and she broke up with both of them, so it's time for LOVE INTEREST NUMBER THREE!

Rowan is a two-thousand-year-old widower Fae who's into:
-Adultery (footage of Rowan's worst soul fear being hearing his dead wife's voice again even as he falLs In LoVe with Celery)
-Pedophilia (footage of Celery moaning about how "he'll never see me as more than a child!" and him complaining about babysitting)
-Bestiality (footage of Celery explaining that her spending time in her "human" form means, basically, that this is her animal form, while Rowan's is a bird)
-Being a vampire (footage of Rowan biting Celery's neck)
-Being possessive of a girl who has expressed no interest in liking him (footage of Rowan going OMG WHO HURT YOU at Celery's back scars, even though he didn't care about her before that point, because NO ONE CAN HURT HER. EXCEPT ME. I CAN BITE HER.)
-Wild, WILD mood swings

But that's okay! Because he's a brutish hulk who has MUSCLES and WHITE HAIR and, best of all... FULL BACK TATTOOS TO COMMEMORATE HIS MISTAKES.

Look, y'all, I'm pretty sure Sarah J. Maas initially set out to write this book about vampires, only to be told that she had to make it about Fae instead because vampires weren't trendy anymore. Just take a look at Rowan's razor-sharp, pointy canines, the neck biting, the immortality, and the massive age gap romance. I mean, seriously. What else could this be?

Also, there's a random witch in this story who has no reason to exist and nothing interesting to add to the plot, but that's okay because she has metal teeth and a wyvern and...I don't know anything else about her. I skimmed all her chapters and I'm not ashamed of that. Oh well.

Let's take a minute of silence for the one good plotline in this story: Dorian finally finding true love! Meet Sorscha, a healer girl who's been in love with Prince Dorian from afar for years and now, finally, gets a chance to shoot her shot. This is possibly the purest romance SJM has ever written. *footage of them kissing cheeks, working together on figuring out solutions for Dorian's magic, hugging, being sweet* Awwww, they're ador--oh, wait, SJM decided she doesn't know how to do romance that isn't dysfunctional, so let's just SLICE THE GIRL'S HEAD OFF and decide in the last chapter that she's a SPY. Never mind. No more good romance for us.

Also, Chaol does stuff. Also there's this guy named Aedion whose entire identity is, apparently, BEING A COUSIN. *loud, crazy gasp*

As always, this series wildly swings between boring sequences where nothing happens and THE MOST EXTREME VIOLENCE YOU'VE EVER READ IN YOUR LIFE. It's wild. It's insane. I have nothing else to say about it, except you better hold on to your stomach when you read this. Otherwise, you might lose it. The stomach and your mind alike.

SO ANYWAY. Yuck.

And as a note: Celery's mind swings so wildly and so rapidly it gives me whiplash. Just a couple examples:
-Celery: Oh I love being a scullery maid! It's so nice--everyone treats me like they have no idea who I am!
Also Celery: I HaVE TO wORK????!?!?!!?! O_O :'(

-Celery: NO MORE INNOCENTS WILL DIE. I will see to that. My people are going to be safe.
Also Celery: Hey, evil aunt! Let Tattoo Boy come with me or I'LL BURN YOUR WHOLE CITY AND ALL ITS PEOPLE TO THE GROUND

This girl will NEVER be a good queen, okay. Fancy visions don't make a ruler, sorry.

STARRING:
-Celery the Aardvark
-OH NO SHE'S BURNING OUT
-Edward Cullen, but Worse
-Daenerys
-Santa's Elves
-Scullery maid life
-LOOK MA I'M A BIRD
-I'm having a VIIIISSSSIIIOOOOOOONNNNNN
-They're gonna EAT your SOUL
-Humans are FRIENDS not FOOD
-we are mates and we have a cOnNeCtIoN

1 star, ugh, and I am DONE with this series no matter what you kids say. Bye. xD

raquelics's review against another edition

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4.0

3,5✨

The last 100 pages of this book had me by the throat, Jesus…

1. Loved the development on all the characters and I’m curious to see what comes next
2. Abraxos is my fav ❤️
3. Rowan is the real mvp

maida's review against another edition

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4.0

”She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.”

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this book is the turning point for me. I honestly can’t believe I actually liked it. But I did. Very much.
I just couldn’t put it down. And though I thought some of the POVs were either annoying or just overall unnecessary, I still think it worked as a whole.

Let’s talk about the different storylines because I don’t know how else to discuss this:

• Aelin and Rowan in Wendlyn

Yup, I can’t believe I’m saying this either, but this was probably my favorite storyline in the whole book.

Celaena and Aelin are completely different characters, and though she’s still insufferable from time to time, finally voicing her trauma truly changed her character as a whole. I actually like her now.
I fucking love Rowan Whitethorn. Him hating Aelin for thinking she was a spoiled brat and then seeing her scars was just… *chef’s kiss*.

They work perfectly together and I love it. SJM might not be the best writer, but her characters and the way they interact with one and other makes it worth it to read her books. So worth it.

As for the actual story, I thought that Aelin mastering her powers was so interesting. Probably because we finally have an explanation as to how the magic system works and what it’s limits are. Great. Fantastic.
And again, the whole dynamic between Rowan and Aelin made all the action scenes so great. I actually cared for once.

My one gripe, and again, can’t believe I’m saying this, but I was hoping for them to get together by the end. And they kind of did, kind of, but not really. I guess SJM decided that four books with four different love interests is somewhat insane. But they’re obviously mates, so I’m excited to see how it happens in the next book.

• Manon, Abraxos and The Thirteen in the Ferian Gap

Probably the most unnecessary storyline in the book, because it never intertwines with the other POVs which is insane considering it takes up about a third of the book.

Still, I loved Manon. She’s ruthless and evil and so fucking interesting. I just hope SJM doesn’t turn her into a Celeana character type who only kills for revenge, because she just loves killing. Point blank.
Her dynamic with The Thirteen was great, and I’m excited to see it further developed.

The shining star of this POV was Abraxos. The relationship between him and Manon was so cute I actually shed some tears whilst reading. I love that he’s so loyal to her. I love how smart he is. I love him so much.

• Chaol and Aedion in Adarlan

I hate Chaol Westfall. Which is a weird thing to say, considering he was probably my favorite character in book one. He just keeps getting worse and worse. I understand him being loyal only to Dorian, his only friend, but good god why can’t he just accept that both of the people he cares for have magic and are obviously going to rebel against the king, so he should too. He’s so dumb. Just pick a side. Please.

I still don’t know how I feel about Aedion, but I swear if I don’t get an amazing reunion scene between him and Aelin I’m rioting. They both deserve it.

Though this POV was necessary, I dreaded reading it because Chaol was so fucking annoying I couldn’t be bothered. And besides, I was just waiting for them to get captured because of how careless they were being, so I truly couldn’t care less about this plot.

• Dorian and Sorscha in Adarlan

Yeah, what was the point of this, besides developing Dorian? Useless. Poor Dorian.

With all of that said, I think you can all tell I really enjoyed reading this. It had it’s ups and downs but it was so worth it.
I just need more Rowan and Aelin content thank you very much.

44. A book related to witches

laurenburks's review against another edition

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5.0

This is my all time favorite series !!! I love the characters so much

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