Reviews

This was an enjoyable read, it just felt a little juvenile. I’ve read SJM before and enjoyed her which is the main reason I’m continuing with the series. I have a lot of trust that the series will get more complicated and serious as it develops. The story is very basic but I’ve seen SJM’s ability to write more complicated stories with really fun twists and payoffs. However those were romances and not proper fantasy but I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt with this book.

I was told she wrote this book when she was around 16 which is why I still have this book near 4 stars. If it had been another author or I didn’t know she wrote it so young, it would have been 2 and half maybe three stars.

It’s an average book. I like the main character, I enjoy her skill set, but there isn’t a lot of depth with her or her relationships, she fleets between possible romantic partners and is very fickle in her platonic relationships too. Even her motivations seem to be fickle. She’s very contradictory but not in a way I find enjoyable. A lot of this might be cleared up with the prequel, about why she’s like this. But I feel like that’s a cop out. You should know or it be alluded to why her personality, loyalties and even emotions are so contradictory. For example, We are to believe she’s some amazing assassin with years of hardcore training, with a pretty unforgiving trainer. She survived a year of hell and had an unspeakable childhood YET she’s afraid of the king ? Why? I could have ignored that if not for the fact that

at one point in the book she gets over her fear of him, only to be afraid again at the end of the book. and we know it’s not fake fear for appearances sake in front of the king, as we hear her thoughts.

I just don’t get it.

As for the plot, it’s very simple, a girl with a mysterious past, fighting for her freedom. The most interesting parts of this book is the parts she gives the least amount of time to. The history. The history of the world, of the realm, even of her. She spends so much time with the characters and building up relationships that feel hollow because of how fast they develop. And ends up neglecting so many other facets of storytelling.

im specifically talking about Dorian here, her relationship with Chaol is being beautiful built, a proper foundation for a possible love interest. They like eachother “obviously” but they both still have doubts. As you WOULD if you barely knew the person. But her going headfirst towards Dorian feels so out of character for what we’ve been told about her !! She’s heartbroken, mistrusting, and yet she forgets this all for a pretty face ? And an enemy no less ? Just feels wrong.

She doesn’t spend nearly enough time telling us about this world we have been thrown into. We get very little details about the history, economic status, political climate etc of this world ! Like she tells us but she doesn’t telllll us.

This book simultaneously makes it very obvious that

she’s some sort of long lost princess from the magic kingdom where fae used to dwell

and tells you so little that you don’t know what she’s alluding to (in regards to other mysteries in the story like the magic). I feel as though SJM didn’t know how she wanted this story to play out when she first wrote this. It feels like shes fighting between writing a short trilogy like ACOTAR, where things get sorted almost unrealistically fast, (this was my biggest gripe with ACOTAR, book 1 and 2 built up so many great things only for everything to be sorted in book 3??? It definitely needed more time with the war and more death 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ it felt very cheap. ) or have a long drawn out fantasy story with such a detailed history, half of it isn’t relevant for THIS story but leaves it open for future stories in this world.

It’s painfully obvious that this is her first dip into EPIC fantasy and not just romantic fantasy. She uses the romantic aspects of this book as a crutch and I’m very much hoping she pulls away from that in the future books.

I’m going to be honest. The ONLY things that got me through this book were the little pieces of information we got about the history of this world because I find it SO interesting (and because I’ve been informed it’s connect to ACOTAR somehow and I’m dying to know) and her interactions with Chaol. They feel real and genuine. I will be continuing but I’m praying she finds a way to write epic fantasy that doesn’t rely on her romantic fantasy roots. I’m here for the drama, death, war, and chosen ones. Not for romance.

literarymary95's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I read the entire several years ago before it became popular from BookTok. I chose to pick it up again and realized how much I loved this book, and now that I am a more seasoned adult (I read it while in college) I am really enjoying this series again. I honestly think that this series is better than Sarah J. Mass' ACOTAR.

When I first got into Sarah J. Maas, I read the Throne of Glass series first rather than ACOTAR. However, I do think you should read the ACOTAR series first and then the Throne of Glass series because I feel like I didn't appreciate the Throne of Glass series on the first read through as much as I would have if I read that after ACOTAR.

Content Warnings

evim98's review against another edition

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4.0

4.2 ⭐
After I read ACOTAR series (still my favourite book-series❣️) I thought that I wouldn't be able to find another so good fantasy book-series but I was so wrong.
Amazing storyline, interesting characters (I want to learn more and MORE about them especially about Chaol) and I can't wait for the new adventures of Celaena.

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