The story starts very quickly with the main character, Celaena Sardothien being escorted by royal guards. For some reason, this young girl is a prisoner in a death camp in the salt mines of Endovier, a part of the fictional land of Erilea. Celaena assumes she is being led to her death, but is led to the prince of Adarlan, Dorian Havilliard. The prince presents her with a proposal: The king is having a competition to find his next champion, basically the person to take care of any nuisances to the king, and the prince wants Celaena to be his representative in the competition.
Why in the world would the prince want this young girl to be his champion? It’s because she is the famous Adarlan’s Assassin. Celaena may be young, but she has spent half her life training under the king of assassins. That is why before you read Throne of Glass, you really should read The Assassin’s Blade. This prequel is a set of novella that contain stories taking place before Throne of Glass. It gives you a better view of Celaena and her abilities, training, and mentality as well as explaining a lot of things that happened in The Assassin’s Blade that are referenced in Throne of Glass.
Now Celaena must win this competition and gain her freedom, or be sent back to the death camp. The competition takes an unexpected turn, however, when several of the competitors are gruesomely murdered. While trying to win a competition, Celaena looks for the truth behind these mysterious deaths. This girl knows how to multitask is also busy juggling her romantic feelings for Dorian and the captain of the guard and Dorians friend, Chaol.
I cannot emphasize enough how amazing this book is and how much I loved reading it. I became so enraptured with the story, with its twists and turns of romance, mystery, magic, and excitement. One of the biggest things that attracted me to this book was the inclusion of a very strong female character. Celaena is physically very athletic and cunning, challenging the stereotype of a “damsel in distress.” I will also warn you now, just from this book, you don’t know everything about Celaena. She’s got some deep secrets, and they are quite dangerous.
Besides Celaena, there are plenty of other wonderful characters. Nehemia is another strong female character featured in this story, a visiting princess from Eyllwe, a land that is under threat from Adarlan. It is rumored that she has actually been helping the rebels against Adarlan and its king. Like Celaena, Nehemia is not what she seems at first. It’s no wonder the two girls get along so well.
Even though Celaena is the main character, we get many different perspectives by the alternating narrators. This is really helpful with the story, but we also get a look into the other characters. We specifically see what they’re struggling with and how they’re working through all these difficulties and problems.
As of right now, the rights haven’t been sold to make a movie, but it might happen in the future. So while there isn’t a movie in production, there’s still plenty of fans casting the movie and drawing scenes from the book. If they do eventually make this into a movie, the same people that worked on the recent Hobbit series should definitely be involved in the production of Throne of Glass. The book contains many scenes, images, and fantasy characters that are similar. Hopefully Hobbit director Peter Jackson will be willing to direct the Throne of Glass movie.
There are currently four books in the Throne of Glass series. The Assassin’s Blade, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire. The author, Sarah J. Maas, is contracted to write three more books for the series, maybe even four. She is also releasing a new book in the spring of 2015 called A Court of Thorns and Roses.
You will not be satisfied by just reading Throne of Glass. You have to read the rest of the series. You will be sad, shocked, and amazed. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and read this book and the series. You’ll be glad you did.
