Friday, July 27, 2012

Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas

Synopsis: 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 kings 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. (From Goodreads) 

Throne of Glass has been one of my most highly anticipated books of this summer. I actually finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns this spring and was so in love with it that I was seriously craving more fantasy. I couldn't really find anything that would live up to Fire and Thorns, but then I came across Sarah J. Maas and found her book. Which, was exactly what I wanted, and of course not yet released. Luckily there are the short stories that precede Throne of Glass. I've been following Celaena through the short stories and I really came to know her and love her before I even got my hands on a copy of the novel.

While there's certainly no shortage of strong heroines out there, Celaena kind of takes the cake - you know after she escapes from confinement, scales a wall, takes out ten guards, frees a hundred slaves, and uncovers deep secrets - she kind of deserves a piece of cake. So I have to crown her the most bad-ass of all YA heroines. She is so in control, even as a prisoner, it's impressive. She's strong, she does whatever she needs to in order to survive, and she has her emotions in check. Actually, the moments where she thinks she's alone and lets herself feel grief are almost more intense and powerful than her moments of public triumph.

I also completely love Celaena's attitude towards love and relationships. She's totally toying with the freaking PRINCE. Princes notoriously mess around and hold power - both in kingdom and in love. But somehow Celaena has him infatuated with her and she's kind of just like - Yeah, this is fun...for now. So great. But Chaol....sigh. He's written so perfectly. He's jaded and distant, for great reasons. He has a tough shell to crack and watching him soften - something that happened so subtly - was incredible. I was talking to Alexa at Alexa Loves Books on Twitter about how much I loved him. We were discussing the love triangle and I think it's just done so well, because the stakes aren't all or nothing. It's not really a triangle, it's just kind of timing and sort of the way things really work out. So this book is all about the prince - but I'm sensing some major Chaol action coming up in book two and I can't freaking wait.

And of course - the world building. Yeah - more brilliance on Maas's part. I don't know if it was because of the stories that came before or what, but Celaena's world is very vivid. I never felt lost or like something was unbelievable. I love the feel to it - a castle of glass that shows the transparency of the royal class - an empire built on slave and death camp labor, that is corrupt and slightly menacing - a world where being an assassin doesn't even make you the worst thing out there. Yet, it almost feels safe to explore because Celaena can handle anything thrown at her.

I can't properly convey just how much I love this story. This is one I'm going to attempt to shove into the hands of anyone who will let me. Read it, read it, read it. I recommend reading the short stories first - because they definitely enhance The Throne of Glass. Plus, you can read the stories now (the first one is "The Assassin and the Pirate Lord") so you don't have to wait until the book is released to get started.  But just trust me, you're going to want to spend as much time in Celaena's world as you possibly can.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas

Synopsis: 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 kings 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. (From Goodreads) 

Throne of Glass has been one of my most highly anticipated books of this summer. I actually finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns this spring and was so in love with it that I was seriously craving more fantasy. I couldn't really find anything that would live up to Fire and Thorns, but then I came across Sarah J. Maas and found her book. Which, was exactly what I wanted, and of course not yet released. Luckily there are the short stories that precede Throne of Glass. I've been following Celaena through the short stories and I really came to know her and love her before I even got my hands on a copy of the novel.

While there's certainly no shortage of strong heroines out there, Celaena kind of takes the cake - you know after she escapes from confinement, scales a wall, takes out ten guards, frees a hundred slaves, and uncovers deep secrets - she kind of deserves a piece of cake. So I have to crown her the most bad-ass of all YA heroines. She is so in control, even as a prisoner, it's impressive. She's strong, she does whatever she needs to in order to survive, and she has her emotions in check. Actually, the moments where she thinks she's alone and lets herself feel grief are almost more intense and powerful than her moments of public triumph.

I also completely love Celaena's attitude towards love and relationships. She's totally toying with the freaking PRINCE. Princes notoriously mess around and hold power - both in kingdom and in love. But somehow Celaena has him infatuated with her and she's kind of just like - Yeah, this is fun...for now. So great. But Chaol....sigh. He's written so perfectly. He's jaded and distant, for great reasons. He has a tough shell to crack and watching him soften - something that happened so subtly - was incredible. I was talking to Alexa at Alexa Loves Books on Twitter about how much I loved him. We were discussing the love triangle and I think it's just done so well, because the stakes aren't all or nothing. It's not really a triangle, it's just kind of timing and sort of the way things really work out. So this book is all about the prince - but I'm sensing some major Chaol action coming up in book two and I can't freaking wait.

And of course - the world building. Yeah - more brilliance on Maas's part. I don't know if it was because of the stories that came before or what, but Celaena's world is very vivid. I never felt lost or like something was unbelievable. I love the feel to it - a castle of glass that shows the transparency of the royal class - an empire built on slave and death camp labor, that is corrupt and slightly menacing - a world where being an assassin doesn't even make you the worst thing out there. Yet, it almost feels safe to explore because Celaena can handle anything thrown at her.

I can't properly convey just how much I love this story. This is one I'm going to attempt to shove into the hands of anyone who will let me. Read it, read it, read it. I recommend reading the short stories first - because they definitely enhance The Throne of Glass. Plus, you can read the stories now (the first one is "The Assassin and the Pirate Lord") so you don't have to wait until the book is released to get started.  But just trust me, you're going to want to spend as much time in Celaena's world as you possibly can.