Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas - spoiler free review.

Hi booklovers

Last year during the summer I participated in the Fantasy Favourites Read-A-Thon and I was supposed to read Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, but it had been so long since I had read Heir of Fire that I couldn't remember enough of the story, so I stopped reading it and never picked it up again. The theme for February for the #OWBookclub was 'Badass females' and I thought Celaena Sardothien was pretty badass from what I could remember of the first three books. Also, I want to be all caught up with the series by the time the last book in the series comes out. But like everyone else I found out that the book about Chaol will be published in September and the final book in the series has been pushed back to 2018. At least now I don't have to rush to get through the other books and get myself into a reading slump. Binge-reading books in a series and I usually don't get along, unless they are very good books that aren't too long (i.e. less than 400 pages). Anyway, long intro, let's get into the actual review.

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA, fantasy

Format:paperback

*Story:
After spending a year in the salt mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien is given a chance to win back her freedom by becoming the king of Adarlan's champion. To become the champion, however, she has to defeat a number of other assassins and thieves. Throughout the story she regains her strength, both mentally and physically and she grows into her role as future champion.

*Characters:
-Celaena: oh my,  I had totally forgotten how arrogant and shallow she is at the beginning of the book. At times she cares more about how she looks than anything else. True, she’s a good assassin and she regains her strength throughout the book, but she was still so unbelievably shallow at times.
 

-Dorian: he is the Crown Prince of Adarlan. He has chosen Celaena to be his father’s champion. He’s at a marriageable age and his mother keeps pressuring him to choose a bride. Dorian, on the other hand doesn’t want to think about that just yet. Of course, he is immediately intrigued by Celaena and of course, he falls in love with her. Some might think this is a spoiler, but you can actually see that plotline developping a mile off. I did enjoy the way Dorian and Celaena interacted and bantered.

-Chaol: captain Westfall is to be Calaena’s personal trainer to help her get ready for the competition. At first he only sees her as an assassin, but as time goes by he starts to see her as a young and vulnerable girl. Of course, it doesn’t take him long either to develop feelings for her. Again, no spoiler, it’s an obvious plot development. With these two, I also liked how they interacted and bantered. Chaol is the complete opposite of Dorian, always serious and taking his duties very much to heart.

-Nehemia: she is a foreign princess who has come to the Adarlan court. She quickly befriends Celaena since Celaena both speaks and understands Eyllwe. Nehemia is a very strong person who is not always who she appears to be, but she proves herself to be a true friend.

-Elena: The spirit of the long dead queen of Adarlan. She gives Celaena the task of vanquishing the evil roaming the castle’s hallways.
 

*Plot/worldbuilding/overall rating:
There were some things I really liked about this book: it was fast-paced and action-packed at times. I really liked the characters of Nehemia and Elena. The story was good, however, it does have its flaws. There was too much emphasis on Celaena’s beauty. After reading about it five times, we get it already, you don’t have to repeat it a gazillion more times. Like I said, I found Celaena to be very arrogant and shallow. Granted, her name still bestows fear in the hearts of a lot of people, but, she did get caught and she did end up in Endovier. I also disliked the obvious YA trope of the love triangle. Like I said before, this is no spoiler, it is blatantly obvious the story is going to develop like that. I found the world building to be a bit lacking since we get to see little of the country.

*Audiobook experience:
While I was looking for a book to use my audible credit on, I stumbled upon this one and I decided to listen to a sample of it. I immediately recognized the voice-actress as the one who also read the part of Nina in Six of Crows. I really enjoyed her voice-acting and since I wanted to do a reread of the series, I thought I’d give it a go. It was a really good experience, although I do have to admit that I sometimes found it hard to know when the story switched POV’s.

Have you read this book / series? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - non-spoiler review.

Hi booklovers

Today I'll be reviewing A Court of Thorns and Roses. I read this book for the first time when it came out last year and I reread it in July before moving on to A Court of Mist and Fury.

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA/NA, fantasy

Format: paperback

*Story:
Feyre is a mortal huntress who - like almost every other mortal - fears everything faye and fairy-related. One day, while she is out hunting to feed her starving sisters and father, she encounters a wolf. She doesn't hesitate to kill it, but she'll pay a high price for it. As punishment she is taken to the Spring Court, one of the 7 kingdoms of Prythian to live with her captor Tamlin and his emissary Lucien.

*Characters:
-Feyre: I both liked and loathed Feyre. On the one hand she is a determined character that goes to great lengths to help her family although they don't really appreciate it. She goes through a bit of character growth, which is good, but it's not a major growth. One thing I did like was that she wasn't a virgin. Sometimes the heroin in a story becomes more human because of that. I don't really know how to explain it, but I thought that was one of the strongpoints of Cleo in Falling Kingdoms too. Maybe in ACOTAR it was because it shows that even though Feyre usually only thinks about taking care of others, she sometimes lets her own needs and wants be more important. Another thing I liked a lot was her bantering with Lucien.
On the other hand she made some really, really stupid decisions. How many times can you put yourself in harm's way by doing things or going places you're not supposed to? A great many times, apparently!
SPOILER:

The summum of her stupid decisions was when she leaves Tamlin, even though she has been warned not to. There was only one occasion where you can applaud her for risking her own life and that's when she goes 'Under the Mountain' to save Tamlin.

-Tamlin: Talk about a fickle guy! One minute he comes barging in Feyre's hut to take her to the Spring Court and the next he's trying to make Feyre like him by giving her compliments.
SPOILER:

I get why he's trying to be friendly to her and wants her to love him, although I don't like that we find that out very late into the story. (More about that later.)

I have to admit I was rather intrigued by him and his permanently attached mask and the curse that was put on him and his entire court.

-Lucien: I liked Lucien from the start. He is such a feisty character and like I said, I really enjoyed his bantering with Feyre. I also liked how his sympathy towards Feyre goes from absolutely loathing her to actually caring for her and being her friend. I would, however, have liked to get more of his backstory.
SPOILER:

We find out that he left his scheming father and brothers behind in the Autumn court after they killed his lover. We also only find out how he lost his eye until very late in the story.

-Rhysand: At first I thought he was a true villain because he is portrayed that way. He sometimes is an absolute prick, but you soon realise there's so much more to him.
SPOILER:

Why did he 'stumble' when he left Feyre behind at the end after Amaranthe was defeated?

-Amaranthe: Even though I hated this character with a passion, she was also very interesting character. I kept wondering why she was so evil. Unfortunately, we don't really find that out.

*Plot:
I find the idea of a world divided into a mortal and immortal realm fascinating. I also really enjoyed the different courts. However, I would have liked to see more of the courts, and it that regard I found the worldbuilding to be lacking and that's a pity. Even the Spring Court isn't shown completely.

It took me about 100 pages to get into the story the first time I read it because I found it to be a bit slow at first.

SPOILER:

The last part of the story, when we are 'Under the Mountain' was very captivating, however. This was an emotional rollercoaster with Feyre being beaten up, almost dying, striking the bargain with Rhysand, having to kill those faeries. My heart almost broke at that point.

*Overall rating:
When I read this when it first came out last year I rated it 4.5 stars, but now I'm giving it 3.5 stars, because this time around Feyre got even more on my nerves at times. I also felt like some things didn't add up: Feyre is illiterate - she only knows her letters - but Maas sometimes uses words that I think Feyre would never use or think of.

I have to admit I wasn't expecting the steamy scenes. I didn't mind them, I just found them unexpected and rather explicit for a YA book. I only recently found out that ACOTAR is sometimes categorised as NA, so beware of that.

Have you read ACOTAR? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies