Review: Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I finally finished this book, and I'm so glad I did! Honestly, it took me a while to get into it. I tend to be more of a horror, urban fantasy, and modern-day fantasy person than I am a high fantasy person, although The Hobbit is one of my all-time favorites, and I love the Lord of the Rings movies. However, about 1/3 of the way through, it REALLY got good, and I was hooked for the rest of the novel. I was afraid it was going to be predictable, and in some ways, it was. However, there was a twist at the end that I did not see coming. Some of you heard me rant at Dragoncon about how I'm tired of the Love Triangle plot in YA literature, and (not to be too spoiler-ish), there is a little bit of a love triangle plot here because two men are interested in the protagonist. However, I forgive it, because the love triangle is secondary, and she's a totally tough, smart assassin who reads voraciously, and I love Celaena (a.k.a. "Lillian"). Also, since I love fairy tale retellings, I appreciated the murmurings of a Cinderella plot...only she's an assassin instead of a maid, thank goodness! Traditional gender roles, be damned! Also, I appreciated the "other world" and mystery elements of the novel greatly. I'm not as hooked on this one as I am on Vivian Apple and some other two-part and series books, but I did enjoy it, and I might read the others. Many of our English Education YA literature students/Teacher Candidates loved it, so I'm glad I read it in part to connect to them. I think it's an important step forward in children's and YA literature because the protagonist takes charge of her own story, and it has blatantly feminist lines in it, which I love. So, overall, it was a great read. I recommend it!

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