Tuesday 13 November 2012

Throne of Glass - Sarah J Maas


I knew nothing about this book when I started reading, just that my ex's daughter thought I'd enjoy it and had brought it over for me - I decided to give it a try.  From the cover it was pretty obvious that it was a teen fantasy novel, aimed at teenage girls.

The story tells of the Celaena, a trained assassin, the best in the world (but who has managed to get caught and sent to a death camp) who is brought to her enemy's castle to fight with others for the prize of becoming the King's Champion and thereby earning her freedom. 

Despite being a rather generic story (Cinderella springs to mind), and being very clichéd, I enjoyed the characters, and the storyline.  My only criticism would be the contradictions in Calaena's character - she's supposed to be the best assassin in the world with a heart of stone - but gets mushy over a prince, loves wearing gowns, and appears to show her weaknesses easily.

But, I've now found out that this the author's first novel, and that she gained fame as a self publisher on the internet - seems this story and a clutch of novellas are big news on various websites.

Anyway, if there are more in the series (and it seems there will be), then i'll probably read them - not high fiction, but good of a bit of magical sword play.

Lent to me by Caitlin.
November 2012