Throne of Glass
2012
- assassins
- princes
- courts and courtiers
- prisoners
- fiction
- fantasy
- court and courtiers
- juvenile fiction
- fantasy fiction
- children's fiction
The story
Lethal. Loyal. Legendary. Enter the world of Throne of Glass with the first book in the #1 bestselling series by Sarah J. Maas. In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not come to kill him. She has come to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three murderers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she will be released from prison to serve as the King’s Champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. And a princess from a faraway country will befriend her. But something rotten dwells in the castle, and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying mysteriously, one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.
What it’s like
Sharp, glittering court intrigue written in a bright, confident voice: lush gowns, candlelit banquet halls, cold stone corridors and moonlit gardens rendered with a lot of sensory detail, all carried by a sassy, wry first-person-leaning narration that leans into banter and cutting remarks. The palette is jewel-toned and gilded, the mood alternating between flirtatious warmth and creeping dread. Pacing is brisk and propulsive, with short chapters that end on hooks, though some stretches linger on wardrobe, rivalry and romantic tension. Violence is present and occasionally brutal: a competition of killers means people die on the page, sometimes in mysterious, grisly ways, and there is a fair amount of threat, imprisonment and cruelty, but gore is not dwelt on for long. Some sexual tension and a few romantic scenes, kept largely non-explicit. Emotional register runs from playful to grim, with a heroine who starts hard and armored and slowly lets her loyalty and vulnerability show. For readers who want escapist, romance-tinged fantasy with a strong heroine, a sweeping court setting, and a dark edge, on a long weekend or a late-night binge read.
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