Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Summary:
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 king's 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)

Review:
So this book was like a mash-up of The Hunger Games, The Selection, Falling Kingdoms and Midnight Thief (newish book that I've yet to review). It was really interesting seeing elements from other books I've read make their way into this one. I'm not saying the author did this on purpose, especially because Throne of Glass was published long before Midnight Thief (so maybe it was the other way around?). Pretty much what I'm saying is, if you liked those other books, you'll probably like this one.

I thought that Throne of Glass was really easy to read and I rushed through the pages unlike some other books I've read recently. The world-building was pretty good and the plot interesting but also easy to understand. I really liked Calaena, especially because she's supposed to be a cold-blooded murderess, and I really like seeing kick-ass heroines. And while she lived up to the title of assassin for the most part, I wish we could see Calaena in action more often. We know she's killed a lot of people and she tells us frequently how she can disarm so-and-so before they even blink, but there's not a whole lot of showing. What the reader does see is a pretty, feminine girl who cares about her people and plays piano and likes to gossip. I love the idea that Calaena can be both of these things and obviously that's the point, but I wish the author did a better job of integrating these two sides of the character.

And while I enjoyed the two male leads, Prince Dorian and Chaol who is the captain of the king's guard, to me they were the same person. Not much personality differences between the two which is odd when it's supposed to be a love triangle. Usually the girl must choose between two opposites. So that was weird. Hopefully they are more fleshed out in the next novel.

Overall, this book was extremely easy to read and fun for the most part. I enjoyed it besides those two things I didn't like. Hopefully they are corrected in the sequel!

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2012/Bloomsbury/404 pages.