Sarah J. Maas, at the age of 16, wrote a book called Throne of Glass. She was still in high school, yet her mind was so advanced that she brought an entire world to life. Throne of Glass shocked readers; as of 2024, over a million copies of this book have been sold. This young adult fantasy laced with romance and full of action, shattered BookTok, the book claiming 998,877 five-star ratings on Goodreads. I’m happy to say I was one of the millions of people who have read this masterpiece, and I have to say it was one of the best books I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
This book was recommended to me by many people, including friends, family, and even strangers I didn’t know. This tempted me to read this book, and I am so glad I did.
This book is about a girl named Celaena Sardothien, an 18-year-old assassin with a heartbreaking past. In her previous life, she was trained to kill before she got caught and was sent to Endovier, a brutal prison mine camp. After a year in the camp, Crown Prince Dorian Havilliard sent Chaol Westfall, captain of the royal guards in the main city of Adarlan, to fetch Celaena. Dorian’s father, the king of Adarlan, is holding a competition to find his new “champion” , a person who will murder for the king. Each of the 24 contestants had one sponsor, and that sponsor chose a champion. Dorain chose Celaena to compete, confident she had an extremely high chance of winning. This was a chance of freedom for Celaena. If she were to win the competition, she would serve four years as the king’s champion and then be released from her duties, able to roam free. During the tournament, murders occur, and Celaena must help discover who is behind these murders.
This book is packed full of twists and turns, as you dive deeper into each character’s story and new mysteries arise. The beginning of this book sets the tone perfectly, revealing the main characters within the first few chapters, Celaena, Dorian, and Chaol. Maas connects to her readers. As you learn more about the characters, you become one in the story and feel like you are there in the minds of characters.
The story is in third person, the writing shifting through the three main characters, as if a narrator is in that character’s mind. You know their thoughts and feelings through this, and all the behind the scenes you wouldn’t have known if the story was in a different viewpoint. At first, I wasn’t too big of a fan of this style, it was different than anything I’ve ever read, but Maas made it work beautifully. I’m excited to read more in the third person by her. It will help my writing and strengthen my reading.
Something else I loved about this book was the story structure. Each page I turned, I felt more connected to the characters, and new mysteries arose made me eager to learn more about them as the story unfolded. I loved the hint of romance, although I think it could’ve used a little more, being the romance reader I am. What I loved most about this book was Maas’s ability to paint the scene with all the vivid details to the point where I could visualize the book in my head. In the bloody scenes, I felt the pain from the characters. I knew how they felt, and her writing embodies an example of imagery.
Overall, I think this was a spectacular book, and Maas deserves all the praise others have given this work. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a slow burn romantasy ride, with a lot of action. Maas is definitely an author to watch, demonstrating complete strength as what started simply turned into a book that will stay with me forever.
