Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas



Mariah Rose

2021-08-16 1 min read

Alright. I have a couple more books in this series under my belt now and I think I've dulled the edges of what I felt when I first finished this book.

The main feeling that I still have from this is that the author had a really cool idea but didn't have the skills to execute it. It reads a little like (subpar) fanfiction - like all the main ideas are there, but the writing just leaves you wanting more.

The writing is very crude. So many exclation points! And elipses... And unecessary paragraph breaks-
And generally abruptness.
What annoys me the most is that this could have been easily been fixed with an intense edit.
I can happily report though, that this has improved greatly in the upcoming books.


I don’t hate Celaena. I can understand why some people wanna shake some sense into her but she’s just a teenager. The issue is, she doesn’t act like a teenager of her backdrop.
I felt like there was no sufficient characterization of her skills. I wasn't convinced that she was the greatest assassin ever just because she said it repeatedly.
Also. Are we really pretending we don't know who she really is 50 pages in? Really?


Please note the sarcastic quotes. 'Cause I really mean them.

I don't like Dorian. I don't like Chaol. It's a lose lose.
Equipped with stands-behind-her-and-"let-me-show-you-how-to-do-this" moment, this was pretty hard to swallow.

Chaol's inner monologue of wondering if Dorian thinks Celaena is a virgin (and whether that turns him on) is the single grossest thing I've read this decade.
The sexualization was a little much.

This triangle is so unsteady, it seems to tip suddenly one way or the other and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Bottom line:
This feels like it was written in 2002 not 2012. By a teenager.