Authors: Sarah. J. Maas
Series: The Throne of Glass Series
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Fiction, Thriller, Action, Suspense
Short summary of the story: The book begins with a female slave (also a former member of an assassins' guild), the protagonist of the story, named Celaena Sardothien, being retrieved and brought to the king by the Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall, to participate in a competition hosted by the king to find the best assassin, who the king plans to use for a task. The king's son, Prince Dorian, as well as Chaol Westfall, also appear to be potential love interests of Celaena Sardothien. Celaena being the best member of the assassins' guild she formerly belonged to, nails the competition. But, she discovers that there is more to the royal family than just a king hosting a competition for the best assassin. The king is apparently evil, but in the later books in the series, is revealed to be controlled by certain dark forces, that Celaena ends up fighting, as her true self, Aelin Galathynius. The protagonist of the book is portrayed to be a strong female character, who fights her life alone, with no parents or siblings. She is borderline narcissistic, ambitious, super-confident and a boss-bitch, but underneath the tough cover, she has scars, bad memories and experiences of years of torture, pain and being suppressed. Despite her scars, she is beautiful and sexy, and she knows that. She is not the type to give up and faces the challenges thrown at her bravely, with an unbeatable optimistic attitude.
Speaking of suitability for age-groups, this is a book only for adults, because the passionate moments between the characters are described very vividly, much like "Game of Thrones" .
The book is overall a thrilling, dramatic and emotional, yet action packed, roller-coaster ride. The emojis that depict how you would feel while you read the book are
Good points / bad points: Good points: Overall, the book was one to keep someone hooked from the beginning to the end. It is the ultimate page-turner. There is mystery and suspense, and there are twists and revelations all over the plot. The portrayal of the character traits of the female protagonist make it one of those books that uphold feminism and the power of the female mind, reminding us how fierce and powerful a female can be. The entire series describes the life of the female protagonist from her teenage to her adulthood, showcasing her emotions, ambitions, failures, successes, love interests, and betrayals, both from enemies and lovers. This book in the series covers only her teenhood but is nevertheless packed with all of the same from that portion of her life. It is a heart-rending story of overcoming obstacles despite severe failures and reaching the zenith from the dirt. The story of the protagonist is not only inspiring, but also relatable on so many levels.
Speaking of the writing style, the flow of the story is turbulent and chaotic, yet structured. There are time-jumps, unexpected twists, mysterious revelations, few obvious portions, highly emotional events and a lot of suspense. It is so engaging that you can't help but want to know more. The book shifts a lot from fast-paced to slow-paced and back to fast-paced again, but each sentence in the slow-paced portions also hold a lot of significance, because you will miss the explanations of important twists in the story if you do not read each word carefully and do not read between the lines. Therefore, the story is always engaging, no matter what the pace of narration of the portion you are reading. Picking up the first book in the series makes you want to read all the books in the series, and makes you curious to know about the author as well.
Bad points: The book can be a little too cruel on the mind due to the vivid descriptions of torture, battle, sadism, murder, assassination, sexuality and pain. The character of Celaena Sardothien, later Aelin Galathynius, can be a little too narcissistic and self-obssessed to take inspiration from, if not interpreted with a bit of personal filtering and toning down. She can be an utter bitch in some of the scenes. But, I would have to say, that despite everything, her overall character is definitely one of the best to take inspiration from. After all, we all have flaws and flaws only make the character more real, and eliminate the chance of not being able to relate seriously due to impossible perfectionism.
At a few points in the book, the innumerable twists upon twists can get a bit tiring and muddle your brain, making you want to give up reading, but if you take a break for a while, you will find you want to pick up the book once again, after all. These twists upon twists are also exactly what engage you, keep it thrilling, and make you curious and want to read more and know more.
Overall, the book for me personally was a 10 on 10 or maybe an 11 on 10, it broke the scale. However, taking into account the younger audiences, different personality types of readers, and the ability to affect society as a whole, I would rate the book an 8 on 10.
