Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
In Throne of Glass, after a year of hard labor in the salt mines, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is given a chance at freedom by Prince Dorian — compete to become the new royal assassin. Her competitors are fierce, but the Captain of the Guard's training pushes her to the brink of her ability. As Celaena navigates the dangerous competition, she also must uncover the culprit behind a string of murders.
As a reread, Throne of Glass proved just as exciting and engaging as the first time I read it back in 2015 — maybe more so. Not only was I stingier with my rating back then, but I was quicker to discount YA fantasy for whatever stuck-up 36-year-old reasoning I had about the reading I thought I was otherwise accomplishing. Regardless, I originally had this as a 3-star book, but after this reread I'm bumping it up beyond what would otherwise indicate it as average. Given that I've read a great deal — almost all — of Maas's book, I can say this early baby book from her when she was 26 is probably the weakest of the bunch, and still pretty damn good. The growth she experiences as a fantasy writer is evident through her books — her characters, her plots, her world-building...it only ever improves from here.
I came back for a reread because I have yet to finish this series — and it suddenly blew up all over Instagram (and probably TikTok) in the past year. Maas in general experienced some level of phenomenon on social media recently, with readers just discovering this series, along with her two others. Part of me wanted to revisit just to write a review, which I was not doing in 2015. And part of me was just flat-out excited to be invested in a long fantasy series again.
Maas's pacing, even with this first book, is exactly right for my reading tastes. I love a fast clip that occasionally slows to a trot or speeds up to a full gallop for these plot-driven stories. And I love the character development that happens over the course of a series, slow and more organic in nature.
Rereads are interesting beings — especially with a series where the world continues to expand with each book and you have, what can only be described as, memories of the events in the book. Despite my last look at this being six and a half years ago, I could recall vividly the image I pictured during that first read for most of the book's scenes and characters. Maas sets up a great series here with the assassin, Celaena; the Captain of the Guard, Chaol; and the Crown Prince, Dorian. Each character felt both knowable and a bit restrained — which allows for continued development to happen both on the page and off with the subsequent books in the series.
Throne of Glass is a great start to an epic fantasy series, with an engaging protagonist, intriguing side characters, and a compelling plot. With each subsequent book, Maas's writing only gets better, and I'm excited to have her stories ahead of me this year.
