Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #1 and #2)) by Sarah J. Maas

Amy   

young adult, fantasy, action-suspense

I did not enjoy the first Sarah J. Maas novel that I read (A Court of Thorns and Roses) but was encouraged to give Throne of Glass a try by a friend.  I’m glad I did.  I enjoyed it once I got into it. (By the way, is that the author's face on the cover character? It sure looks a lot like it.)

In the novel, Celaena is released from a concentration camp/prison in order to compete to be the King's new Royal Assassin.

The not-so-good: I found the premise contrived and unlikely, so I was doubting that I’d enjoy it at the beginning.  Celaena is supposedly the most infamous, terrorizing assassin in the land yet she’s only eighteen and has somehow survived being jailed in a concentration camp for a year (when it is stated that no one survives that long) with her sanity, spunk, and sense of humor intact. Oh, and she’s gorgeous. Right.  The Captain of the Royal Guard also just happens to be about her age. Out of all the warriors and soldiers in the kingdom we are expected to believe that the evil, power-hungry king would have chosen an inexperienced (he’s never even killed anyone!) captain, who happens to be best friends with the belligerent prince, as the person in charge of the safety of the royal family and kingdom.  Seriously. It’s a fantasy but this groundwork felt forced in order to create the setting the author needed.

The good: If you can swallow all of that, then it’s a fun tale that involves quite a bit of adventure, violence, hard work, action, friendship, and love interests. The characters are great and the mystery and suspense are well done.  This book has one of the better love triangles I’ve read which is also satisfying.

So, I’ll read the sequel and see what happens next!

Amy   

The Throne of Glass saga continues where it left off.  Celaena is now the King’s Champion and doing his bidding throughout the land, bringing him the heads of his enemies.  Meanwhile, she is determined to undermine his rule and shake him from power.

Again, Sarah J. Maas annoys me when she creates the setting in which the story will work. I mean, all authors do that. But, this one does it so ungracefully and implausibly that it pulls me out of the already fantastical story.  For me, a fantasy world needs to have bounds that feel real and possible within the parameters.  With the first book, I was annoyed that all the prime “good guys” are young adults in their teens/early 20s that, overly conveniently, are in positions of power. The thing that perturbed me the most in this installment was the sudden appearance of Mort and the convenience of his existence.  As if he were a little Disney sidekick, he appears so that Celaena has someone from whom to learn and with whom to conspire as well as a measure of comic relief for the reader. 

Again, I had to forcefully look past the failings of the exto-structure of the story in order to enjoy the inner contents.  Maas knows how to write great suspense and action.  She knows how to draw intriguing characters.  I couldn’t help but care about them and was riveted in the scenes following Chaol’s capture.  But, alas, when not sucked into the richest segments of this novel, the rough edges showed and pulled me out of my high opinions.  I suppose I’ll read the next novel in the series to find out what happens in the truly new setting that was defined at the end.  But, if I never get around to it, that would be fine.