"Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas

NOTE: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After all the praising reviews I saw of this novel, I thought that I should read it too. But I can only say that I was disappointed very much. I was expecting a spectacular story, that would grab me from the very first page and would leave me aching for more. Instead, what I got was a poorly told story with no purpose, that left me wondering what was the idea of it at all.

To be honest, the quality of the story sort of improved after the first half was thru, but I do not think that a book could be called good if it's such only from the middle on. I mean, many people will stop reading before they reach the point where the story started to get interesting. I even have friends who gave up reading before they reached that point, and I completely understand them. After all, if a book doesn't grab us from the very beginning, we wouldn't want to waste our time reading on, unsure whether we'd end up liking it at all.

The fact that this book was proclaimed the YA "Song of Ice and Fire", I think is ridiculous. Throne of Glass has nothing on the epic world that many many authors have created and continue developing. This novel is merely a wanna be.

The story line was also sort of ridiculous. A Champion of the King had to be picked after a series of tests among the most notorious soldiers, assassins and thieves. Well, I had expected something lively, at least at the tests. But they were all so very dull - running, climbing... but no fighting until the very end. It was sort of boring. Even the court intrigues couldn't really interest me.

Let's talk about the characters a little now.

*Calaena was the lead female in this story. She was an assassin, but I honestly can't say she was even remotely close to that title. In the entire book she didn't kill a single person, though she had many many chances. She was more concerned about wearing pretty dresses and going to royal parties than exercising her profession. Also, her choices were way too obvious, and in the end I was extremely frustrated by her.

*Prince Dorian was such a crybaby. I honestly didn't like the guy. The only thing he seemed to do was wink at the ladies and whine that the world was unfair to him. He only seemed to get a bit manly after he met Calaena.

*Captain Chaol was perhaps the most likeable character of them all. He was tough to please, though his heart was meek and loveable. He knew his place and didn't try going any higher. He wasn't light hearted or quick to trust anyone.

*Nehemia, the Ellywe princess was quite an interesting character, though we only saw her in her real light at the very end.

In conclusion, I can only say that Throne of Glass could've been much more interesting, had it been written in an intriguing manner from the very first line. It wasn't, and that was it's very great problem. Still though, it has potential. You might like it if you persevere enough to get to the good part.

My rating is