What did I think of Sarah J. Maas' first two books in the Throne of Glass series?
Recently I finished the first two books in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series. After about four days of fervent reading, I am pleased to say that I quite enjoyed them. I was pleasantly surprised and have since ordered and received the next few books from Amazon, which if your as avid a reader as I am, you will start buying your books off there. For about 20$ I bought four books, which is about the equivalent of one or two books bought at Barnes and Noble.
I suppose I should really start the review off with some information that I learned just out of curiosity about the author.. Lately, her books had been somewhat of an inspiration to continue with my own stories, especially after I found out that she had begun writing them as a 16 year old, in high school. A few of the previous reviews that I read when I was purchasing the books, more in regards to the first and second, claimed that it was juvenile and sounded like it was written by a high schooler. I found myself laughing, knowing that is was indeed written by a high school student. Others criticized the main protagonist's personality, saying that she was much too self-centered and irritating to be a 'bad-ass'. I personally felt that Caelena's (the main protagonist) personality was extremely realistic. She's the best assassin in all of Adarlan, of course she is going to have loads of pride. Not to mention anti-heroes tend to have many flaws, so to get upset and say that those flaws were what ruined the book seems a little bit unnecessary. I also felt that she had as much reason for angst given her tragic back-ground.
I have since started "Heir to Fire", and am about 100 pages in and am enjoying it just as much as the first two, which for me is a very rare occurrence. In the past few years, I have only finished a few trilogies and have found myself unable to continue reading series with more than three books, because by the time the books reach the third, I have become so bored with the material that I just stop reading. In regards to the argument claiming that the books are much to similar to other YA material out there, I felt that the love triangle was kind of similar to the others, mainly because of how Chaol and Dorian (her two lovers) choose to see and treat Caelena. Chaol is the typical tough, loyal vigilante, while Dorian is a pretty stereotypical spoiled prince. Now towards the end of the second book (not going to spoil) Dorian somewhat redeems himself but it never really changed my perspective of him.
The character of Chaol is one that I found myself constantly combating against, because I honestly just did not want to like him. He just seemed much too good. I can't give much opinion to this simply because I haven't read the rest of the books yet but that was just my first impression. I personally felt Caelena's feelings toward the both of them was a little forced and found myself wishing for her own isolation, just because I thought she was such a strong and independent protagonist on her own, in contrast much to others protest that she was weak-willed and lacked current feminist ideals. I believe this complaint was mainly regarding the dynamic of the love triangle, that at times didn't make much sense to me.
However, awkward love stuff put aside, the rest of the story line I found extremely new and unlike anything I had ever read. These books were the first I had read involving the main character as an assassin, and I much enjoyed the way Caelena acted and reacted to things. I personally found her such an interesting character, and that's what spurred me to read the books so fast; I was always watching for her occasionally outrageous retorts and unexpected actions. I also felt that the emotion she felt regarding her morality really played well into developing her as a complicated person, who wasn't the easiest to read. Everyone expects an assassin to be able to kill without reserve, and Caelena's character really played against the stereotype, making it that much interesting to read about. I honestly understand why there was so much hype regarding the book series and I hope that ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) is just as good.
Keep up with the magic and watch for posts biweekly or more!
Au revoir! :)
I suppose I should really start the review off with some information that I learned just out of curiosity about the author.. Lately, her books had been somewhat of an inspiration to continue with my own stories, especially after I found out that she had begun writing them as a 16 year old, in high school. A few of the previous reviews that I read when I was purchasing the books, more in regards to the first and second, claimed that it was juvenile and sounded like it was written by a high schooler. I found myself laughing, knowing that is was indeed written by a high school student. Others criticized the main protagonist's personality, saying that she was much too self-centered and irritating to be a 'bad-ass'. I personally felt that Caelena's (the main protagonist) personality was extremely realistic. She's the best assassin in all of Adarlan, of course she is going to have loads of pride. Not to mention anti-heroes tend to have many flaws, so to get upset and say that those flaws were what ruined the book seems a little bit unnecessary. I also felt that she had as much reason for angst given her tragic back-ground.
I have since started "Heir to Fire", and am about 100 pages in and am enjoying it just as much as the first two, which for me is a very rare occurrence. In the past few years, I have only finished a few trilogies and have found myself unable to continue reading series with more than three books, because by the time the books reach the third, I have become so bored with the material that I just stop reading. In regards to the argument claiming that the books are much to similar to other YA material out there, I felt that the love triangle was kind of similar to the others, mainly because of how Chaol and Dorian (her two lovers) choose to see and treat Caelena. Chaol is the typical tough, loyal vigilante, while Dorian is a pretty stereotypical spoiled prince. Now towards the end of the second book (not going to spoil) Dorian somewhat redeems himself but it never really changed my perspective of him.
The character of Chaol is one that I found myself constantly combating against, because I honestly just did not want to like him. He just seemed much too good. I can't give much opinion to this simply because I haven't read the rest of the books yet but that was just my first impression. I personally felt Caelena's feelings toward the both of them was a little forced and found myself wishing for her own isolation, just because I thought she was such a strong and independent protagonist on her own, in contrast much to others protest that she was weak-willed and lacked current feminist ideals. I believe this complaint was mainly regarding the dynamic of the love triangle, that at times didn't make much sense to me.
However, awkward love stuff put aside, the rest of the story line I found extremely new and unlike anything I had ever read. These books were the first I had read involving the main character as an assassin, and I much enjoyed the way Caelena acted and reacted to things. I personally found her such an interesting character, and that's what spurred me to read the books so fast; I was always watching for her occasionally outrageous retorts and unexpected actions. I also felt that the emotion she felt regarding her morality really played well into developing her as a complicated person, who wasn't the easiest to read. Everyone expects an assassin to be able to kill without reserve, and Caelena's character really played against the stereotype, making it that much interesting to read about. I honestly understand why there was so much hype regarding the book series and I hope that ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) is just as good.
Keep up with the magic and watch for posts biweekly or more!
Au revoir! :)
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