#but Chaol was interesting enough to be protagonist

[ruhnlidiasworld]

“Azriel can't have a book because SJM only have female protagonist”

Chaol Westfall somewhere in the MaasVerse:

[hatereadings]

Throne of Glass

So I first found out about this series because these ACoTaR recaps I was reading mentioned that Sarah J Maas had a previous fantasy series that came out, and the protagonist was an assassin who didn't even kill anyone in the first book. You can check out the recaps here, if you're interested in other people's hate-reads.

The author of those recaps was so appalled by ACoTaR that she's probably never going to read another SJM book, which means that the burden of recapping them has sadly fallen to... well, people who enjoyed the recaps in general, but I think I'm the only one actually willing to do this to myself.

So, here goes! I'm going to start with Throne of Glass, because it was published first, but actually mainly because it's the most readily available at my library (If I have to return it, I might switch to The Assassin's Blade for a bit).

The dedication page is

To all my readers from FictionPress--for being with me at the beginning and staying long after the end. Thank you for everything.

This honestly made me curious enough to look things up, and, whaddya know, this book was originally a story on FictionPress! In 2012, peak fandom, so... credit where it's due, clearly some of us who were on FictionPress back then felt catered to.

That reminds me - I know these books are intended for teenage girls, and I'm going to do my best to respect that and view them from that lens. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that audience or what they need or want to be reading at that time in their lives.

That said, even WITH that caveat, there's going to be a lot of shit to talk about, so buckle up.

Chapter 1

RIGHT AWAY, I have issues with the worldbuilding.

After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point. Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovier received similar treatment--though an extra half-dozen guards always walked Celaena to and from the mines.

How on EARTH is this economical?! If someone is genuinely SO DANGEROUS that they need SIX GUARDS to accompany them everywhere -- how does it make ANY sense to put them to work in a mine?!?!?!

I'm going to ignore the fact that a white author is writing about slavery, because... it was 2012; a lot of us are guilty of Spartacus fanfic. We know better now, is the important part.

That was to be expected by Adarlan's most notorious assassin.

Okay. Some people have pointed out in the past that it doesn't make sense for assassins to be famous. I think that's something that's safe to gloss over in this sort of YA, though. I mean, what teenage girl hasn't wanted to be some kind of universally feared physical badass, whether that's an assassin or a mercenary or a serial killer? It's fine.

Still, if she's really so dangerous and such a Big Deal, then... again, why is she in the mines??? Why isn't she in an impenetrable cell somewhere??? You're literally paying SIX EXTRA full-time workers just to stand around watching her when they could be used to do, idk, anything else? Guarding the royal family, guarding the treasury, going to war against your enemies? This is like... Kingsguard level of security. Not something you'd want to spend on a prisoner.

There's a "hooded man in black" walking next to her. Does this sound like an executioner, or is that just me?

Apparently they take an unnecessarily circuitous route, going around and around in circles because the guy in charge... idk, wants to disorient Celaena? Even though she's been living there for a year? I really hope the people guarding her are supposed to be idiots, so she can seem like a badass genius in comparison; if this is the level of intelligence we're working with throughout the book, I don't know what's going to sustain me through this read.

The guy in the hood apparently introduced himself as Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, and she overheard that when she first saw him. Which might've been nice to include when we, the readers, first see him, but whatever. Apparently he's hiding his face from her to try and intimidate her, which has "five-year-old-boy-tries-to-scare-you-by-donning-a-frankenstein-mask" energy.

Celaena doesn't know why he's come to get her. She notices that her clothes are nearly rags and that her skin is dirty, and reflects that she used to be beautiful. Again, this feels more like YA convention than an actual, realistic response someone would have to being forced to mine salt for a year. Like, I can get having that response to suddenly seeing a bunch of non-miners and feeling the contrast between their clean clothes and your filthy rags, but having that just pop up idly while you're walking around your prison? It's a very hamfisted way of trying to stick in a bit of physical description at the beginning. And we get a full physical description later on, so why even bother?

"You're a long way from Rifthold, Captain," she said, clearing her throat. "Did you come with the army I heard thumping around earlier?" She peered into the darkness beneath his hood but saw nothing. Still, she felt his eyes upon her face, judging, weighing, testing. She stared right back. The Captain of the Royal Guard would be an interesting opponent. Maybe even worthy of some effort on her part.

Personally I would have added a line break after that quote, but that might just be a stylistic choice. I don't really have any bones to pick with the writing here; it seems like this is serving the wish fulfillment that a lot of the target audience really wants - a protagonist so deadly that no one is any match for them. Maybe for a more jaded audience, they'd think, "Mary Sue," and toss the book aside, but we embrace earnest enthusiasm here.

Oh, it'd be nice to see his blood spill across the marble.

Please don't tease. I know there isn't going to be any murder in this book. I can't take the false hope.

She'd lost her temper once before--once, when her first overseer chose the wrong day to push her too hard. She still remembered the feeling of embedding the pickax into his gut, and the stickiness of his blood on her hands and face. She could disarm two of these guards in a heartbeat. Would the captain fare better than her late overseer? Contemplating the potential outcomes, she grinned at him again. "Don't you look at me like that," he warned, and his hand drifted back toward his sword.

Wait, what? The killer -- actually kills someone?! Okay, offscreen, but still. This is... not quite the clusterfuck I was warned about!

Still, I'm 2% into this book. It has a lot of room to decay.

They passed a series of wooden doors that she'd seen a few minutes ago. If she wanted to escape, she simply had to turn left at the next hallway and take the stairs down three flights. The only thing all the intended disorientation had accomplished was to familiarize her with the building. Idiots.

Celaena gets annoyed when Chaol won't talk to her, which is... kind of dumb? I mean, did you expect him to? You guys are enemies. Just keep up a one-sided banter like a normal prisoner and stop complaining.

She contemplates escape some more, then decides that it'd be too much trouble, so she'll wait. It's very convenient that all the guards are idiots; they've been walking so long that Celaena has the opportunity to infodump some worldbuilding on us. We learn that the kingdom they're in is called Adarlan, and it sends poor people, criminals, and "latest conquests" into the salt mines of Endovier, which looks something like the jail in Les Mis, with misery and whips cracking and all the stereotypical nonsense. Again, this is from over a decade ago; this shit would not fly today. That's not how you handle a discussion of slavery in this country.

Adarlan has banned magic, and anyone accused of practicing gets sent to Endovier.

Eyllwe is apparently a country that's at war with Adarlan, still resisting its rule, and any captured Eyllwe folks also get sent to Endovier. Okay, so... I know Rome did this too, but this is sounding less like Rome and more like Nazi Germany, with the work camps for prisoners. Maas is apparently of Jewish descent, so I'm not going to weigh in on whether that's a problem.

Celaena mentions that she was "betrayed and captured" one night and sent to this place, and then pivots to thinking about whether she's finally going to be executed. I mean, it would make sense; those 6 guards' paychecks have probably cost the crown a tidy amount over the past year.

At last, they stopped before a set of red-and-gold glass doors so thick that she couldn't see through them.

That is a ridiculously fancy door for a mine. Why.

They try to pull Celaena through, she's convinced they're here to kill her and resists, but they pull her in anyway. Uhhhh... what happened to

She could disarm two of these guards in a heartbeat.

?

I remember the inconsistency in ACoTaR. Wasn't expecting it to show up so early here, though.

A glass chandelier shaped like a grapevine occupied most of the ceiling, spitting seeds of diamond fire onto the windows along the far side of the room.

Okay, that's actually a really pretty description. I'd go as far as to say that 'spitting seeds of diamond fire' is genuinely a good turn of phrase. That said...

WHY IS THIS IN A SALT MINE?!?!?!?!

Compared to the bleakness outside those windows, the opulence felt like a slap to the face. A reminder of how much they profited from her labor.

Ah. For symbolism.

In case you were wondering, no, that's not a good enough reason. It makes no sense with the worldbuilding. Why on earth would ANYONE choose to build something so fancy here. Nobody just spends their time thinking, "I'm feeling very evil today. What exceptionally evil project can I spend a great deal of money on to show off just how evil I am? I know! I'll build an opulent room next to a slave pit!"

Also? Nobody is profiting from your labor, Celaena. I don't know how much salt costs, but every day you work costs your overseers a day's wages for each of SIX GUARDS. I don't think there's much profit being turned here.

The captain shoves her in, there's more guards, and then

On an ornate redwood throne sat a handsome young man. Her heart stopped as everyone bowed.

Ah. The love interest.

She was standing in front of the Crown Prince of Adarlan.

And that's the chapter hook!

Two questions:

How did they get the throne in there? I can't tell if it's more ridiculous if they literally had to build a new fancy room with a throne when they heard the prince was coming, or if the prince's entourage carries a giant throne with him wherever he goes so he can sit in it, OR if every single building in Adarlan has to have a Throne Room of sufficient grandeur just in case the Crown Prince decides to stop by. There's just no good explanation for this. (Although from a different perspective, there are only good explanations for this)

We literally just heard an infodump about how Adarlan is a toxic power. Are they really trying to make it believable that one of the leaders of this country is a decent enough dude to be a love interest?

So far, this feels like even more of a mess than ACoTaR was. I'm curious to know if that gets any better over the course of this book, or if it's somehow all downhill from here.

[pearblossommina]

ToG read-a-long, Throne of Glass, day 3

Raw thoughts

13:

Alright, I know I’m just full of gay little hopes and dreams but Nehemia and Celaena have a ton of chemistry lol

I like how they’re both on the butch end of the spectrum and don’t like wearing dresses or corsets. How very gender of them. 🔥🔥🔥 Nehemia has callused fingers from sword fighting??? I wanna hold your hand Nehemia I wanna kiss your hand and I wanna admire your fingers 👀

I’m still on my Chaol x Dorian bs so I’m indifferent to Chaol flirting with Celaena. They just seem to be interested in each other because Dorian’s off somewhere and not around to be a handsome heart throb. Once he comes back they both will get distracted by him lol. I’m trash for a good love triangle.

14:

Celaena makes a friend

Hopefully Nox doesn’t die brutally since he’s the only champion who’s not a sexist ass

Oh and Chaol opens up a little bit

I just wanna keep reading

15:

Competition day! I’m disappointed! I expected it to be a little more of a fight-against-each-other type of thing. Maybe I tricked myself with imagining this was gonna be a “hunger games” style elimination bracket. I feel like they hyped up the “tasks” a lot for it to just be an archery competition. But, whatever, we’re still mostly at the beginning of this book, maybe something more exciting will happen later.

16:

I find it very relatable that Celaena vomits every time she goes for a run

(Girl you’re pushing yourself too hard)

Ahhhh they killed a champion! I guess THAT is more what I was expecting, a very high stakes elimination game where the losers die and the winners are traumatized by victory. I’m still rooting for you Celaena! Kill them all! Be the best assassin in the kingdom!

17:

Queen Georgiana: welp, my son is the ripe old age of 19, time to marry him off

Dorian: i don’t want to get married

Queen Georgiana: but then how will you make babies

Dorian: illegitimately, obviously

18:

Celaena wants to kiss the prince

And she has a flirty, I hate you but maybe I don’t - type of thing going on with Chaol

Oh also Nehemia is the best, best girl Nehemia

Is it wrong of me to expect these novels to be romance novels? I just want the burn to ignite a little faster. Someone should kiss Celaena soon. All this banter is fun and all - but when your protagonist explicitly states that she’s down bad for anyone to kiss, i can’t help but notice no one’s been doing any…. Kissing! Especially with the way they constantly degrade Dorian for being a slut. DORIAN. You’re doing right, baby, don’t listen to what anyone says, you’re giving the readers what they want.

(Except I want you to kiss someone on screen please)

(Just pick someone and give them a heated glance across a hallway)

(A lingering touch on the hand)

(Maybe a kiss if I’m good enough)

(Come on i feel like we’re all ready for it)

[shadowsxgwynriel]

I wonder why El/riels find it so hard to believe that Azriel could have his own book?

I know that the main argument is that “it’s about the three sisters.” Okay so if that was entirely true then why are there two more books and a novella planned? SJM already said before that she wanted to tell Elain, Azriel, and Mor’s stories and that the next books will follow an individual couple so we know that Feysand won’t be getting the last book and I don’t think SJM plans on giving Mor a full length book so that means the novella will likely be about her which leaves the two books for Elain and Azriel.

Another argument is that “he’s just a side character.” Then how can they think that the final book is about Vassa with Lucien as a love interest? Isn’t she also a side character? And I myself don’t get any romantic vibes or tension from Vassa and Lucien. I think that Feyre and the Suriel had more chemistry than them. I think that Vassa will play an important part in the final book, but as a supporting character and not a main one.

I also see the argument that “SJM doesn’t write male protagonists.” Or that “she won’t change her mind about a couple that has been built up for four books.” And I have to wonder if they’ve read ANY SJM book, more specifically Throne or Glass? Chaol, who is also a side character and happens to be a male, got his own book. I even saw someone say that if Azriel got his own book then it wouldn’t be Gwyn as his love interest because one book isn’t enough time for him to get over Elain, or even Mor, and fall for Gwyn. But I’d like to point out that Nesryn was Chaol’s love interest at the start of his book, he addressed his feelings for Celaena, and by the end he was married to Yrene, which all took place in one book. And what about how in love Chaol and Celaena were in the first two books before Rowan came along? And let me just say that Elide and Lorcan had two books of build up and they had FAR more chemistry, sexual tension, and banter than El/riel could ever hope to have with “four” books of build up.

For me, I can see Azriel getting a book before Elain just for the simple fact that Elain. Is. Not. Ready. She’s just not. All of SJM’s main protagonists have hit bottom or are in dire circumstances at the start of their story. (e.g. Celaena, Feyre, Bryce, Nesta) We’ve barely skimmed the surface of any trauma that may reside inside of Elain, but Azriel has so much in him that he’s basically bursting to have his own book so that he can finally start to heal. And with his book, we can learn more about Elain and Lucien, who both have some healing to do. In fact I believe that SJM once said that “they have some healing to do together.”

El/riels also seem to forget that there’s still TWO more books planned. Since they apparently feel that if Azriel’s book is truly next then somehow that means Elain won’t get a book? But nobody said that Elain wouldn’t get a book, of course she will. She’s just not ready to go on her journey yet.

However, Azriel is more than ready.

[when-wax-wings-melt]

hello just casually stopping by to say that what. what on earth was going on at the end of hosab. in response to your tags: I'm very curious to know what your rants were about if you'd like to share. no pressure though! I am going to attempt to do homework while processing that crossover like huh. why. what.

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING HELLO. LIKE WHAT. the rest of this post contains hella spoilers for crescent city/throne of glass/acotar btw anyone else.

so!! my rants about hosab were a lot about sarah j maas in general (this is a sarah j maas intensely dislike blog btw! I hate-read hosab 😔) and the problems with her books. I have a few categories: Characters, Relationships, and of course there's the twist at the end of hosab that I intensely dislike.

That's what the ask was about so I'll start with that. The main twist at the end of hosab was, of course, that Bryce went to the acotar universe instead of Hel when she moved worlds. Firstly, it's pretty fucking lucky that she ended up like right in front of Azriel (and not even in front of cass and nesta fucking or whatever the hell their relationship is about 😔, or in the middle of nowhere or the human world) but that's not even my main problem. The problem is that this plotline was plain ol' weak writing. Sjm realized that the majority of her fans' favorite series was acotar, and instead of having another cameo of Rhys and Feyre like she did at the end of throne of glass, she had them become characters in crescent city. To me, this is a chance at grabbing her audience after the mind-numbing repetition of hosab so far. And DAMN HER it worked. I wasn't planning on reading book three but not I HAVE TO, dammit. Bryce and Hunt should have had their own arc with their own solutions just like Aelin and Rowan and Feyre and Rhys did. The crossover shouldn't have been necessary, it was a lazy grab for nostalgia (for lack of a better word) and means that reading crescent city is better if you read acotar (money grab potentially) and I stand by that.

MOVING ON. CHARACTERS.

I have huge huge problems with SJM and her characters, mostly because I intensely dislike the majority of them. And I'm almost positive this has something to do with being ace because all of her characters are on their intros described by their sex appeal and how fucking gorgeous they are and how many abs they have which is so weird?? And unnatural??? I own Crescent City and a few throne of glass books but I do not feel like checking them so we're going off of screenshots I currently have saved and my prior knowledge (which i believe is Good Enough).

All the women are interchangable, especially her three protagonists. Bryce, Feyre, and Aelin. Aelin's description is: Blue eyes with a rim of gold, golden hair, pale skin, skinny with (somehow) generous curves, muscled but it didn't show (???). Feyre is: brown hair, blue-grey eyes, skinny (originally she was flat but I'm almost certain she gained curves by the end), pale skin. Bryce: redhead with freckles, pointed ears, extremely curvy (I'll talk more about this later), pale. Ignoring that all these women are white and there is a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead (you know, depending on the taste of her audience) these women are so... impersonal? Feyre's hobby is painting, Aelin loves music (particularly the piano), Bryce loves dancing. Checking off the artistic qualities, there. They all are selfless to the point of self sacrifice (not necessarily a bad quality, but by the time you get to Bryce jesus christ) and ridiculously overpowered (something that works for Aelin, aka my favorite of the ladies in my favorite of the series, but not necessarily for the others).

The main men? also interchangeable. Sarah J Maas does this thing where she has an introduced love interest (or several) and then either she kills them off (see: Connor), villainizes them (see: Tamlin, Chaol), or sets them up to be a "right person wrong time"/better off as friends thing (see: Dorian). I'm gonna talk about this later. Anyway, Throne of Glass men (originally) worked because they were more realistic men than the eventual love interests: Rowan, Hunt, Rhys. Their descriptions (from what I remember, and also from fanart) are... Rowan: silver hair, green eyes, tan skin, tattoos on his back and sorta on his cheek, muscles on muscles on muscles (this man is an impossibility), handsome and like... weathered stone. wasn't that used as a descriptor? Rhys: tan skin, dark hair, dark purplish eyes, HELLA BUILT, beautiful, gorgeous, etc. Hunt: darker skin I believe (?), d...dark eyes, (I dont remember what he looks like this is sad), the most I remember about him is that he is piled with muscle like he has a 15 pack or some shit. it's crazy. I can't even TALK about sarah j maas's apparent wing kink (like what is up with that hello?) right now but yeah. hunt always has wings, rhys sometimes has wings, rowan can be a bird.

I'm just. convinced that you can switch out any of these people and the exact same things would be possible. Sure, they have different powers (aelin's powers, feyre's... everything apparently, bryce's light, rhys's shadows, rowan's... wind, hunt's lightning) but like seriously. ALSO you could probably switch out cassian or azriel (cass post acosf), or even Connor or Tharion (4 more guys with the exact same bodytype) with these guys. You could not switch dorian or chaol because they actually have personalities (major L for sjm, because she started out with cool characters that had, you know, separate characters and then it dissolves into a bunch of 8-packs and gleaming tan skin (?)).

All of these characters are skinny and the majority are white. The fatphobia (and even vague misogyny) in these books is insane. It's messed up. I'm not even fat but I'm mid-sized and I cannot relate to any of these ultra thin (with... curves...) women. I cannot find a single woman with a realistic body besides fucking Lehabah who gets little pagetime, is ridiculed and teased the entire damn time, explicitly rejected/said to be undesirable, and then killed off in book one of crescent city. She's "plump." Bryce gave me hope, because she is described to have been rejected from a dancing company for having the wrong body type, and being curvy... but there are so many descriptions of her body and none of them mention a tummy. She has a fat ass and boobs and... where's the rest? It's like Sarah Maas is scared of giving her women realistic features because she's making them end up with these unrealistic men. It's heartbreaking.

FINALLY. RELATIONSHIPS.

first off, as an asexual, specifically acotar and cc relationships severely bother me, but this also applies to tog. At least in tog and cc they arent compelled to have sex as soon as they accept their mates? And they are physically incapable or resisting it? I have issues with the "mate" shit at all (hello what the fuck is up with that? There is one person you are meant to have babies with and are chained to them for the rest of your immortal lives??) but there's just. significant problems with how much every single relationship in sjm's books is focused on sex, and people being horny.

Starting with the fact that all the ending love interests of the main characters are over 100 years older than the protagonists, the women. I believe Aelin is 18, Feyre is 19, and Bryce is 23 when they meet Rowan, Feyre, and Bryce, and they end up together within a year of knowing each other. Ignoring the "mates" bit of this (fate or whatever the fuck led them to fall in love) this is SO un-okay that I am just so... I don't like it. Age gaps are okay in real life but I'm uncomfortable with them when the younger person is under 30 anyway, let alone under 20 years old. Aelin had been with three people before Rowan and only slept with one, Feyre had been with two other people before Rhys (one of them was a fwb situation, the other was abusive?), and Bryce is the least problematic. At least she was over 20.

Anyway, all the relationship are copypasted. Crescent City especially. in Crescent City, guy and girl meet (there are NO gay relationships for some reason. only sapphic and too few of those as well) and immediately are horny (??) and then it's a slowburn. And then they fuck. I guess there's meaningful shit in between but damn if I remember. I'm almost positive that hunt and bryce were just horny all the fucking time and then they didn't even do anything about it (for absolutely no reason. their deal in hosab was just to drag out the slowburn) until halfway through book 2 when it was very clear they both wanted to. I was very excited for Ruhn and... what's her face. Lydia. I liked their relationship a LOT and then I hated it as soon as they fucked because it took away ALL the meaning. They fell in love too fast, sacrificed themselves too quickly for each other, and I have nooo idea how Ruhn managed to get that horny when he couldn't even see her and she was being sexually fucking harassed daily by literally the worst person ever to have existed. What was a turn on in that situation? NOTHING. OH MY GOD. i hate it a great deal.

The thing I mentioned earlier, the stack of love interests. Throne of glass is my favorite of her series for a few reasons, but one of them is how that love triangle was handled: aka she didn't end up with either Chaol or Dorian, and neither of them were villainized (at first) or killed off which I appreciated. Chaol was later villainized and then redeemed, and while I don't like him (never really did tbh) I do like what ended up happening to him and I also enjoy Dorian's arc. I have my issues with Rowan and Aelin but I'm cool with where they ended up and I appreciate that they didn't have sex CONSTANTLY. only sometimes. better. I liked Sam. That was good for Aelin's arc.

Larger problem is Feyre and Tamlin. Obviously, Tamlin sucks genuine ass, but the reason this was such a shock was because he was a perfectly fine person in the first book? I can understand that he locked Feyre in the house, I can understand that he was inactive/unavailable and that's why she went with Rhys and that's fine! whatever! but... he was villainized and then unvillainized and I just. don't get it. I'm so tired of this. Rhys is a bad fucking person and I don't like him oh my god why did the mate thing happen. Cassian and Nesta are even worse and I WILL make a separate post about how her character was put into a meat grinder if someone wants me to.

I was planning on eleborating more but this post is SO LONG and I am sooo tired. congrats for reading this far if u did 😭😭

TLDR: sjm's characters are unreasonably horny all the time and copypasted into each other's stories, throne of glass was the best because it was original, (also the plots are all the same), and the twist at the end of hosab was fan service. thank u. i'm out.

[beyourowninspiration16]

I am sensing a bit of... anxiety of fear in the SJM fandom, over the released snippet from acosf.

Let's try and diffuse this.

This has been known as the Nessian book from before the title, cover and synopsis were released. This has probably been known as the Nessian book since before SJM had a plot.

There has been a lead up to them being together since long before the acotar series ended.

SJM frequently pairs her protagonists with guys who initially have conflict, but ultimately inevitably fall in love

See: Feysand, Rowaelin, Manon/Dorian, Lysandra/Aedion, Lorcan/Elide, Chaol/Yrene, and unfortunately *sigh*... Hunt and Bryce (I don't like them together, sorry not sorry).

And in all of these, the protagonists initially are attracted to another character, while also admiring the love interest. There is nearly always a dummy love interest ^ (see aforementioned attractive character). While the protagonist sorts out their feelings and their own healing from trauma, with the help of the actual love interest, they become friends. Now, this is an important step. They are ALWAYS friends just before they fall in love. ALWAYS. No matter how bad the tensions are between the protagonist and love interest at the beginning, and they have been BAD, they always work to become friends first.

Idk if Cassian and Nesta are mates. Idk if they know. Neither do other characters, but they all have their suspicions. But we have to remember, both Nesta and Cassian are incredibly private, vulnerable and secretive people. This could perhaps be the symbolism of the cover - with masks. Both use coping mechanisms to diffuse tension, deflect embarrassment and ignore trauma. Nesta lashes out with anger, Cassian with humour and arrogance. This is important. They're both TERRIBLE at communication. So they both need to work on that, and open up to each other about their anxieties, trauma and fears. This is linked to the becoming friends bit. But, that will obviously take time. Which is where the Eris scene comes into play. It is well known that Eris assaulted and abused Mor, and that the entire Night Court, including Cassian, are FURIOUS about this. It is also well known that Cassian, Mor and Azriel have had a 3 way flirtation/hookup system.

And because Nesta has been isolating herself from the Inner Circle, she might not know this. I don't know, I can't remember. Sue me. 🤷‍♀️

So, she and Cassian have an argument based on lack of communication and misunderstandings, and while at a masquerade ball (idk, context 🤷‍♀️), she knows of Cassian's aversion to Eris and decides to get back at him.

Perhaps because she's jealous of Mor or something and knows that Eris can be linked to that messy pile of shit.

This ^^ is the official synopsis of acosf on GoodReads which 100% sets up Nessian.

Now, let's look back at acomaf, for comparison purposes. Not until halfway through do Feyre and Rhys get together, after becoming friends. For at least the first third of the book, she and T*mlin are together. Although both traumatised, and on Feyre's part, currently being abused, both she and T*mlin want to be together, until a certain point. They even have sex. Despite all of this, it is not a healthy relationship, and does not last, nor should it have. The purpose of looking at this, is to compare it to the tiny snippet of a scene from acosf. T*mlin and Feyre have sex. And when reading that scene out of context, it could be seen as romantic and meaningful. However, from the context of this book, we know that it is not a healthy relationship. It is incredibly toxic and is built ENTIRELY on control. But without the context of the entire book, you may not know that. We only have a tiny snippet of one scene from acosf. We have no idea what is happening in that scene between Eris and Nesta.

Therefore, we cannot say that there is anything between Nesta and Eris. In fact, we can say that considering Nesta's past trauma, and Eris' abusive behaviour, we can be sure that if Nesta knew what Eris had done to Mor, she would cut of his head and drink his blood from his skull with a smirk on her face.

Almost finally, the scene is told from Cassian's perspective, who looks at it with a mix of devotion for Nesta, and anger and jealousy for Eris. Considering Cassian's admiration for Nesta, it makes perfect sense that he would describe her this way ^^ no matter who she's with. "Glowed as if she had devoured the moon too."

And finally, we're only seeing the end of this scene. We have no idea how they came to dance together, or why. There must be a reason SJM didn't give us the beginning, like major spoilers. And cos obviously the end has enough to terrify us.

[ao-ihinata]

Anyone else have trouble with age gap couples ??

I still haven't been able to finish a Sarah j Maas book(or rather, series) without pausing at the middle to think "wait, wasn't he like super old?? And how old was she ?? barley 20??" I'm pretty sure I still have a few chapters left from Queen of shadows because I realized I won't get my chaol/celaena ship which had clearly sunk to the bottom of the ocean in book two.

Not that I don't like Rowan. I do like him. As much as I like Jason Grace. I just like brunets way, waaay better.

And it's not just books. Like there's this Russian Tvshow called Detective Anna and the protagonists is probably around 19?? And the love interest is maybe 37. And for half of the season I'm thinking "he's old enough to be your father". I sorta felt OK in the end because it takes place in the late nineteenth century and he was way less creepy than her other suitors

[blurrypetals]

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas - blurrypetals review

originally posted oct. 25, 2018 - ★☆☆☆☆

I have suffered through 160 and a half hours of this series. I have read all 4,800 pages of the books that tell this story. I've seen it all, I suffered through this whole damn series and all I got in the end was the sort of angry passivity only those who have fought in wars experience. I am so endlessly frustrated by Sarah J. Maas and Throne of Glass as a whole that I am just plain exhausted even thinking about the review I'm about to write and I take absolutely zero joy out of the things I'm about to say here tonight. For those of you who are still starry-eyed enough to care, if I write a spoiler in this review, it will not be tagged. I never quite know where to start and stop with spoiler tags, especially when we're talking about the seventh book in a series, where I could also be spoiling the first six books. Plus, I'm way beyond caring about much of anything in regards to Throne of Glass and have been for a very long time, so I honestly don't care if I spoil someone's experience with these books because Sarah J. Maas already does enough of that herself. Something Maas has struggled with ever since Heir of Fire is sufficiently raising the stakes and making the things that happen feel like they have weight to them. Aelin is literally ripped to pieces and healed back to brand new at the very start of this book and while this event isn't completely devoid of weight, it's glossed over and fixed so quickly that I don't even have the chance to blink before the possible ramifications have a chance to settle in. That's how I've felt about pretty much every big reveal, close call, or any other looming peril about this series since the end of Heir of Fire, where Aelin goes from kickass protagonist, Celaena Sardothien, who's very skilled in a lot of ways, but still feels vulnerable in a lot of ways, both emotional and physical, and turns into Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, god-tier queen who literally can do no wrong, has skin made out of plot armor, and, most detrimentally, stops being vulnerable in all the interesting ways. She stops being a character and becomes a caricature of herself, like she's an AU fanfiction version of herself...because she is. Not only did Aelin become, for all intents and purposes, invincible at a certain point, but then we got a whole new cast of characters, which means the pre-existing cast of characters, all of whom were mid-arc just got hardcore sidelined for the rest of the series, with the exception of Chaol, who got his own book all to himself and it was painful because it was clearly written in an effort to correct past mistakes, like someone who has gotten all the wrong information out of a complaint. Sarah J. Maas heard us all complaining that the old cast got sidelined and thought Tower of Dawn would correct that mistake. It didn't because Tower of Dawn was a big dumb stupid terrible waste of my time. Speaking of big dumb stupid terrible wastes of my time, fine, okay, I'll finally talk about the book at hand. The whole thing I was just talking about with stakes and Maas's failure to properly raise and enforce them renders nearly everything in this book completely null and void. We already know Aelin and friends are going to win. We all know Sarah J. Maas doesn't have the guts to kill off any major characters. We all know Aelin and Rowan are going to be icky and gross and make me regret ever reading any book ever. We know how this goes, so why are we looking at this big, "grand" almost 1,000 page finale as if it will provide something we aren't already expecting? I know I wasn't expecting anything other than victory for Aelin and co. I knew there was no chance anyone important would die and I was right, they didn't. I knew this book would not surpass my expectations and yet, here we are, I'm at the other end of the book and I feel exactly the same way about the series as I did at the beginning of this criminally long audiobook, which is 33 hours long and feels like it should be 12 at most. My opinion of Sarah J. Maas and the incredibly shitty people that populate this universe did not improve, just like I didn't expect it to. It did decline, because I wanted something out of this experience. Empire of Storms, for all the dumpster fire bullshit it was, at least made me angry, I was upset when I read it. This book, though? I feel so ambivalent and numb about everything I just listened to. The only thing that upset me was that I was tricked yet again into reading another Throne of Glass book and all I got out of it was...well, just another program on my Audible account, an almost 1,000 page book to set on my shelf and look ugly. I got nothing out of this. I often say it's worse to be boring and forgettable than it is to be spectacularly awful because, at the very least, I'm going to remember the spectacularly awful work in 10 years, where the boring one will just fade into the background within weeks. Again, even though Empire of Storms was an absolute train wreck, I'll always remember it because of how poorly it did just about everything. But Kingdom of Ash here? I'll remember the Dorian chapters, because that was always what I stuck around for; I did it for him. He actually had a pretty cool and interesting arc, but it took up maybe 10% of the whole book and he got an ellipsis of an ending, not a period which, for the record, is just fine with me. Don't write Dorian a spinoff, Sarah. Just let it die. Anyway, other than Dorian Havilliard, the one I suffered through all this material for, I'm sure I'm already losing details about many of the things about this book because, at the end of the day, it was nothing. It didn't excite me, it didn't make me angry, it didn't make me feel anything by the end, other than a quiet longing for things to have gone differently ever since Crown of Midnight. It was just empty, this whole time. And that, with 160 and a half hours of audiobook and 4,800 pages of content, just to culminate in this? Well that, that's the real tragedy here. Wasted potential, broken hearts, and empty promises. I got exactly what I expected out of this book and, in my opinion, that's the worst thing to get from a book: exactly what you think you're going to get. No surprises, no intrigue, nothing. Just nothing.

[elliepassmore]

House of Earth and Blood Review

3.5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: fantasy, urban fantasy, revenge, mysteries, multiple POVs I cannot believe my rating for this. It's what I think, but it's surprising considering I've liked every other book by Maas that I've read. It's also super surprising that I didn't exactly read the entire book, only most of it. Part of the problem is that this book wasn't what I was going in expecting it to be, so that was a massive surprise once I got into it. The first third and the last third of the book are good, I liked those parts and if that's nearly all it had been, I would've been fine with that. But the parts I read of the middle....no. The investigation sort of dragged on longer than I think it should've. Obviously it can't be solved in a day or a week, but this is a nearly 800 page book when it could've been half that. I've read other fantasy books with mysteries that clock in around 400-500 pages and don't feel rushed (in fact, Throne of Glass is one such fantasy/mystery). I think this is going to be part of a series, but in all actuality, the ending wrapped up a lot of stuff. Sure, there was that epilogue that leaves it open, but if you wanted you can just take it as an answer to some additional questions and leave it at that instead of letting it lead into the next book. As mentioned, I liked the beginning. I loved Danika and the Pack of Devils and their relationships with one another and with Bryce. And Danika and Bryce are pretty much the reason I like the ending as well. I would've liked to see more of them and their OG friendship group with Juniper and Fury. But of course that doesn't happen and everything gets fucked up within the first several chapters. The ending to the first part of the book was predictable and I saw it coming from pretty much the minute characters other than Bryce were introduced. Also, the mystery of where the Horn is was something I figured out pretty quickly once someone mentioned who stole it. Something positive I will say for the mystery and how shit hit the fan the first time is that it is so painful but masterful. Like, if you want to torture someone that's how you do it. So I hate it, but also respect Maas' choice. Bryce was an okay character, I actually liked her. She was loyal and protective, but she was also wrecked, which I think made her a better character. It was kind of annoying how Maas isolated her from her friends--Fury I could understand, but Juniper? And what the hell happened with Ithan? We never get an explanation for those two--but I suppose it was for Plot Reasons. I also wasn't a huge fan of Hunt. He was okay, he had some funny lines, but just as a character he was 'meh.' I'm not really sure the stuff that happened at the end needed to happen, necessarily (*SPOILER* if Aelin Ashryver Galathynius was one of the most powerful ToG Fae and she can't come back from the dead with more than a drop of magic, then Bryce, who had only a drop of magic to begin with, can't come back one of the most powerful half-Fae. I know they're two different worlds, but really? Bug off *SPOILER END*. Okay, okay, so I know Maas has gotten heat for plagiarizing herself before, but I feel it's usually minor enough for it to not be a big issue. Usually. Weird how the kristallos in this book reads so similarly to the ridderak in ToG. And how it's up to the protagonist to figure out what's going on while being guarded by some moody 'best of the guard' character who ends up being a love interest *SPOILER* who also ends up betraying her and ends up with a bloody face because of it *SPOILER END*, you know, not at all like Celaena and Chaol in ToG. And this is totally the first we've seen of glowing starlight magic, right? Or a city getting unexpectedly sacked? And asshole Autumn Kings? Or what about the coincidence that best friends keep getting into remarkably similar tragic accidents that leave the characters describing themselves in grief as having an internal 'light go out' *SPOILER* and then having those best friends come back to aid as ghosts *SPOILER END*? Or that line somewhere toward the end of the book about how Bryce will "bow to no one"? Maas is a good writer. She has some issues, yes, but she's a good writer and I'm sure that she can come up with a book that doesn't blatantly rip off her other ones the way this one does, because while it won't matter to people who only read this series, it will matter to fans who've read her other stuff and find this one $25 worth of repetition. One thing I will say, she's getting better with the LGBTQ+ representation. It's still more in the background than it should be, but at least it's stated from the beginning this time...which is a sorry comment on the state of previous books. I was super surprised when Danika and Bryce weren't revealed to have (or have had) a thing. They're best friends and Bryce is obviously gunning for Connor in the beginning, but parts of the book made it seem like they'd dated or been lovers at one point, but if they did it wasn't mentioned. I do not think she's getting better with racial/ethnic representation. Maybe I just missed it, but I'm fairly certain 95-99% of character in this book are white. Especially the main characters. It's a fantasy world. There are people whose skin is blue (maybe not in this one, but in some of her others), why aren't there people whose skin tone is black or brown? It isn't hard to write representation, all it takes is one or two lines during a character's introduction and some follow-through, something that's easy to fit into an 800-page book. I do like Maas' writing, but I don't think I'll be reading more of Crescent City. While this is her only completely new project right now, if she writes more completely new stuff I don't know if I'll read that either. I think I'll have to settle for rereads and hope that the remaining ACoTaR books will eventually be published. If you haven't read any of her other books (or you don't remember them well), this one is probably fine for you. This is also probably the book for people who like long mystery novels, since that's basically what it is (or maybe not, since it is a tad predictable). As a side note: I might edit/rereview this book later as it can sometimes be hard on the first read-through of something to completely articulate my thoughts on it (and I also might be hoping my opinion changes)

[strawberrybookfields]

The Book Slump

What a word? It’s what haunts every avid book reader. It is the one thing we hope to not happen to us, but it does. Whether life gets in the way or we just don’t like a book, it will unavoidably happen to you. (Unless you are superhuman and are immune to this phenomenon).

If you are unfamiliar with the term “Book Slump,” it is simply when a reader has no interest in reading anymore and just can’t seem to get into that book, even when they’ve been wanting to read these books for some time. But, guess what? Wanting to read such a book means absolutely nothing. Nothing. At all. 

And who am I to say this? 

...

Well, I was in a book slump for three years. 

Three years of my life when I could have been reading, wasted. Absolutely, gone. Forever. You can imagine how mad I am about this. And I will never get those three years I could have spent reading back. 

Before the beginning of my Freshman year, I was in the prime of my reading days. I had caught up with all of Sarah J. Maas’ books, waiting for the release of Queen of Shadows and A Court of Wings and Ruin. I NEEDED them. So, I filled that time with reading Red Queen and The Grisha Trilogy. 

The three days before my first day of high school, I started and finished The Grisha Trilogy and had absolutely no idea what to do with myself after finishing it. I was so absorbed with the story, I truly believed nothing could be as good as what I had read. Which, I had experienced after I had binged all of Cassandra Clare’s books. I was invested in the Darkling. I WANTED SO MUCH MORE OF THE DARKLING. The mention of his name was enough to make my heart pound as if I had just gone on a year-long run. 

*Side Tangent*

If there was an entire book series on just the Darkling and him alone. Damn. I would be so down for this book. I would read Crooked Kingdom at the speed of light. Honestly, the only reason I’m reading Crooked Kingdom is to read King of Scars lol. I hear the Darkling is mentioned. 

*End Tangent*

So, following this I decided it was in my best interest to pick up Glass Sword. Because, like my love for the Darkling, I LOVED Maven (and this could be a whole different post so I won’t go into much detail). I was so much more invested in Maven’s story than Mare and Cal’s, I believe I set myself up for the slump. 

The more work that piled up on me during my first month of high school the more I kept pushing my personal time for reading aside. And then I was introduced to K-Pop. “Oh, I’ll just watch this tonight and read tomorrow.” Or maybe not. Perhaps, just maybe, never.

I couldn’t really stand Mare or Cal, so why bother?

And so, I began my investment with K-Pop and I had no plans on messing around. Like how I had invested myself with reading, I solely filled my personal time with K-Pop related videos, instead of reading. Some time into the school year, I realized how little I was reading and attempted to read The Raven Boys. 

Whew. Um, nope. No. That was the last book I needed to be reading to pull myself out of the book slump. That isn’t to say it isn’t a good book, but I personally preferred a fully immersive young adult fantasy series told from the perspective of our female protagonist who had some type of interesting back story of sorts. So, you can guess how that one went down. 

And so the full immersion into the book slump began. My Sophomore year rolled around and my teacher decided to devote the first five minutes of each class to read a book. I decided Six of Crows was my best option since it is A) Leigh Bardugo and B) the first book to a series in the universe I love and C) since it is the first book, it’ll be easy to explain and seduce my fellow classmates to read.

Now, did I love it? Absolutely! I fell in love. Does that mean I have finished reading Crooked Kingdom? Barely started it. Oops. 

The second book I decided to read was Demian by Hermann Hesse, because of my K-Pop obsession. And I loved both of these books. A LOT.

So, now you might be thinking, “Alix, this is your moment. You can pull yourself out of this slump.”

Well, reading for fun again did cross my mind, but I truly didn’t even realize I was in a book slump until I got out of it.  So, no. I did not put my book slump to rest. 

Instead, I began the next year of high school attempting to read Lady Midnight and A Darker Shade of Magic. Which again, I set myself up for failure. Lady Midnight was too long for me (or so I thought, now I’m reading Sarah J. Maas and KoA is coming for me) and A Darker Shade of Magic was too complex. But, this time we were not doing an assignment on them and I had no motivation to finish them. 

Now, it’s senior year. And I’m taking a class on genocide. 

You read that right. 

My love for the books I read and the experiences I read began to fuel something in me, where I realized how much I enjoyed reading those books. And one day, while Marie Kondoing my bedroom, I saw it. That’s right. It. 

The damned book that put me in the slump in the first place. Laying on its side, a bookmark still marking where I had stopped three years earlier. And I picked it up and continued. 

And ever since, I haven’t stopped.

If you would like to see all the book I have read this year you can click right here. I mean it isn’t as impressive as some people’s, however, I take this as a feat any day considering the past three years. 

I mean, right now, it is very hard for me because I am reading Tower of Dawn and a lot of things are happening in my life right now, however I am so determined to finish this book and read other ones, I don’t think I will be running into a slump anytime soon. 

Yeah, Chaol... I still have some mixed feelings... 

So, what might be the point of this? Well, there could be many. For one, it is okay to fall into a slump. Most people do not have the same experience that I did. Good grief, a three-year slump. I would never wish that upon anyone. But, I do have to say is it gives you a break and helps restart that interest you have after it may have died a bit. The other thing is I really feel like I was able to explore another side of me I feel I never would have found before had I not entered this slump. 

The most important thing when it comes to slamming the door on a book slump is to not just read a book you want to read, but a book that will hold your attention and keep your interest. Wanting to read and enjoying the book’s content are two very different things. Because, if you don’t enjoy the content and you are reading about the boringness that is Mare and Cal, you won’t be getting anywhere. 

[longsightmyth]

Myth reads The Naming, Chapter 20

Welp I’m just gonna post the one I have and deal with the (possible) schedule in the morning. That’s just who I am as a person I guess.

PELLINOR

Just because they can see Norloch doesn’t mean they’re there yet though. In fact, it takes four days (one night of which is spent in an inn, where a fellow bard stitches up the wounds on Cadvan’s face) before they reach the city itself. The vale of Norloch is pretty, prosperous, and heavily gardened. Our heroes ride through the gates of the city proper just before they close and just before the storm hits.

To be completely honest, if you picture Minas Tirith as portrayed in the LotR movies, you’ve got a good idea of Norloch. There are nine levels, each with their own winding ways and gates of entry. Thankfully only the outer gate closes at sundown, so they can ride up to the fourth circle without being challenged as it starts to drizzle. The guard recognizes Cadvan and lets them through. They get through the gate to the first circle just as the rain really hits. Cadvan leads the way to Nelac’s house, who lets them in promptly.

Maerad saw that Cadvan suddenly looked exhausted and gray, as if he’d been holding himself together by sheer will and now, having reached his goal, was on the verge of collapse.

I know that feel, Cadvan.

Cadvan makes the barest of introductions (basically he tosses out that they’re Maerad and Cai of Pellinor, and Nelac is just like ‘why not at this point’) as Nelac helps Cadvan into a living room, where Saliman has apparently beaten them to Nelac’s house. I guess Rachida really held them up?

Nelac heals Cadvan, who until this point was getting worse and worse, and sends Maerad and Hem off for baths so he can rest after healing Cadvan, and Cadvan can rest after being healed.

Hem is rude to Saliman for approximately ten seconds, at which point he’s too interested in the south to think about being rude. They drop Maerad off and Saliman escorts Hem away.

Maerad bathes and unpacks, and meets Saliman and Hem to go back downstairs. Hem hasn’t bathed, but he has gotten dressed even if he left off the shoes.

Cadvan has already gone to bed when they get downstairs, so Maerad and Hem eat, though Hem does it while utterly enthralled by Saliman and Saliman’s stories of the south.

Maerad asks about Cadvan, and Nelac says he’s healed but needs some sleep, and that he was essentially wounded where his magic was kept. He asks how they all survived an attack by a wight, and Maerad says she blasted the wight. She takes their shock as disbelief and gets defensive.

“Nobody saw it,” she said. “Cadvan was unconscious. I thought Hem was dead. Nobody saw me do it. But I did. You can believe me or not.” She looked up defiantly and caught Nelac’s steady gaze. She held his eye, refusing to be intimidated. At last he stirred, looking away and passing his hand over his brow. To Maerad’s surprise, he looked immensely sad.

He tells her he believes her. End of chapter.

THRONE OF GLASS

For a minute there I thought I’d left a chapter out of my organizer and came to the conclusion that having to do three of them was a fitting punishment. Thankfully, I was just tired and realized my math was right the first time. Have chapters 44 & 45.

Celaena freaks out that the king meets her eyes, as well she should since in Crown of Midnight we are told that the turquoise eyes with molten golden cores are ancestral traits told of in song and story.

Wait no she just thinks me might somehow be able to read her thoughts about the wyrdmarks and Cain pulling some bullshit. Sure, why not.

Later Chaol ruminates on Celaena.

She was incredible now, so fast he had difficulty keeping up with her. She could scale a wall with ease, and had even demonstrated by climbing up to her own balcony with nothing but her bare hands. It unnerved him, especially when he remembered she was only eighteen. He wondered if this was how she’d been before Endovier. She never hesitated when they sparred, but she seemed to sink far within herself, into a place that was calm and cool, but also angry and burning. She could kill anyone, Cain included, in a matter of seconds.

I’ve seen no evidence of this and the word of an incompetent guard captain isn’t going to convince me of it.

After all of this reflection on her badassery, Chaol decides she needs to be protected because she won’t survive another year in Endovier.

Next chapter.

Nox and Celaena spar, or so I assume since the chapter begins with Celaena panting and both of them lowering their swords. Nox teases her about dancing with Dorian at the ball, Celaena warns him to be Super Extra Careful in the coming days. Nox prods her until she drops hints about her Actual Identity, which he then puts together to know who she is. He evidences surprise that she’s a girl.

Seriously is Celaena a gender-neutral name in Adarlan? Otherwise they have pretty strict gender roles going on though. Who knows. Moving on. She tells Nox to run, and the next day he has.

If it was that fucking easy for everyone to get out of the castle, why haven’t they all bolted? I ask you. (Also I note that Celaena doesn’t tell Nox about the secret passageways, making her even more of a half-assed helper)

Oh also Nox calls her Queen of the Underworld. Just cuz.

We swap to Kaltain’s PoV. She notices something funky about Cain, like shadows leaking all around him and stuff.

Shadows seemed to leak from him, flowing onto the stones and the windows and the walls like spilled ink.

But she forgets about it when she gets to Perrington’s table in the hall. Because Reasons.

Celaena’s PoV. She and Dorian are playing chess. She and Dorian eventually make out. Next section.

I assume Dorian left, because Celaena is sitting shivering in bed hoping the monster doesn’t get her the night before the final Test (which comes before the duel).

Celaena falls asleep and dreams of being chased by a horse. This is why I say the early books had more planning, because those of us who have read Heir of Fire will recognize the scene.

She wakes up, pets Fleetfoot (who remains incredibly well-mannered) and goes back to sleep. The next morning she wakes up to learn that Nox is gone (...but he already was?) and the final Test is cancelled. The duel is set for the next day.

End chapter.

COMPARISON

Celaena, if you want your friend safely out of the castle, maybe tell him about that one secret passage that leads directly out of the castle. Fuck’s sake. Do y’all see what I mean about this? (it becomes particularly egregious in Queen of Shadows, remind me to talk about this more when we get there. We’ll also talk more about Hem and Aedion)

Cadvan was not as hale and healthy as we thought, but at least Nelac is here to save the day. Also featuring: Hem’s TREMENDOUS crush on Saliman. No, Ms. Croggon, I know Saliman ends up with a lady. That doesn’t mean Hem doesn’t have a crush the size of a medium planet on him.

Also also featuring one of the main differences in the writing in general and the writing of main characters in specific, namely: Maerad kills things and feels bad about it. Celaena doesn’t kill things but glories in the idea of it and brags about murder until confronted with someone who might present a challenge.

All I’m saying is, the difference is stark.

Likewise, the love interests have totally different interactions with characters and story. Even if Chaol isn’t endgame (and Dorian becomes not endgame) it’s still interesting to see Cadvan vs Chaol & Dorian. Cadvan supports and encourages and sometimes snaps, but he rarely if ever belittles Maerad or her abilities. Chaol (and Dorian) all too often pay lip service to how awesome Celaena is while at the same time deciding she needs to be protected and undermining her at every turn (Chaol and Dorian do this to a lesser degree than Rowan, mind). It’s not even necessarily the characters undermining the protagonist precisely. It is the story undermining her in favor of these three dudes (mostly Rowan and Dorian, admittedly) and then undermining every single other woman in favor of Celaena. It is the oldest of strategies, the kind that elevates the singular woman above other women, showing by implication that it is because she is exceptional that she can run with the boys. Those other women aren’t quite good enough, but she’ll hang out with them if they prop her up enough. So long as Celaena remains more awesome than all other women (never the man she’s involved with, mind. He must be more awesome than all others), it’s all good.

It has not escaped my notice that all of the ‘good’ women are white or white-coded, either. Different cultures? What are they? Only for the evil or uncivilized, obviously.

That’s totally feminism, right?

STATS

Throne of Glass:

Pages: 14

Fragments: 17

Em-Dashes: 29

Ellipses: 7

Pellinor:

Pages: 18

Fragments: 3

Em-Dashes: 2

Ellipses: 4

[caitsbooks]

Caitsbooks Reviews: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Overall: 5/5 Stars Characters: 5/5 Setting: 5/5 Writing: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 5/5 Awesomeness Factor: 5/5 Review in a Nutshell: Throne of Glass is an amazing, feminist fantasy that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat with epic action, fascinating mystery, and great characters!

“'You could rattle the stars,' she whispered. 'You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.'”

Blog || Goodreads || Bookstagram || Twitter  || Reviews

- Premise -

Throne of Glass follows the kingdom of Ardalan's most renowned assassin, Celaena Sardothien, who has been enslaved in the brutal salt mines of Endovier for a year after being captured. When Prince Dorian offers her a chance to earn back her freedom, Celaena will do anything. Even joining a competition against the most ruthless criminals and warriors in order to become the King's Champion, the King of Ardalan's personal killer. When some of the other contestants start being mysteriously killed, Celaena must discover the killer's identity before she becomes their next victim, but she uncovers more secrets than she ever expected.

“Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

- Setting -

The world of Throne of Glass is an elaborate fantasy world that just gets more and more developed with each novel, while never feeling too intricate. Sarah J. Maas throws you into this fantasy setting, providing necessary details but never overwhelming you.

“Sometimes, the wicked will tell us things just to confuse us–to haunt our thoughts long after we've faced them.”

- Writing - 

Sarah J. Maas writes beautifully. Her descriptions are vivid, immersing you in the scents and sights. There are so many inspiring and quotable lines from this book (and later books) that stand out when reading, while also feeling natural for the characters. There is also plenty of relatable and funny dialogue to break up the action and mystery in the novel. The only downside to her writing style is that it does tend to feel a little repetitive (especially in later books). She has a few words she seems to favor, and some sentences you'll see quite a few times over the course of the series.

“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me.”

- Plot-

The pacing in Throne of Glass is done very well, with no slow moments as you dive into this mystery and action-packed book. The exposition never slows down the scenes, but it does take some time, in the beginning, to learn about the world.

“No. I can survive well enough on my own— if given the proper reading material.”

- Characters - 

I absolutely love all of these characters. Sarah J. Maas writes complex characters (with complex names to match). Celaena is such a strong, badass protagonist who isn't solely good but remains likable. She also shows that you can be girly and tough, that you can enjoy romance novels and dresses and also know the quickest ways to kill a man. Dorian and Chaol are both equally interesting characters, with their own arcs and development that just get better as the book (and series) goes on. Dorian is like a puppy and I just want to protect him, okay? The villains in this book are probably the least interesting of the series but still held their own. The biggest downfall with the characters in this book (and most Sarah J. Maas books) is the lack of diversity in the cast. While it does get better in later books, don't expect to see many POC or LGBTQ+ characters. It's definitely disappointing. As for the relationships in this book- I think Sarah J. Maas handles them well. There is a bit of a love triangle, but it is handled well and didn't bother me at all. Sarah knows how to make you absolutely root for one person, then in the next chapter completely change your mind. Honestly, the biggest ship in this novel is the main characters with a full night of sleep.

“We all bear scars,... Mine just happen to be more visible than most.” 

- Conclusion -

Pros- Amazing writing, intricate worldbuilding, fascinating characters, killer plot Cons- Not diverse, predictable antagonist Overall- 5/5 stars. Throne of Glass is a must-read for any fantasy fan. Be prepared to be hooked on this epic series!

[limeros]

I hate Rowan Whitethorn!

Alright people, the time has finally come. Time for me to rant and roast the one and only Rowan Whitethorn (aka Rowboat Whiteporn), the worst fictional character ever created. Am I being dramatic? Maybe. I have tried hard to try and like him, to see why people love him so much. Usually, if I hate a character that people love, I usually can see why people love them. But with Rowan I can’t. Literally everything about him makes me cringe. Every time I see him or hear of him I just want to gag and punch something.

Rowan Whitethorn is a main protagonist in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series. He is introduced in the third book in the series, Heir of Fire, as the Prince of Doranelle. He is fae and over 300 years old and has silver hair and pine green eyes. He is often described as very tall and muscular with tan skin. Many say that he is quite handsome. He is the first to join Aelin Galathynius’s court and helps her try to win back her kingdom of Terrasen.

Doesn’t sound too bad does he? Well, guess again.

Okay, I honestly did not want to hate him at first. I had several friends recommend these books for me. And one of them, her favorite character is Rowan and she loves him a lot. She kept telling me that I would. So when I met him, I was excited to see him and get to know him. I’m not kidding, I was. Let’s just say, he’s an ass in the beginning of Heir of Fire. My friend agreed with me on that and told me that he got better and that I’ll love him later on. And that was not the case. The more and more I read about him, the more and more I hated him. Like it went from dislike, to strongly dislike, to hate, to despise. Yes, you saw that right, I despise Rowan Whitethorn.

Okay, sorry that I won't have any quotes, my books are currently not with me so bear with me, I will not be using an direct quotes.

Now, when we first meet Rowan, he's this rude, moody fae male who basically hates Celaena because she won't do what he wants her to do. So he hits her, he shoves her around, he calls her horrible things. Now, I'm not a big fan of Celaena either (but that's a whole different story), but I felt bad for her because she is not in a good mental state in the beginning of this book and Rowan is just bullying her. It goes so bad at one point, Rowan bites her neck to get her to shift into fae. Yes, you read that right. Rowan fucking bit her neck. THAT IS NOT OKAY! Celaena made it clear that she wasn't able to shift on her own and instead of helping her, he bit her. And not just anywhere, her neck. A place that is very sensitive and for some people and intimate place. He bit her so hard that she started bleeding, he had her blood on his teeth. AND HE FUCKING SMILED AFTER DOING IT!

Just when you think it couldn't get any worse, after she tries to defend herself, he calls her weak and says that the world would've been better if she just died ten years ago in the frozen river. YOU DON’T SAY THAT TO PEOPLE! Especially someone who is such a horrible mental state as Celaena. And that event ten years ago is such a touchy and scarring event for Celaena so that fact that he had the guts to even bring it up is not okay. His comment here is basically telling her to go commit suicide because the world would be better off without her. As someone who has been suicidal before, this makes me so fucking mad. You never EVER tell anyone this, no matter how terrible they are.

I know Rowan stans often try to say “oh well, Celaena egged him on.” or “Well Celaena hit him too.” Yes, she did hit him, but only after he hit her first. And she did it to protect herself! She did it to try and get him to stop! So, you're saying she's not allowed to protect herself? Because, hell, I'd do the exact same thing. This man just bit me, hit me, told me the world would be better off without me, you bet my ass I'd try to hit him back to get him away from me.

Okay, yeah, he does try to redeem himself and he does help save her from monsters but still, that doesn't just erase the shit he's done to Celaena. I still find his personality repulsive.

Okay, moving into Queen of Shadows. The whole Rowan and Aelin romance came out of nowhere for me. At the end of Heir of Fire, they're like badass bffs who are Carranam. And to be completely honest, if Rowan and Aelin had stayed friends, I think I may have liked him. I'm not kidding. He may have warmed up to me and I would've probably liked him. But of course, the two singles had to become a thing, even though Rowan had a wife and mate a while ago who tragically died.

There's only, like, 3 weeks time span between the two books. And in those three weeks, Aelin (who made it clear that she only saw Rowan as a friend) is now basically in love with Rowan. Um, okay? And this leads to another reason as to why I hate Rowan. Chaol’s character development. Now before you yell at me “Kels, what does Chaol have to do with Rowan?” hear me out. In Heir of Fire Chaol had really good development and really grew as a character. And even though he still felt something for Aelin, he was fine with not ever having a chance with her again. And Aelin still feels something for Chaol, maybe not romantically, but at least some sort of human connection.

Then you have them meet again in Queen of Shadows and suddenly, in those 3 weeks, Chaol suddenly loses all his character development and acts like a little whiny bitch who hates Aelin and Aelin hates Chaol and says that she never even loved him.

“What does this have to do with Rowan?” you ask? Well, the reason Chaol is a total bitch (and so out of character, literally everything he did in that book was nothing like the Chaol I knew #notmychaol) is so Rowan Whitethorn, the perfect, sexy, fae looks like the better option as a love interest for Aelin. Yeah, that's right. SARAH J. MAAS RUINED CHAOLS DEVELOPMENT AND MADE HIM A BITCH TO MAKE ROWAN LOOK BETTER!

To be honest, I don't even care who Aelin chooses, she can choose Rowan all she wants. That even works in my favor because I ship Chaol and Dorian (which is whole different story, don't even get me started on them). So Aelin choosing Rowan means nothing to me. So that's why I'm so pissed that Sarah ruined Chaol, my favorite character, to make Rowan look better, who she clearly favors over everyone.

While we’re on the subject, I would like to state a common theory that Rowan stans think of us Anti Rowan people. They think that we hate Rowan because Aelin chose him over Chaol. I don't give a shit about that. That's not even close to a reason as to why I hate Rowan. Aelin can date whoever the hell she wants and I'd still probably hate Rowan.

Okay, moving on from that little bit, let's address on the reason Rowan is even here shall we. Oh wait, there is no point. He's been in three books, three long books and I see absolutely no reason for him to be there except to be horny and want to bone Aelin. That's right folks. He's just horny and territorial.

Let me explain. In both Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms, Rowan is acting all horny over Aelin, a 19 year old girl. We've already established that Rowan is 300+ years old. Yep, a 300+ year old fae male is obsessing over a 19 year old girl. I'm 19 and that just makes me super uncomfortable. I don't care if he's immortal and super hot, get away from me you horny slut.

He basically spends all his time being super protective of her and not the cute protective, like the obsessive protective. He's territorial, he sees Aelin as his own, like as a thing that he owns. Not as a human being. Aelin often calls him a territorial fae bastard as a joke, but it shouldn't be a joke! It's not cool. Everyone knows that Aelin is capable of taking care of herself. Not only that, he gets all jealous and mean whenever she's around other men. Like she can't even breathe near them. How is this attractive to anyone? He's claiming her and it's not cute at all. It's so, so disturbing. Especially when he looks at her like she's an object, thinks of her like an object. He's horny and thinks of wanting to have sex with her and again, she's only 19 and that’s just super disturbing to me.

Now, into Empire of Storms he just gets even more territorial and obsessive over her. He only thinks of her, but not her, just her body and how he can have sex with her. I HATE it. Like calm down, you horny son of a bitch. Like, there is literally no point in him being there except to touch her, make out with her, and be horny over her when she's not around. If you were to take nun out of the story, the plot wouldn't really change at all. I have tried these last 3 books to see anything redeemable in him but I can't. Like, he has no redeemable qualities whatsoever.

And then there’s that dreaded Rowaelin sex scene that stans obsess over. Yeah, that quite unnecessary five page long, descriptive, sex scene. The scene that I had to suffer listening to on audio book while I drove to pick up my sister. And I couldn't skip it. So, for those five pages, I had to suffer listening to them hitting it up on a beach. I've never cringed or gagged so much in my life. Sarah literally said, and I quote, that Rowan's dick is like “velvet wrapped steel”. WHAT?? I can't believe this scene was in a YA book. There are some 13 year olds who read these and I can't imagine them having to read that. I was 18 at the time and I was scarred from it. It was honestly more graphic and descriptive than Game of Thrones and that is saying something. It wasn't much better than reading a smutty fanfic on Tumblr.

Right okay, enough of that horror. Right after, Rowan waded in the sea to keep the marks of Aelin’s fingernails going into his skin from healing. It's like he wanted the world to know that he was taken by the fingernail marks. I'm sorry, but I definitely do not want my S/O to keep my fingernail marks on him. That's disgusting. Not cute. Disgusting.

After the two hook up (which they do multiple times, ugh) Rowan says that he never felt anything like that before. Um, buddy, you had a wife and mate over 200 years ago…is Lyria chopped liver now? (Okay she is, but that's not the point.)(also, Aelin literally burst into flames while they were hooking up. Don't you love when your girlfriend bursts into flames while your having sex with her?)

And just when you think Rowan couldn't get any more territorial and annoying, he does. He's even more protective, he doesn't even allow Aelin around men anymore. He just thinks of having sex with her again. Plus he has this really weird earlobe fetish….like who gets turned on by earlobes??? It's. Really. Weird. And. Disturbing. Once again, he's only there to be horny and have sex with Aelin, nothing new honestly.

Oh and the two of them decided to get married and found out that they're actually mates??? Apparently Maeve tricked Rowan into thinking that Lyria was his mate so he'd fall in love, then she'd kill Lyria, and then Rowan would be left broken??? I just feel bad for Lyria in this situation.

And there's this thing that mates aren't able to hurt each other??? Explain the neck biting and abuse back in Heir of Fire??? They definitely were hurting each other then.

One thing that really annoys me is that Sarah spends so much time and effort to make Rowan look amazing and the best. She's always commenting on how attractive he is, many characters are constantly saying how attractive he is. How great he is. She's basically forcing her readers to fall in love with him, his perfect, beautiful self. It honestly just makes me hate him even more. He doesn't have any real flaws. He's just hot and horny.

Then there's something that Aelin says to Rowan in the fifth book, something along the lines of, “You're not human and I wouldn't expect you to be.”

So basically, every shitty thing he does like being territorial, abusive, and all these other horrible things is okay because he's not human. It's okay because he's fae. Fae are allowed to be horrible like this, because they're immortal, gorgeous, and excellent fighters. There are so many girls who find Rowan to be boyfriend goals and what they look for in a relationship! And that is so awful! Sarah J. Maas is making all of this look okay and considered attractive. No one, man or woman, should ever be like this. It's absolutely awful and disgusting. And Sarah is just romanticizing it! I despise it.

I've gotten into quite a few debates with Rowan stans about this, including a few at a Sarah J. Maas event. Sarah is an absolutely wonderful person and an amazing speaker. I love her as a human. I just don't like where she has taken these books, especially with Rowan and the other fae. While I was at the event, I came across several Rowan stans. So while we waited for Sarah to come out, I decided to strike up conversation with her. We got to the topic of Rowan and I stated my views on him, she instantly jumped to his defense. Which I'm completely okay with, I defend my favorites too. I wanted to hear why she loved him and see her reasons behind her opinion. The problem: her reasons behind loving him were that he's hot (I mean I do love me a nice hot guy, but there's always more to a guy than being hot, thanks), that he's protective, and that he's her boyfriend goals.

I stated my arguments, basically everything I've noted up above, and her reasoning to why all that's all okay. He's fae. She told me, and I quote, “That's just how fae are. It's not his fault.” So because he's fae, he can bite other women in the neck, he can be territorial, he can be constantly horny? If that's how fae are I don't want one. I want to get as far away from one as possible. Who cares if they're gorgeous and immortal.

What annoyed me the most was that as soon as the girl figured out that Chaol was favorite character, she came to the conclusion that the only reason I hated Rowan was because Aelin chose him over Chaol. Not because of all the reason I told her, but because Rowaelin was canon and Chaolaena wasn't. That's basically when I stopped talking to her.

I've had these debates with so many other stans and it always ends the same way. They're only defense for Rowan is that he's fae and it's okay for him to be like this. I want no part in that.

Okay, this is long, so in conclusion, Rowan Whitethorn is a horny, toxic, territorial bastard that I hate more than any other fictional character. And yes, that includes villains. In TOG7, all I want is for Rowan to die painfully (a nice Game of Thrones worthy death.) There's nothing more I want. And there's basically nothing this man can do to ever earn my love and devotion. I hate him that much. I honestly still do want to know why people love this man so much, he is considered one of the most beloved characters in the series, even Sarah loves him more than anyone else. I want to understand why he's just so appealing. Something besides him being hot and fae.

So yeah, that's my rant and if you made it this far, I applaud you. No doubt I'm going to get some serious hate for this, but at this point, there's no changing my mind so who cares! But to all you Rowan lovers out there, I still love you as a human, just don't understand your love for Rowan Whiteporn.

[anjibooks]

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas (Book Review)

Imagine this. A rich world of magic, action, fantasy and adventure, with a witty protagonist and an intruiging plot. A story following an extraordinarily powered group attempting to defeat a seemingly undefeatable enemy. Want a story chalk full of cleverly done plot twists-- one that will forever be one of the most spectacular series you will ever read? Yeah, this is the series for you... Kind of. Tower of Dawn is a spin-off// companion novel to the Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas aka the author of my favorite book of all time as well of two of my favorite series, one of them being this one. Throne of Glass follows cocky assassin Celaena Sardothien as she compeats for her freedom... well, that's the first book. I guarantee the next books in the series get better and better. I promise, if you like fantasy novels, this is the series for you. There's no going back after reading a Maas book, so I'm warning you now, it's going to be hard to find other fantasy novels that compare. If you're interested, I highly encourage you to go check that book out-- it's a great series. That's all I really feel the need to say about it (it's your loss if you don't read it), but if you haven't read this series up to Queen of Shadows (Book 4) or even Empire of Stoms (5), I don't reccomend reading further. This review will contain spoilers for those books, so read them first! Anyway, on to talking about Tower of Dawn. First off, just a quick comment on the over. It's a pretty good cover, it just doesn't look like it belongs in the Throne of Glass series. It looks more like a... Game of Thrones book. I like it, I just don't like how it doesn't fit in. In with the rest of my books. On to the Tower of Dawn book, I'll start this review (not actually starting it anymore, is it?) by saying how I felt going into this book. Eh. Chaol? No too interested in him, especially after reading Queen of Shadows. Then I really wasn't into him. He was pretty much a dick for the entirety of that book. Coming out of this book? I felt the complete opposite. I felt reluctant to end the story, and beyond excited to read the last Throne of Glass book (which is shocking, seeing how much I was already eagerly anticipating that release.) Tower of Dawn follows Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq as they venture south to Antica in search of someone with the ability to heal Chaol's fractured spine. Antica holds the world's best healers, and among them is Yrene Towers, a young woman who has an intense dislike for men of Erilea. Especially those associated with the monarchy. She also has a special connection to a certain blonde, hot headed assassin we all know and love... Basically if you haven't read The Assassin's Blade before this, I recommend you do, because it gives a little back story between Celeana and Yrene. This book is set in a fascinating and rich world, and Maas' world-building are spot on. In every book she improves her technique, and this book may be the best book in terms of world-building yet. As well as character building, there was a whole cast of new characters introduced in this book, and not one of them felt flat. No, instead all of them are well-founded, fascinating characters with different motives driving each of them. I was intrigued to learn more about each character, and still am. I hope to be seeing a lot more of these characters in the future, as well as their mythology and their word in general. This book all around surprised me, the writing, world-building, character-building, and all the technical aspects were phenomenal, as was the plot-- which was intriguing. All in all this book was the epitome of good books, it has everything you could ever want... Except maybe Aelin and Rhysand as principal characters, but hey, I can't be that picky, can I? Not only was this book a great story, it was also not your typical YA story cutout (then again, are Maas' books ever?), its plot went in a direction that I wasn't expecting going into it, and that somehow made the book even better. The relationships in the book were the thing that surprised me the most, I just loved the way they were built, and just the different way the characters saw each other// the different relationships all the characters had. That had to have been my favorite part about reading this book-- it went in a direction I wasn't expecting at the beginning, and not a complete 360 hey I hate this because I never saw it coming direction change. I saw it changing and was kind of like no, is this really happening? It was a change you, as the reader, can really appreciate, because of how it helps further the characters and their journeys. Though, I did also love the world-building. I think I'm now officially in love with Antica. Just everything about it, including the complicated royal family that we didn't see nearly enough of (and trust me, you see a lot of them). Honestly I can see an entire series just set in this world as well. I'm giving Tower of Dawn 9/10 stars. Yeah, it was that good. I absolutely loved it. If you love the Throne of Glass Series and have hesitations about reading this book? Chuck those hesitations out the window because trust me when I say this book will blow you away. (Blow us all away *whistling*) This is not a book you want to miss, and not just because you might get confused when the last book comes out, but also because of just how amazing this story is on its own. Seriously, you'll regret not reading this one. Don't miss out on this fantastic journey. Synopsis: In the next installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, follow Chaol on his sweeping journey to a distant empire. Chaol Westfall has always defined himself by his unwavering loyalty, his strength, and his position as the Captain of the Guard. But all of that has changed since the glass castle shattered, since his men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken. His only shot at recovery lies with the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme in Antica—the stronghold of the southern continent's mighty empire. And with war looming over Dorian and Aelin back home, their survival might lie with Chaol and Nesryn convincing its rulers to ally with them. But what they discover in Antica will change them both—and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined. SPOILERS   OKAY HOW ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT WERE YOU THE ENTIRE BOOK, WAITING FOR CHAOL TO BE LIKE "YO GUESS WHAT? YOUR SAVIOR? THAT'S AELIN, THE QUEEN I WORK WITH AND AM TRYING TO GET HELP FOR." Like seriously that was me for this whole book. Like WHEN WILL SHE FIND OUT???!!  She finally did, but it wasn't shown in the pages which was SO ANNOYING BECAUSE I WAITED THE WHOLE BOOK FOR THIS!! (Also, side note: how heart breaking is it gonna be when Yrene thinks she's meeting her savior, but her savior has no idea who she is, because it's actually Lysandra?) (Also, is Maas incapable of writing wedding scenes??? Huhhhhh?1) The unpredictable thing I Was talking about above was the whole Nesryn and Chaol thing not working out. I went into the book assuming they were an established couple and came out pleasantly surprised. That's what's so fantastic about Maas-- she doesn't follow the whole established couple thing. It can change at any moment, and when I started to notice a thing between Chaol and Yrene, I couldn't believe it. But then it happened, and I was happy about it. Especially because you know, Sartaq and Nesryn. Can I get a hell yes? That entire time they were out with Sartaq's bird people I was getting a whole Illyrian vibe, which I appreciated. I also loved the whole relationship development between Sartaq and Nesryn, because when you look at Nesryn and Chaol's relationship it was really doomed to die-- he never went to see her family, and it was clear from the start of the book they didn't have that BAM love feel between each other. Back to being out with the bird people, oh my god, that scene where Sartaq didn't fit through the chasm? I almost died when I thought Sartaq was actually gonna die for good. Like nooooo, luckily we saved my baby. But yay for that cuteness between Nesryn and Sartaq. Going into this book I didn't think I'd get attached to the relationships, but look at me. I did. And then that scene where there was a giant wolf I was SO excited because IT'S ONE OF THE CADRE. Nope it was a shoe shifter... bummer, but still, he was a cool guy who's Lysandra's uncle (that was pretty predictable), so I guess it was okay. Also how frustrating is it that we spent the whole book healing Chaol's back only to have it permanently broken again? That irked me, like ugh, all that hard work down the drain. And that Aelin part at the end? SOMEONE GET ME INTO 2018 RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I NEED THIS NEXT BOOK!! Thanks for reading, ​Anj

[rhysthehighlord]

Review: Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Ma

4.5 Stars for Chaol, Yrene and Nesryn.

You can also read this review on my goodreads.

You shouldn't read this review if you haven't read Empire of Storms yet.

 "I loved you before I ever set eyes on you."

For everyone who is still confused about this book, this is a full novel and the 6th book of this series. However the book sets after Queen of Shadows. It's the story of Chaol, Nesryn and Yrene parallel to the story in 'Empire of Storms'. Technically you can read this book right after 'Queen of Shadows', but I advise to read 'Empire of Storms' and 'The Assassin's Blade' first before you read this book, since it contains spoilers for both of these books.

And for everyone who is still doubting, if they should read this book or not. Go read it! You might not care much about Chaol, Nesryn or Yrene, but trust me that you will end up liking all of them. In this book the three find out very important information that are vital for the last book of the series. You will miss out on them if you skip this book. And don't even think about getting this information from someone who has already read it, you will miss out on Sarah's awesome writing and plot. This book will not disappoint.

I have to be honest, I had my doubts too, before going into this book. But all my expectations were exceeded. There was a spoiler I read about this book that I didn't like at all, I wanted it to be a fake spoiler. Turns out it was 100% real and I should have trusted Sarah. When I read the book, the spoiler turned out to be actually amazing and I was completely happy with how it turned out.

I honestly didn't like the covers (both the us and the uk versions), when they were revealed, but now the uk cover is growing on me. I just really wanted to see Chaol on the cover, so that it can match the other 'Throne of Glass'covers. Also if you read the book, the owl on the cover will make much more sense.

The book started of rather slow, I didn't mind it, but for everyone who likes it more fast paced, just stick trough it! The pace will pick up soon enough and the book will be filled with plenty exciting scenes.

Right when I started this book I immediately noticed how rich the culture of the Southern Continent was. Sarah's descriptions painted a vivid picture of the culture in my mind. I could see the Sarah put a lot of effort into this and I loved the result of it.

I also liked it that Chaol was basically the only white person in this book and that two of the protagonists were female POCs. This shows that Sarah really listened to our demand for more diversity.

I always liked Chaol (tho he was never a favorite of mine), but in 'Queen of Shadows' he just became a bit unsympathic. I'm glad that this book made me like him just like I did in the beginning of this series again. It was understandable that he was frustated with his situation, but when it came to the healing process he endured everything without grumbling. He even realized that Yrene has justified prejudices against him and his people and didn't force her to heal him. His constant self loathing broke my heart. I liked it how he always tried to do the right thing and how hard he worked to get the khagan to agree to send his army. Imo Sarah did a good job with the whole healing process, but since I'm not disabled my opinion is of course not as relevant as the opinion of a disabled person. I was honestly torn between wanting to see Chaol fully healed by the end of the book or wanting him to stay in a wheelchair (because of representation), but also wanting him to be happy with the situation and without any pain. I won't tell you the end of course but I was happy with what Sarah decided.

Nesryn was a character I couldn't really like or dislike in 'Queen of Shadows' since we didn't get mush scenes of her. But now she was a main character and she therefore got her own POV. We got to see her feeling at home and getting her adventure. I definitively ended up liking her. And I was really happy about the direction her storyline took.

Yrene was a rather quiet and shy girl in 'The Assassin's Blade', but in the time we haven't seen her she evolved into a confident, sarcastic and badass woman, who constantly shows that she has a good heart. I admire her and she's now on of my fav characters.

The side characters were all well developed and super interesting. There was one particular side character I liked very much, but I’m not going to tell you more about them, because of spoilers.

I have to admit that I enjoyed Chaol's and Yrene's part of the story more than Nesryn's, but just a tiny bit more.

The plottwists and revelations left me all shocked, I can't wait for the last book of this series.

The end of this book made me so emotional. I can't tell much, because I don't want to spoiler you, but I can tell you that I cried, both happy and sad tears.

This book is definitively worth reading and I'm glad that Sarah decided to give us this story (and also that it ended up being a full novel instead of a novella).        

[skyereadsthings]

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

4 out of 5 stars, on Goodreads.

I struggled with this rating, because more than a few things about this book absolutely infuriated me. And yet I couldn't put it down. I've never really understood people who 'hate read' or 'hate watch' certain things, but I think maybe that's what I was doing, at least initially.

Let's start with the main character. Celaena is beautiful, witty, highly intelligent, loves reading, is masterfully proficient with any weapon she lays her hands on, is a concert pianist, a prodigious crime scene investigator, can speak several obscure languages fluently, and is strongly hinted to have both fae and royal blood. Oh, and she's an assassin. It's really, really important that you know that Celaena is an assassin. Every viewpoint character, including Celaena herself, makes sure that you are aware of this by referring to her constantly as 'the assassin'.

We never actually see her assassinate anyone, though.

Don't worry; Celaena isn't completely flawless. There's one glaring gap in her abilities. She's a terrible snooker player! She can barely even hit the ball with her cue. This is despite her previously mentioned assassin abilities. Just a few chapters before her complete failure at the pool table, we see her fire an arrow at a bullseye that appears 'the size of a grain of sand' and hit it unerringly. But those skills just don't translate to billiards. Luckily she has a handsome prince to reach around her and show her the correct way to hit a ball with a stick.

Despite the flaws, I had a lot of fun reading this book. There are two characters in particular that I enjoyed (Dorian and Nehemia - #TeamDorian, by the way, but honestly he could do better than Celaena), and I'd like to see where they go in the future. My feelings towards Chaol are pretty similar to my feelings towards kale, but, sure, let's see where his story goes.

I started to really enjoy the plot in the second half of the book, and if it were being navigated by a more well-rounded protagonist this aspect might have edged toward 5-star territory for me. Unfortunately I was a bit let down by the big 'mystery' being resolved in the most obvious way imaginable.

This is definitely a guilty pleasure read, but one that has laid enough groundwork to interest me enough to continue on with the series. So I have little choice but to give it a solid 4 stars in spite of my many gripes.