Throne of Glass (Miniature Character Collection)

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My problem is not (entirely) that she is a terrible fighter and an even worse assassin, though I do find it problematic that our main character is a woman and supposedly badass while continuously being shown to be bad at her job or rescued by one of the love interests. My problem with Throne of Glass and many YA novels lately is the raging epidemic of Special Woman Syndrome (shortened drastically from what I called it in my review of Defiance). Only the main woman is important. Other women can't do what she does. Much like Celaena, who says on the one hand that she hates women like Kaltain while being exactly what she accuses women like Kaltain of being while the book tells us she isn't, YA novels have a bad habit of saying "you can be special. Only you, though, because only you are like the heroine, not those other girls, who have sex and hate women. You can't trust those girls, they aren't like you. No other girls are like you. Those other girls get raped and murdered. But you're strong. You're special. You are not like other girls."

Celaena, of course, is our main character. Nehemia is her token woc bff. Kaltain is the stereotypical mean girl. Queen Georgina likes to do nothing but watch people dance and tell her son he should get married. Philippa is Celaena's maid, who tells her she's beautiful despite laboring in a salt mine for a year. And Queen Elena is a ghost who cheerleads Celaena and gives her cryptic advice. Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan's Assassin - feared, fierce, lethal. Everyone in Erilea knows her name, a name synonymous with death. But then betrayed, caught, tried, convicted, Celaena is sentenced to a lifetime in the unforgiving salt mines of Endovier as punishment for her many crimes. In an ironic twist of fate, she's offered the chance to compete to become the Champion of the very king who condemned her; in doing so, earning her freedom... and possibly becoming Erilea's best hope against the dark forces that would seek to destroy it. Discover Sarah J. Maas's #1 New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series-now available for a limited time in a brand-new miniature format! Caelena Sardothien is an assassin, or at least she was until she was captured and forced into captivity and slavery. When the Crown Prince finds her and offers her one shot a freedom, she has no choice but to accept his offer. She is to be placed into a competition (with all men) as Prince Dorian's champion and fight to become a royal assassin. will live in the castle and be trained by the Captain of the Guard Chaol Westfall. When one of the other competitors turns up dead, Caelena discovers there is a lot more going on in the castle than she expected. I have seen all the team talk as well regarding this series and I did my best to ignore it so that I could form my own opinion without preconceived notions. Although, from what I've seen there seems to be an even divide between Chaol and Dorian. After reading Throne of Glass I understand why, they are both pretty amazing! Without spoiling this for others... I am ALL team Chaol over here! I loved the friendship and trust that he and Caelena formed.

Yes. I'll just put it out there... this is a love triangle. But the way it's developed, it's believable, and never feels overly melodramatic. Two best friends; two guys who are both very similar in values, and yet very different in personality; two guys, flawed but wonderful; two guys who both compliment Celaena well, but in different ways; Two guys like this falling for the same young woman for different reasons? I can totally see that happening. I loved the gradual change as both of them began to see Celaena as more than just a convicted criminal and as an actual person with a heart and a soul... and eventually, perhaps, as a friend. Knowing the state in which the novellas left her heart, I was a tad hesitant about the romance aspect of this book (Sam...), but it works and it's done really well... to the point where it's tearing me up a little because both guys are just so...sigh-inducingly wonderful. So why does Throne of Glass fill me with such unreasoning dislike? Is it because I had to admit to being wrong about something, which I absolutely hate doing? Is it because so little research went into this that at one point Celaena (our Cinderella) asserts that if she cut off a horse's bridle the saddle would fall off? Is it because Celaena is, hands down, the single most irritating character I have ever read about? Maybe it's because the love interests are practically interchangeable during the first book. It could be blatant tokenism in the form of Nehemia, who deserved so much better. Possibly the sloppy worldbuilding? The never-ending stream of assurances that the emperor/king was Evil and Never to Be Crossed Lest Dire Consequences Ensue despite almost every character in the book crossing him with no consequences? THE BLATANT RACISM, PERHAPS? In a land without magic, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is summoned to the castle. If she defeats twenty-three hardened warriors in a competition, she will be released from prison to serve as the King's Champion.

Read the first book in the epic saga Time Magazine called, “One of the best fantasy series of the past decade.” Here's a lesson for you, Weapons Master," she said, stalking past him. "Give me real men to fight. Then maybe I'll bother trying." In short, don't bother. Read Tamora Pierce instead. Or read this if you want. But also read Tamora Pierce.

Kaltain: is apparently terrible. Celaena hates her at first meeting, because Celaena, "hates women like that. They're so desperate for the attention of men that they would willingly betray and harm members of their own sex. And we claim men cannot think with their brains. At least men are direct about it." Aside from putting the blame for societal conditioning on the woman you are critiquing, and instead of asking how that could have happened (at one point Celaena's companion goes 'I pity [Kaltain's] servants' and Celaena says, 'I pity her father.'), the book sees no irony in Celaena saying this directly to a man. About another woman. Who she has met once. For two minutes. In a society structured oh-so-originally after medieval-ish western europe. Where we are explicitly told that the only upward mobility possible for women is by marrying high ranked men. In the second book Celaena, while working to free and/or not assassinate numerous nobles that the evil emperor/king wants assassinated, runs into Kaltain in prison, where we are helpfully informed that she is raped regularly. Celaena, being the kind-hearted woman with strength of character attested to by all the characters in the book, gives her a cloak and leaves. Also Kaltain smokes an opium pipe to get rid of her headaches, which is of course terrible. Look, book, if I thought smoking an opium pipe would help with my headaches and migraines you bet I would do it in a hot second. Don't you judge her. In fact, I don't see why Sarah had to change the competition so drastically. In the FP version, all the competitors were female, and for good reason: it's less likely that a lady would be suspected of being an assassin. So... why? I also completely adored Nehemia and her strength and smarts. This girl had willpower only comparable to Calaena's. That's right, you read it correctly... TWO amazingly strong heroines to take part in this story! The whole premise of Throne of Glass is: Imagine a serial killer who's been stalking the streets and she's so well known that people shudder at the sound of her name. The serial killer is caught after a betrayal by her cronies and sent to suffer to prison camps for her crimes. Hallelujah!? Discover Sarah J. Maas's #1 New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series-now available for a limited time in a brand-new miniature format! This exclusive edition highlights Celaena Sardothien.