Tag: sarah j maas

Book Review – Queen of Shadows

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Title: Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4)

Author: Sarah J Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Publication date: September 1st, 2015

648 pages

4.5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past…

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

Review

“She was a whirling cloud of death, a queen of shadows, and these men were already carrion.”

sarah j maas, queen of shadows

SWOON.

Seriously, I’m not sure how much else of a review one needs than that one, simple word. But, I feel somewhat obligated to so I will try to assign more words to my feelings about this book (again, without spoilers).

I was SO much more invested in this book. It’s a story of revenge, vengeance, love, and redemption – pure AMAZINGNESS. A lot of our friends are back together again, somewhat working together to meet similar goals. There is almost less of Rowan in this book, which made me sad, but then he appeared and completely made up for it. I refer you back to my original point of SWOON. On the topic of characters, I ended up liking Manon’s character more by the end of this book. I at least have a better understanding of where her character is going, which helps me enjoy her POV. She also helped enter another character that will be important later on, I’m sure.

The sheer intellect and deviousness of Aelin slays me every time. She is so damn… smart. Like, her plans are air tight almost always and she has such a way of predicting others moves. Her plotting in this book was prime and lets just say, certain people got what was coming to them. Also, I appreciated a character from Throne of Glass getting a serious redemption arc, and magical powers!

At the end of this book, I felt the most need to start the next one that I’ve found throughout the series so far. But, I still didn’t pick it up. It didn’t move me enough to abandon my TBR plans. I’m interested to see if Empire of Storms will break that cycle. Anyway, another Throne of Glass book, completed!

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – Heir of Fire

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Title: Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)

Author: Sarah J Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Publication date: September 2nd, 2014

565 pages

4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak-but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth . . . a truth about her heritage that could change her life-and her future-forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?

Review

“You didn’t need a weapon at all when you were born one.”

sarah j maas, heir of fire

So this review will likely be fairly short, just to try and avoid any spoilers! As it is the third book in the series, a lot of important things happen in this book and if you’re one of the few people in the community that haven’t read this series… well it would ruin it for you! So I’m going to attempt to not do that.

Overall I found this book to be very good. I enjoyed the different POV’s provided, because the main characters aren’t all together anymore. You also get two new POV’s, one that gets more page time than the other. Rowan and Manon are presented to the world – with mixed feelings on my part. First off, I love Rowan Whitethorn. I will die for him. But Manon? I wanted to skip over her chapters as quickly as possible. I understood her purpose to the story, it shows what’s happening in another portion of the world a la Game of Thrones. It gives added context to the reader that the characters aren’t privy to. BUT, she boring. In my opinion. I’m hopeful her arc will be more interesting as the books go on.

Back to Rowan though. His part of the book was so needed and I love it so much. He truly helps extend and explain Celaena’s arc throughout the series so far. Everyone she meets helps grow her and helps her come to important realizations and he is no different. I will love him forever and if she wasn’t the world’s greatest assassin, I would fight her for him.

Outside of my distaste for Manon’s chapters, I felt the pacing of the book was perfect. The chapters ended at painful times, done on purpose to keep the reader reading and working to get back to that POV to find out what happens. Throughout the book you’re racing to the end to see where your beloved characters will fall. But again, like I said in my Crown of Midnight review, the end did not force me to abandon my plans and pick up the next one. I’m still waiting for an ending that will grip me so hard that I must continue on.

I still say everyone should read this series if you haven’t. And if you haven’t read them, and you’re somehow here reading my review of the fourth book, listen to my words & go start Throne of Glass.

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – Crown of Midnight

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Title: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)

Author: Sarah J Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Publication date: August 15th, 2013

420 pages

4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

Review

“But death was her curse and her gift, and death had been her good friend these long, long years.”

sarah j maas, crown of midnight

Well this book was so intense! As a sequel the Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight picks up right after TOG ends. Celaena is the king’s assassin and has been working to fulfill his orders. Celaena, Dorian, Chaol, and Nehemia are all still large factors in this book, and they have much to work on. Celaena continues trying to understand her calling from Elena down in the tunnels. These books truly manage to put so much plot and action into a fairly normal sized book.

The magic in this book is so interesting, and you just know that so much more with it will happen over the course of the series. The romance in this book was also very interesting. It was surprising, but also not surprising, at the same time. I thoroughly approved, even if heartbreak comes later for the characters. Also, Celaena is a crazy cook assassin and even though she murders people with joy, you somehow also end up feeling badly for her. She really is a complex character, not at all redeemable but you kinda want to forgive her.

THAT ENDING. Frankly, the ending of this book was spoiled for me due to bookstagram, but if you’re one of those rare birds who hasn’t read this series yet, and hasn’t had it spoiled, there is a HUGE BOMB DROPPED at the end of this book. Just be aware the last chapter is so intense! It isn’t a huge cliffhanger though, so I wasn’t itching to pick up the next book, Heir of Fire.

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – Throne of Glass

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

Title: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s

Publication date: August 2nd, 2012

404 pages

5/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. 

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

Review

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

sarah j maas, throne of glass

Celaena is a world reknowned assassin… but she was captured and thrown in prison for the last year. And not just any prison, Endovier is a salt mine where almost 100% of people perish before they serve their sentences. Celaena is approached by Prince Dorian to be his choice to compete for King’s Champion, a role that Celaena can’t imagine playing – but would in order to leave Endovier. But once the competition starts, it becomes immediately clear that there are magical forces at play, looking to wipe out the competition, including Celaena.

WOW. I read this book so quickly, and loved it so much. There were so many pieces and layers to ToG that it seems impossible that it was all done in a relatively shorter book. You’ve got assassins, competition, slight romance, magic, world-building, Fae, and adventure all wrapped up. Basically it has all the real components of adult fantasy, but set in a more YA world and tone.

Celaena as a character is dominant. I honestly think that is the best way to describe her. She is just fierce and basically unbeatable. Maas writes her as basically an assassinating prodigy (except for that one time she got caught but we’ll give her a pass for that one). Celaena is also sassy, moody, and a READER. She’s basically a normal human that was forced into being an assassin and now accepts her role in life. I also loved Dorian and Chaol, for very different reasons. If I could, I would have her end up with both of them at this point tbh.

Going back to an original point, there is so much going on in ToG, that sometimes it is hard to keep track of everything. There was almost too much plot happening to follow, too many threads to tie together. However, this did not lessen my satisfaction with this book, as I know this series is super long & it is setting up a large and complex universe.

Overall, I’m very excited to continue reading this series as I know there will be incredible twists and turns. The writing is easy to get through and isn’t super dense. Give me more!

Happy reading, folks!

Book Review – The Assassin’s Blade

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“This girl wasn’t like wildfire—she was wildfire. Deadly and uncontrollable. And slightly out of her wits.”

Title: The Assassin’s Blade (Throne of Glass #0.5)

Author: Sarah J Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury Children’s

Publication date: March 4th, 2014

448 pages

4/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

Contains all five novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan’s most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin’s Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas – together in one edition for the first time – Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn’s orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

Review

She was fire, she was darkness, she was dust and blood and shadow.

sarah j maas, the assassin’s blade

First off, this cover may be the best out of the entire series, don’t @ me. The blue background with the purple cape is exquisite and Celaena looks amazing. Next, I appreciated the novellas – they weren’t too short that it seemed the story wasn’t developed, but they weren’t overly long either. Getting the background into Celaena’s history was very helpful and it explained some things that weren’t fully clear in Throne of Glass. I know there’s debate on what order to read these – so for me I read TOG first and then TAB and then on to Crown of Midnight and the rest. It worked for me, but I know some say to wait until after Crown. I don’t personally see how it could matter.

I think this book does an even better job of showing the different facets of Celaena than TOG. You really see her softer side, whereas TOG is really showcasing her ruthlessness and assassin abilities. TAB gives you more of her thought process in relation to her work for Arobynn because when TOG starts she is already done working for Arobynn. Basically what I’m trying to say is: The Assassin’s Blade is worth it to read as part of the series.

I particularly loved the story of her in the desert learning from the other assassins. I could where that history will play a part in future books, and that foreshadowing is exciting. I’m very much looking forward to continuing the series.

Happy reading, folks!