The Journey
This year a long story has found its end. We are talking about the Throne of Glass Series surrounding the Assassin Celaena and her adventures through the world of light and darkness. We are talking about this tale, that was a huge chunk of life for a lot of us, and because of that Joyly from @Queenof_midnight and I thought it deserves a conclusional discussion!
She is a hardcore fan of this author and books, while I am a critical eye from the beginning on (I didn’t want to start this series for a lot of reasons :D) So we thought we two could be the right mixture for you to discover the series with just the right amount of love and critique.
Short thoughts:
Ariana
rating: 4/5
place: Erilea
cover: 3/5
lovestory: 4/5
content: 4/5
tension: 4/5
Joyly
rating: 5/5
place: Erilea
cover: 5/5
lovestory: 5/5
content: 5/5
tension: 5/5
So let us take a short look back to what the books were about (You can see all the Synopsises after our discussion 🙂
The Discussion:
Ariana’s Opinion:
First of all: when I first saw the covers and read the synopsis of “throne of glass” I was like “nope – not going to happen. It just wasn’t my cup of tea back then and I can’t even tell you why. Probably because I hate it when characters are on the cover because they never ever live up to my own imagination ( excerpt when the cover art is by Charlie Bowater – she always gives me more than I ever expected 😂)
But when I joined the bookstagram community the hype was big – I just couldn’t be a hater without trying first. Oh man all the books Bookstagram makes us buy for ourselves. That’s isn’t even funny anymore.
So I ended up – all with the pink glasses on – ordering the full set of books (until empire of storms which came out later that year) – because I am a dumbass like that and begged to every gods out there that I might like these books and the buy was not for the garbage.
Well.
The first book wasn’t even near what I had expected and I ended up hating Caelena. I mean why must she be such a bitch sometimes right? 😂 but the humor in these books (like in the acotar series (where I hated the first book too)) was just hilarious and my cup of tea, so I’ve kept reading.
But when I really started reading this series I couldn’t stop. Like literally. I binged the whole series in about a week. That means 5 books in 7 seven days, and you all know you could kill someone with a pat on the head with a good Sarah J. Maas book.
I loved how the characters developed and failed. They were so real with all the characters trades, problems and sorrows. This was the thing that made me love the series the most until the end. How not everyone got a happy end and that sometimes you first have to fail before gaining an experience through it. I cried and laughed out loud and that’s what a good book should do to you. Sure there were several eye rolls and I often yelled at the book “for real?”, but isn’t that what reading is about? THAT is real!
Why hate Throne of Glass
I often read peoples post who are contra Throne of Glass or Sarah J. Maas in general. They criticize her lack of diverse Characters, real feeling love interests (the mate status) and how everyone is gorgeous and that that isn’t what we need, because books should be real and reflect the readers. Well, I wouldn’t want to read about a girl like me in a book and I love to read about hot guys in books (who’s not?). So I don’t have a problem with that.
As a half Turkish girl who doesn’t fit in either of her heritages communities I can only say: I understand why people want to read about characters that have the same problems with finding theirselves and that asian girls also want some asian main characters (example here!). But I personally like to escape reality while reading. I have enough problems with my identity and stuff on my plate when I am in the real world. In my free time I fight for gender equality, against racism and for everything else diverse. I don’t need that in my books. (please no angry yells here)
the critiques I don’t get
Also the representation of disabilities (thats strong in Tower of Dawn) was criticized severely as not “real” enough. Well what is even real? I bet there are people out there that experience the same struggles as the character in TOD and others who have other problems, but what’s the point in criticizing everything and everyone out there?
Sure I get why a lot of people don’t like the Tog series because it’s not real enough for them – but well how real shall a book about Fae, Shapeshifters and Valg Kings be?
I had a lot of feels and moments with this series. But the most important things was, that I found friends in real life through that series, with whom I could rant and cry and laugh and just fall in love with. This was my favorite part of discovering this series.
Why love Throne of Glass
Because its authentic. Full of humor and witty characters. Real emotions and a hell lot of fantasy! The world building is spectacular in my opinion, especially the Wyverns and the combination of Witches, Shifters, Wyrd Marks and Fae. I haven’t read anything that I could compare to this series in the past – only looking at the used ideas. And the books contain not only one country or one continent of a world, but a full huge world with everything in it your heart could yearn for. Deserts, Storms, Dark Mountains and Glass Kingdoms!
Because you will have minimum one favorite Character you’ll never part with (or several in my case). They are special. Like you’ll always know who’s talking or acting even without the “he said, she said” stuff, so well written are they. They are real in the most beautiful way – because they are angry, sad, happy, devastated, witty and so much more.
The tension: Since I learned to love the characters (in book two or three or so) I couldn’t stop reading. And I mean that. Ive read in the bathtub, in my lunch break, on my way home and I even snucked the books in to birthday parties and family meetings – because we all gonna be honest now – a good book is often more interesting than socializing.
Joyly:
Big character love
for real
The Development
Throwback Synopsis:
Throne of Glass:
(Click here for the Special Collectors Edition)
Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness. In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.
Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament – fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?
Crown of Midnight:
Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien is bold, daring and beautiful – the perfect seductress and the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But though she won the King’s contest and became his champion, Celaena has been granted neither her liberty nor the freedom to follow her heart. The slavery of the suffocating salt mines of Endovier that scarred her past is nothing compared to a life bound to her darkest enemy, a king whose rule is so dark and evil it is near impossible to defy. Celaena faces a choice that is tearing her heart to pieces: kill in cold blood for a man she hates, or risk sentencing those she loves to death. Celaena must decide what she will fight for: survival, love or the future of a kingdom. Because an assassin cannot have it all . . . And trying to may just destroy her.
Heir of Fire:
Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy.
While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?
Queen of Shadows:
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. Now she returns to the empire – to confront the shadows of her past …
Bloodthirsty for revenge on the two men responsible for destroying her life, and desperate to find out if the prince and his captain are safe, Celaena returns to Rifthold, the seat of so much evil. She has accepted her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, there are dark truths to learn and debts to be paid. Aelin must stay hidden beneath her assassin’s hood and draw on her mortal strength as Celaena to prevent the King of Adarlan from tearing her world apart. Only then can she fight for her people.
Empire of Storms:
The long path to the throne has just begun for Aelin Galathynius. As the kingdoms of Erilea fracture around her, enemies must become allies if Aelin is to keep those she loves from falling to the dark forces poised to claim her world. With war looming on all horizons, the only chance for salvation lies in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear. Will Aelin succeed in keeping her world from splintering, or will it all come crashing down?
Tower of Dawn
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 Aelin shattered the glass castle, since Chaol’s men were slaughtered, since the King of Adarlan spared him from a killing blow, but left his body broken.
Now he and Nesryn sail for Antica – the stronghold of the southern continent’s mighty empire and of the legendary healers of the Torre Cesme. It’s Chaol’s one shot at recovery, and with war looming back home, Dorian and Aelin’s survival could depend on Chaol and Nesryn convincing Antica’s rulers to ally with them.
But what they discover there will change them both – and be more vital to saving Erilea than they could have imagined.
Kingdom of Ash:
Aelin Galathynius’s journey from slave to assassin to queen reaches its heart-rending finale as war erupts across her world . She has risked everything to save her people – but at a tremendous cost. Locked in an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will to endure the months of torture inflicted upon her. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve is unravelling with each passing day. With Aelin imprisoned, Aedion and Lysandra are the last line of defence keeping Terrasen from utter destruction.
But even the many allies they’ve gathered to battle Erawan’s hordes might not be enough to save the kingdom. Scattered throughout the continent and racing against time, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian must forge their own paths to meet their destinies. And across the sea Rowan hunts to find his captured wife and queen – before she is lost to him. Some bonds will deepen and others be severed forever, but as the threads of fate weave together at last, all must fight if they are to find salvation – and a better world.
Companion Novel:
The Assassins Blade
Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan’s most feared assassin. As part of the Assassins’ 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 prequel 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 . . .
If we made you want to read the Books just click on the title of every single one. You will get to Book Depository to buy them right there! 🙂
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Friend ! Nice Website, Greate Publishing and great design. Thanks for sharing kingdom of ash audiobook . Please add me on readers list.