Throne of Glass (Miniature Character Collection)

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Let me explain. If we leave aside the novellas' truly despicable treatment of sex workers (who apparently deserve to have knives thrown at them because they are sex workers), we are left with exactly six named women with speaking roles in the first book: Celaena herself, Nehemia, Kaltain Rompier, Queen Georgina Havilliard, Philippa Spindlehead, and Queen Elena Havilliard.

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. Leaving aside their eventual fates (to the point of a fourth-ish through the way of the third book because for some reason I keep reading them, I don't know if I expect them to get better or what), there is the matter of competence. Philippa: I really have nothing much more to say about Philippa. I guess at least she has bulk 'contained by her cobalt and peach dress' whatever that means. Celaena is likable, mostly. More so than the average lead. If a little wishy-washy both on her choice of romantic partner and just her general day-to-day attitude. Leads like this have a tendency to not really be multi-dimensional, so much as script flipping. One moment they're brash and mouthy and the next they're blushing like a delicate belle. That's just something I've come to expect though, whenever an author is attempting to craft what they see as a 'strong female' character. 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!I agree completely with Lisa that Nehemia was just as amazing! Nehemia provided Caelena with a friend and confidant and I loved their friendship. Once they learned to trust each other, they were unstoppable! Read the first book in the epic saga Time Magazine called, “One of the best fantasy series of the past decade.” 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. Throne of Glass isn't just about the competition that Cealena is in, there is so much going on throughout the entire novel! It is so full of action and from one second to the next I never knew what was going to happen! I absolutely loved it! Celaena is as much an epic hero as Frodo or Jon Snow!”—Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author on HEIR OF FIRE

Celaena is some fraction of fae and human crossbreed princess, last survivor of her family, trained from the age of eight by the unironicaly named King of the Assassins to murder people without remorse. Whom does she assassinate, you might ask? Anyone and everyone she is paid to, as assassins do? Nah. That's too pedestrian. Celaena only assassinates corrupt politicians and people who cheat on their spouses. But that ridiculousness is not what this review is really about, so moving on.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. This cast of characters was amazing and Maas completely blew me away with how well she developed each one of them! She built a lovable (and sometimes not so lovable) and unforgettable cast of characters! Maas's writing is sophisticated and evocative. She excels in crafting tense action sequences and emotional moments with equal finesse, while the dialogue is sharp, often laced with a dose of humor. While I know Throne of Glass is several years old at this point, as with most big series and authors.. I was late experiencing them. At the time most of these series started to debut, my life was chaos and I just didn't have a lot of time or energy for reading. With all the guy "team" talk I've seen, I had no idea which way I would go with this one... but I'm totally Team Choal. There's just something about him I really enjoyed. Maybe his total unwillingness to accept his feelings for Calaena, or maybe how protective and strong her came off. Either way, he was totally *SWOON* in my opinion!

The novel introduces us to Celaena Sardothien, a notorious assassin who finds herself pulled into a deadly competition for the title of the king's champion. Though the narrative takes time to find its footing, it soon propels readers into an intoxicating world of magic, danger, and political intrigue.

The ideas of this book. There are so many interesting themes that are being thrown about in this novel. I think it was interesting to see the way that the government had tried to eliminate knowledge from the people by destroying books and history. Now that knowledge is being held by the king who could potentially use it against the people. But it seems as if those who are rebelling have kept some of that knowledge, and that will prevent the government from having power over them. Knowledge is definitely power in this world as well as our own I'd say. I think that the idea of freedom in this book is interesting as well. Freedom is a powerful motivation for Celaena, but it is something that Dorian seeks as well. So many people in this society are not truly free, and eventually they will need to make some tough choices to see what they will sacrifice to gain that freedom. There is still so much more to discover as this series progresses.

The Crown Prince will befriend 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. Then you read Throne of Glass and it's surprising anyone puts up Celaena at all, not to mention how both the Crown Prince and Captain of the Royal Guard somehow both fall in love with her because while she may be a murder, she has a heart of gold. Oh, and she reads. The biggest problem with this book is the dual plot: the competition and the murders, which are interconnected, they don't really seem that way, which is a problem. The thing is, the book becomes somewhat convoluted with both the competition and the murders. I think the competition would have provided enough conflict. I also kind of find it strange that these soldiers, thieves and assassins wouldn't try to sabotage and kill each other off (themselves, without a prowling monster) when they each fight for their freedom. Calaena doesn't seem like the character who'd just be content with reading and training all the time, when freedom means so much to her... and that's exactly what she was doing. I really feel that Maas should have focused more on the competition, having more fights and stand-offs between the competitors rather than putting on so much focus on the grisly murders and developing the love triangle between Celaena and two romantic interests. The second problem I have with the plot is the fact that Celaena was the only female competitor. I refuse to believe that aside from her, Ansel and Nehemia, that there are no other baddass women around. In fact, it seems that aside from Nehemia and Kaltain, and a couple of other supporting females, most of the cast of characters are male. I demand more female characters! Dorian and Chaol are both lovely. She makes it clear that there's much more beyond the surface than she's allowed us to see in book one and I can't wait to continue. Dorian & Chaol. The Crown Prince and his Captain of the Guard. A reader and a warrior. The best of friends. Both fascinated with the same girl. A very, very dangerous girl.

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Reserved, devoted to duty, honor and excellence, Captain Chaol Westfall's personal opinion of his prince's chosen Champion isn't very high. She's nothing but a convict, a murderer of countless people. She's manipulative, dishonorable, not to be trusted, soulless and devoid of humanity... right? However, as Chaol trains and guards the young assassin for the competition, he discovers that his initial opinion of the notorious Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan's Assassin, may have been hasty and unfair. Simply dazzles. . . . The clamor for a sequel will be deafening.”—Starred review, Booklist on A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES I have conflicting feelings about a lot of YA in general (or maybe New Adult? I can't seem to figure out where the lines are between the two). Most of the conflicting feelings stem from the treatment of female characters and/or feminist/attempted feminist messages in the narrative (to the surprise of exactly no one who knows anything about me). I feel like Throne of Glass is a very good example of the books I have problems with.