Not Tough Enough

Expected Publication: August 7th, 2012

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass # 1)

By: Sarah J. Maas

Bloomsbury USA Children's

ISBN-13: 9781599906959

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Review

   Celaena Sardothien has been an assasin of high repute for almost half of her life.  Then she was caught and sentenced to the salt mines of Endovier, with no one expecting her to survive the harsh and almost impossible conditions.  Then, a year later, the Crown Prince Dorian comes to offer her freedom on the condition that she be his champion in a competition between assassins.  It turns out that his Father is searching for a royal 'champion' and if she beats the others Celaena will serve him for three years - after that she'll be free.  Out of shape, Celaena spends every day training with Captain Westfall, who is suspicious of her every action.  She also spends some time with Dorian and finds herself attracted to him against her better judgement.  But then the champions begin turning up dead one by one and Celaena seems like she's next on the list.  Can she find the assassin before becoming the newest victim?  And will her destiny lead her more places than she's ever imagined?  At first I was really intrigued by the premise of this book.  Plus, it started out as a story on www.fictionpress.com a website for original stories by beginning authors.  I love the website, so I was excited to see someone from there make it big.  I liked Celaena's sarcastic, realistic attitude and her refusal to be anyone's ornament.  Captain Westfall was slightly dreamy, but his attitude annoyed me even though I understood it.  Prince Dorian was one of the characters that I absolutely HATED.  What a sanctimonious, privileged, womanizing, prig!  The fact that he actually appeals to Celaena caused me to seriously disrespect her by the end of the book.   The mystery with the murder of her fellow competitors was fairly obvious.  I pretty much knew who the killer was, although the magical twist to things surprised me.  I honestly can say that my favorite character in the whole book was side character, Princess Nehemia.  She has basically had her kingdom taken over by Dorian's Father, been forced to leave her home as an 'ambassador' and is still a kick-ass warrior girl with a major stubborn streak.  I would have liked to read her story.  Celaena was too much lost little girl and not enough bad-ass assassin for my liking.  I was hoping for someone similar to Katsa from Graceling and got an egotistical, wishy-washy teenager who loves clothes and playing the piano.  Not the book for me but I seem to be outside of the vast majority who have fallen in love with it.

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication is August 7th, 2012.*