*** Spoliers ahead : This post is not a review but a discussion for people who have an opinion on the books (or don’t mind spoilers at all..) ***
** I also skipped Tower of Dawn and you’ll see why below **
Hot. It’s a word I don’t use often, specially when describing characters from a book. Sarah J. Mass’s epic Throne of Glass series might be badly edited but nevertheless is fantastically imagined. Also, am still confused if this should qualify as Young Adult. At times felt pretty grown up to me, tell me what do you think?
Took me entirely by surprise that the lethal teenage assassin Celaena Sardothian with a love triangle, pretty clothes and a competition on her mind, ends up becoming Queen Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius who sets out to bring back magic into the world, end centuries-old curse of gods, free her subjects from tyranny and banish evil back to another dimension. I loved how the book universe and character goals expanded from single dimensional story arcs into epic proportions where words like valour and loyalty fit right alongside the word hot. Aelin has fire inside, she has to be hot, right?
Simpler times when the choice was between Dorian and Chaol. Have to say, Chaol ended up becoming oh so dull! And Dorian with untamed raw magic was hot. There… first use of this word..
Then for a while, I was stuck between Rowan or Aedion, for our queen-in-the-making Aelin. In the queen’s own words, “territorial alpha fey males” staking a claim on their mates. If it sounds cringe-worthy and campy, it is. Still, have to admit these fey males and Sarah J. Mass writing about them was hot. Her characters have me breaking out in repeated sighs and exclamations befitting a happy fangirl.
More thoughts in no particular order…
- Gavriel and Fenrys were my other 2 favourites from the cadre.
- Cain. From book 1 over to Maeve’s loyal servant was a huge coincidence but his end at the hands of Rowan the husband. Hot.
- Lorcan and Elide were boring. Sorry.
- Maeve and Erawan as the villains were amazing. Specially Perrington turning out to be Erawan himself who was from a different domain. Hats off to Sarah J. Mass’s imagination.
- Rest in peace Kaltain.
- King of Adarlan had no name. Dorian was his name. I swear I choked back some tears at this moment.
- Sorscha and Dorian. Meh… Too soon.. Too much.
- The initial introduction of Manon and her coven felt a bit staged, but their end… All 13 gone..More sobbing.. And an unhealthy amount of wailing.
- Ailen saving Manon. Who saw that one coming?!
- Really why make Chaol so dull. In Book 1 I swear I was shipping hard for Chaol to get the girl. And Yrene verbal sparring with Chaol’s father was another contrived storyline. Now you know why I skipped their story arc.
- Lysandra was brave and her fighting scenes repetitive but also heroic. Still, I didn’t warm up to her. Maybe because I wanted Aidon to myself. He was hot throughout. And fiercely loyal.
- Talking about hot. Rowan Whitethorn. In spite of all the territorial fey over the top nonsense, he was a man amongst all the other YA boys. I loved how there was a sense of maturity in Rowan’s actions. The King for a Queen.
- Nehemia’s death. I didn’t believe it. I was convinced she was faking and would return alive since her death had brought about such a predictable response from Celaena.
- Very sweet of Sarah J. Mass and Aelin to bid proper farewells to Nehemia and Sam. And talking about sweet.. Fleetfoot.. aww…
- One of my absolute favourite jaw-dropping moments was when Celaena transforms into her fey form to protect Chaol when they get stuck in another dimension.
- 2nd jaw-dropping moment, Dorian has magic inside him. The king’s own son!
- And the moments kept getting better. Both Dorian and Aelin and an endless supply of magic. No bounds. When Aelin stopped the dam. Damn! Waste of her power, but the mental image it conjured was pretty awesome. Dorian freeing himself from the valg prince. Yayy!
- Dorian and Celaena in Endovier. Poetic justice or writer knowing her craft.. Why o why did none of the slaves live to see the day… that is what makes this an epic fantasy series, I say…
