Why You Should Read: Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas

First of all, I would like to thanks the amazing author who has finally make me read this book series, Rick Riordan. These books has been on my ebook reader for almost two years (except for the 4th and 5th book,) and I didn’t think it’s going to climbed up my TBR list if it was not for Rick Riordan’s review on Goodreads. So, for that, thank you so much Uncle Rick.

Now, unlike my other review, this won’t be a one book review, this will be a book series review and suggestion. I was originally planned to write a one book review for each books in this series, but then again adulthood sucks and I got no time to really do it. I REALLY REALLY wanted to though, because this series is THAT good and the story is getting more complex in each books. But, I will write a one book review for the latest book in this series, which is Empire of Storms (hopefully will be up next week.) And it will be at least two posts review and discussion (and a long one, because there are so much things to talk about!)

I started reading Throne of Glass series in order to crossed off one category from Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year, ‘A book and its prequel.’ I have so many books in mind before I decided to read Throne of Glass, but as usual, when I’m in doubt, I rely on Rick Riordan’s review. And boy, it did not disappointed me. So far there are 6 books that have been published in this series, one prequel (novella anthology), and book one through five. The last book in this series will come out next year, also one novella and one compendium. So you still have a lot of time to catch up with this series.

Throne of Glass series tells a story about a skilled young former assassin in Erilea named Celaena Sardothien. After she got caught by Adarlan’s royal army and spent a year in the salt mines of Endovier, the Crown Prince of Adarlan offered her a chance to regains her freedom. After she made a deal with the crown prince, she now has to defeat dozens of other contenders and become the King’s Champion for four years. Trading her shackles to another, Celaena begin her quest to once again reclaim her freedom. As we follow Celaena’s journey we will see mysteries about Erilea and Celaena’s past unfolded, and what she really destined for, and how she will take control over her life again.

I read all these books in the first week of June (except for the 5th book that just came out on Sept 6th). Actually, no, I need to correct myself, I read all of Sarah J. Maas’ books in the first week of June (including two other books from her other series). Yes, for the first time in my life I read 7 books in total in the span of one week, from June 1st to June 7th. In 7 days I sleep like 2 hours a day, and I just keep on reading, it was crazy.

Now, if you think that I was in a reading frenzy because I was so in love with the first book in this series, you’re wrong. If I have to be honest, the first book, Throne of Glass, is my least favorite one. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say that it’s not a good book, it is. It's just in this series, Maas writing keeps getting better and better. Also, the thing with the first book is, I still found two tropes from YA novels that I just can’t take anymore, the love triangle and the insta-love. It's overly used and it gets boring. Though by the end of it I tipped my hat to Mass for ending the love triangle herself. She also made her character move on in one of the realest way in fantasy book, so kudos to Maas for that.

What send me off in a reading frenzy is the prequel book, The Assassin’s Blade. The Assassin’s Blade actually came out after the second book of Throne of Glass series, which is Crown of Midnight, but I read this one first after Throne of Glass because of the Pop Sugar Challenge. This book contains five novellas about Celaena Sardothien’s life as Adarlan’s Assassin and all the events that will lead to Throne of Glass. In this book we will see 16 years old Celaena working as The Assassin King’s elite protégé.

Even though I do love Celaena’s character in the first book, there’s something about her that really annoyed me. Celaena is a pretty annoying main character, and I said it with all my love for her. She’s a strong female character who is also an annoying brat. I admired her as much as I’m annoyed by her. But, The Assassin’s Blade does her character justice. This book makes her less annoying to me, it made me understand her action and way of thinking, and really showed me what a wonderful writer Sarah J. Maas is. Maas added more layer to Celaena’s character, and made me fall in love with her even more.

That rarely happen, most of the time a prequel fails to make readers accepting the flaw of the characters and understand them better, because it somehow feels forced. But the way Maas wrote this book, and elaborate every events and characters to mold Celaena’s personality is perfect. Thanks to that, this book has pushed me into reading the next book in this series hence the reading frenzy afterward. So really, stick with this book series, the first book might be kind of boring but the rest of it is SO GOOD.

The one thing which really stands out for me is the characters development. I have to admit one thing that makes me stand by Sarah J. Maas books is because she wrote character personality and relationship growth in a such realistic way. Maas never intended for her characters to be perfect, they’re flawed in so many ways. But, those flaws are what make her characters real for me. With the way Maas written her characters and how the plot going on, Throne of Glass become that kind of YA books which leaning more to the adult sides. In fact, I can said without any hesitation that the 5th book, Empire of Storms is no longer a YA book, it has turned into a New Adult book.

The other things that I like about Throne of Glass is the world building. As the series goes on, the world is also expanded beautifully. It reminds me so much of the kind of feeling when I saw the world in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire expanded. In a way, since I read 3rd book in this series, which is Heir of Fire, I feel like Throne of Glass is like a tamer, less-brutal, easier-to-grasp, little cousin of ASoIAF.

Though Maas presented a love triangle and insta-love at some point in this series, she managed to tackle other boring tropes in the YA series that sickens me. Those tropes including girls fighting other girls over boys, plain main character who didn’t realized how attractive they are before their love interest come into their life, damsel in distress, tomboy characters who hate dresses, male characters feel like they need to protect female characters because they assumed that they are stronger than female characters, and so on. Instead, Maas created a series with tropes that I LOVE to see more in other YA or coming of age books. For example:

• Strong and bad ass female characters who can also be feminine.

• Female characters looking out for each other (and they even tag-teaming to sassed out ridiculous male characters opinion of them.)

• Male characters cherished their friendship with other male characters.

• Realistic portrayal of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and more importantly, a story of mental healing.

• Equal treatment between male and female characters when it comes to fighting and training. Male characters didn’t look down or underestimate female characters, and female characters didn’t ask for special treatment. (YASS!)

• Female characters who are so independent that they can handle problem without any help from male characters.

• Both male and female characters, no matter how strong they are, still can be victims of sexual abuse and abusive relationships.

• Female characters have sexual active lives and are not shamed for it.

• Male characters that are not warrior-type and are not ashamed by it.

• Males and Females characters being friends without romantic or sexual attraction for each other.

And so on. Honestly though, if I spill more than this I will spoiled the whole plot for you and ruin your experience with this book.

Now, I have revealed almost all the good side of this series, but no book series are without flaws. I honestly don’t mind this one, but one thing that is kind of problematic is the representation for queer people. But this is something that you can’t forced. Also, if you’re not a queer person yourself, you have to be really careful when you write a queer characters. I have seen some other books where the author write their queer characters as something that is so stereotypically wrong. And as person with a lot of queer friends, that sickens me. It feels like they have no respect to queer people whatsoever and just put them there to ‘spice things up’. So, if Maas didn’t write queer people for that reason, I can understand that. And it’s not like there is no queer characters in this series. There are two canonically gay couples that are married and some sort of ‘soulmates’, one of the main characters are canonically bisexual. Not to mention, some demisexual people has said that they see one of the pov character in the 5th book as a person with demisexuality. I can’t say so myself, because I can’t relate to that myself, and I don't know if Maas intended to do so, but I’m happy that they feel like they have a character that represent them. Also, I honestly like the way Maas write her characters reaction to queer people. They react as if it's something that is so common and not something to be frowned upon. And that's how exactly it should be.

What I personally feel lacking in this book series is diversity and representation of People of Color. 80% of Maas main characters are clearly described as white people, some are racially ambiguous but often saw as white people too. Now, this is actually a tricky subject, because even though I want Maas to write more POC as her main characters, this is her story. And I honestly think that this is something that you can’t forced. That being said, as a girl with brown skin, It would be nice to see Maas highlighted more personal story of her POC characters in the next books.

In conclusion, even with all its flaws Throne of Glass is one great book series, and I highly recommend it to you. This series has earned a special place in my heart alongside Harry Potter series and Percy Jackson series.