Series Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass Series Review
BOOK SERIES: Throne of Glass
AUTHOR: Sarah J. Maas
SERIES RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
BOOK RATINGS:
Throne of Glass (ToG) ⭐⭐⭐
Crown of Midnight (CoM) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Heir of Fire (HoF) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Assassin’s Blade (TaB) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Queen of Shadows (QoS) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Empire of Storms (EoS) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tower of Dawn (ToD) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kingdom of Ash (KoA) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
DIVERSITY: ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽🏳️🌈🧑🏼🦽💘
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥/5
WIT FACTOR: 😂😂😂/5
ALL THE FEELS: 💧💧💧💧/5
My Thoughts Overall
PLEASE NOTE: This review does contain, what I would consider, spoilers so read at your own risk!
Throne of Glass is an epic fae fantasy tale written by Sarah J. Maas that follows Celaena, a trained assassin, as she discovers herself and navigates through the treachery of an oppressed kingdom. This is an 8-book long series that is seriously slow burning yet enjoyable and dynamic in the same breath. You’ll be bothered and captivated from the start, and won’t be able to put the books down regardless of any angst level or internal struggle you may be having with the characters... lol! And let me tell you, that’s quite the conflict of emotions!
I’d have to say that this series doesn’t necessarily fall under my top favorites, but it’s one I’ll definitely cherish forever. Initially, the feel of the story is young and immature… and for me, I found the characters a bit frustrating! However, I think its best to remember that they are actually fairly young and regardless, the story itself was still insanely dynamic and thoughtful, and I was compelled to know where these characters were headed despite my initial misgivings. There’s an edge of mysteriousness, even in the first 2 books, that leaves you wanting more! After I got thru books 1 & 2 (Throne of Glass & Crown of Midnight, respectively), I was still very concerned that this series was not for me. BUT. I was reading it with a read-along group and that definitely helped keep me engaged and excited when I otherwise might have set the series aside.
Hindsight being 20/20, it’s definitely worth the power through to get to book 3, Heir of Fire, and the series’ novella, The Assassin’s Blade. From here, the story freakin’ takes off and soars to unexpected, grand heights! What feels like a dozen or more new characters start being introduced and back stories explored through multiple points of view. That shift in storyline will either make you feel supremely captivated or rather off base, depending on your initial take on the story and how it was presented. For me, the additional points of view and new character storylines had me entranced, and my interest in the story shot through the roof. PS. Bust out that family tree, too — you’re going to need it!
By the time we get to Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms, there is NO WAY you’ll be able to put this series down. Think Game of Thrones vibes without the gore and backstabbing. This is when crying and other intense emotions may commence, so GET READY! And holy Tower of Dawn — the most unexpected read of the series. If you can emotionally make it to Kingdom of Ash, it will likely leave you broken but somehow whole and wanting more, more, more.
SIDE NOTES: The Assassin’s Blade AND Tower of Dawn are ABSOLUTELY WORTH THE READ. DO NOT SKIP THESE. No matter WHAT the other reviews you’re reading say. It’s 100% worth the story progression, even if you are not a fan of Chaol (like I wasn’t… at first!).
The Order I Read Them In
And a few words to describe each! There’s of course no right or wrong way to really enjoy this series (other than in order, obviously, ha), but I thoroughly enjoyed how our reading group did it. The general order of how we read the series is below!
We actually left off The Assassin’s Blade in our initial schedule, but lots of us decided to go for it anyways because it introduces characters from Celaena’s past that are SO CRITICAL in her future. So, moral of the story. READ THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE. Anytime prior to Queen of Shadows is recommended!! I made sure to finish it before I really got into QoS and I was absolutely glad that I did.
We also read Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn simultaneously. This is something I’ve never done before and I absolutely LOVED it. These 2 books take place at the same time, BUT. Our main characters are split up between the 2. So, if you can handle a full book of really just Chaol (and a bunch of awesome new characters), you’ll be fine reading them separately as they were released (EoS then ToD). But, our read along decided to read them at the same time so we wouldn’t miss out on some of our favorite character dynamics. If you’d like to read it this way, check out the printable reading guide here by TL Branson! Use tabs to indicate when to switch books and these 2 stories will read as 1 really, really long book!
Throne of Glass | slow, young, character-focused
Crown of Midnight | same as ToG, but with a 🤯 cliff hanger and OMG ending
Heir of Fire | transitional, exciting, plot-driven, powerful, healing, transformational, expansive with ACOMAF vibes
The Assassin’s Blade | action-packed and feisty with important character connections
Queen of Shadows | new, dark, twisted, breakthrough, triumphant with GOT (and maybe LOTR) vibes from here until the end.
Empire of Storms | couplings, coming-together, moving-around & Tower of Dawn | unique, unexpected, diverse, redemptive
Kingdom of Ash | reunions, war, hope, farewells, new beginnings
A Few Quick Points
1 // The Points of View
So, by book 3, there are A LOT of characters and several POVs that change often, even within the same chapter. At times, I found this dynamic somewhat difficult where the story just felt hard to read. Almost like I couldn’t really lose myself in the world-building and story progression because I never really got comfortable with one POV and what was happening there before the focus shifted. Additionally, while the depth of the world-building and little intricacies is oh-so-ah-mazing, sometimes all of the characters and names of things and specific world systems and nuances felt overwhelming. Another reason why I might have slowed down my reading pace had it not been for my read along group, just to digest and internalize the information more deeply.
2 // Character Development
Similar to point #1, because there are so many MCs (main characters), certain character arcs and storylines felt abbreviated to some extent or definitely left me wanting more. And sometimes Maas’s writing style, in this series particularly, just lost me. There’s lots of individual character introspection and reflection which is honestly great and required, but the dialogue needed to progress the story at times is few and far between. BUT. Whenever dialogue is present, something typically significant happens. So, it’s best not to skim! I’m finding I prefer dialogue heavier stories more so. It seems easier to get lost in because the story seems to always be moving.
3 // Diversity
Overall, I would say that this series is somewhat of a diverse read. There are supporting characters of color ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽 and lots of LGBTQIA+ characters 🏳️🌈 sprinkled throughout (and one of our main heros is bisexual). ToD definitely has the best diversity (in terms of race inclusion)! There’s also situational elements of diversity : one of our heros ends up becoming disabled 🧑🏼🦽 and another one of our supporting heroines has gone through and suffered a pregnancy loss 💘.
4 // Story Similarities
Guys. The Game of Thrones (GOT) and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) vibes I was getting in this series was intense and I’m not mad about it, ha! I find that the more stories you read, the more they all start running and blending together, and also resembling each other. If you’d like to check out some of the story similarities, keep scrolling! BEWARE: These are spoilers! If you’re anything like me, I usually don’t like knowing anything about stories before I read them, HA. IF that’s not you (because you’re likely less insane than me) HAVE FREAKIN’ AT IT! But seriously. These are spoilers. Last warning!
Game of Thrones Similarities
HoF : Dragons plus the connection between Manon & Abraxos
HoF : Wights
HoF : Wolf of the North (Aedion)
TaB : Ansel & Wolf (as house symbol + wolf-shaped sword hilt)
QoS : Many-faces girl (Manon called Elide that)
QoS : Hellfire (just like wildfire; it’s also myth-like and hidden under the city)
ToD : Khagan (kingly title) + the horse lords (reminds me of Khal + Khalessi + the Dothraki khalasar)
ToD : The Narrow Sea
ToD : Chaol being paralyzed + riding a horse with special straps and braces
ToD : The Great War (Kashin says this to Chaol)
KoA : All the Valg invested people and demons dying when Erawan was killed
Oh, and lots of people are distantly related and into each other
Lord Of The Rings Similarities
Erawan akin to Sauran
Ruks and Stygian spiders in ToG vs. the large eagles and spiders in LOTR and The Hobbit
3 wrydkeys (rings) for the 3 Valg Kings vs. all the rings for the races in LOTR + 1 ring to rule them all
5 // Other Worlds
SPOILER ALERT | SJM mentions several worlds in the 7th and final book, Kingdom of Ash. See if you can spot Rhys and the mention of Velaris as well as Crescent City along the way… and definitely come back and tell me about! Our read along group was definitely fangirling all of these moments! I made a list of the worlds SJM mentions — can you guess which worlds are which (that we know of so far)?! Tell me in the comments!! AND could it be that we’ll get another epic, Fae fantasy story and series for each of these!!!???!?!
A world where a great city had been built along the curve of a river, the buildings impossibly tall and glimmering with lights.
A world of rain and green and wind.
A world of oceans with no land to be seen.
A world of snowcapped mountains under shining stars.
My Favorite Books and Character Storylines
Okay, so I’d have to say that the Best Books of the Bunch are Queen of Shadows thru Tower of Dawn plus The Assassin’s Blade… sooooooooooooo basically all of them. HA. Whoops… No, actually, that’s only half buuuuuuut… HA.
My personal favorites were Heir of Fire, Empire of Storms, and The Assassin’s Blade. Interestingly, though, I can recall Heir of Fire’s and Tower of Dawn’s full stories the best out of them all. So I feel like that also says something about those 2!
The character storylines that I was most invested in were Fenrys, Lorcan & Elide, Manon & Dorian (both separately and together), and I mean, obviously Celaena!
Looking Ahead and What’s Next
It’s over but you want more. But it also feels like it’s not over after reading the series for 4 months. Our read along group felt the same! We talked about loving to see a novella (or 3) several years in the future and since book 7 only published in 2018, we’re still holding out hope that we might get one. BUT. In the meantime, we’ve got A Court of Silver Flames and an extra Novella in the ACOTAR series to look forward to!!! Also, Crescent City Book #2!!!
Until then, our read along group will be starting The Daevabad Trilogy in October! I’m really excited for it and I’m actually helping to host this time. If you’re interested in joining, check out my recent Instagram post about it here. Read-along started on October 4th and even if you aren’t in our group, you can still read and follow along with us on Insta! See you there!
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Cozy connoisseur and bountiful book buyer. I have a minor obsession with getting lost in the pages of a good book, guzzling coffee, and thriving at home. Yoga pants, wine, and essential oils are also my jam. I'm truly just a homebody at heart with a knack for content creation, flatlays & cozy shots. This is my creative space.
