Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

 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 king's 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.

Guys. May I just state that this is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Fer reals. Sarah J. Maas is officially my new author because of her fabulous writing, witty characters, and great stories. I loved following the journey of young assassin Celaena-it was exciting and there were always new twists and turns.

The description Maas put in this book was great. I understood what was happening and I literally couldn’t put the book down because it would’ve been like walking out of a theater when a fantastic movie was playing. I also liked the way the history of the world was described and I felt like I learned what I needed to about the setting and backstory. Here’s a little snippet of the first book:

The true test, however, would come at the end of the five minutes, when they were to drink from the goblet they deemed the most harmless. If they got the answer wrong…Even with antidotes on hand, it would be unpleasant. Celaena rolled her neck and lifted one of the goblets to her nose, sniffing. Sweet-too sweet…

My favorite character was the headstrong Celaena because she was a kick-butt independent heroine. Her remarks were full of humor and I truly felt connected to her character. Another favorite of mine was Nehemia, Princess of Eyllwe. One thing I haven’t seen in books recently are solid friendships that readers can relate to and I saw that in Throne of Glass between Celaena and Nehemia. The romance in this novel was terrifically subtle and I think that the love triangle in this novel will be refreshing to YA readers. 

This book is so great. Go out and buy it, now (you must own it!!) 

Check out the second book as well, coming out August 27th, 2013. You know you want to.