Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Goodreads
404 pages, YA Fantasy
Throne of Glass #1
My Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis

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.

My 2 cents

I love a good fantasy read, and Throne of Glass did not disappoint! This series also has 4 short story eBook prequels. I did read the first one, and I also really liked it. They give a lot background information on Celaena, and I really need to read the other three. I would recommend reading them before you read this book.

Calaena is the best assassin in the land. She has found herself in the hands of the Crown Prince Adarlan, Dorian, and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Chaol. She is competing with 23 other men for the title of King's Champion. If she wins this competition, she will be the King's hired assassin for 4 years, and then she will earn her freedom. 

The best thing about the story was Calaena herself. Calaena has had a rough life, and she is one tough cookie. She's afraid of almost nothing, and is as beautiful as she is deadly. It doesn't take long before she's attracted the attentions of the Prince. Chaol doesn't trust her at all, and thinks she is very manipulative, but even he starts to develop feelings for her. Calaena is pretty clueless to all this. She is focused only on winning.

The story has everything I'd want in a fantasy. A warring world, an evil king, swords and ancient magic, conspiracies, and plenty of duel and battles. The cast of characters are fabulous, and I think were the best part. Besides our top three players, we have the evil king before mentioned, an evil Duke, a strange princess the befriends Calaena, and 23 other champions that range between cunning and sadistic. There is so much depth to everything in this story, and I was easily able to lose myself in it while reading. I can't wait to read the sequel!