Book 1 in the Throne of Glass series
AUTHOR: Sarah J. Maas
PUBLISHED: August 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, adventure
PREMISE: Celeana is a assassin serving out her sentance when she's brought forth to the crown prince with an offer to become the kingdom's chief assassin.
MY REVIEW: So I was originally under the impression that this was self-published, apparently I'm wrong about that. This was a original fiction universe on Fiction Press that got a book deal which frankly can be just as a mixed bag as self-publishing. Don't misunderstand, I am not bashing authors/people who use Fiction Press. In fact I think the site is good for beginner authors to work on their writing, gain a support group, etc. But that's the key word there: beginner. I don't think one should look for fiction to publish on it. This book is a example of why.
Don't get me wrong, Maas has lots of potential. She's good at pacing, action, and dialogue. However her characters and world building need TONS of work. Especially her characters because I'm sorry but Celeana is flat and excellent example of what a Mary Sue is. She is literally perfect. She reads, she kicks butt all over the place, she's sassy, she is just plain never wrong, and she of course is beautiful. Literally she has no flaws. It also does not help the author that the picture on the cover is basically the author herself so that furthers the implications that this is a self-insert idealized Mary Sue. The male leads were equally perfect and cookie cutter characters, as was the best friend character. Literally these were the barest minimum stereotypes. To all those saying this is Game of Thrones for teens...NO. Just...NO. These characters are about as morally gray as a Disney princess. Actually, I think Disney princesses have more depth because even Tiana from Princess and the Frog has flaws. And I highly doubt this author is gutsy enough to kill off any of the characters who aren't evil/or sidekicks.
Honestly this was just a nice effort but I could really tell it was a first book by a amateur and I really don't see the Game of Thrones thing AT ALL. Seriously, where the hell did that come from? I think this is one that was guilty of overhype. I think Maas definitely has potential but I would have prefered to read something from her when she had worked on character and setting developement more. Which is basically why this self-publishing trend/looking for original fiction online business just makes me not very happy.
WHO SHOULD READ: fantasy fans, fans of the authors online fiction
MY RATING: Three out of Five swords
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