2 Stars

Review: Queen of Shadows

09:17

Queen of Shadows
By Sarah J. Maas

 Source: Personal purchase, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, 

Goodreads Synopsis:

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

 My Review:

I had such high hopes for this book. I loved the rest of the series, so this was easily my most anticipated read of this year. I even paid extra money to get it to ship quicker, and cancelled a previous order! Looking back, I think my hopes for this book were too high, because I was so disappointed.

The book got off to a good start. I was enjoying the direction the book was going in, and I found it to be addictive and fast paced. Although there was no clear direction for the book, I hoped that the only reason for this was because I hadn’t read much. I kept telling myself that it’s really long, so there’s plenty of time for something to happen. I honestly don’t really know where it went wrong for me.

There was nothing that specifically stood out as something that I disliked, though I think my main problem was the pacing. About a quarter of the way in, nothing had happened. Although there were small action scenes, and little plot twists here and there, there was nothing major that stood out to me as exciting. All of Maas’ books are slow to start with, so I really hoped that it was going to get better.
By a fair amount of the book (at least over half way), nothing had happened. We’d had a few speeches about how great Aelin was (which was really starting to get tiresome), but really nothing drastic or noteworthy. The plot was going nowhere, and looking back, I really can’t tell you things that happened. I was just so bored.
I was also disappointed with the way all the characters have changed. Although character development is to be expected, I didn’t like the way Aelin now hated Chaol (it’s as if Crown of Midnight didn’t exist) - in my opinion, I feel Maas just changed her mind halfway through the series.

The romance was just really unpleasant to read about. I didn’t like the people involved together, so for me, I would have preferred if it was left out. Although there really wasn’t much romance, it didn’t add anything to the story, and I was just skimming over the scenes. The next books in the series promise steamy romance, and I can’t say I’m looking forward to it.

I didn’t enjoy this book, but nothing really stuck out as terrible. There were some exciting parts, but much more excruciatingly slow chapters. I will be reading the rest in the series - somewhat because I’ve invested too much already to just give up on it - as I still hope that it can claw its way back again, and that I can enjoy the rest. I know some fans will really enjoy this, just not me.

Rating:

5 Stars

The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5) Review

14:00

The Assassin's Blade
By Sarah J. Maas

 Source: Personal purchase, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:
Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.


Wow. My breathing is still so uneven after this book. Sarah J Maas’ writing is so vivid, it really hits me so hard. My emotions are really wild after this book, and - to be honest - only Queen of Shadows can fill the Celaena shaped hole in my heart. I just know I am going to have a massive book hangover after this!


Because it’s split up into 5 novellas/ short stories, I thought I wasn’t going to enjoy this as much as I enjoyed the others, but in actual fact, I enjoyed it much more than Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight. The individual stories followed so well together, it didn’t feel at all disjointed. It was really smooth, and was just like reading one long book, not 5 short ones.


The Assassin and the Pirate Lord - 5/5 ~ This was a great way to open the book. I loved all the action, and it was amazing to see Celaena be as badass as usual. I also really enjoyed seeing Celaena and Sam’s relationship change. We saw much more development in this book, and I really enjoyed it.
The Assassin and the Healer - 4/5 ~ This novella was much more slow-moving at the start, so I didn’t begin to enjoy it as much. Though, it did soon pick up, and once it did, Celaena was being as great as usual. It was a lot shorter than all of the others, so I read it quite quickly. It didn’t really make a difference to the overall story, but I still enjoyed it a lot.
The Assassin and the Desert - 4.5/5 ~ I really enjoyed this story. We saw a different side to Celaena - which I loved - and it was really exciting and fast paced too. It had lots of plot twists which I didn’t see coming, and I was hooked throughout.


The Assassin and the Underworld - 5/5 ~ This one was so cute! In this novella, we saw much more of Sam (which I loved!), and how his relationship with Celaena developed. They’re so cute together, I need all the Sam + Celaena (what’s their ship name?) I can get! It was really fun to read
The Assassin and the Empire - 5/5 ~ I loved the romance in this one (Team Sam forever!), along with everything else in it. One of my favourite aspects was that the sad part wasn’t dragged out. I knew what was coming from reading Throne of Glass before hand, so it would have just annoyed me if it was just trying to make us cry. Also, Celaena was still really badass, even though she was dealing with a lot, and I really liked that aspect.
Overall, this was an amazing book. I love the series so much more now, which I didn’t even know was possible! If you’re thinking of starting the Throne of Glass series, I would recommend reading this first - I think you will definitely enjoy the others more if you do. I just need Queen of Shadows now!

My reaction:


My rating:



4 stars

Review: Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)

19:38

Throne of Glass
By Sarah J. Maas

 Source: Personal purchase, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Consumed by guilt and rage, Celaena can't bring herself to spill blood for the King of Adarlan. She must fight back...

The Immortal Queen will help her destroy the king - for a price. But as Celaena battles with her darkest memories and her heart breaks for a love that could never last, can she fulfil the bargain and head the almighty court of Terrasen? And who will stand with her?


 My Review:

 Holy cow this book was awesome! I really enjoyed it, and in my opinion, was definitely the best in the series. Actually, this series just gets better and better, which makes me super excited for Queen of Shadows (hurry up September...!). 

 The plot in this book was so good. It had so many twists and turns, and it's so original - I have never read anything like it before, and it really blew me away. I know the words of this book are going to stick with me forever. 

 Like most books, this was slow to start with. I think I was just in the wrong mood (I was really tired when I first came to read this), but it still made me a bit bored at the start. Though that soon went away - Sarah J. Maas' writing is so beautiful - it really captivates me, and the description makes the world seem to real. 

 The climax of the book was built up to well (there is a battle at the end), and everything linked together well. I was really hooked at the end (like always with Sarah J. Maas' books), and I actually got up really early to finish this (I do not regret my decision. Although I was exhausted at school all day, I just had to find out what happened. The only downside was that all my friends got annoyed at me for being to emotional after this book...). You know an author is good when you miss sleep to read their books!

 Celaena was still as amazing as in the previous books. This book, she did have a little bit too much self-pity, but she was still grieving, so that was to be expected, and just made her seem more real and human. She again saved the day and everyone else, yet still juggled all these emotions and events occurring in her life too. Why can't everyone just be as bad-ass as Celaena?

 In this book the series significantly developed a lot, so new characters were to be expected. I didn't really like reading about Manon Blackbeak because I didn't really know her - at the start it just seemed pointless, and bored me, but as I got nearer the end of the book I cared about her a bit more. In my view, some of her POVs were unnecessary and could have been cut down on a bit, but she did develop into a much better character. And you know how I feel about character development...
 

In Crown of Midnight, I really liked Chaol, but in this book I went off him a bit. I felt that he was clinging to the past too much, when Celaena had already moved on much further from that. He was a bit annoying, and didn't really do much to the story, apart from clog it up. Overall, I would have been much happier if there was less of him in the book.

Sorscha was another really irritating addition. She just got too fangirly over Dorian (who just needs to get with Celaena, and anyone who stands in his was I dislike), which was just unnecessary. Seriously people, it's destiny - stop standing in their way!

So many new ships developed for me in this book. I am still a true shipper of Celaena and Dorian, and I used to ship Celaena and Chaol too, but now I really don't - Celaena is way too good for Chaol. I really ship Rowan and Celaena as friends - they just bounce off each-other so well! I'm really glad Sarah J. Maas didn't try to make them romantic together, because I know some other authors would have, and it would have been wrong on so many levels. 

On the subject of BROTPs, Chaol and Dorian were really cute together too. When Chaol said "I love you" to Dorian, that was so cute! They are such good friends, and it's really nice to read about. 

It was also really cute in the bit where Aelin, Dorian and Aedion were small. I know it wasn't intended to be cute, but it really was, and I just really loved it. Celaena and Dorian were meant to be from when they were 10 - it's destiny. 

Overall, this series has made me a true lover of fantasy. I am really looking forward to reading more of Sarah J. Maas in the future (hurry up May with A Court of Thorns and Roses!), and September just cannot come fast enough for the next book in this series, which has become a new favourite of mine.

Rating: 

3.5 stars

Review: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)

16:31

Crown of Midnight
By Sarah J. Maas

 Source: Physical copy, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, 

 Goodreads Synopsis:

"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

 My Review:

 Gosh this book was amazing! It was really fast-paced, the plot was consistently amazing, and everything linked together so cleverly at the end. I enjoyed it so much - Sarah J. Maas is such an amazing author, I don't think she's actually capable of writing a bad book.

 Celaena is such an amazing heroine - she is so strong minded and tough, seemingly perfect, but she is flawed, making me care about her even more. She's the perfect example of a female protagonist - pushes around all the idiot men, and saves the day! She manages to save everyone, herself, and even her dog (which is just a great addition to the book - who doesn't love a cute dog?), yet is still really powerful and badass.

 My only complaint about this book (yeah, I know, I can't write an entirely good review for a book...) is that in some places it dragged. Most of the time, I was completely hooked, but sometimes I got a bit bored, and the story seemed to be taking too long. Was that just me? It might have been because people were interrupting me, but at times it felt too heavy, and I just had to put the book down. It took me a while to read because of this, but that didn't really matter because it meant I could savour it. 

 The ending to this book was just... it really blew me away! I literally finished this book with my mouth open, it left me on such a cliff-hanger, and I really needed to know what happened next. I can't believe Sarah J. Maas ending it like that! But, luckily, I bought the book the next day (today as I'm writing this), so I can't wait to start it. The general ending was fantastic - everything linked together, and most of my questions were answered (though not enough to stop me from buying the next book even though I have around 10 books to read!), so it was rounded off well.

 Rating:

3.5 stars

Review: Throne of Glass

16:05


Throne of Glass
By Sarah J Maas

Source: Physical copy
Page count: 404
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, 

Goodreads 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 exhilarating. 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 Review:

 My initial thoughts on this book were harsher than my opinion at the end. On the one hand, this book started off terribly, and was really boring; although, by the ending of this book I was loving it!

 First of all, it's beautifully written. All the description made this book a truly magical read for me:
"Celeana lay in the bed, staring at a pool of moonlight on the floor. It filled in the dusty gaps between the stone tiles, and turned everything a bluish silver that made her feel as if she was frozen in an everlasting moment." 
This quote is just beautiful. The amazing description really enhanced the book for me!

 I also really liked the main character: Celeana Sardothien. She was feisty, strong-minded, intelligent - a really great character! I really liked reading about her, and - for once - she wasn't a weak protagonist! This made the book really great for me. 

One thing I really hated about the book was Dorian. He was outrageously disgusting, and really sexist! One thing that was actually described about him was: "he couldn't deny that he was aching to learn what her bare skin smelled like, how she'd react to the touch of his finger along his body"
I find this despicable. The fact that he could think that just made me want to vomit!

Though, I did really enjoy this book, and towards the end it really made me want to read on, even if it was a very slow start. 

Rating: 


Recommendation: If you enjoyed The Mortal Instruments