I read all of Sara J. Maas’ books from the
Throne of Glass series in succession, so I decided to wait until I finished all
before reviewing them together. In retrospect, it would have been a better idea
to relay my feelings after each individual book, because they were all quite
different and my opinion of the series now seems to be hinged on my feelings
towards the latest instalment. I will, however attempt to give a fair review of
the series as a whole and each individual book.
1. Throne of Glass
The first book in the
series came highly recommended by booktubers and bloggers around the internet,
and its presence was so pervasive that I gave it a shot, despite the somewhat
off-puttingly commercial covers (obviously geared towards teens and pre-teens,
to my embarrassment). I can see how it would appeal to that demographic, and
still works for slightly older readers as light entertainment. Its premise
derives from the classic Cinderella story, but with a slight twist. Cinderella
here is not a helpless, oppressed damsel in distress, but rather a strong (both
physically and mentally) and opinionated young woman. This automatically
appealed to my feminist sensibilities, and successfully counterbalanced the
somewhat clichéd love triangle that reared its head soon into the book. That’s
not to say that the romantic plot of the book wasn’t enjoyable – the light-hearted
banter between the characters was pleasant if not particularly interesting. In
this instalment it had a more prominent role than in later books, which had slightly
more action. This instalment of the series had a bit of a murder-mystery vibe
about it, with the plot mainly focusing on the central event of the competition
in which Celaena, the hero is taking part. The setting mostly remains in the
castle, where Calaena is a guest whilst she is taking part in the king’s competition
to be his “champion”. I preferred this set-up to the expansiveness of the later
books (but more on that later). Overall, Throne of Glass was a fun, light,
quick read.
2.
Crown of Midnight
If I’m being honest, I can
hardly remember what happened in the sequel after reading the long-winded third
and fourth book, which expanded on the world of the novels so much. I remember
enjoying it, despite the fact that there isn’t a whole lot happening at this
point. Or maybe there is? Wouldn’t I remember? I do remember that it got a
whole lot grittier, and there were definitely some intense and surprising
parts.
3.
Heir of Fire
The third instalment of
the series takes this world to a whole new level, but I wasn’t really ready for
it. Maas’ ambitious world-building, or rather exponential world-expanding, is
to be commended, but somehow it felt a bit jarring for me. I had grown used to
the setting of the palace in the first two books, and although I understand how
that might get boring for readers, it was somehow too sudden, when in the third
book we are suddenly catapulted into an entirely different setting, with a
whole host of new characters, villains, and love interests. I like a sense of
stability in the series – like how Harry Potter always returned to Hogwarts
where his next adventure took place. The
third book not only changes the setting, but changes the perspective of the
novel, and often. We are introduced to Manon Blackbeak, a witch, whose life
will obviously have some bearing upon the main characters eventually, but I
found myself impatient with her storylines at first. It was a bit too much
snarling and snapping, and showing off just how evil and gruesome these witches
are. Later on, when the character is given much more nuance, her POV chapters
become much more interesting as well. Caelana also changes quite a lot in this
instalment – although her character development is somewhat uneven throughout
the series. I was relieved to see that despite her new outlook on life and her
newly acquired powers, she retained the attitude and bad manners that made her
an interesting character in the first place.
4.
Queen of Shadows
At this point in the series, when the lack
of action sometimes allowed for me to slow down and deliberate the writing
style of the novels, I realised that there were some annoying ‘writing ticks’
and some strange inconsistencies throughout. For example, I had the sense that
the historical background for the novels (yes, I know it’s fantasy) was somehow
inconsistent. It may be an alternate reality, but it has to have some kind of
consistent world that possibly resembles a certain time period in our own
history. Here, Aelin goes out and grabs herself some breakfast, dies her hair
with hair dye from the market, and she’s basically got a swanky downtown loft
apartment with a fridge and fully functional waterworks. Yet other elements of
this world seem slightly medieval. It felt like the author was just including
whatever element would make a scene easier to write, and that’s not the best
way to go. I also noticed that Maas has some favourite phrases, and boy does
she love to pepper her writing with them. It made me wonder why her editors
didn’t at least hint to her that she should invest in a thesaurus. The word
incarnate makes an appearance every couple of pages – “the swaggering assassin
incarnate”, “despair incarnate”, “death incarnate”, “the Wolf incarnate” etc.,
etc. Her characters also seem to have a “killing calm” come over them fairly
often, a times inexplicably achieved alongside their own professed anger and
outrage. That said, the fourth installment wasn’t all
bad. We finally got a lot more backstory about Caleana, and also had a glimpse
behind the motivations (or lack thereof) of the king, who had previously seemed
like a very generic and impenetrable villain.
Overall, these books were enjoyable, quick
reads, if one turns a blind eye to the inconsistencies and the writing style.