Book Review: Throne of Glass Series by Sara J. Maas

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.