Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

taken from goodreads

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. 

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.

Lets just establish something, if the bad ass cover doesn't immediately draw you in and the bad ass synopsis doesn't immediately  draw you in then hopefully this review will do what the previous two failed to do.

First, I would like to say that the fantasy genre is the marmite of the book world for me. It's not often that I feel neutral towards these books, I either love the book or hate it. In this case, if you haven't already established, I freaking loved this book. Although, I found that at points it was pretty obvious what was going to happen, it doesn't draw away from the overall effect that this book has on the reader.

Celaena could possibly be the strongest female protagonist I have encountered in the YA world - she has her eye set on her freedom and she will stop at nothing to gain this and whilst she may be an assassin, she isn't emotionally detached from life like you may expect a killer to be. Not only is she an assassin, she is an avid reader and she could take you down with words in a matter of seconds. One of my favourite quotes from the entire book is one from the end, during the final fight and well, maybe you'll understand why it is my favourite once you've read it: “My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me.”  I cheered so hard when she said that, it definitely highlights her strength and complete bad-assery. 

The description in this book is wonderful, Maas wastes no time in plunging us into the world of Adarlan and the Glass Palace. There is one point when Celaena is stood looking out onto the city and I felt like I was stood right next to her. It's easy for writers to fall into the trap of telling rather than showing but Maas has not fallen down on this aspect, rather she has strode at least 10 ft past the trap. A well built world is one of the greatest things in literature.

Every single time I read a new book, I try desperately to not fall in love with the characters but with Dorian and Chaol it was too difficult. They are polar opposites which is why it is okay to love them both and I will not envy Celaena when it comes to choosing which of the two will be her endgame guy. Dorian is sassy, kind, hilarious and adorable that at times he seemed so much like Will Herondale that I found that I had to remind myself that I was not reading The Infernal Devices. However, I have been informed that this was written long before The Infernal Devices series so obviously this kind of guy is the archetype for YA. Chaol on the other hand is distant, strong, a warrior but there are times when his emotions slip through his cold exterior. The first time he tried to slyly smile at something Calaena had done was the point of no return for me.

Overall, I give this book a very solid 5 stars out 5. You can find the book on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Throne-Glass-Sarah-J-Maas/dp/140883233X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1379884156&sr=8-2&keywords=throne+of+glass