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Elle (ellexamines)'s Reviews > Throne of Glass
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
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I hateread a chapter from book five of this series with a friend. And I'm going to register my opinion that while it may have slightly improved in character development or worldbuilding or etc etc etc - I wouldn't know - it is, objectively, just as horribly written as this book.
And that's the tea.
Let me give this book one minuscule fragment of credit: the plot isn't horrible. Okay, yeah, the plot is kind of boring and there are a lot of opportunities for deception and badassery that are not taken. I take full offense at badassery being missed.
But seriously, guys, this book suffers from fucking terrible character work.
Thesis Statement: Celaena is a badly written character. She is arrogant as hell, really petty, and somewhat obsessed with her own appearance. And that's not even the problem - a horribly unlikable assassin as a lead character could be amazing. But Celaena does not have enough character depth for her unlikability to be tolerable. Her alleged tragic past? Pretty much not represented on page. Frankly, tragic pasts need a lot of fleshing out to be compelling and believable, and I don't even think Celaena's trauma is acknowledged once in this book - come on, at least do the bare minimum?
Listen, okay, you want to get me started on my #1 pet peeve in YA for all eternity? Heroines that have less sense than the audience. I like my heroines to be one step ahead of me, or at my level. Let's talk about the fact that Celaena is just... a complete idiot. Some assassin. I am 98% sure I have more sense than this character / prop for love triangles does. Like, I'm sorry, but how am I supposed to be intimidated by someone who 98% of the audience could outthink?
I am so disappointed by all this character could have been and all this character is not. completely lighthearted. Again, that could be super enjoyable to read about! I'd LOVE a book about a slightly unbalanced girl who murders people with a smile on her face. This could be Celaena if she were cleverer and a bit - okay, a lot - more fleshed out. But she's just an unbelievable, annoying heroine.
And Jesus, I am so annoyed by the love triangle. Dorian is just flat as hell and has no character. Chaol is... okay, I know someone is going to fight me over this but I do not care. Chaol is an overprotective ass. I can't believe he's supposed to be the good romantic interest compared to Rowan. Jesus, how bad is Rowan? What is happening in this damn series??
And yeah, I forgot just how much I hated it until the hateread, but the writing style of this book is worse than amateur. It is so tedious, it is so typical, and it is so overdramatic. I take full issue with both overuse of exclamation points and lack of ability to truly get into a character's head.
I have made my decision and I am not continuing.
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And that's the tea.
🌺 montage of me screaming "why is this hyped" for five hours
Let me give this book one minuscule fragment of credit: the plot isn't horrible. Okay, yeah, the plot is kind of boring and there are a lot of opportunities for deception and badassery that are not taken. I take full offense at badassery being missed.
But seriously, guys, this book suffers from fucking terrible character work.
Thesis Statement: Celaena is a badly written character. She is arrogant as hell, really petty, and somewhat obsessed with her own appearance. And that's not even the problem - a horribly unlikable assassin as a lead character could be amazing. But Celaena does not have enough character depth for her unlikability to be tolerable. Her alleged tragic past? Pretty much not represented on page. Frankly, tragic pasts need a lot of fleshing out to be compelling and believable, and I don't even think Celaena's trauma is acknowledged once in this book - come on, at least do the bare minimum?
Listen, okay, you want to get me started on my #1 pet peeve in YA for all eternity? Heroines that have less sense than the audience. I like my heroines to be one step ahead of me, or at my level. Let's talk about the fact that Celaena is just... a complete idiot. Some assassin. I am 98% sure I have more sense than this character / prop for love triangles does. Like, I'm sorry, but how am I supposed to be intimidated by someone who 98% of the audience could outthink?
I am so disappointed by all this character could have been and all this character is not. completely lighthearted. Again, that could be super enjoyable to read about! I'd LOVE a book about a slightly unbalanced girl who murders people with a smile on her face. This could be Celaena if she were cleverer and a bit - okay, a lot - more fleshed out. But she's just an unbelievable, annoying heroine.
And Jesus, I am so annoyed by the love triangle. Dorian is just flat as hell and has no character. Chaol is... okay, I know someone is going to fight me over this but I do not care. Chaol is an overprotective ass. I can't believe he's supposed to be the good romantic interest compared to Rowan. Jesus, how bad is Rowan? What is happening in this damn series??
And yeah, I forgot just how much I hated it until the hateread, but the writing style of this book is worse than amateur. It is so tedious, it is so typical, and it is so overdramatic. I take full issue with both overuse of exclamation points and lack of ability to truly get into a character's head.
I have made my decision and I am not continuing.
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Reading Progress
February 11, 2016
–
Started Reading
February 11, 2016
–
Finished Reading
September 11, 2016
– Shelved
October 1, 2016
– Shelved as:
fantasy
January 19, 2018
– Shelved as:
1-star
October 21, 2019
– Shelved as:
elise-s-did-not-finish
October 21, 2019
– Shelved as:
zzzzz-did-not-finish
October 21, 2019
– Shelved as:
did-not-finish
October 21, 2019
– Shelved as:
zzzzz-did-not-finish
Comments Showing 1-50 of 117 (117 new)
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BabyLunLun
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rated it 2 stars
Mar 31, 2017 12:32AM
Second book is slightly better. But as I go on with the series, Celaena did a 180 turn. I am giving up on this series. I would take Throne of Glass over Empire of Storms anyday
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Well, if this series is getting better or worse it depends on what you like (for me it gets better). However it is changing A LOT when comparing the story and the plot from book one to book five. Throne of Glass is like a poor novella addition, compare to the rest of the series.
Read the second book, and it was slightly better then the first, but I just can't get into her writing, and couldn't agree more about Celaena. This book annoyed me so much
This book series is on my "after everything I read about it, I know I probably wouldn't enjoy it" list of popular books I'm not going to read unless someone pays me for it. Your review is one that echoes all my concerns.
Somehow I missed every comment on this omg I'm sorry!@Min I've heard it gets better, then worse. I might continue, but it would take a lot.
@Aleksandra that's helpful, thanks! I might at some point, just not quite sure yet.
@Adi everyone says Celaena gets worse, and I can't handle that at all! How is that even possible?
@Vanessa yeah, I'm part of a minority, so you could give it a try? but yeah, if this seems concerning to you don't
I couldn't agree more, Elise! The concept of Celaena is awesome but in reality she's just whiny and vain and incredibly boring, I couldn't get into this at ALL.
@Emma I know! She could've been so cool but she's just annoying
I didn't enjoy the first book so much either. The second was much better!!! I have yet to read the third. I'm giving this series a chance
I might read book 2 because I've heard that!! Idk though, I've also heard mixed things about the later books of the series so I might not bother
Elise wrote: "@Vanessa yeah, I'm part of a minority, so you could give it a try? but yeah, if this seems concerning to you don't"Na, I'm good. From all the snippets, quotes and reviews I've read, I'm 99.99999% sure that it wouldn't be my cup of tea (while I'm still on the fence concerning other very popular YA books). I'm pretty sure I'm not missing anything personally.
the characterization gets better (more developed and such) as the series goes on. I always tell people to keep in mind that a) this is the author's first book (even the greats such as Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey's first books weren't very good) and that she wrote the original when she was 16. Granted, there have been 16-yr-old writers who did okay (Paolini, sort of; Atwater-Rhodes, definitely) but the author was young when this book was written, her critique partners were also very young and inexperienced, and then when it was picked up by an agent, the book itself was packaged pretty much as it was based on the strength of the author's online following (similar to 50 Shades of Grey, but without the abuse, erotic content, and more obvious fanfiction origins). Crown of Midnight does get better, but the real evolution of the author's writing is in book 3 - which was beginning to be written around the time feedback for Throne of Glass was popping up online, due to publishing timetables.I've seen critiques of the individual books and the series as a whole that make good points, and I've seen reviews that come across as incredibly ignorant of context. So I really think trying it for yourself is the thing to do. I used to rely on reviews, but there are some great reviewers out there that I agree with on one book and totally disagree with on another, even if the books are by the same author or even in the same series. If you don't want to risk wasting money, I suggest the library. I suggest NOT listening to the audiobooks - the narrator isn't very good.
Oh, and I gave ToG 2.5 stars out of 5 and explain why in my own review. I haven't reviewed Crown of Midnight yet, but I've read it and have things to say.
Cathryn wrote: "I really think trying it for yourself is the thing to do. I used to rely on reviews, but there are some great reviewers out there that I agree with on one book and totally disagree with on another, even if the books are by the same author or even in the same series."I'm not sure who this comment is directed towards. I have actually read the book, I'm not just going off reviews. This is my honest review.
I've already said that I might continue, but I haven't totally decided. I'm mainly paranoid about the things I've heard surrounding this book's romance plots; alpha male types are very much not for me, and if even one person thinks a love interest is too aggressive, I'm almost guaranteed to agree. At least half those on my feed despise Rowan, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Cathryn wrote: "I gave ToG 2.5 stars out of 5 and explain why in my own review. I haven't reviewed Crown of Midnight yet, but I've read it and have things to say. "
Perhaps I'm seeing the wrong thing, but your rating seems to be 4 stars, not 2.5. And there's no review. Am I totally confused?
Honestly, I can't really remember why I rated ToG 4 stars lol. And I wholeheartedly agree with you: Celaena is probably Exhibit A of what a Mary-Sue MC looks like, and the plot must have been so cliche and boring because I have apparently forgotten most of it by now (something about a competition??) I'm with you here though--I'm not sure if I really want to continue the series
Judging on your first review and what you've said about alpha makes, you probably won't like where this series is headed. I personally enjoy Celaena's character development in book 3 (that was the best book in my opinion) and the plot definitely gets hella complicated after that one. In my mind, that's kind of the turning point in the series for me, and I've enjoyed it a lot. But I can 100% understand why some people don't like it, and I even agree with some of the negative comments about characters, particularly the males! But yeah you might get frustrated with SJM if aggressive relationships aren't your thing! :)
To be fair, when I first read the first book, I didn't continue the series for months afterwards because it felt so 'meh'. The writing does get a lot better, it becomes a lot less *ten thousand word description of lacy dresses*. She wrote the main draft for this when she was pretty young and I think it needed more editing than it got to get to the final draft. I like the rest of the books a lot more, especially from book three onwards, as Celaena becomes a lot more relatable...I do warn you that it's the most hetero thing I've ever read though.
I read the first book and got sidetracked by others, but when I finally went back to the series, I fell in love with it. especially after book 2. I almost 100% guarantee reading the second book will improve your opinion of the series. today she's my favorite author and I can't go five minutes without bringing up her books, thinking about her books, or rereading her books
Agree 100% about Celaena! She's a vain spoiled brat without any depth. I also hated the inconsistency of most of the characters throughout the series. It seems like the author wrote two books with a certain idea of how it's going to be and then changed her mind in third and especially fourth book. I do think that the second book is better than this one, and third had lots of potential even though it was really slow read for me (I loved Manon tho!), but then Queen of Shadows happened.. :-/ It's kind of back and forth with this series..Ohh and if you want to read book with
@Stephanie I understand the intent as to her character, but it just doesn't work at all. @Britt yeah, that trope is just so not for me. I've heard really good things about ACoMaF so I might try that someday. Morally ambiguous guys are fine, just not overprotective annoying ones.
@Kari HA I LOVE THE LAST SENTENCE
I think I will read them at some point. It's just not a priority atm
@Maura thanks for the rec!! That's Marie Lu for me, what I read of Legend was decent but the young elites was AMAZING
@Maggie ooooooh thanks for the rec! I have 0 patience for long series atm, but I'll definitely add that to my longlist
that seems consistent with everything I've heard. Tell me if I'm right:
ToG— eh
CoM— badass
HoF— slow but character development
QoS— Chaol's character gets erased
EoS— sex
This book suuuuuuuuuuuucks OMG I HATE IT!!!! CoM owns a piece of my heart though so .... that's weird how that happened.
@Frankie that makes me feel better actually, most of the reviews I've seen so far have been “second book was better but I still liked first book”
no .. no no no ... the first book took me 4 tries to finally get throughWe can just pretend you didn't hate on Chaol and other than that ... we agree whole heartedly lol
But ... honestly Elise ...If you hated Chaol, you are not going to like book 2 just saying.
idk maybe I'll hate him less on the next book
I still have to actually finish this once though
Elise wrote: "Cathryn wrote: "I really think trying it for yourself is the thing to do. I used to rely on reviews, but there are some great reviewers out there that I agree with on one book and totally disagree ..."Ack! There's supposed to be a link to my Tumblr review post and there's not! I'll rectify that once I get home. I apologize for the confusion.
I also meant trying *Crown of Midnight* for yourself to see if you think it's better than Throne of Glass. My Goodreads star rating should be 3 stars...since for some reason GR doesn't allow us halvesies. :( Again, sorry for the confusion. I actually agree with how too-stupid-to-live Celaena is in the first book. Ugh.
Having read through the other comments, the character development is there as the series progresses, but it may not necessarily go in the direction you expect.I think this link should work for my review. la-knight.tumblr.com/post/148440881…glas...
Oh, okay! I found your review by doing a quick blog search, it's here. Yeah, your review says some of my thoughts. I didn't think the plotting was bad, but I had major issues with Celaena. If CoM progresses behind that, I'd actually love to read it. Not a top priority, but maybe someday.
Lol yeah, pretty much! ToG was meh, the plot in CoM was much more balanced and Celaena acted a bit more like an actual assassin (though I still hated her lol) and while it still wasn't anywhere near my favourite I enjoyed it more. The third book had interesting new world building, Manon and her wyvern, useless Dorian and boring Chaol and was way too long. But the potential in that story was huge - and I found Manon and Celaena's chapters really interesting here.
Then QoS ruined Chaol's character for the sake of new ship (which I hate), Celaena acted still the same, some characters got unrecognizable. Haven't read EoS yet but I've heard way too much about the mountain shattering sex here.. ugh.
@Maggie how did I miss this?? Yeah, I've heard books two and three are better, but people seem pretty torn on books four and five.
@Gaby ...it really doesn't look like you hated books one and two, considering the glowing five star review? it really is okay if you liked book one! It just didn't work for me.
I felt the same way about this book when I read it, I've been meaning to try to reread it so that I can give book 2 a chance but reading your review made me remember why I've been putting it off for so long :\
@MaryJane yeah :/ sometimes I wish I could forget I ever started it, so I could reread with a fully unbiased view.
Honestly, I was like 13 when I read the first book and loved it, but now when I reread it, it is kind of meh. But as I go on in the series, you can really see the author's writing develop, along with the characters. But hey, this isn't a series for everyone.
@Emily that's good to hear! There are so many series I reread nowadays and feel very meh on.
Oh my god, I completely agree on the whole Celaena thing. She's the most annoying character ever! She gets worse as the series progresses, I honestly say to not bother continuing unless you like plucking your own hair out.
Zain wrote: "Oh my god, I completely agree on the whole Celaena thing. She's the most annoying character ever! She gets worse as the series progresses, I honestly say to not bother continuing unless you like pl..."she just annoyed me so much yikes
And Rowan is the most disgusting bland thing ever. You'll definitely hate him.
Zain wrote: "And Rowan is the most disgusting bland thing ever. You'll definitely hate him."ho boy i love Abusive Alpha Dudes they're so hot don't read like sexual predators at all
And definitely don't read if you don't like penises referred to as velvet wrapped steel.
oh my gooooooooood I cannot even EXPRESS how much I DESPISE this shit book. ugh it makes me annoyed just fucking THINKING about it.
It doesn't get better, really. The writing improves a bit, but it's still annoying,
@Zain i love that that's become a meme@Theo MOOD it's just so?? incompetent?? it physically angers me it's not even PRETENDING to be good like Red Queen or Ember in the Ashes it's just generically bad
@Beatriz so I've heard :/ I've heard good things about two and three but I have a feeling I'll be on team hate four and five
I read the first book and decided not to continue. It was good, but not OMG good. Then I got peer pressured on Instagram and appreciated the series so much more as each book progressed. I would say by the 3rd book, I was good with continuing on.
@Angelica I've heard a few people say that about later stuff... I guess I'm just worried. Maybe I'll wait and see how people feel about the end
If you hate Celaena now, you don't won't believe what she is in book 4. And this is from someone who actually really loved Celaena.
Kami wrote: "If you hate Celaena now, you don't won't believe what she is in book 4. And this is from someone who actually really loved Celaena."I just think she's kind of... not smart
There's more character development as you progress through the series. Not only re: Celaena, but other characters as well.
@Grace that's good to hear :)
don’t continue with the series seriously it only gets worse from here. Books 1-3 are there own territory but 4 and 5 are a nightmare of ooc, abuse, heteronormative bullshit etc Dorian is the only saving grace to this series and even then Sarah fucks around with him a bit so he has to be as “male” as possible later on.
