A Review of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas is one of the bestselling fantasy authors of the past decade. Her Court of Thorn and Roses series is near the top of the Amazon bestsellers along with novels from her previous Throne of Glass and Crescent City series. To get a sample of her work, I started with the first novel in her Throne of Glass series, with the easy to remember title: Throne of Glass.

From the start, the novel gives away pungent Mary Sue aromas. Celaena Sardothien is the greatest assassin known in the fantasy kingdom of Adarlan… at age 18. Royal forces captured her and put her to work in the salt mines. One day, the Crown Prince decides to take her out of the mines and offers her a chance at winning her freedom in a contest to becomes the King’s champion. Win, and she earns a four year contract as the King’s new assassin and then FREEDOM! Lose, and she returns to the salt mines to die.

The kingdom of Adarlan is a sad place, where magic is outlawed and any mention of the fantastic creatures and forces of the past is punished. Yet, it has not left the world completely. Celaena finds she has a mysterious connection to magic as she arrives at the king’s glass castle, where the would-be champions are to compete for the King’s Champion job. While preparing for the contest, she grows closer to the Crown Prince and the captain of the guard, both part of the realm that enslaved her.

Throne of Glass is typical wish-fulfillment YA fantasy marketed towards preteen and teen readers, predominantly female ones. It’s protagonist is a smart, witty, unrealistically talented and adored young woman who is put in a special competition. The character dynamics and court politics all resemble the popularity contests and pettiness you’d find in a high school. That goes for the flirting as well.

It is to the point that the author made next to zero attempt at any authenticity to the setting.There is nothing about the characters, setting, or politics that strikes as realistic for a medieval era feudal kingdom, which Adarlan is clearly meant to be in this albeit fantastic world.

On the Mary Sue scale, Celaena scores up to Bella Swan levels. A famous assassin at age 18 is put into a royal contest against the best warriors while in the company of a handsome Crown Prince and his handsome captain of the guard. A love triangle of two men vying for the affections of the protagonist is another box checked. Naturally Celaena is the most talented killer and would be the favorite if anyone knew who she truly was. Beyond the men who sponsor her, there are courtiers many of whom take to liking to Celaena almost from the start.

Why read the novel clearly meant for a different audience? In some cases, these novels possess unique qualities that make it more than mere adolescent female wish fulfillment. Hunger Games, for example, had a terrifying dystopian setting with an insightful take on reality TV and gratuitous violence taken to extreme. Given the popularity of the series and the author, it was worth the read to see if there was more to it.

Sadly, Throne of Glass lacks any unique qualities outside of being a standard adolescent female fantasy. The prose is basic and the plot tends to meander, losing itself in the flirtations of the love triangle while people are being murdered. The action is decent but there are only a couple actions scenes. The antagonists are nothing more than high school bullies, with the protagonist given her opportunities to show them up.

For its large intended audience, it has obvious strong appeal. Beyond that particular readership, the novel lacks much merit. There doesn’t seem much point in continuing in the Throne of Glass series but Maas’s later work may have more substance. Then again, it is hard to deviate from a model that has had such enormous success.