Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass
Publication: August 7,2012
Publisher:Bloomsbury USA Childrens 
Pages: 416
Audience:Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 out 5
Source: Publisher via Netgalley

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. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. 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.


Thoughts:Celeana is a cunningly calculating, feisty and bold female heroine. I heart her! She is something serious. I love that she is an assassin and a girly girl, as these two sides of her are unexpected from someone like her. The thought of her brings fear to many men but they didn't expect her to be so young. She suffered the loss of her parents at a very young age; she is locked up and whipped in the salt mines. It is a wonder that her will is so strong that her spirited nature is intact. She does however jump at the opportunity to have her life as her own. Freedom never sounded so sweet but it comes with a price. She must enter a competition to become the King's champion before she can taste that freedom. She just has to survive to the final duel.Now, in addition to this she has to contend with the fact that something or someone is killing off her opponents and she is given the task to stop the evil that is responsible.

The first chapter started off slow for me but by the second chapter I was hooked. The writing is eloquent and the characters are detailed and realistic.  The romance was subtle between Celaena and the male love interests. It was great that they aren't to the point of being madly in love. Chaol and Prince Dorian both bring out different sides of Celeana but I feel Chaol is the best match for her. The pace was slow, although I still like the book. I think this has the potential to be a great series.

Review: Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey

Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Title: Stolen Away
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Imprint: Walker Books for Young Readers
Publication: January 17, 2012
Genre: Young Adult
Source: via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | BN | Book Depository
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Synopsis:For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won't comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.

The only one who can break his stranglehold on the Faery court is his wife ... Eloise's aunt Antonia. Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign. Now Eloise must become the rescuer. Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, she must forge alliances with other Fae, including a gorgeous protector named Lucas, and Strahan's mysterious son, Eldric—who may or may not betray them.


Review: When I began this book, it took me a brief moment to realize that it was being told from different perspectives, afterwards I felt that it could have just been told from one. Eloise and Jo are interesting characters but it felt like something was missing in the story, the most memorable parts of the book are the least written about....the romance. It would have been nice to see the relationship between Logan and Eloise in more detail, but the one that got all the action was miss Jo and her love at first kiss with dark, brooding Eldric, now that's a story that I would love to know what happens next(Wowza!!).That said it was too much, too soon for those two....why because not five or more minutes after Jo meets Eldric she is kissing him like their lips should be super glued for eternity(That's some serious lip locking).The pace was too fast and the change in narrative speakers caused the plot to not flow smoothly to me. Now, I did like the concept of the story, the book as a whole was okay.Lastly, this book has all the pieces, it just doesn't seem that they all blended very well.