Throne of Glass: A Close-Up Review

"Meet Celaena Sardothien.
Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament—fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin’s heart be melted?" (from Goodreads)

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Characters:

Celaena: I wasn't a big fan of Celaena at the beginning, but she grew on me. She has a lot of self-respect, to the point of (at least initially) coming off as full of herself. By the end of the book, though, we see that she can at times be rather brutally taken down. I think at least some of her cocky attitude is a cover so that she doesn't show her vulnerability. Her continual, lightning-fast flip-flopping with emotions and judgments of others irritated me, however — in some cases this led to behaviour that felt out of character, overall making Celaena's characterization feel somewhat inconsistent.

Also, I wish we'd seen flashbacks to when she'd done assassin-y sorts of things. We keep getting told she's a fantastic assassin, sure, but we don't see it. All we get is a lot of her either a) wearing fancy dresses, b) training, or c) competing. She does well in the competition, it's true, but so do many of the other criminals. Celaena's supposed to be Adarlan's GREATEST assassin, and I just didn't feel like I could fully believe it. Especially considering a decision she makes at one point in the story (spoilers): WHY does she pick a wooden staff over a sword when she knows her opponent will be wielding a sword? Unless it's a magical staff that does not break, you are screwed if you do that. Metal shears wood, case closed. Why didn't she choose Chaol's sword? (It was a romantic gesture, too!)

There's a sort-of love triangle here involving Celaena and two guys, and the way it was written did not endear me to Celaena. I dislike it when the heroine leads on two men, and I'm sorry to say that she does that a bit here. It's certainly not the worst case I've ever seen, but I wish she had made an effort to establish the boundaries of her relationships with Chaol and Dorian. As for how the love triangle turned out, here are my spoilery thoughts on that: I was pleased when she finally broke it off with Dorian, as I never felt a spark between them. 

Dorian: I found him rather bland and boring...truthfully, he seemed like a wuss with not much of a spine. It took him forever to stand up to his father about anything. Also, he was all talk and no action! He didn't back up his fine, fancy words. Case in point (spoilers): Dorian kept berating himself after the fact for not doing anything to help Celaena during the duel, and I was like, "Um, YEAH, dude, you sucked. You just stood there and watched her get beat up." Really, Dorian reminded me of nothing so much as an immature puppy dog.

Chaol: While I think I was predisposed to like Chaol because I'd seen readers raving about him, there is no question that he was by far superior to Dorian. He's the strong, silent, stoic, steadfast type (say that 10 times fast!). I think he and Celaena share more values than either of them cares to admit, and certainly more than Celaena and Dorian do.

Other characters: I liked the mystery surrounding what side Nehemia was on. Spoilers: it was interesting to make her out to be a potential villain for a while, and then have it turn out that she was actually one of the people saving Celaena a lot of the time. As for Kaltain, I thought her role wasn't fleshed out enough. Her character just seemed to be there for the convenience of the plotline.

Premise: I'd heard Throne of Glass previously described as the story of "Cinderella as an assassin." Now, they didn't market it that way on my physical copy of the book (rather, they claimed it was "hotter than the Hunger Games!" which I would dispute both metaphorically and, well, literally, considering the castle is made of glass), which was a smart choice since as far as I'm concerned it's a rather misleading comparison. Sure, there are a few similarities: Celaena's an orphan, her work in the mines could be seen as slaving away doing "chores," she attends a masked ball at one point (and dances with a prince), and she has anywhere from one to three potential "fairy godmothers." But thematically, I don't see Throne of Glass as capturing the heart of the Cinderella story. (Perhaps it started out as a retelling, and then expanded and changed in the writing of it?)

Plot: It takes a little while for anything to happen, but things pick up about halfway through (spoilers: once the Wyrdmarks come into effect and the Fae queen starts appearing to Celaena) which is when I started getting more into it. However, a lot of this book is just conversations interspersed with deaths (sometimes off-screen).

There were also a few plot points that confused me. I was never too sure on which cover story about "Lady Lilian" was being fed to whom, and who knew what about Celaena's participation in the competition. I was also left bemused by the Duke Perrington-Kaltain storyline (spoilers: I know he was using the black rings, but how exactly, and to what effect, was Duke Perrington exerting his influence on Kaltain?)

And the rules regarding a certain magic ritual seemed to get contradicted when put into action. Spoilers: I thought Cain needed the victim's blood to summon the Ridderach, but he does not stab Celaena before he calls the creature. Did I just misread this, or is there something I'm missing here? Perhaps someone can enlighten me?

Writing style: Unfortunately, I found the writing less than spectacular. Throne of Glass is written by a debut author and it shows, with plenty of cliched metaphors and overly dramatic phrasing.

Caveat: To be perfectly fair to Throne of Glass, I should really mention the circumstances under which I was reading it. It was during my first term in a highly intense, stressful Master's degree program, and I was really tired all the time! It took me absolutely forever to get through this book because of that (although once I had some time to finish it, I did within a couple of days). Of course, this coloured my reading experience of the book, so take from that what you will.

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. It just didn't live up to all the hype and glowing reviews for me.

Note: there is some mature content (namely violence) in this book.

Eve of Samhain: A Close-Up Review (New Adult)

"As a college senior and server at Hanaford Park's hottest nightclub, twenty-one year old Ryann Pierce's plan was simple: work hard, make lots of money, and avoid the ass-grabbers at all costs. What she never planned for was Quinn Donegan—the living, breathing advertisement for sinful behavior that waltzed into her life.

With an angelic face, a hard body and a butt-load of charm, Quinn had a way with the ladies—a lot of ladies. Cursed with a deadly, addictive touch, his trail of indiscretion blazed across five hundred years. Tired and jaded, Ryann is a shocking revelation Quinn didn't see coming.

Filled with desire, yet unable to touch one another, Ryann and Quinn embark on a daunting journey, battling frustrating physical limitations while exploring their new love. In a race against the clock, Ryann learns she must plead for Quinn's life before…the Eve of Samhain. Determined to end her lover's suffering, not even the danger dogging her every move can keep her from her mission." (from Goodreads)

Eve of Samhain by Lisa Sanchez


*Note: This review contains mild spoilers.

Characters:

Ryann: if there is one thing that Ryann is good at, it is playing the helpless damsel in distress. The girl almost never does anything to help herself. She just reacts like, "Oh no, I'm in danger!" and then lo and behold, Quinn comes and saves her. All right, she has some attitude, and stands up to Quinn occasionally, but as the book progresses she gets sappier and sappier about him. And she can really be emotionally immature and overdramatic.

On the plus side, I thought it was admirable that she'd chosen to save herself for someone she loved.

Quinn: Ryann is always mentioning how hot Quinn is. I'm not sure if this reflects more on him or on her, but in either case: he's a faerie cursed to seduce women, of course he looks amazing. We get it. Ryann doesn't need to tell us for the billionth time how much he makes her loins burn or whatever. That just got kind of ridiculous after a while.

Other than that, I don't actually have much to say about Quinn.

Ryann and Quinn: their relationship was at its cutest when they were arguing/flirting at the beginning. And I have to admit the curse worked to make things frustrating for both Ryann and the reader at drawing out the tension in the first half or so. But the romance really starts to take over the plot partway through, and the romance itself wasn't doing much for me once the two have declared themselves.

Side characters:

The Friends: We don't really get to know Jessica or Martha that well. Basically, they're just there to help out Ryann when needed (especially with fashion choices).

The Villain: The villain didn't scare me — he was just kind of a creep with slightly disturbing eyes. Unfortunately, we're not told much about his motivation, and the plotline involving him seemed very thin (more on that below).

The Faerie Queen: usually faeries are portrayed as emotionless or enigmatic, so in a way, it was refreshing to see a nice faerie queen. Refreshing, but not that believable. I mean, she is nice in an I-want-to-conveniently-solve-a-major-problem-for-you kind of way. (Spoiler, highlight to read: she gives Ryann long life!)

Also, why the faerie queen wouldn't have better things to do than concern herself with whether or not two individuals were going to have sex is beyond me. Seriously...why would she care?? Really, aside from the surface reasons, we're not given much motivation for her character either.

Premise/plot:

The story seems pretty simplistically structured in terms of plot; a lot of it is just about how Ryann has fallen for Quinn. I liked the idea of the myth about this faerie who seduces women, and I wish more of the legend side (involving the faerie world and so on) had been explored, instead of focusing on the romance. I feel like there was a lot here that could have been developed but wasn't.

The threat to Ryann's safety (that got built up in the first half) is vanquished really easily — at this point, I think you can probably guess who saves her. The whole thing wasn't climactic enough for me. I liked the twist of who the villain was (although I totally guessed something was up with him) but I wanted more explanation of why he was after Ryann. The surface motivation we're given isn't very satisfying.

Also, it was a little disappointing that the whole college aspect of the story drops out towards the end (we don't see Ryann attending class anymore, because she's fixated on something else).

Writing style: I found the first half more entertaining and humorous, and then it went downhill from there, with everything becoming quite cliched. There was so much hyperbole and over-the-top drama to be found in Eve of Samhain. The whole trying-to-seduce-Quinn plotline struck me as cheesy, coming across as an excuse for a sex scene more than a storyline in its own right. (And in all honesty, I thought the sex scene itself wasn't very tastefully written.)

Final verdict: 2 shooting stars. I thought the premise had unfulfilled potential, and I enjoyed the first half, but the writing was so poor in the second half it made me want to cringe. Ultimately, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.

Disclaimer: I received this e-book from the author for review.

Note: This book contains mature (sexual) content and coarse language — definitely not for younger readers!

This book counts towards my goal for the New Adult reading challenge.

Cross My Palm: YA Fantasy

This is a series of posts I'm doing discussing current trends in YA genres and what might be in store for the future. This is just based on my own observations of books and what I've seen publishers/authors/other bloggers talking about.


Sorry it's been so long since the last post in this series! You can catch up on all the previous posts here (contemporary, sci-fi/dystopian, historical, and paranormal YA have already been covered), but this time it's YA fantasy trends.

• Time travel is the next "hot" topic. I think time travel stories hold a lot of potential for creativity — and apparently publishers think so too, with offerings such as the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire, the Ruby Red series by Kerstin Gier, the River of Time series by Lisa Bergren, and Tempest by Julie Cross. Not always "fantasy" in the strictest sense, I know, but time travel books kind of fit into several genres...

• Retellings — both fairytale and mythological — are holding their own. On the fairy tale side of things, we've got books like the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Jackson Pearce's fairy tale companion books (Fathomless is releasing this year), Queen of Glass by Sarah J. Maass, and Enchanted by Alethea Kontis. In terms of mythology, there's a whole subsection just for "the underworld" stories, like Meg Cabot's Abandon trilogy, the Sirenz series by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman, the Everneath series by Brodi Ashton, and The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter. Other mythological retellings (or stories with mythological aspects) include the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini, the Medusa Girls series by Tera Lynn Childs, Starling by Lesley Livington, and the Gods & Monsters series by Kelly Keaton. And there are even a few upcoming fantasy retellings of classic tales like Jane Eyre (Ironskin by Tina Connolly) and the Ugly Duckling (The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors).

On a related note, fairytale retellings seem to be popping up in TV and movies as well! Any of you who have not yet tuned into the TV show Once Upon A Time, you guys are missing out. And I haven't watched Grimm but I know that it's a CSI-style show based on the Grimm fairytales. Also, be on the lookout this year for the movies Snow White and the Huntsman (yes, it stars Kristen Stewart – but seriously, check out the cool trailer!) and Mirror Mirror (which has Julia Roberts in it, even though the trailer makes me think a lot of the comedy might not be my style). 

• Here be dragons — well, a few, anyway. Dragons are no vampires in YA, at least not yet. But there seems to be the start of a renewed interest in these fire-breathing monsters, with books like Sophie Jordan's Firelight series, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, Prophecy by Ellen Oh, and Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey.

• Faeries are in, but elves and dwarves are not. Tolkien-esque fantasy does not yet seem to have made its way back into popularity, but faeries still hold an allure for readers. (Note the spelling there: by and large these are the unpredictable, can't-always-be-trusted "fey," not the Tinkerbell type of fairies.) Examples of upcoming faerie releases include Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier, The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long, The Wood Queen by Karen Mahoney, The Falconer by Elizabeth May, The Torn Wing by Kiki Hamilton, and Luminance Hour by Ryan Graudin.

• Thieves and assassins are stealing readers' hearts. In a way, I think this is kind of the fantasy version of the trend in historical YA for secret agents and spies. I guess there's something about the seedy underbelly of a city that draws readers in... Recent or upcoming books that fit into this category are Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, Mastiff by Tamora Pierce, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maass, Grave Mercy by R. L. LaFevers, and Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce.

• Oddly enough, "touch" seems to be an important theme in fantasy (and paranormal) YA these days. I don't know if this is just a fluke or what, but with books like Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder, Touched by Corrine Jackson, the A Touch trilogy by Leah Clifford, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, the Clarity series by Kim Harrington, and the Curse Workers series by Holly Black...it seems like this idea is becoming popular. What do you think?

• Unusual settings (for fantasy) and PoC characters are making an appearance. I wouldn't say yet that either of these aspects are common in YA fantasy, but hopefully others will follow these authors' leads and make it happen. We're talking books such as Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff, the Wildefire series by Karsten Knight, the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series by Laini Taylor, Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson, and Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson.

So, what are your thoughts on trends in YA fantasy? Is the "power of touch" something concrete or just coincidence? Will we keep seeing more PoC characters and different settings in the future? Will there be a return of the elves? Let me know what you see for the future of YA fantasy!

The Faerie Ring: A Panoramic Review

 
"The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki’s blood.

Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen’s son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.

Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty…" (from Goodreads)

 

The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

My reaction:

Overall, I found The Faerie Ring to be quite entertaining. While the first half is pretty slow and somewhat repetitive — it mostly consists of information-gathering, and various characters (particularly Tiki) making decisions and then changing their minds — the plot and pacing do pick up considerably in the second half. The storyline becomes a good deal more intricate, and some important revelations happen (spoiler, highlight to read: I really liked the twist of Rieker being Wills!) 


The resolution of the story was too sappy for my taste, unfortunately, with an overly neat ending (although the last few lines were very cute, I have to admit.) The future of Tiki's family of orphans is decided without involvement by Tiki, really, but wholly reliant on another character instead. I would have liked to have seen Tiki actively helping to better their lifestyle herself, rather than depending on someone else's aid. 

Much of the mythology in The Faerie Ring is standard stuff you'll have seen in other faerie YA books — the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, the nix on faerie-human relationships, the lack of empathy on the part of the fey. But the concept of the faerie ring (as it is detailed in this book) is pretty fresh as far as I know, and I'd like to see this fleshed out in the next in the series. I must say I found it strange that Tiki didn't ask more questions (particularly of Rieker) about the faeries and their connection to the British royalty, especially given the events that happen throughout. I suppose this was done to draw out the mystery, but it resulted in Tiki acting on limited information. Had Rieker been a bit more forthcoming or Tiki a bit more inquisitive, she could have made some smarter choices.

Best aspect: the relationship between Tiki and Rieker was really enjoyable. I wanted to shake Tiki for making things difficult for the two of them! Rieker's snarky and teasing personality made him my favourite character. Just generally, actually, most of the characters were well-done. Tiki was a mix of annoying and admirable qualities: stubborn (to a fault), mistrusting of others, determined to believe she knows best, gutsy, incredibly loyal and protective of her "family," and street-tough. Sometimes I wanted to knock some sense into the girl, but I was still rooting for things to work out for her.


Larkin was a particularly interesting, complex character, and I'm very interested to find out more about her as the series goes on. Of all the characters introduced in The Faerie Ring, I think she may well have the most depth and shades of grey exhibited. There was one thing she did, though, that I thought was unbelievable given her apparent intelligence (spoiler: she "hid" Clara back at Tiki's place? How is that hiding?)

If I could change something... it often felt, particularly in the first half, that I was missing information. I don't know if it's the reader who's not privy to the information, or the characters themselves, but it made things frustrating and confusing to try to puzzle out. The reasoning of characters in making some decisions seemed absurd. I think a couple of the later revelations might shed some light on this, but at the time I know I was re-reading sections in an effort to figure out why characters were doing what they were doing.

And I wish Tiki's "siblings" had had more of a role to play in the story. There are several of them, but with the exception of Clara (and hers is a passive, unintentional involvement) none of them really take part in the plot! 

Read if: you like traditional faerie mythology, the streets of Victorian England, and adventure. Fans of The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope and Mairelon the Magician/Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede might enjoy this one.

Quote: 

Satisfied the ring was safely hidden, Tiki swung down from the branch and landed in the thicket. She brushed off her trousers and smiled to herself before turning to gaze back across the lake toward the grand mansion. Though the trees eclipsed part of her view, from this distance she could see the building lit up like Big Ben. Her smile faded as cold fingers wrapped around her heart. She recognized that familiar silhouette.

It was Buckingham Palace.

She recalled the names of the young men in the library. Leo...Prince Leopold? And Prince Arthur? And the older woman...Mother...

Oh, bloody hell. She'd just stolen the queen's ring.

Hopes for the sequel? I think there's potential here, and I'd like to see Tiki mature and the world-building grow stronger. I'm also hoping that the romantic resolution of this book won't result in terribly cheesy dialogue in the next one. The Faerie Ring already had a bit of that towards the end, and I much prefer the "witty banter" type of dialogue to the oh-so-romantic-we're-in-love type. 

Final verdict: 3.5 shooting stars. It's clear from the writing this is a debut novel; it's pretty basic style-wise and falls prey to some amateur mistakes (for instance, the repetition of "smoky eyes" whenever Rieker is described.) While it doesn't add much new to the genre, and unfortunately does use some clichés and well-known tropes, The Faerie Ring does a fine job of providing an entertaining story with fun characters.  

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher.