Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Title:  Throne of Glass
Author: Sarah J Mass Pages: 404                            C/W: 2012

Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Date Started: January 26, 2016      Date Finished: January 29, 2016
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 four 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. 

What is it about?

                When Celaena is taken from the salt mines by the Crown Princes’ royal bodyguard to travel two months on horseback across the country she is in no shape to be auditioning to be the royal assassin, but she still has her spark. After the journey to the castle, Celaena is presented before the King, who is a vicious and evil man, who has conquered many nations on their continent, who may be using dark magic, and who might be responsible for countless other crimes.

The King informs Celaena and many other “champions” that they will be taking part in a tournament of sorts to determine who his royal assassin will be. Then they start training. Celaena pushes her body to become the one she remembers pre-salt mines. Celaena also forms relationship around her despite the fact only a handful of people know her identity.

                Then, other champions start dying – rather murdered by something that kills with teeth and claws, something that devours its victim’s internal organs. From there the story grows. I don’t want to go into much more detail because I could go on for pages and pages, but that wouldn’t be fair to the other books I’ve reviewed. Still, there are a couples of budding romances, and one or two permanent alliances formed by the end of the story.

Did you like it?                                                            Rating:  5/6

I dug it.
The genre of this book just sends me to my happy place. Being transported to a world of castles, court politics, fashion, and intrigue just makes me feel so alive. So, for the elements of this book I give a rousing two thumbs up.

                The world building is also fantastic, many times while reading this novel I was reminded of Cinda William Chima’s Seven Realms series and how much I admired her world building abilities – Maas has it too. Many ships were launched in this novel and I’m excited to find out what happens next, no matter which ship lands in its harbor first.

                The relationships are even believable and everything I want all character interactions in every book to be like. The connections felt real, and I could see the pieces locking the characters together in the complicated puzzle of friendship. Plus, the heroine is so BA that I’m pretty sure she’s not going to bite it in the end like others have in my personal fandom.

                I know I am a little late on this particular fantasy ride, but if you haven’t checked out Throne of Glass, I highly recommend you put in on your to read list.

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Review: The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Around the time this novel was being released I saw a few really awesome rewviews for it that peaked my interest. Unfortunately, it didn't show up in my library for almost a year after its release. THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is a novel whose like I have never before encountered. And in that same vein, it is one which I am not likely to forget.

Title:  The Girl With All the Gifts

Author: M.R. Carey
Pages:  403      C/W:  2014
Publisher:  Orbit
Date Started: January 22, 2016              Date Finished: January 23, 2016

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius."

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad. 

What's is about?

                Melanie is a 10 year old genius child with a partial immunity to the virus that changed a majority of the population from normal live people to animated flesh eaters. Melanie does not know this. In the beginning all Melanie knows is the walls of her cell, the people who care for her and the other children, and the schedule that rules her life.

                The story unfolds as Melanie is forced to leave behind the homes she’s always known. As Melanie and her company of caretakers are forced closer to extinction, the truths that keep them all sane begin to deteriorate and they are forced to choose between evils.

Did you like it?                                                              Rating:  5/6

                I really enjoyed this one.

                Word choice in this book made me very happy. I never had to go back and reread a sentence to make sure I actually understood what was done. Carey picked words that accurately and definitively made the story glide along at a pleasant pace.

                The story has five main characters – Melanie, Miss Justineau, Caroline Caldwell, Sergeant Parks, and Private Gallagher. Cycling though multiple viewpoints was a big thumbs up for me in this novel because the human intricacies, relationships, and inner workings of the five characters of this book were amazing and wonderful to read about, even the cool headed scientific detachment of Caroline Caldwell. For me, being able to read about different people, from different backgrounds, that accurately portray classic literary archetypes was awesome.

What is it about?

                Think zombie apocalypse, and ten take everything you’ve heard, read, and seen and turn it upside down and inside out. That’s what M.R. Carey did when he published THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS. This is a zombie apocalypse novel like one you’ve never read before. The characters are raw and beautiful. The world is devastated and dying. And the concept is awesome.

                I encourage you to rea this one if you haven't.

               This novel blew me away. It was a little hard to get into at first, but it turned out ot be really good. I think M.R. Carey just became, for me, one of those authors I will read no matter what they publish.

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