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The novel “Throne of Glass”  written by Sarah J. Maas contains a thrilling story about intriguing battles, magic, and amazingly great characters. The story starts with the gifted assassin Celaena Sardothien deciding to take on the challenge of becoming the king of Adarlan’s champion. Although the king proves to be evil and arrogant, it's the only way Celaena can be free from slavery. The challenge requires Celaena to fight 23 other well-trained fighters in order to win a contract which will grant her freedom.

All fighters have 13 weeks to train and compete in the Adarlans castle while also being able to choose their opponent. One of Celaena's concerns is strapped to one of the men, Cain, who is evidently strong and brutal. Another concern is Chaols training. Chaol, the tough and strict trainer has taken it upon himself to rebuild Celaena’s body and mind. A year in the slave camp has done her no good and she hasn’t been able to keep her mind and her moves sharp.

As the competitions begin, one contestant always shows up dead before each match. This intrigues Celaena and she starts a small investigation to find out who is behind the murders. She soon finds herself in some secret passageways with the ghost of the first king and queen of Adarlan, Gavin and Elena. Elena tells her that there is a portal between their world and other dimensions. She explains that something evil has made its way through and Celaena must find out who is behind this before more creatures enter.

Later on in the book, we discover that both Dorian and Chaol have developed feelings for Celaena and hope to start a relationship. One day there is a royal ball and Celaena shows up uninvited and asks Chaol to dance to which he refuses. She then spends the night with Dorian and they kiss twice, but she can’t help but think about Chaol.

            As the book reaches the end, Celaena makes it to her last battle, which is with

Cain. However, her drink gets spiked on the king’s orders and it tricks and dulls her mind

into believing that Cain will win the battle. Nonetheless, these thoughts are interrupted by

Chaols encouragement and Queen Elena's help to remove the poison. Celaena then defeats

Cain is declared the winner. Cain then dies by Chaols hand after a failed attempt to

murder Celaena. She signs the contract and has to work for four years as the king’s champion

before she can be free. Also, she doesn’t fall into a relationship with either men for she

prefers to remain as good friends. The end.

            As much as I enjoyed this book, I couldn't help but feel that there were some unnecessary parts and some events that dragged on and on. For example, the fact that Dorian and Chaol had feelings for Celaena felt unneeded and the story would be much better without it. Also, I was mainly searching for an adventure genre instead of romance when I picked up this book and which made it my least favorite part. My favorite part of the book is the ending. I’m glad that Celaena was able to become victorious in her mission to be free and a happy ending is always needed especially when the main character has gone through so much.

            My favorite quote from the book was “Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.” This quote is saying that the ideas being held in libraries are the key to lifting someone to power. It's how valuable and powerful knowledge is shared. It created the impact of how important libraries are to societies and the many individuals in our world.

            Overall, this novel was a good read with very few weaknesses. I would definitely recommend this to adventure seeking readers and anyone interested in a fascinating story about a bold and intelligent main character.

Check out Throne of Glass from NBPL!