Throne of Glass – Review of the Series

This post does contain affiliate links, but minimal spoilers…

The world’s greatest assassin, Calaena Sardothian, has just spent a year in prison, slaving in the hellish Salt Mines. Now the king gives her a chance to earn back her freedom. He’s looking for a new assassin to enforce his brutal will…

Throne of Glass (ToG) by Sarah J. Maas is a big series with seven books and one prequel. It has some of the most devoted fans and furious haters. If you look on Goodreads, you’ll see hundreds of glowing five-star reviews written in all caps. And alongside them are hundreds of angry one-star, incoherent rants. It’s quite the divisive series! Which side is right?

The fans. The fans are right… mostly. Let’s take a look.

The Main Character

ToG is famous for its protagonist, Calaena. And what a woman! She is fearless, audacious, and badass in every way. This is the female-led action fantasy that the world has been waiting for, on the level of Harry Potter. Calaena is as strong as they come.

She’s also super annoying. Yep. A common response among readers is they didn’t like Calaena for the first three books. That’s a long time to endure with someone you don’t really like. My advice is to start with the prequel book, Assassin’s Blade. It’s a collection of short novellas that Sarah J Maas wrote before she wrote the first Throne of Glass book. Many readers like Calaena more once they learn her origin story. 

Calaena also has one of the greatest character arcs ever put to paper. I can’t say more, but where she starts in book 1 is very different from her ending in book 7. Trust me, you will be cheering for her by the end. 

Cast of Characters

One of the greatest strengths of this series is the cast of characters. Especially it’s cast of women. 

There is such diversity within the gender. You’ll find women from all walks of life, working as rulers, doctors, warriors, slaves, noblewomen, and witches. This is important because it’s not up to the protagonist alone to represent all femdom. And there’s a full range of personalities within them. Some are tender, and some are seriously aggressive! Every character is believably different.

Don’t worry, guys. The men in this series are awesome too. Prince Dorian is a scholar and book nerd, and Chaol is a soldier with torn loyalties. Don’t even get me started on Rowan, the Schwarzenegger of the series. 

There are so many good characters that it’s hard to pick a favorite. 

(But Manon is totally my favorite. Just saying). 

Plot

Magic has been locked away by the King of Adarlan. The Fae have been exiled, and all magical folk live in fear of their lives. But don’t worry, there’s romance! 

Seriously. So much romance.

Perhaps a little too much, but for some readers, the many, many relationship plots are the best thing about ToG. Many characters have romantic tension, only for it to be ripped away by fate. As a reader, you often fear for the relationship’s survival, more than the characters themselves. And that’s fine! 

As for the more pressing external challenges, things can sometimes be a bit… flimsy. There is a tendency for Calaena to solve every problem just a little too easily. Some problems are solved by magic. Others solved by Calaena knowing something that had never been mentioned before in the story. It can be a little anticlimactic. However, the series grows over the course of eight books. The final books have some truly satisfying twists and conclusions. 

Fantasy World

There’s one more area where ToG receives criticism (unfairly). That is the world itself. 

If you’ve read a lot of fantasy books, you might expect the same level of detail from Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. That’s a fair expectation. It’s true that many series today have incredible amounts of thought put into the fictional world building. Each nation has it’s own culture, laws, and language. There are thousands of years of history and intricate rules for magic. 

You don’t really find that in ToG. There are hints, but never the full picture. 

And that’s perfect! Sometimes we just want to hear the story! Readers can follow their favorite characters without getting bogged down in fake history. It can be confusing to learn so much about the world when all you want is to enjoy the book. So ‘keeping it simple’ is not a crime or a sign of bad storytelling. Sometimes simple is best.

ToG is what we call a ‘Fantasy Gateway’. It’s a simple fantasy world that helps introduce the genre to people who have never read it before. After you’ve read ToG, you might be interested in Game of Thrones, or The Stormlight Archive. Who knows? But now you’re willing to try. 

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. 

Not quite a masterpiece, but definitely worth a read.

Give this series a try. As stated above, I recommend starting with the prequel. But if you get your hands on Throne of Glass book 1, don’t wait. Open it up and see Calaena being dragged out of the Salt Mines…

Don’t have the book yet? Snag it at your favorite local bookshop or library (highly encouraged!) OR if you are feeling especially introverted today, on Amazon: Throne of Glass Book 1 Full Series Box Set

you might also like