Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: Fantasy-lite

Throne of Glass is a bit of an unusual case with me and YA. Frankly, I did not feel strongly about it one way or another. This did not exactly surprise me because I had heard similar feelings about it, although in contrast the second book is supposed to be better in anyway, so I want to give that a shot eventually. (The third book seems to have garnered a more mixed response so far, and then there are three more to go...)

Anyway, Throne of Glass is high fantasy and follows an 18-year-old assassin, Celaena Sardothian, who is released from her work slaving in a salt mine for punishment to become the "champion" of the local king. In other words, she takes an alias and must win him a competition in which various other criminals compete in feats of strength and combat. (Unlike The Hunger Games, this is a competition of merit and not survival, although death is possible in some of the trails.) If she wins, she must serve him for four years and then she will be released from imprisonment. But at the castle where the competition is taking place, some of the champions start turning up dead.

I've heard others calling Throne of Glass "Fantasy-lite," and I kind of have to agree. There is little effort put into worldbuilding. It takes place in your typical medieval European setting, and there is one prominent fantasy element that is roughly explained and developed, but few characters interact with it. There were a few references to a belief system, other regions, but nothing was explored or quite experienced except one holiday called Yulemas that is filled with parties, candy, and religious service...sound familiar? Overall this read to me like a prequel (even though it's not, because there's a whole bind-up of prequel novellas...), and there was not the feeling of the interesting and otherworldly.

So, Celeana. My feelings of apathy on the book carry over to her. One early gripe: apparently, "assassin" is the equivalent of "psychopath," as early on the book Celeana imagines gruesome things she wishes to do to those she gets into an argument with, and the other characters warn about being around her. But they aren't the same things; an assassin, at least in Celeana's case, is hired and trained, and a psychopath wishes to kill because of his or her abnormal neurological functions. We never quite know how her mind really works and how she feels about her situation. It's only hinted at, and the violent thoughts I mentioned above are abandoned. Meanwhile, she's also a really great at all aspects of combat, she loves to read and play the piano, she's beautiful...but as the book went on a couple of flaws were hinted at in her fighting style and she was given more of a backstory, so I don't feel completely negative. She was just so distant to me.

Something about the pacing and structure also did not hold my attention.There was not too much focused preparations between each of the tasks, and they just sort of came and went. There seemed to be a lack of drive to investigate the murders, too. In fact, when Celeana has a potential suspect who could be threatening her life, it is followed by 30 pages of romantic festivities. I enjoyed the last 20% or so more, however.

Yes, there is some romance, but I actually wasn't angry about it! I mean, I didn't love it either; like the rest of the book, it was just another thing that happened. Shrug. There's even a hint of a love triangle, although the relationship with the other potential love interests seems like it will develop gradually over time, which is something that I'm all for. Meanwhile, I really liked the way Celeana handled the relationship in this installment on her own terms at the end, but I'm not going to spoil it.

Interesting to me about Throne of Glass, in the tradition of what I attempt to figure out on this blog, is how it fits into YA. Honestly, I feel like this is a bit upwards of the teenage range. I don't mean that it's better or more complexly written (it isn't compared to my favorite YA), but what it deals with seems a bit above teenagerhood. Celeana is 18; the other two supporting characters are 19 and 22. The ending in particular struck me with a sense of trying to figure out one's place in the world with newfound freedom, which sounds what those a bit older would go through. Hmmmm...categories and distinctions always interest me.

Anyway, Throne of Glass was a very meh read for me. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I didn't dislike it. I just unfolded in front of me without engaging me, for the most part. But I like the direction this series is going and I heard the second books has more developed characters and a better plot, so I'll be giving that one a try at some point. YA fantasy hasn't proved to be my thing, but my preferences have shifted away from fantasy recently.