Ah, here goes my first blog post on my Current Read! I'm so nervous, but also so excited and so ready to start this! This week I started the highly recommended Throne of Glass series, and let me just say, so far, it has exceeded expectations. Last night, or rather early this morning would be more accurate, I finished the third book in the series, "Crown of Midnight," and am a few chapters into "Heir of Fire." It took me awhile to get here, I was so hung up on Shadowhunters after finishing "Queen of Air and Darkness," it took me three weeks to get through 35 pages. Three weeks! And that is no diss to Sarah J. Maas, my heart and focus just wasn't in it. But once I got past the first few pages I flew through the books! I finished "The Assassin's Blade," "Throne of Glass," and "Crown of Midnight" in three days! Three books in three days! Finally getting back into the swing of things and it feels so good. This is the first real break I've taken from the books, I needed to do something other than reading, I felt like my eyes were going to start bleeding from too much focus.
My thoughts coming into the series were few. I don't know anyone personally who has read the series but from my fangirl tendencies I knew that this series was one of the bigger fandoms, so I decided to check it out for myself. I have not been let down. The only thing I will say, though, is at times I find it difficult to visualize setting, or an accurate time frame. I realize that this is a fantasy series, but I still thought there would be some connections to real life that I could go off of. Hmpf. However, it is not a large issue to me, I can get around a few hazzy scenes.
I knew that I wanted to get at least a couple of the books under my belt before I did a Current Read on them, and am glad that I waited until after finishing "Crown of Midnight." Sarah J. Maas is not afraid to give her readers heartbreak, and though I hate her for it, I also kind of love her for it and for her ability to make me so emotionally connected to the characters. Although this is a series much like The Hunger Games, or Shadowhunters, or Red Queen, with a strong female lead who starts a rebellion, these books are so not typical or predictable or anything less than uniquely phenomenal. And if you liked any of those series, this one's for you too.
Okay, now if you have not read the first three books in this series, this last paragraph of the blog is not for you. Caution: contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. There were so many times over the past three days where these books were a physical hazard to my health! Times where I started obnoxiously sweating or I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. When Celaena was about to fight Cain and Kaltain poisoned her wine! And when Ansel had betrayed her... okay holy plot twist, I knew that something was coming but it was so fresh in the series I was not expecting that sort of betrayal already. Now I know better and my guard is up. And yes, I know that my thoughts are all over the place and I'm not really elaborating much but this is the best part of a Current Read and I want you guys to gush over the series with me and ask questions and we can talk about it more then! Also, Sarah needs to stop giving me a new potential love interest in each book! I feel so awful about shipping Chaol after what happened to Sam and I never really got into Dorian, but the three of them in three books was too much for me! And now Rowan has been introduced in "Heir of Fire" and I already know this is not going to be good for my sanity. The way that she ended "Crown of Midnight" had me feeling all sorts of feels! I had goosebumps all over when I read "Ashryver Eyes / The fairest eyes, from legends old / Of brightest blue, ringed with gold." One, can we talk about how fucking beautifully written that was. So poetic, and it was just one of those things where it was so amazing you have to close the book and close your eyes and breathe and just appreciate it for a second. I had to do one of those after I read that and when I resumed reading there were tears in my eyes. I can hardly guess what is to come but I know that I'll be laughing and crying and nervous sweating by the end of it. I can't wait. Much love,
S.