Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
This. Series.
Let me tell you, is so amazing I'm so glad that I jumped on the bandwagon and read it. And let me just say, it's okay to read what everyone else is reading! I used to be embarrassed and almost ashamed that I was apart of mainstream culture by reading the bigger fandoms out there, and I've come to terms that it's okay! There is a reason why the books are so popular, you should enjoy what you want to enjoy without feeling bad about it. And if you're reading things years after they came out, that's okay too. I didn't read Harry Potter until 2018, well after it was in its prime and it didn't make me enjoy it any less.
There are a few Current Read blog posts about this series that I did throughout reading them, if you'd like to get more of my thoughts related to specific books rather than an overview of the entire series. This series is made up of eight books, The Assassin's Blade (that is actually a collection of short stories/novellas but is still vital to the series and it flows like a book does, so it doesn't feel like you're reading a short story), Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows (which is probably my favorite individual book out of the whole series. I don't even know why I just love it so much, I think that book is the one with the most character development), Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn (which is a parallel novel to Empire of Storms, and that's really cool, I feel like authors don't write parallel novels a lot and instead of trying to cram everything into Tower of Dawn, Sarah J. Maas gave us an entire book so that nothing would be left out) and lastly, Kingdom of Ash.
This series will completely immerse you into another world; from the language to the names to the setting, Sarah did such a good job at making her own fantasy world and that's just one way the series is so amazing. Character development? Steller. Plot? Unflawed. I mean the series has everything that I value in a good series. There is loss and strong female leads, romance and even a few extra steamy scenes, huge plot twists that I never saw coming. Another thing that I noted from Sarah J. Maas is yeah, there's a bad guy and a rebel assassin and love and everything and that's totally great, but Sarah brought to light that your first love isn't going to be your last. And perhaps not even your second love, and I know I wasn't okay with it at first either, but I think it's really cool that she wrote her main character in several different relationships before her forever one. I really appreciated that aspect of the series.
Characters, characters, characters! Ah! Another thing that I really love about Maas is she gave us so many characters all over the place throughout the series and they all came together in the end so well. Some of my most hated characters in the series wound up being my favorite by the end. And that is not something that happens often. For me, personally, once I make up my mind on disliking a character, it's very hard to sway my opinion. But Sarah J. Maas did it! How's that for amazing character development? Having so many characters in the series and getting their perspectives allowed me to really get into their lives and made the romance more interesting and compelling to read about. My favorite couple in the series wasn't Celaena and Sam, or Aelin and Rowan, or even Manon and Dorian, but Elide and Lorcan. I loved reading about Elide and Lorcan so much. If you read the series or you have already do let me know who you ship because we're all going to have different thoughts on the topic! My email is always open to talk about the series so do message me, will you? Thanks for reading my all-over-the-place blog and keeping up with me!
-S
Elide and Lorcan by janarunneck
