Throne of Glass Blog Tour, Book Review and Author Interview!

I am so excited to be participating in the Throne of Glass Blog Tour hosted by Bloombury! Along with the Tour I will also be doing a special interview with author Sarah J. Mass.

I absolutely fell in love with the world and characters that Maas created. Throne of Glass truly is unlike other books out there right now and I am so excited to be able to share a little bit about the book with you as well as my thoughts and review on it and most especially to be able to peek inside the head of Maas and the brilliance that is her. 

Book Description:

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Sarah was so kind to agree to be here today and to answer a few of my questions. Big thank you to you Sarah!!

MGO: I know you were only 16 when you first published a draft of Throne of Glass (then called Queen of Glass), what made you decide to become a writer? Was it something you always wanted to do or was it just something you planned to do as a past time for fun?

SARAH: I’ve always been a huge daydreamer. And I really feel like part of the reason why I got into writing was because while growing up, I’d see films like Star Wars or Sleeping Beauty or Indiana Jones and wish that *I* could be the one doing all the epic/badass stuff. I’d daydream that I was Luke battling Vader, or Indiana Jones fleeing from the booby-trapped temple. But, because I obviously CAN’T do those things in real life (…or CAN I?), I’d invent stories in my head where things like that DID happen to strong and interesting heroines. Writing them down felt like the closest thing to actually getting to have those adventures myself. And once I started writing down those stories, they spawned more stories, on and on, until I got the idea for Throne of Glass.
MGO: How many books are you planning in the series?

SARAH: *Wince* Well…if the publishing gods smile upon me…Six. That’s the full arc that I have planned, at least. It remains to be seen if I’ll actually get to publish them. *crosses fingers*

MGO: Most influential person in your life?

SARAH: Hmmm. I don’t think I have a particularly influential person in my life, though I certainly have people that get me through the hard times: my family, my husband, and my best friend. I don’t know what I’d do without them.

MGO: What book or movie or person helped inspire you the most while writing this series?

SARAH: Ack! Hard question! There were SO many books and movies that inspired me while writing Throne of Glass: Lord of the Rings, Kill Bill, Chicago, The Secret of NIMH, Sabriel, The Hero & the Crown, Star Wars, Cinderella, Ever After… I could go on and on.

MGO:Who was your favorite character(s) to write about?

SARAH: Celaena, definitely. But if I had to pick a close second, then…Chaol Westfall. OR, recently, Ansel of Briarcliff (from the prequel e-novellas).

MGO: I am always curious what authors read in their free time. What was the last book you read?

SARAH: PRODIGY by Marie Lu (the sequel to LEGEND). It was ridiculously amazing and ripped my heart out. I’m still reeling from it.

MGO: Hardback, paperback or ebook?

SARAH: Oh, it depends! I love my kindle for reading my guilty pleasure: adult paranormal romances (BIG fan of Nalini Singh, Thea Harrison, and J. R. Ward). I love the nostalgic comfort of those tiny paperbacks for my (adult) fantasy novels (takes me back to when I was a pre-teen and teenager, devouring book after book). And I love hardcovers for my YA books, because they are so darn purtyyyy.

MGO: Werewolf, fairy, witch, vampire or something other?

SARAH: How about big, bad dragon with a hoard of glittering treasure? (…Does that make me weird?) I have a minor obsession with Smaug (from The Hobbit), and have never quite given up my love for all snarky, grumpy dragons.

SARAH: Thank you so, so much for such a fun interview! I LOVED these questions!

BIG thank you once again to Sarah for being here today and answering my questions. I really enjoyed Throne of Glass and I can not wait until the next book in the series is out!! 

My Thoughts and Review:
 

Unbelievable.

That pretty much sums up this book. Or maybe awesome, breathtaking or spectacular would be better.

Or maybe...okay, okay, you get the idea, this book was pure awesomeness.

In a lot of ways it really reminded me of the Study series by Maria V. Synder which I absolutely loved!

I truly can not believe this is a first time novel for Maas. This really was unbelievably good.

I usually hate it when a book is hyped up and then I read it and either am disappointed in it or could of cared less about it, this is so not one of those books. It lives up to its hype and more.

The world and character building were wonderfully done. I really felt myself become immersed not only in the story but into the lives of the characters. I cared about them and I wanted to learn all I could about them. I cheered them on when they triumphed and wanted to hug them when they were down. The characters were very fleshed out and they felt very real to me.

Calaena is a strong kick butt character, not only because hey, she is an assassin and kills people for a living, but because she possess inner strength that most people in her situation would not possess.

She has seen and done a lot of horrible things in her short lifetime, yet she is still caring and compassionate and knows how to love. She is witty and entertaining and just a fun character, maybe on of my favorite ones I have read this year to date. I didn't want her story to end. There is so much more there to her that we still don't know, things that I don't even know if she knows and I can't wait to discover them in the (hopefully) next book.

Dorian and Chaol are two men very much worthy of her love and respect. Both are strong capable compassionate men that would give her a run for her money. They have some many similarities and some many differences that I don't envy Calaena the choice between the two. I don't even know how I would decide if were in her place. And while there wasn't quite a love triangle (you can breath a sigh of relief all haters of love triangles) there very much is that possibilities there that Maas left open to us.

This was a very well crafted story that was completely engaging and held my interest from the very first page and it really was hard to see it end. I am so glad that I still have the novellas to read and I can learn more about Calaena because, I truly did not want this book to end. I am very excited to see what Maas has in store for us with the next one. I can not wait to devour it too.

I really am sad this story ended and I know I am going to have a really hard time finding something to read next after this one.

Well done Ms. Maas, well done.

This book deserves no less than the 5 Stars that I am giving it, in fact I wish that I could give it 5 more.