Throne of Glass (novel)

Throne of Glass is a fantasy novel written by American author Sarah J. Maas released on August 2, 2012.^[1] It is the first novel in the Throne of Glass series.^[2]

Plot

Erilea was once a world filled with magic and countless races of magic-bearing beings, humans amongst them. That all changed when the King of Adarlan launched a campaign for dominance over all of Erilea, banning magic and sentencing all magic-bearing nonhumans to either banishment or death along with the "blasphemous" humans who also wield such power. Now people from nations conquered by Adarlan are shipped to its capitol as slaves in droves. Magic has almost completely vanished, and it seems that Adarlan's royal family shall soon rule the entire realm. Amidst this chaos, Celaena Sardothien, a master assassin trained by Arobynn, the king of assassins himself, seemed to be the only one the nobility of Adarlan feared. However, her reign of terror came to an abrupt end when she was captured and sentenced to spend the rest of her life as a slave in Adarlan's salt mines, Endovier. A year later, Adarlan's Crown Prince Dorian offers her a path to freedom: If she defeats twenty-three fellow warriors and criminals, she shall become the King's Champion and sign a contract for four years of service. After the years of service she will no longer be bound, so may go where she wishes. However, something dark hides within the walls of the Palace of Glass — something evil, which seems to only want to slaughter the Champions before they have a chance to shine.

Characters

• Celaena Sardothien - Seventeen years old, trained from childhood to become an assassin, she was betrayed by her master and imprisoned in the salt mines of Endovier with the expectation that she would die, and ended up surviving for a year. Before her capture she was known to most as Ardalan's Assassin. Due to this, she gets offered an opportunity to participate in a competition to become the King's Champion, an assassin in service to the King of Ardalan. If she wins she must remain in the King's service for four years and then she will be granted her freedom and a full pardon. During the contest, she adopts the persona of Lillian Gordaina, a jewel thief from Bellhaven, to avoid her identity being revealed and a target painted on her back because of it.
• Prince Dorian Havillard - He is the crown prince of Adarlan. He chooses Celaena to be his contender for the competition to become his dad's champion. He tries at times to stand up against his father especially when it comes to Celaena, but he is never fully able to defy his father. He is a real lady's man and some ladies are after him so that they can become queen when he attains the throne. He is also good-looking and tries to charm Celaena who is at times charmed by him. His best friend is the Captain of the Guard Chaol Westfall. In the novel it seems that he too has some feelings for Celaena.
• Chaol Westfall - He is the captain of the guard and is very wary of Celaena throughout the book because he knows very well how big a threat she is to the kingdom. He is very close to Dorian and is willing to sacrifice his life for Dorian. Throughout the book he helps Celaena get back into shape during the tournament and trains diligently with her every morning. At times in the book it seems like he likes Celaena but the book doesn't go into much detail about his feelings.
• Princess Nehemia Ytger - She is a princess of the kingdom of Eyllwe. Eyllwe is deciding to rely on Adarlan so that they won't be killed. She pretends that she can only speak in her native tongue and doesn't understand what people say when they are speaking. She is a very strong-willed person and refuses to be looked down upon. Her weapon is her staff that the people from her kingdom produce. She is able to communicate with Celaena because Celaena can speak in Nehemia's language although not perfectly. She has Celaena teach her how to speak the common tongue.
• Nox Owens- He is a young thief who is also participating in the competition to become the King's champion. He doesn't know who Celeana really is because Dorian had her pose as a young lady from a merchant family in Bellhaven. He befriends Celaena and decides to team up with her for practice when Chaol is too busy or he can't participate. He seems to have an idea that 'Lillian' is not whos she says she is the entire way through the book. Celaena helps him to improve his fighting technique too.
• Kaltain Rompier - Kaltain is a young lady from a family that is rich but not so rich that they are widely known or have as many privileges as those in the king's court. She came to the palace as the guest of Duke Perrington so that she could get close to Dorian because she wanted to become his bride. She is addicted to opium because she has frequent headaches. She is also willing to do anything to become Dorian's bride and to be in a position of power.^[3]
• Cain - Cain is Duke Perrington's Champion in the Kings competition. He is a hulking brute who is everyones favourite to win. He comes from the White Fang Mountains and was in the kings army.
• The King of Adarlan - Dorian's unnamed father and the ruler of the Adarlanian Empire. He is the current monarch of the Empire and Head of House Havilliard.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
The Guardian

The Guardian gave it 5 stars out of 5 with the author of the review stating that the main character, Celaena, was more "relatable" than most other female protagonists.^[1] In her review for USA Today, Serena Chase called Celaena a "next-level Cinderella".^[3]

Adaptations

In 2015 it was announced that the film rights had been bought for Throne of Glass, and in 2016 it was announced that Hulu would be adapting the series^[4] under the name Queen of Shadows. Kira Snyder (The 100) will write the adaptation, with Anna Foerster (Underworld: Blood Wars) set to direct the potential pilot episode.

References