Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Cam Şato

I've heard the first book was weaker/not as good as the later books so I kept my expectations low.
It had an intriguing plot, but mediocre world-building imo. The love triangle was so bland and useless. I did not care for either boy past their platonic involvement and frankly, don't understand how or why Celaena made time for all that flirty shit when she had more essential matters. Celaena could be prideful, illogical, and childish to a frustrating point but that's to be expected.

People shit on this next aspect and call it Celaena "switching up" or "changing personalities." Personally, I liked seeing her grow from a girl in slavery, holding on to her spirit and memories of her life into a confident, witty, young woman (who made frequent silly decisions) who also grew in health and strength and began to trust/depend on others. Her character development isn't near complete, but I'm happy that she at least didn't remain stagnant. I wish she cared more about certain matters; she'll be recalling information she just received basically saying "... or something of the sort" or "... whatever that was" like bruh... you don't think that's kind of important?

One thing I enjoyed the entire time was the humour and Calaena's occasional relatability. Also, the descriptions of the dresses were nice but sometimes a cool "it was a flowy purple gown" is good, yfm. I also appreciated that she had hobbies and how she wasn't some one-dimensional #hot #coolgirl #blackwidowinphase1mcu assassin. Not gonna lie though, her reputation seems a little too good. Adarlan's Assassin is cool but homegirl is not the "Queen of the Underworld." As far as we've been told, she only really operates in the northern part of the continent, though she's been to all over, and has only been active for ten years, nine if you factor in the prison/slavery time. You can't tell me no one in her world is better/more popular than her. I have higher hopes for the next book!

It makes zero sense how everyone knows her name but not her face. Like was she handing out "Hire Calaena Sardothein!" posters or ...? I'm genuinely confused how an entire country would know the name of an assassin, yk the people who kill in secret, but absolutely nothing about her.

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britwalsh16's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Starting this series after finishing ACOTAR, I was expecting a very similiar world. And though I can see the similarities, it is very different. Best way to describe it is that TOG is a dystopian version of the world in ACOTAR. & so far, I am here for it.
I like the characters, I like the world, and I love reading stories like this one and ACOTAR, that are led by some very basass women! I can’t wait to dive deeper into it all!

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ashleynp24's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed the strong female protagonist in this book and liked the backstory given for her.

I am reading this as the first book I’m the series, even though a lot of people say you can read it third.

I liked her relationship with Nehemia a lot and love the female friendship angle. I feel that a lot of the relationships between champions could have been built up more, especially hers with Nox.

Chaol and Celaena probably had my favorite dynamic in the book, and I like them together more than her and Dorian even though he’s kind of the main love interest. It’s giving “love triangle” for most of the book so I’m excited to see where it goes.

Great world building so far and I’m interested to see more of it as she fights for her freedom.

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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was my second read through Throne of Glass. I remember being underwhelmed by my first experience with the book, but having read the whole series, I enjoyed returning to book 1 and seeing how much foreshadowing and ground work the author put into the start of the series. I also loved revisiting young Celaena, Dorian and Chaol, and the dynamics between their characters.

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ktmcd26's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

A very intriguing beginning to a series. I think if I read this as a stand-alone I would have been disappointed, but enjoyed it as a start of the series.

The most distracting part of this book is at times it can feel quite juvenile. There were so many exclamation points in the first chapter, I was constantly rolling my eyes. It also very much feels like a CW teen show, where for some reason the creators insist on making the characters young, but give them jobs and titles that require far more years of experience. I believe the author was in her teens when she started this novel, which could contribute to this.

How the characters behave though does make sense for their age.
Celaena is extremely vain, and doesn’t seem to think about the impact of her words and actions. And Dorian doesn’t seem to quite grasp the position he is in as the crown prince, and how he plays into the horrors his country is actively creating.

Chaos is far and away my favorite, and I really hope that that doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass later in the series.

Very little explanation of the magic system. The characters lack of desire to get answers when they are available is frustrating, so I hope that flow of information opens up in the next books.

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