Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

404 pages

 "Nothing is a coincidence.
Everything has a purpose.
You were meant to come to this castle,
just as you were meant to be an assassin.

When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison.

Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her.

And a princess from a foreign land will become the one thing Celaena never thought she'd have again: a friend.

But something evil dwells in the castle--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival--and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys the world." -Dust Jacket

A good friend told me that I had to read this series and I love it when a fellow reader recommends a good book. Fortunately, the first four books, plus a prequel, have already been published, so I won't have to be reading this series for years on end.

I flew through this book because I couldn't put it down. It starts with Dorian (the Crown Prince) and Chaol (Captain of the Guard and with a name I have no idea how to pronounce) going to find Celaena in a prison/salt mine where Celaena, the most feared and deadly assassin in the kingdom, has been a prisoner. She's been whipped and nearly starved and they offer her the chance for freedom. She agrees to compete to be the King's Champion and if she wins, after four years of service, she'll earn her freedom but they decide it's better for her to compete using an alias.

Of course, like with most books in this genre, there is a love triangle and Dorian and Chaol are both equally likable. One's the suave prince who can have any girl he wants but gets bored by most and has a good heart and the other's a strong captain with a sense of honor and a growing friendship and respect for Celaena. Dorian and Chaol have grown up together. There are some jealous moments between the two but the main element of the story is the competition and the evil lurking in the castle. Celaena has been trained by a group of assassins but she fears that one of them betrayed her which led to the death of a good friend and her being imprisoned. She's locked a lot of those memories away and doesn't really want to consider the possibilities of who might have laid the trap that ended with her capture. Dorian's father has rid the kingdom of magic, but it's not all gone.

Celaena is a strong character yet she's also a teenage girl which is always a good combination for these types of books. She has the skills to kill but she also has the insecurities and fears of an 18-year-old. She's been hurt and she hasn't dealt with that yet. I like that both of the guys are likable but not perfect. It'll be interesting to see where this story goes.

{Spoilers}

Celaena discovers a secret passageway in her bedroom and as she explores the tunnels it leads to, she finds a burial room of King Gavin and Queen Elena. There are wyrdmarks on the floor and ceiling which Celaena recognizes as also being on and around the clock tower. Elena's spirit appears and tells Celaena that she hasn't come there by accident, that she must become the King's Champion, and destroy the evil that's in the castle before it's too late. She also gives her an amulet to wear that offers her protection.

One of Celaena's competitors, Cain, is using dark magic to summon a creature that kills the other competitors and gives Cain their strength. She discovers him underneath the castle and is almost killed by the creature. Nehemia saves her life.

During the various trials, Celaena has been told to stay in the middle of the pack and not draw too much attention to herself. Cain wins almost every trial and Celaena knows that she's going to have to face him in the duels. She continues to train, spends time with Dorian and Chaol, and befriends Nehemia who is a princess from a land that's been conquered by the king. She's there under the guise of learning the language and customs of Adarlan but really she's there to get information that will help support the rebels working against the king.

Celaena faces Cain in the final duel but she's been drugged by Kaltain, an ambitious girl who has her eyes set on the prince and is using a duke to get to him, so she becomes disoriented and hallucinates. Dorian figures out what's going on and wants to stop the fight but he knows that if he does she'll be disqualified. Chaol also tries to help her by telling her over and over to get up. Cain attacks her, nearly killing her, but Elena appears and with Nehemia's help, they get rid of the evil Cain's summoned and the poison in Celaena's body. Celaena then defeats Cain and Chaol is forced to kill him when he tries to stab Celaena as she's being helped away.

Celaena becomes the King's Champion and breaks things off with Dorian because she realizes that she can't be the champion and be with him even though he loves her.