Throne of Glass
Throne of Glass is a young adult high fantasy novel series by American author Sarah J. Maas, beginning with the novel of the same name, released in August 2012. The story follows the journey of Celaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupt kingdom with a tyrannical ruler. As the tale progresses, Celaena forms unexpected bonds and uncovers a conspiracy amidst her adventures. The series concluded with the eighth book in October 2018.
The series appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, and has been optioned by Hulu for a television series adaptation by Mark Gordon.
Overview
Throne of Glass follows Celaena Sardothien, an 16-year-old assassin in the Kingdom of Adarlan. After a year of suffering for her crimes in a slave camp called Endovier, she accepts the offer of Crown Prince Dorian, the King's son, to compete with other assassins and thieves for a chance to serve as the King's Champion, and eventually gain her freedom after four years in the King's service. This leads her to form unexpected bonds with Chaol, the captain of the guard, and Dorian, the Crown Prince of Adarlan. Over time, Celaena is drawn into a conspiracy and a series of battles, leading to discoveries surrounding both the Kingdom and herself.Books
Main series
Companion books
- Throne of Glass Coloring Book
- The World of Throne of Glass
Characters
- Celaena Sardothien - sixteen years old in The Assassin's Blade and 18 at the beginning of Throne of Glass, 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 but ended up surviving for an entire year. Before her capture, she was known as Adarlan's Assassin. Due to this reputation, she gets offered an opportunity to participate in a competition to become the King's Champion, an assassin in service to the King of Adarlan. If she wins, she must remain in the King's service for 4 years and will then be granted her freedom and a full pardon. During the contest, she adopts the persona of Lillian Gordaina, a jewel thief from a port in Bellhaven, to avoid her identity being revealed and a target painted on her back because of it. She is described as exceedingly beautiful and possessing striking features, clever, and arrogant. At the end of the second book, Chaol discovers her real identity and her tragic past and realizes she may be powerful enough to destroy Adarlan.
- Prince Dorian Havilliard - He is the Crown Prince of Adarlan. He chooses to sponsor Celaena as his contender for the competition to become his father's champion. He tries at times to stand up to 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 inherits the throne. He is extremely good-looking and tries to charm Celaena, at times succeeding. His best friend is the Captain of the Guard, Chaol Westfall. In the novel it seems that he too has some feelings for Celaena. In the first book, he has a brief affair with Celaena, but she quickly ends it. As the series continues, they continue their friendship.
- Chaol Westfall - He is the Captain of the Guard and is very wary of Celaena throughout the first and part of the second 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. In the second book, he enters into a love affair with Celaena. This is ended after the murder of Nehemia; Celaena blamed Chaol for it. By the end of the series, he has rekindled their friendship.
- 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, only to be revealed later that her thick accent was fake and she could speak the common tongue perfectly. She is also fluent in the language of the Wyrdmarks. In Crown of Midnight she is murdered by Grave, one of the contestants that Celaena defeated in the contest to become the King's Champion, in a plot orchestrated by Archer Finn.
- Rowan Whitethorn- He is a full-blooded Fae who is over five centuries old. He has silver hair and pine-green eyes. He was also the fiercest warrior in Erilea, apart from Lorcan. He can take the form of a White-tailed hawk and his powers include ice and wind, apart from the enhanced vision and hearing Faes have. He has tattoos in the Old Language on his body and face. He was tasked with training Aelin/Celaena when she came to Doranelle to see Maeve. He was previously blood sworn to Maeve, but him and Aelin fell in love with each other and she eventually bargained for his freedom. The two of them left Doranelle to continue on their journey together.
- Manon- Manon is an Ironteeth witch and heir to the Blackbeak clan, one of the three clans in the Ironteeth witches. Her grandmother is the Blackbeak Matron. She has burnt gold eyes and white hair. Her coven is known as the Thirteen, the fiercest coven in the Ironteeth witches. She went to Morath to train in fighting with wyverns, along with many other witches, where she develops a strong bond with her wyvern, Abraxos. It is later revealed that she is the daughter of Lothian Blackbeak and the late Crochan Prince, and thus is the last member of the powerful Crochan bloodline. She is the key to unlocking the curse on the witches' homeland, the Western Wastes.
- Aedion- Aedion Ashryver is Aelin's cousin from his mother's side. He is demi-Fae and has enhanced sight and hearing, but does not have powers. His mother passed away when he was still young, so he was sent to live with his mother's cousin Evalin Ashryver, in Terrasen, who was Aelin's mother. There, he is trained to be a warrior under the supervision of Rhoe Galanthynius, Aelin's father and the Crown Prince of Terrasen. In Queen of Shadows his father is revealed as Gavriel, one of Maeve's blood-sworn soldiers and part of Rowan's cadre.
- Kaltain Rompier - Kaltain is a young lady who comes 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. Later in the series, she redeems herself, and proves herself to be a brave a loyal woman, when she destroys part of Morath, and herself along with it.
- 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.
Development
Background
Sarah J. Maas has cited Disney's Cinderella as an inspiration for writing Throne of Glass. While viewing the scene in which the heroine flees the ball, Maas found the soundtrack "way too dark and intense". This led her to re-imagine a number of details. "The music fit much better when I imagined a thief—no, an assassin!—fleeing the palace," she said. "But who was she? Who had sent her to kill the prince? Who might the prince's enemies be? A powerful, corrupt empire, perhaps?"Originally known as Queen of Glass, the story initially appeared on FictionPress.com. Bloomsbury acquired the novel in 2010, and purchased two additional Throne of Glass novels in 2012. Publicist Emma Bradshaw noted Maas' "huge online following, particularly in the US". Additionally, Throne of Glass became the first Bloomsbury children's novel to be featured on Netgalley.com, attracting requests "from all over the world." During the story's time on FictionPress.com, artist Kelly de Groot drew a map of the tale's world, Erilea, and shared it with Maas. Bloomsbury later hired de Groot to draw the map which appears in the opening novel.
Following its acquisition by Bloomsbury, the story went through a number of revisions prior to publication. Regarding the tale's development, Maas stated, "In the 10 years that I've been working on the series, Throne of Glass has become more of an original epic fantasy than a Cinderella retelling, but you can still find a few nods to the legend here and there."
Characters
In an interview prior to the series' debut, Maas discussed the process of creating her protagonist:The story's teenage heroine, Celaena Sardothien, is introduced as an orphan who was raised and trained by an assassin. She is characterized as skilled, arrogant, and witty. While shaping her protagonist, Maas was inspired by the heroism of Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings, and by the characterization of Velma Kelly from Chicago. Maas has stated that the latter's "arrogance and fierceness made me want to write about a woman like her—about a woman who never once said sorry for being talented and determined and utterly in love with herself."
The author ultimately designed Celaena as a highly capable character whose talents also form a basis for numerous faults. In interviews preceding the series' release, Maas noted her heroine's issues with "impatience" and "vanity". She also suggested that Celaena would grow while adjusting to her new role. In addition to Celaena's skills as an assassin, Maas wanted the character to have several traits and hobbies befitting her age, including a fondness for "shopping, books, and fine dining", as well as a "penchant for getting into trouble."
In creating the friendship between Celaena and Chaol, Maas gave the characters a number of differences. As the story begins, Chaol is introduced as a strict and ethical captain, while Celaena is presented as a morally ambiguous assassin. According to the author, this contrast contributes to Chaol's character development as his bond with Celaena grows. Amidst their experiences, Chaol eventually comes to view her not just as a captive criminal, but also "as a human being." While writing the novel, Maas envisioned Chaol as a character who had "always seen the world in black and white," and concluded that "Celaena just throws a wrench in that."
Prince Dorian is presented as a suitor for Celaena as well. However, their relationship is complicated by his status as the crown prince.
Release
Publicity
In anticipation of the series' debut, Bloomsbury released e-book editions of four prequel novellas—The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, The Assassin and the Desert, The Assassin and the Underworld, and The Assassin and the Empire—between January and July 2012. Throne of Glass was previewed by Publishers Weekly in February, while the book trailer premiered on MTV.com in May. Additionally, film option rights were acquired by Creative Artists Agency.Reception
Throne of Glass has received generally positive reviews, making its debut on the New York Times Best Seller list with the release of the second novel, Crown of Midnight. A review from Publishers Weekly lauded the series' opening as a "strong debut novel." The review went on to state, "This is not cuddly romance, but neither is it grim. Celaena is trained to murder, yet she hasn’t lost her taste for pretty dresses or good books, and a gleam of optimism tinges her outlook. Maas tends toward overdescription, but the verve and freshness of the narration make for a thrilling read." 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. In her review for USA Today, Serena Chase called Celaena a "next-level Cinderella".Kirkus stated, "A teenage assassin, a rebel princess, menacing gargoyles, supernatural portals and a glass castle prove to be as thrilling as they sound." With regard to the protagonist, Kirkus noted that "Celaena is still just a teenager trying to forge her way, giving the story timelessness. She might be in the throes of a bloodthirsty competition, but that doesn't mean she's not in turmoil over which tall, dark and handsomely titled man of the royal court should be her boyfriend—and which fancy gown she should wear to a costume party." The review concluded that the story's "commingling of comedy, brutality and fantasy evokes a rich alternate universe with a spitfire young woman as its brightest star."
Throne of Glass was named Amazon.com