Throne of Glass Box Set

Product Information

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 earn her freedom. Her name is Celaena Sardothien – beautiful, deadly, and destined for greatness. Queen of Shadows has always been my favorite because of all of the things that happen. Manon and Elide and also Manon and Dorian, but then also everything happening with Aelin and her court including saving Aedion but then reuniting with Rowan and Lysandra and just the more relationships that happened and grew between characters that weren't necessarily romantic. And all the female characters I like are introduced in the prequel novel: Lysandra of course, Yrene, Ansel sometimes, Aelin sometimes. Lysandra after her big step up in character development in book 4 is treated too often as a convenient plot device/weapon aside from that blah romance, but personality wise she remains great; she doesn't let the blah man she loves sap it away, which happens a lot in these kinds of series. I still don't really like any male characters besides the love interest who dies in book 0. Largely due to the abundance of arrogant cranky alphas. My #2 male is maybe Falkan, because of his quest for my fave rather than any aspect of his actual personality which is...fine. It looks like the white set is the UK version (exact same books just different covers) which is probably why they were harder to find. They do not have any illustrations of the characters in them tho. I do think that the original US versions may have. It does still have the maps in each book of course, and the set even comes with a 12"x18" poster of the Northern continent which I am totally going to frame!

She looked at them, at the three males who meant everything—more than everything. Then she smiled with every last shred of courage, of desperation, of hope for the glimmer of that glorious future. “Let’s go rattle the stars.” Nehemia Ytger was not my favorite, I really didn't care for her. I understood why she did what she did, but she still wasn't my favorite. This was my second time rereading The Assassin's Blade and I just forgot how much I enjoyed it when I read it the first time and I think reading it before the rest of the books helped too because then I was reading things chronologically. I really loved the characters, they made me happy and I loved getting to see Celaena again and Sam and Yrene before the Yrene we know now. Each of the stories ends up becoming more and this book was just definitely needed. But as dark forces gather on the horizon-forces which threaten to destroy her entire world-Celaena must fight to protect everything she holds dear, thrusting her into the epic, heart-stopping fantasy series that has turned #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas into a worldwide phenomenon.I can’t entirely buy Cel as this super badass killer when she comes off as an emo, whiny sullen teenager whose thoughts are annoying and 21st century American slang-y more often than not. How are we supposed to want to root for her to lead? I do like when she uses her power instead of angsting over it. I like music," she said slowly, "because when I hear it, I . . . I lose myself within myself, if that makes any sense. I become empty and full all at once, and I can feel the whole earth roiling around me. When I play. I'm not . . . for once, I'm not destroying, I'm creating.”

Lysandra was good for Aelin and just a good character in general. She was a great friend to Aelin and was willing to do so much to help her friend and I think that that is what counts in their relationship. The Assassins Blade - it is a prequel to throne of glass but it should be read as a sort of prologue to Queen of Shadows, Tower of Dawn, and Empire of Storms. Characters reappear from these short stories. You really see Caelena flourish as an assassin. This is the story of how Caelena fell from grace and we get to learn more about who the broke person we met at the beginning of the series in throne of glass is and why she was so angry and combative in throne of glass. The relationships. I don't want to give anything away, but I would be missing a huge point of why I loved this series if I didn't say it held one of my favorite relationships of all time. Matching a hero tends to be the author justifying how it could work, how it could make sense, usually by making the non-hero sweet or smart or supportive - here it's so well done, it's a true partnership, so well unfolded. I won't say more. As dark forces gather on the horizon-forces which threaten to destroy her entire world-Celaena must fight to protect everything she holds dear, thrusting her into the epic, heart-stopping fantasy series that turned #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas into a worldwide phenomenon. If you're like me and want to read up on more problems with SJM'S books, I'd suggest looking up the "anti-sjm" tag on tumblr, or watching the few YouTube videos on why SJM'S books are problematic. Such as: https://youtu.be/woq2HzBOqLI

Empire of Storms/ Tower of Dawn - these two books happen at the same time and should be read in tandem. They both are about Celaena and her friends recovering from the events of Queen of Shadows but also recovering from the events of the previous four novels, how they move on from this point, all while building an army against the looming darkness that is engulfing Erilea. Book 3 actually made me quit for...8 years, it would appear. But in my fantasy binge for 2022, finally got around to reading the rest. And it definitely gets better. I think book 1 and especially book 3 are just very generic and show the protagonist at peak unlikable tedium mode. This book I guess has always been my least favorite of them all just because of the fact that I was never a huge Chaol fan. I was okay with the fact that Celaena chose Chaol out of him and Dorian, though. I loved getting to see more of what happened in the castle and I loves watching the relationships build when I reread this book and I just really loved rereading the series.

The plot armor after book 2 is kinda unbelievable. None of the main non-demonic characters die; there are some sad deaths, but they aren't really integral to the overall story. It lowers the stakes. And neither of the final showdowns quite live up to the buildup, partially in how they go down, partially in the villains not being as interesting as I would like. Two is that if you were looking for an engaging, diverse fantasy novel with likeable characters, you'll be severely disappointed. The characters, great collection of characters slowly added - and developed - throughout. The heroines growth was really satisfying to watch, we really take the journey with her. Her amassing of friends and allies was awesome. Sometimes adding new characters feels like it's because they need fresh blood into the story and then you lose time with older characters or it changes the vibe - but here it felt like an intentional part of the cobweb added. Each strand really makes the web stronger and made for an awesome cast of characters, all with some greater role within the storyline. As dark forces gather on the horizon – forces which threaten to destroy her entire world – Celaena must fight to protect everything she holds dear, thrusting her into the epic, heart-stopping fantasy series that turned #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas into a worldwide phenomenon.

The adventurous pace, something happening all the time, with character breaks/development throughout. Even parts that seemed slow or inconsequential did actually factor in, more or less. If she spent more time on one area there was a reason. The Thirteen was such an amazing group of witches and I loved them all so much, I cried to so hard when they Yielded. Tower of Dawn - Chapters 3-4 (chaol wonders about character in cliffhanger high suits the wording in a different context.)

Because," she whispered, her voice shaking, "you remind me of what the world ought to be. What the world can be." The reuniting, the deaths, the heartbreak, the victories, the regret, the strength, the growth, the pain, the love, the sacrifices, the plot twists… When magic has gone from the world and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She is a prisoner, but 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 earn her freedom. But the evil she encounters in the castle goes deep, and as dark forces gather on the horizon – forces which threaten to destroy her entire world – the assassin must take her place in a fight greater than she could ever have imagined. Tower of dawn - Chapters 1-2 - chapter 2 mentions something that happens in chapters 1-13 of Empire of Storms

Christmas Gifts

Rowan Whitethorn is just one of those characters that just made my heart happy with the love that he had shown Aelin when they were together and the dedication and care that he had for her in Kingdom of Ash just made me so happy. He loved all of Aelin and not just certain parts of her and it was just an amazing relationship to watch unfold. He’d almost told the princess that she could keep Hellas’s Horse, but there was something to be said about the prospect of charging down Morath foot soldiers atop a horse named Butterfly.” hyped me up, made me laugh, gave me anxiety, gave me chills, made me SO angry, and broke my MFing heart.