The Paperback Reader: Review

Book Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

9:46 PM | Posted by Angie

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Publication Date: August 2nd, 2012

Synopsis (Goodreads):

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

Throne of Glass was a book that I kept hearing about. Everyone seemed to love it. I got the feeling this one was a must read. They were all right. Why did I wait nearly to the end of the year to read it? I tend to do dumb things sometimes.

The story is told in the third person POVs of several characters, namely: Calaena, Dorian, and Captain Chaol, and other secondary characters. Most of the chapters were in Celaena's view, though. It's fun reading about Celaena's thoughts and feelings because beneath her fearsome character, she is just a girl who wants pretty things and has a weakness for pretty boys (I can totally relate)! The chapters narrated by Prince Dorian and Captain Chaol were just as great! The Prince is inexplicably drawn to Celaena, and the Captain is unwittingly attracted to her despite Celaena's arrogance.

The world is wonderfully done, complex and epic. Celaena has to compete in a Champions duel to win her freedom from slavery. During the duels her fellow competitors start mysteriously dying. But when Celaena stumbles upon Wyrdstones throughout the palace she finds that Magic is still present in secret ways. Magic is forbidden in this world by order of the king. Watching Celaena try to unravel the mystery behind this magic was fascinating; magic is present in a fairly subtle way but has a huge impact on what happens in the story.

I don’t want to say too much about the book itself because that would just ruin it. I barely knew anything about it when I read it. All I knew was what was on the back of the book. Trust me when I say this book has to be on your TBR if it isn’t already. If you love fantasy and a kick ass heroine then this is your book by far. You will not be let down by this book.

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Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Book Review: Deadly Class by Rick Remender

2:03 PM | Posted by Angie

Title: Deadly Class Vol. 1

Author: Rick Remender

Publisher: Image Comics

Publication Date: July 16th, 2014

Synopsis:

It’s 1987. Marcus Lopez hates school. His grades suck. The jocks are hassling his friends. He can’t focus in class. But the jocks are the children of Joseph Stalin’s top assassin, the teachers are members of an ancient league of assassins, the class he's failing is “Dismemberment 101,” and his crush has a double-digit body count. Welcome to the most brutal high school on earth, where the world’s top crime families send the next generation of assassins to be trained. Murder is an art. Killing is a craft. At Kings Dominion School for the Deadly Arts, the dagger in your back isn’t always metaphorical. Collecting the first arc of the most critically acclaimed new series of 2014, by writer RICK REMENDER (BLACK SCIENCE, Fear Agent) and rising star artist WESLEY CRAIG (Batman). Experience the 1980s underground through the eyes of the world’s most damaged and dangerous teenagers.

This was my very first graphic novel. I had to learn how to read it. I quickly realized that you don't read it like a book. I knew it would be an easy and quick read for my Goodreads challenge. I loved that it was set in the 1980s. It had plenty of gory stuff in it. But I couldn't help but feel like it would be better as a tv show than a book (graphic novel to be exact). I feel like it moved way too fast for me. I guess I'm used to some character/world building. It had some great opportunity to go so much further than it did. I was just let down by the build up only to be let down in the end. Though all of this could be that I'm new to the world of the graphic novels. It's worth a read though.

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