Fantasy Archives -

Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas – (Book 6 for 2014)

So the question is: Can a 63 year-old grandfather love a book that features an eighteen year-old kick-ass female protagonist? The answer is a resounding hell yes!! The book is Throne of Glass and the heroine is Celaena Sardothian the Adarlan Assassin who has been captured and sent to a slave labor camp. Celaena has amazingly survived 1 and 1/2 years in the Endovier Salt Mines, when the story begins. The novel opens when Crown Prince Dorian Havillliard of Adarlan visits and makes Celaena and offer she can’t refuse return with him to Rifchold and be his champion in a competition to be his father, the King’s Champion! If she wins and serves the King for four years, she will be set free. Soon Celaena is on her way to join a competition against twenty-three killers, thieves and warriors to become the King’s Champion and ultimately be set free.

Soon Celaena is in the competition of her life against not only the assembled competitors but against an evil that is lose in the Castle. An evil that is brutally slaying the competitors one by one. But Celaena is not in the fight alone, along the way she is helped by the spirit of the first Queen of Adarlan Elena, and from Princess Nehemia Ytger of Eyllwe, Celaena’s naive land. A land that has been subjugated by Adarlan forces. Celaena’s presence upsets the whole castle as Crown Prince Dorian sees her as more than just his champion in the competition and Chaol the Captain of the Guard must not only protect Celaena from danger, but also Dorian from the dangerous Celaena!!

I thought that the book was a well-written page turner with just the right mix of mysticism and suspense. I enjoyed all the main characters Celaena, Dorian, Chaol and Nehemia. I also thought that the attraction between Chaol and Celaena and Dorian and Celaena was handled just about right!

Here’s a quote from Kirkus Reviews that sums up my thoughts about Throne of Glass fairly well…..

“Woven in the vein of a Tolkien fantasy….This commingling of comedy, brutality and fantasy evokes a rich alternate universe with a spitfire young woman as its brightess star.”

Bottom line: Throne of Glass is a strong 4.5 out of 5 book. It was exciting and entertaining throughout the book. It was a great choice for my first exploration of the Young Adult genre and I look forward to checking out similar books! I already have the second book in the series checked out of the library. I don’t know if I can put off reading it long enough to finish some of the other books that I am reading or planned to read!! Oh, what the hell maybe I’ll just start it. What do you think??

Links for Further Explorations of Sarah J Maas and Throne of Glass

Storm Front Book #1 of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, is the fourth book that I have read in 2015.

This is the first of Jim Butcher’s books that I have read. Reading Storm Front counts as a book read for several of my 2015 Reading Challenges. First Storm Front has been on my to be read (TBR) pile for several years now (don’t ask me why!!) so it fits into the TBR Pile Reading Challenge. It is a murder mystery so it count toward my goal for the2015 Clock and Dagger Reading Challenge. And since Storm Front features Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, a wizard and the series spawned a TV show on the SciFi Network it definitely belongs in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category!

Harry’s ad reads….

HARRY DRESDEN – WIZARD
Lost Items found. Paranormal Investigations
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other
Entertainment

The Story

In Storm Front, Harry is called in by Chicago Police Lieutenant Karrin Murphy, director of Special Investigations to help solve the gruesome murder of Tommy Tomm, bodyguard for Chicago mobster Johnny Marcone and Jennifer Stanton an employe of The Velvet Room escort service. (their hearts were ripped out) in the Madison Hotel. That same evening, Harry is contacted by Monica Sells to help find her husband Victor, who just packed some things and left his home. Monica believes, that his disappearance has something to do with his new-found interest in magic, hence she has called on a wizard rather than the police to help find him!!

Since the murders required some very powerful black magic, Harry has become a prime murder suspect, not of the police (at least at first) but by the White Council that watches Harry and other wizards to assure that they do not bend or break any of the Laws of Magic! If the White Council finds that Harry did commit the crime he would have broken the First Law of Magic and would be executed!! So Harry is soon on the trail of a very powerful practitioner of black magic maybe even a little more powerful than Harry but without they years of training or the willingness to obey the Laws of Magic!!

My Take on Storm Front

Obviously this debut book was a winner and has led to a succesful series that now stands at 16, soon to be 17 books. Book 16 Skin Game finished at #3 in this years poll at Goodreads for the Best Fantasy Book!

I love Storm Front both as a murder mystery and as a suspenseful fantasy novel with a great lovable protagonist in Harry Dresden battling some pretty challenging demons!

Bottom line: Storm Front

Bottom line: Storm Front is certainly a very strong 4.5 to 5 star book! A well crafted fast-paced page turner that works as both a mystery and fantasy book with a wonderfully humorous main character! I am definitely ready for Book 2 Fool Moon!!

Post Update 2026

By the time I read Storm Front in 2015 there were 15 books in the Harry Dresden series! And sadly I haven’t read any of them! I guess I need to create a new Reading Challenge!