A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1) by: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: May 5, 2015 by: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Pages: 416
Rating: 5/5 stars

When poor huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a dangerous beast demands to take her life to avenge it. She convinces the beast to take her to his home, in order to protect her struggling family. She soon finds out that the beast transforms into Tamlin, an immortal faerie that rules the world of Fae. Trapped inside his castle, Feyre starts developing feelings for Tamlin, but these feelings could threaten his world, and hers all at the same time.

I finally did it. I read the book that everyone and their cousins talks about. I didn't want to like this to be honest, because I have had bad experiences with SJM's other books, but I have to say that I was actually BLOWN AWAY by it and the premise. But, I ended up hating the sequel, so this is short lived.

I really loved the descriptiveness of this book! The setting felt like I was involved in it, and it all felt so magical and real. One thing that I applaud Maas on is her ability to pull you into the world she creates. It is a great feeling.

This book wasn't boring, wasn't heavy and not at all what I was expecting. I was fully engaged throughout the entire thing, which was incredibly surprising to me, and I kept wanting to read more and more. I was actually entertained by a fantasy book! Can you believe it?!

The one warning I will give you though, is that this book could be, well... raunchy at times. It's a very sexy book, and with that comes very detailed descriptions of sex. Some would say that these details put this book in the New Adult category as opposed to Young Adult. So just be wary, if that's not something that you're comfortable with, you might want to take that into consideration.

But overall, I loved this book! I loved how engaging it was, how entertaining, and how magical the world seemed to be. I can finally cross this book off my tbr list!

Have you read ACOTAR? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: September 1, 2014 by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 648
Rating: 1.5/5 stars

Celaena Sardothien, now Queen Aelin Galathynius is prepared to fight for her kingdom. After a lengthy time of preparation, she is ready to take on the task of freeing her people from the brutal king, slaying the forces of darkness and protecting those who mean the most to her. However these tasks will prove to be harsh on the new queen, and Aelin will need the help of the people she is closest to, in order to win this war.

I am ready to get this series over and done with. After a demanding battle with this series, I'm dropping it here and moving onto books that are more catered to what I'm interested in. While I thought I could force myself to get into the heavy fantasy, I am living proof that you cannot force a genre on yourself just because of the hype. I followed the hype, and it failed me.

I don't want to sound like such a Negative Nancy in this review, so I'll start off with the one positive thing that was able to earn this book a two star instead of one. This was the ending. Throughout the book, I was left not knowing exactly what was going on, and very bored. However, when Manon and Aelin finally faced each other, boy was I intrigued. I guess that's what a climax does to people. I thought that the battle was written very well and it captivated me. That is all.

Ok, so now to the reasons why I'm dropping this series, which were briefly highlighted in my review of the third book last week. I could not understand this book for the life of me. The writing was far too intense, too overly descriptive that I thought that the meaning was lost. Didn't work for me.

I did not appreciate the name change either. I understand why it had to happen, but Celaena is a hard enough name to remember as it is let alone changing it halfway. There were times when I didn't even know who was talking, that's how disconnected I was in this book.

Celaena... Or Aelin, really aggravated me for some reason in this book. I found she was kind of cocky, a bit naive, and not my favourite representation of her. Not like she's my favourite heroine anyways, but she still bothered me more than ever.

So basically, that's all to it. Goodbye Throne of Glass, while I thought I could deal with you after the first two books, you sadly disappointed me. Good luck in all that you accomplish.

Have you read Queen of Shadows? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: September 2, 2014 by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 562
Rating: 2/5 stars

Celaena Sardothien is done playing games to earn her freedom. After discovering the harrowing secret about her heritage, she now must return to her home land, to reconnect with her people and claim the throne as her's. But with looming forces of darkness preparing for battle, Celaena must find new responsibilities in protecting a nation, a task that she has never thought possible before.

Ok... so I loved the first book in this series. Even the second was pretty light for a fantasy and something that I could get through easily. I was expecting the same from this book, after I had gotten good response before. As I have mentioned before, I don't do well with overly heavy and descriptive novels, and this was probably one of the heaviest I've ever read :(

I could not understand the book from the beginning. It was like this huge jump between assassin Celaena to queen Celaena that I just couldn't connect to at all. All of these new characters were introduced whom I couldn't grasp the concept of at all, and overall this book just went way over my head.

I guess the reason I gave this book two as opposed to one star, is that I did have an appreciation for the writing. Despite the fact that I didn't do well with it, Maas has a very magical way of writing, it's something very mystical and special to her. I think that if I could understand it, I would have really loved it. If you are heavily into fantasy, you'd love this writing!

Now to all the reasons I just couldn't get this book. For starters, I found it to be extremely boring to me. In the first two books, we get to see her battle with other assassins, reconnect with new love, and meet new people. Here, I found it as if she just threw all of the old character aside. I could not understand her relationship with Chaol in this book, and I felt as if everything they built up was lost.

I just found this book to be a bit too descriptive for me. I was completely lost as to what was going on because sometimes things can get a bit too wordy. I know that this could go really well for other people, but it is not good for me.

I have decided after reading the fourth book, that I should stop investing time into this series. It just really deteriorated for me, and I need to stop forcing it upon myself.

Have you read Heir of Fire? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Crown of Midnight ( Throne of Glass #2) by: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: August 27, 2013 by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 418
Rating: 4/5 stars
* do not read this review if you haven't read book one*

Celaena Sardothien is now the King's Champion, and to prove her loyalness, she must murder every one of the King's enemies. What the king doesn't know, is that she is holding a secret in side that could jeopardise her freedom forever. But she is not the only one carrying secrets, and all will be revealed on one tragic night, where loyalties and relationships, will be tested.

Celaena came back stronger than ever! This book was action-packed, twisted and an amazing sequel. We get to dive deep into Celaena's assassin side, and uncover the links between the secrets within the castle walls. It was one big thrill ride!

I loved reading about Celaena's bad-assness in this book. In Throne of Glass, we get to see more of the funny side to her, and in this book, we get to see her in action. She was cunning, brave and nicer than you may think. This girl has a lot on her plate, and she still fought for what was right.

CHAOL CHAOL CHAOL!!!!!!!! What else can I say about this glorious man?! He is funny, caring, protective, handsome, majestic and everything in between! If you read this series, you will fall in love with this character! Maas just has a way with words that makes you able to fully visualise this character as if he was a real person.

The plot was thrilling in this book. I enjoyed learning more about the people in the castle's pasts, as well as how everything was linked to each other. It was like solving a puzzle, a really sad puzzle. I have to admit, I did cry in this book. I FELT ALL THE FEELINGS.

Basically the only reason this book did not get a perfect rating is because of the ending. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I felt as if it was kind of stupid. I felt as if everything moved so fast, that I couldn't really understand why everything turned out the way that it did :(

Overall, I loved the beginning and the middle, but the end fell kind of flat for me. But it was still pretty amazing!

Have you read Crown of Midnight? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Published: August 7 2012 by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 404
Rating: 5/5 stars

After going through intense labour in the salt mines of Endovier, notorious assassin Celaena Sardothien has been offered freedom by the king; but only if she can win a competition to become the king's new assassin. She must compete against men from across the empire, and beat all odds. But things get complicated when a love triangle heats up, and suddenly her competitions start showing up murdered. Will she be able to find the killer, or will she become a victim herself?

I FINALLY DID IT!!!!! After months of contemplation, I can officially say that I have started The Throne of Glass series, and boy was I satisfied with the first book. I honestly thought that it would be a very heavy and over bearing fantasy, but what I got was more of an extreme kickass version of The Selection by: Kiera Cass. I was hooked!

Celaena is probably one of the best female protagonists of all time, and she puts the males in the novel to shame! She was cunning, brave and extremely loyal. I loved how she never gave up. I also rather enjoyed the males in the novel as well *cough* Chaol *cough*. They cared for Celaena deeply but at the same time never got in her way.

Sarah J. Maas had sort of a poetic way of writing this book which captivated me. It was so weird, but the writing seemed so lyrical. She used descriptive words without going overboard, and overall the writing was so intriguing! I kept wanting to read more and more.

My advice to anyone who has trouble with fantasy novels like I do, is to still give this a try! I didn't feel heavy or uninteresting one bit, and everything was just so original. This series is a must read!

Have you read Throne of Glass? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess