The Lovely Ordinary

I finally finished reading the Throne of Glass series, and while I absolutely LOVED the series, I apparently have very different opinions from my friends and from a lot of what I have seen online.

So, naturally, I have to talk about it.

***THIS DOES INCLUDE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.***

First, though, I need to address something that apparently people have very strong opinions about: the reading order.

Throne of Glass should be FIRST, and The Assassin’s Blade should be THIRD.

No one can convince me otherwise.

I know there are people who recommend reading The Assassin’s Blade first, and I understand the reasoning if you need to read everything chronologically. But honestly, reading Throne of Glass first made me care about Celaena before I knew everything about her past. Then The Assassin’s Blade gave me all of that context while I was already invested in her.

I also think there is something to be said for letting Celaena’s past be revealed when she is ready for us to learn it. If she wasn’t ready to talk about her past with the people around her, then I don’t think I’m entitled to know it before she is ready either.

And, quite frankly, SJM published The Assassin’s Blade after Throne of Glass, so I’m going to go by the author’s reading order.

Okay. Now into the characters.

Chaol — My Favorite, and No One Can Change My Mind

Apparently, liking Chaol is a very unpopular opinion.

But I genuinely do not understand the Chaol hate.

Chaol was my favorite character throughout most of the series, and by the time I finished Kingdom of Ash, I was pretty firmly convinced that the man deserved better from the internet.

Yes, he makes mistakes. Obviously. He’s not perfect. But that is kind of the point.

In Throne of Glass, Chaol is young, inexperienced, and not accustomed to seeing the kind of violence and death that Celaena is capable of. So when he starts to realize exactly what this girl he cares about can do, I can see how that would be a little jarring.

But he grows.

A LOT.

He questions his beliefs, recognizes when the system he has spent his life serving is wrong, and eventually becomes one of the people actively fighting to change it. His character development is honestly one of the strongest in the entire series.

And then there is my favorite thing about Chaol: he asks questions.

In a series where everyone apparently loves making massive, life-altering decisions without telling anyone else, Chaol is constantly standing in the corner going:

“What is the plan?”

“There is no plan.”

“…Then maybe we should make a plan?”

Or:

Chaol: “What’s the plan?”

Aelin: “I can’t tell you.”

Chaol: “WHY?”

Aelin: “Because you would try to stop me.”

Chaol: “BECAUSE YOUR PLAN IS INSANE.”

Finally. Someone with common sense.

People call him a complainer, and I just don’t get it. Meanwhile, Dorian spends a significant portion of the series being miserable, but apparently that’s acceptable because he’s pretty and broody and has magical powers.

I said what I said.

And yes, I even enjoyed Tower of Dawn. I will die on this hill too.

Dorian — I Will Never Understand the Love for This Man

I do not understand why everyone loves Dorian so much.

He was fine.

That’s it.

He was just… okay for me throughout the entire series, and honestly, I found him more and more difficult to tolerate as the books went on.

The whole “woe is me” attitude became exhausting. And in Kingdom of Ash, while he was off with Manon and the Thirteen, I kept waiting for him to actually contribute something meaningful.

I mean, yes, he did find the third Wyrdkey, and I did enjoy his little venture into Morath with Maeve. But that wasn’t enough to win me over.

And then there is the magic.

This man has so much plot armor that I started wondering if “raw magic” was just Sarah J. Maas’ way of saying, “Don’t worry, he’ll figure it out.”

He starts with ice magic. Then somehow gets fire magic. Then he learns shapeshifting from the spider who had stolen that magic from someone else. Then Erawan can’t detect him in Morath because of his “raw magic.” Then he learns Maeve’s mind magic within minutes.

I mean, come on.

I know this is fantasy. I know magic doesn’t need to follow real-world rules. But there has to be a limit somewhere.

Apparently, Dorian’s limit is “whatever the plot currently needs him to do.”

Nehemia — I Wanted to Like Her. I Really Did.

My feelings about Nehemia went through a complete transformation.

When I first met her, I was suspicious of her.

Then I started to like her.

Then I respected her.

And then, as more was revealed later in the series, I started to really dislike her.

I understand her motivations. I understand that she was trying to protect her people and believed she was working toward something bigger.

But understanding someone’s motivations doesn’t mean I have to agree with their choices.

Looking back at everything she knew and everything she deliberately kept from Celaena, I had a hard time getting past it. By the end of the series, my feelings about her were very different from where they started.

Which is actually one of the things I appreciate about this series. It made me change my mind about characters more than once.

Aedion — Best Boi, and I Will Not Tolerate Aedion Hate

I said it while I was reading the series, and I will say it now:

Aedion is best boi.

I do not understand the amount of Aedion hate I have seen.

Was he perfect? No.

Did he have anger issues? Absolutely.

Was he right to be angry about the plan for Lysandra to impersonate Aelin?

YES.

Imagine finding out that your friends have created this enormous plan for if or when your cousin will die, for Lysandra to take her place, and for you to essentially become the person responsible for continuing the bloodline.

And nobody bothered to ask you how you felt about it!

I would be pissed too.

Aedion wasn’t just angry because he didn’t like the plan. He felt like everyone had stopped seeing him as a person and started seeing him as a means to continue the Galathynius bloodline.

And honestly? If they had actually included him in the conversation, I think there’s a pretty good chance he would have eventually agreed to the plan.

But instead, they made the decision for him.

So yes. Aedion can be angry.

Let the man be angry.

Lysandra — Badass, But Not My Favorite

I actually really liked Lysandra.

She does some incredible things throughout the series.

Turning into a sea dragon to convince Rolfe and the Mycenians to join the fight? Amazing.

Turning into a wyvern during the final battle? Absolutely badass.

And I loved watching her go from a character who had spent so much of her life surviving to someone who was willing to fight for the people she loved.

I do think the whole situation with not telling Aedion about the impersonation plan was messed up. But I also don’t think it was entirely Lysandra’s responsibility to tell him. Aelin was the one who came up with the plan. Aelin should have told Aedion.

So while I understand why Aedion was angry with Lysandra, I don’t put all of that on her.

Overall, Lysandra is one of those characters where I finished the series thinking, “Yeah, I really liked her.”

Aelin — Yes, We Like Her. Flaws and All.

Aelin is one of my favorites, but she isn’t number one.

And I think that’s another opinion that might get me in trouble.

I actually really liked Aelin’s character development throughout the series. At the beginning, she is selfish, impulsive, and a coward. She has spent years running from who she was and trying to survive.

But look at where she ends up.

By Kingdom of Ash, she is willing to die for her people.

And I think that distinction is important when comparing her to Dorian. Aelin wasn’t ready to sacrifice herself because she was miserable and didn’t want to keep going. She was willing to sacrifice herself because she believed it would save the people she loved.

Those are two very different reasons to be willing to die.

Now, did the whole “I have a secret plan that I can’t tell anyone about” thing get annoying?

Absolutely.

There were several moments where I wanted to grab Aelin by the shoulders and yell, “YOU ARE ALLOWED TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS THINGS.”

But I also understand why she did it.

I saw a reel recently that pointed out that the one time Aelin actually stuck to the plan without a backup, Sam died. And honestly, that made me look at her secrecy a little differently. Also, I really loved Sam and wish he could have been around longer.

She learned very early that plans fail. People die. Things go wrong.

So she started creating contingencies.

Was she always right to keep everyone in the dark? No.

But I can understand why she did it.

Rowan — We Like Him Too

Rowan is another one where I apparently disagree with parts of the internet.

I love him.

He’s one of my top five, and I think Aelin needed him.

Rowan becomes an anchor for Aelin, but I never felt like he erased who she was. If anything, he was one of the people who could actually meet her where she was.

And throughout the entire series, Aelin never really loses herself in Rowan. She repeatedly reminds herself that she is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, and that story about the princess who loved her kingdom is there from beginning to end.

She doesn’t stop being Aelin because she falls in love with Rowan.

And yes, I know there are people who have very strong opinions about their age difference.

My response is… they’re both immortal.

At some point, we have to stop applying real-world dating rules to immortal magical people.

Agree or don’t. I said what I said.

I also really like that Rowan doesn’t exist solely as Aelin’s love interest. He has his own history, trauma, relationships, and character development.

Also, what he did to Cairn after Aelin escaped?

We approve.

So yes.

We like Rowan.

Lorcan — I Am a Sucker for This Trope

I know why people don’t like Lorcan.

He is an asshole.

Like, genuinely.

But unfortunately for me, I am a sucker for the “terrible man is secretly capable of being soft for exactly one person” trope.

And Lorcan and Elide’s story worked for me.

They go on a journey together, both literally and emotionally, and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop.

Lorcan doesn’t suddenly become a completely different person because he falls in love. He is still Lorcan. He just starts giving a damn about someone other than himself.

And that is enough to get me.

Elide — We Love Her Courage

Elide is one of my favorites, and I think one of the reasons I love her is because she never needs to become the strongest person in the room to be important.

She is brave in her own way.

She survives.

She thinks.

She adapts.

And she repeatedly finds ways to contribute even when she is surrounded by people who are physically stronger and more powerful than she is.

I mean, she came up with the idea for how to take down Erawan!

And then there is her relationship with Lorcan, which we already discussed.

I love them.

Yrene — The Girl From the Tavern

Yrene might have one of my favorite full-circle stories in the entire series.

This scared young woman Celaena meets in a run-down tavern doesn’t know who Celaena really is or what she will eventually become.

And then Yrene goes on to become an incredible healer and plays a major role in defeating Erawan.

I loved that.

It felt like one of those little threads from the beginning of the series that eventually became incredibly important.

And honestly, this is probably a big part of why I enjoyed Tower of Dawn.

I know that book gets a lot of hate because people don’t like Chaol.

But I liked it.

And I loved seeing Yrene’s story come full circle.

Nesryn — Just Okay

Nesryn was another character who was just… fine.

I didn’t dislike her. I just never became particularly invested in her.

Her romance with Chaol always felt a bit off to me, and I also didn’t really care about her romance with Sartaq.

Which is a shame, because I really liked Sartaq.

The Khaganate — Sartaq and Kashin, Yes. Hasar, No.

I actually enjoyed getting to spend time with the Khaganate characters, even if some of them didn’t stick with me as strongly as others.

Sartaq is great. Kashin is great.

Hasar?

No thank you.

She is exactly the kind of character who makes me want to say, “I understand why you are doing this, but I do not enjoy being around you.”

She was arrogant and unnecessarily difficult, and I never really warmed up to her.

Elena — Everything Is Your Fault

Elena.

Girl.

What were you doing?

The more I learned about Elena and Gavin, the more frustrated I became.

So much of what happened throughout the series can be traced back to choices they made, and those choices were ultimately driven by selfishness.

And then everyone else had to live with the consequences.

Generations of people suffered because of decisions made by two people who thought they knew better.

So, yeah.

I’m blaming Elena.

Manon — I Don’t Really Get It

I know.

I know.

Manon is incredibly popular.

And I just… don’t get it.

I did like her story. She had some great character development, and watching her slowly question everything she had been taught was compelling. I loved her fight with her grandmother and that act of rebellion and defiance.

I also really liked seeing her learn how to play the political game. Her decision to propose marriage as a way to create an alliance between Adarlan and the witches was a great example of how much she had changed.

But I was never as emotionally invested in Manon as a lot of readers seem to be.

Because…

Asterin — We Love Asterin

I liked Asterin’s story more.

That’s it.

That’s the opinion.

I found myself much more emotionally invested in Asterin, and that made the events involving the Thirteen hit incredibly hard.

Which brings me to…

The Thirteen — I Was Not Okay

The sacrifice of the Thirteen absolutely destroyed me.

I sobbed.

Asterin was the one I was most emotionally attached to, so her death hit especially hard, along with the deaths of their wyverns.

I don’t think I could name every member of the Thirteen if you put me on the spot, but that didn’t make the sacrifice feel any less devastating.

It was one of those moments where I had to put the book down for a minute and just stare into the distance.

Gavriel & Fenrys — I Have a Problem With This One

I liked both of these characters a lot.

Which is why I’m still a little annoyed about Gavriel’s death.

I’m glad he got to see Aedion one last time. The acceptance between them had a huge emotional impact on the story, and I understand why that moment was important.

But I also can’t help thinking that if we needed to lose someone from the Cadre, Fenrys would have made more sense to me.

I know.

But that’s how I feel.

His death still would have been impactful. He was a brother to Gavriel, Rowan, and Lorcan by the end. He took the blood oath to Aelin, which she offered so she could save his life. He was by her side while she was being tortured by Maeve and Cairn.

Losing him would still have had an impact.

But selfishly, I really just wanted Aedion to have his father.

Nox — We Didn’t Forget Nox!

I have to give a little shout-out to Nox.

The thief Celaena helped escape the castle way back in Throne of Glass.

I love that he wasn’t forgotten.

It is such a small thing, but I appreciate when authors remember their own characters and bring those little threads back into the story.

Nox may not have been extremely important to the overall plot, but he was part of Celaena’s story from the beginning.

So yes.

We like Nox.

And Finally, the Villains

Maeve — Great Villain, Love to Hate Her

Maeve was awful.

Absolutely awful.

But she was a great villain.

She was manipulative, intelligent, and genuinely unsettling. And I did not see the reveal that she was a Valg queen hiding in plain sight coming.

I love a villain that makes me angry while I’m reading because I actually want them to lose.

Maeve accomplished that.

Erawan — A Little Disappointing

Erawan is where I felt a little let down.

There was so much buildup around him throughout the series. He was supposed to be this enormous, terrifying, ancient evil.

And then…

That’s it?

He was taken down so quickly that I almost felt like the final confrontation didn’t quite live up to all the buildup.

That said, I did love that Aelin and Yrene were able to share the victory.

Yrene, the girl Celaena met in a tavern years earlier, helping defeat the ultimate evil?

I’ll take it.

Final Thoughts

Despite all of my complaining, I really did love this series.

Was everything perfect? Absolutely not.

Did some characters get way more hype than I personally think they deserved? Definitely.

Did I occasionally question some of Sarah J. Maas’ plot decisions? Oh, absolutely.

But did I spend seven books becoming emotionally attached to these characters, staying up too late because I needed to know what happened next, and eventually end up with very strong opinions about fictional people who don’t exist?

Also yes.

And maybe that’s the best compliment I can give Throne of Glass.

It made me care.

Even when I was frustrated. Even when I was yelling at characters to please communicate like normal human beings. Even when I thought the plot was stretching the limits of what I was willing to accept.

I still wanted to know what happened.