Wednesday, June 24, 2015

A Throne of Glass Discussion (Part 1)


Hey everyone! Do I have a treat for you! Do you remember the time where I didn't know when or where I would read Throne of Glass? Well, I did! And so did both of my friends Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight and Holly @ The Fox's Hideaway. We have officially read the book! Woo! *throws confetti* So, what now? Well, instead of reviewing it individually, we decided to discuss it instead. This led to a rather lengthy discussion on what we thought, (what we forgot), and overall, what we liked and disliked about Throne of Glass! Since our discussion was *pretty* long, we decided to divide it in three parts! Links will be provided at the end to both parts 2 & 3! 

Without further due, here is part 1! Be prepared for some craziness!

Introduction
Val: I'm about to start this discussion again, for real. So I really liked Throne of Glass, I liked it a lot. I'm not sure who I was rooting for, Dorian or Chaol (I can’t believe his name is pronounced as “Kale”, hahahah)

Holly: Whoa. Whoa. Wait. His name is pronounced as “Kale”? THAT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL. Also I am totes team Kale, after that Trial type of thing.

Val: I KNOW. I think I saw it on someone else's blog, and I was like “wut, I've been pronouncing it 'Ch-AWL' this entire time. What is life. But yeah, I am ALSO TEAM KALE. Shannon what team are you on?

Holly: I've been pronouncing it like Ch-awl too! IT MAKES MORE SENSE TO ME.

Val: Yeah I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

Shannon: I thought it was Kale from the start? But I also thought I was wrong, so who knows!

Celaena
Holly: Celaena is a BADASS. I mean, she could be extremely stubborn, obnoxiously vain, and cold. But I think those “flaws” just made me love her all the more. I liked that she was a sexually confident female too, because they are sorely lacking in YA books.

Val: TRUE. It is so lacking in YA that I myself don't even know what sexually confident means. And I loved how she became slightly more caring in the end.

Holly: Basically, it means that these females know they're hot, and they don’t apologize for that. They're confident with and around guys, and they like flirting. NO SLUT-SHAMING. In so many books I read, most girls are the typical Mary Sue. Shy, innocent, always blushing at everything. They don’t know they're pretty, and they find it ridiculous that a guy would call them beautiful. They're kind of made to be superior to “those other girls” and it’s such a harmful stereotype and leads to slut-shaming. And oh, I loved her growth. She was so closed-off and angry at the whole world, but slowly, so slowly she became warmer and more caring. She started to feel more for people, let herself open up again. She’s been through a lot, so I totally understood her need to shut down and keep people out.

Val: Oh I see! YAY NO SLUT SHAMING. Yeah, same here. I've only read a few that have had confident girls as well. It all sounds very humble and modest :P And like what a girl is SUPPOSED to be like. Seriously. I’m glad that the people around me at least think differently, well I guess on Tumblr, Book Blogging community, and hopefully my friends think that slut-shaming is bad too, at least.

Holly: Oh, I don't think I have friends outside of this that see slut-shaming as a problem, which is sad. I try and catch it in books, and I like reading ones that say “fuck you” to the gender norms.

Shannon: I liked her by the end, but in the beginning, holy hell she was VAIN. I was like, girl, you are about to die, and you are worried about your boobs and your hair. STOP IT.

Ready to continue? Part 2 Part 3

Comments (16)

Loading... Logging you in...
  • Logged in as
I went to a Sarah Maas signing in May, and she explained how her editor wanted to change Chaol's name and told her that she'd regret it if she didn't because of all the confusion it would cause, but she stuck her ground. I think she was like 17 when she was writing Throne of Glass, and she said that she really wanted to name a character Chaos, but made it Chaol to be more acceptable.
My recent post Review: Heir of Fire
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
That makes so much more sense than before now hahaha. I think I would agree with the editor, but yay for Sarah J Maas sticking to her guts! To be honest though "Chaos" would've been weird to read hahah.
I like that you have split this into 3 parts and done a big discussion together rather than individual reviews. I have become obsessed with the series, it just gets better with every single book. Celaena really grew on me and now she's one of my favourite heroines. I loved that she was confident and isn't afraid of her sexuality. We need more sexually confident women in YA.
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
Hahah I'm glad you enjoyed this! I also really need to read the rest of the series (whatever is out) because I am pretty behind. And yes we need more sexually confident women in YA!
I ADORE THIS POST SO MUCH. Chaol is like KAY-ALE, pretty much just kale. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH THOUGH. He is BAE <3

Celaena IS such a badass, and she gets even more badass as the series progresses. I'm so glad that Celaena is so confidant and proud of her sexuality. There's no slut shaming, and she totally owns everything she does.

Ahhh I'm glad you guys are loving this!! :D
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
SO BASICALLY WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT THE KALE hahahha. I cannot wait to read more about him

YES WE ARE LOVING THIS. Except Shannon went on to already read books 2 and 3 :P
I had so many problems with Celaena in ToG and I hope they change when I finally get around to reading Crown of Midnight! It's just that she keeps saying she'll do things and everyone calls her badass and The Greatest Assassin Ever but in the actual book, she barely had any action until the very end? So, there wasn't a lot of badassery to me...?

And oh heck, yeah, she was VAIN. I liked that she was proud of herself despite being in prison/slavery for so long but when she was agonizing over wet shoes and not being invited to balls even though she was beautiful, it was like....she was another person?? I was just "whut gurl, get yo head back in the game and train or figure out weaknesses or the politics of the palace".

Heh, I hope she grows out of these characteristics later in the series :)
My recent post Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
HAHAHHAHA YES THIS COMMENT.

As of right now, I'm not as attached to Celaena because it's only the first book, but I definitely agree in that she could've been less focused on her appearance and more on the game! Though in the end I have to say she was very focused on the whole mysterious fae thing going on in the castle.

I AM ALSO EXCITED FOR THE REST OF THE SERIES!
Celaena gets sooooo much better. Like, so much. I promise. And Chaol is the best. Ever. I also love that I said NOTHING in this discussion. Oops? ;)
My recent post We All Read Throne of Glass (And No One Remembers)
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
YEAH YOU LITERALLY SAID NOTHING.

And of course you know that because you already went ahead and read the rest of the series :P
It totally threw me for a loop when I learned his name was pronounced Kale too!

I'll agree with Shannon and say that Celaena's character in the next two books develops SO MUCH. Like, I can't even handle it. I CAN'T HANDLE THIS SERIES.

GO READ HEIR OF FIRE SO YOU CAN CRY WITH ME.
My recent post The Struggle Is Real | Dealing with Book Amnesia
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
Hahah I know right? Like wut. OK OK I WILL GO READ THE REST OF THE BOOKS. Well, buy them first.
THAT IS WHY I LOVED CELANEA!!! It was amazing. She was fabulous. She owned the area, and that was sooo refreshing. Because I feel like so many YA heroines are all funny and self-deprecating, but have such self-image issues. And it was nice, for once, to read about someone who was 1000% fabulous and SHOWED IT. <3 Plus she was totally into her clothes as well as stabbing everyone in the face so fajdlksa I love her.

AGH I PRONOUNCED IT CHAY-AL. (I guess that's my Australian accent on Ch-awl hahahaaha. Ahem.) But not Kale. I knew it was Kale when I finished bk 1, but he's still Chay-al in my head. XD No regrets!

Loved the discussion, you three!!
1 reply · active 509 weeks ago
YES EXACTLY. I'm kind of tired of the "but I'm not good/pretty at all!" When in actuality they are and all the boys chase after them. Bleh. YES I STILL PRONOUNCE IT CHAWL IN MY HEAD but I know it's wrong.

Thanks Cait :D
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I am so happy that you FINALLY read this! I love this unique idea to discuss a book rather than review it.

I was pronouncing "Chaol" as "Coal" lol until I went to a book signing and heard the author pronounce it. Whoops!

My favorite thing about Celena is her badass-ness and it gets better, so I hope you keep reading this series!

Emily @ Follow the Yellow Book Road
I didn't like this book, eep. I HATED Celaena. I thought she was super annoying, and vain, and completely unrealistic. It was just tell, tell, tell when it came to her badassery, and I had so much trouble believing that she was the country's best assassin.

And I always thought it was pronounced "kale", haha. But I often pronounce names wrong, so I am actually pretty surprised that I was right this time *happy dance*

I am really glad that I kept on reading this series, though, because I have ended up LOVING it. There's so much more showing of Celaena being badass, and she grows so much as a character, as well.

On the sex positive note: I think Sarah J. Maas does a good job of that on the whole, because Feyre was the same in ACoTaR. Sex wasn't made out to be this huge, monumental thing only to be undertaken when everything is perfect etc etc etc. I mean, sure, it CAN be something like that but it doesn't HAVE to be - which I think is the message that a lot of YA books put out there, which isn't the best in my opinion.

Great discussion :D
My recent post Books for Mail + Simply Sunday (#23)

Post a new comment

Comments by

This site uses IntenseDebate to manage comment data. Learn more about how that is processed here.