actual rating 3.5
i have finally given up and joined the throne of glass bandwagon.

So many people I know who likes to read are mostly into this series and it kind of intimidates me how high people rate this book and how much they love it. I was afraid that when I read this I'd be disappointed so I postponed reading this one until I'm ready. Now I am.

A few months ago i read a review saying that throne of glass is a cinderella retelling and i love those kind of stories. but when i read tog the only thing that reminded me of cinderella was the ball, but that's okay. i love celaena, she's the type of strong female character I've been always rooting for but i also think that she's way too perfect, is she a mary sue? I don't know, i need to read the second book to find out. But here is celaena just 18 years old but known to everyone as the most famous assassin, she's beautiful, blonde, and perfect. She loves to read (which I'm sure makes all the bookworm out there swoon like we do over hermione), she can play the piano, and evidently so much smarter and funnier than any girls Dorian has ever met. Everyone is dull compared to her. You see what I'm talking about?

The only thing that actually piss me off about this book is the love triangle, though. I just don't see the chemistry between Dorian and Celaena. I mean it's cute that Dorian is acting like a lovesick puppy but I just don't feel it and Chaol is all angsty and quiet. I hoped Chaol and Dorian are closer, I hope I'll get to see more of their friendship and the love triangle /wince/ between them and cealena won't turn into a bloody, angsty mess.

So, tog has some of that cinderella essence, the hunger game essence, and harry potter-ish essence (bad monster roaming secret passages in the old castle? very COS to me!). the writing is OK. The romance is cute sometimes. I figured out who let out the monster out to roam the castle and when celaena thought it was Nehemia I thought it was a really poor detective work on her part. And her reasoning when she went to the ball was also pretty stupid. She thought Nehemia was going to let the monster out in the ball and killed everyone and she could probably help if shit hits the fan? Where did she even draw that conclusion from? It's pretty far fetched, I think. I mean, girl please, you just wanted to go out and dance just admit it, it's no sin to want to have fun. Did i find anything original here? not really. Again and again i found that nagging feeling in my head, hm i feel like this is similar to this and that.

But anyway, I rated this 3.5 because it's not really that bad. Definitely will read the second book and hopefully it'll get better.