Violence, moral dilemmas aplenty in complex assassin tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
The main character, a skilled assassin, is an enslaved prisoner who's forced into a Hunger Games-like contest that involves assorted feats, including duels; several competitors perish along the way. The cruel king is known for massacring entire populations, as well as burning books and libraries; over the course of the story, he kills many and threatens more. Monsters summoned from the underworld shred their victims and devour their brains and organs. Gory combat, hacking and slashing, weapons, poisonings, ambush, and a guard who agonizes because he had to kill a villain to save his charge. Flashbacks to the murder of a character's parents, the death of her first love, and other past traumas, including brutal, deadly conditions for enslaved people in the salt mines and the rape and slaughter of a fellow prisoner who'd helped her. Scene where the main character recalls slamming a door on her right hand and breaking several bones (on orders from her master to make her right hand useless so she had to use her left). Dark passageways lead to an ancient tomb, and the spirit of a long-dead queen involves herself in the plot. Creepy nightmares of being trapped in mass graves. The return of menstrual cycles after a year of starvation and abuse is mentioned a few times.
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
some
Teens and adults drink wine, sometimes to excess that causes them to be hung over the next day. A character is addicted to opium.
Sex, Romance & Nudity
a little
Lots of romantic confusion and longing among the lead characters, who are in their teens and twenties. Also lots of talk about harlots, prostitutes, and lovers, a lead character is known as a ladies' man, and lots of flirting. Aside from a couple of hot, long-awaited kisses (described more for their emotional flights than physical reaction), there's little action to show for all the longing. Brief mockery of bodice-ripper novels.
Language
a little
Occasional use of "damn" and "ass."
Positive Messages
some
The book's moral universe, centered on a murderous king and a teen assassin who's forced to do his bidding, is pretty violent and murky. But against that background, friendship, kindness, and connection are strong emerging forces that often drive the characters' choices. A love for learning and the freedom to pursue it is also a strong theme.
Positive Role Models
some
In a book where the main character is a career assassin, everyone is morally complex and often conflicted. Celaena's plans to bolt at the first opportunity are complicated by growing bonds of friendship, respect, and hope for a better world. Dorian, the teen prince who loves books and doesn't want to be like his father, is a notorious ladies' man but also devoted to Celaena; his lifelong BFF Chaon, the brave captain of the guard, is also in love with her and protects her from assorted dangers. Mysterious Princess Nehemia, visiting from a conquered kingdom, befriends Celaena and reveals unexpected depths. A long-dead Fae queen takes a hand in opposing dark forces -- like the king.
Diverse Representations
a little
Most of the main characters are described as having dark or golden skin. The story takes place in a fantasy world with extremes of wealth and poverty. Many characters resist being limited by stereotypes.
Educational Value
very little
Learning and books are highly valued by the main characters, who resist the king's book-burning, scholar-killing ways. The knowledge in the story pertains to the fantasy world.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Throne of Glass is the first book in the same-named best-selling fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas. The king's champion, enslaved 18-year-old Celaena, is a famous assassin who's offered the chance of freedom if she prevails in a Hunger Games-like contest. There's much less sex (both implied and actual) here than in Maas' Court of Thorns and Roses series: Expect flirting; talk of lovers, prostitutes, and dalliances; and lots of romantic longing. But action doesn't go further than a few intense kisses. Violence, on the other hand, is frequent and bloody, with gory weapons, hacking, slashing, poisoning, treachery, flashbacks to mass killings and murdered parents. There are also monsters from the underworld who shred victims and devour their brains and innards. Occasional crude language includes "damn" and "shove it up your ass." Characters are interesting and complex, and emerging friendships and loyalties complicate their lives but also sometimes save them. The book is largely devoted to establishing the characters and their world, setting up relationships, conflicts, and ethical dilemmas that will unfold in later installments.
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I loved the plot, and the action was intriguing. I'd recommend books 1–3 for 13-year-olds and the rest for 14-year-olds. The first book, while containing minimal sexual content and language, includes occasional violent/gory gombat, but it's written in a way that's appropriate for teens.
What's the Story?
Occupying the THRONE OF GLASS and leaving a trail of blood and destruction wherever he goes is the ruthless king of Adarlan, who's on a mission to wipe out magic, the remnants of the Fae race, and all those who cling to them. Eighteen-year-old Celaena has lost many loved ones to him; now a trained assassin with many deaths on her own hands, she's spent the last year in a salt mine that was supposed to kill her from sheer brutality after someone betrayed her. Plucked from the mines by the crown prince, who loves books and hates his father's murdering ways, Celaena is tasked with winning a contest against assorted thugs, soldiers, and killers to become the King's Champion, i.e. assassin. If she wins and does the job, she'll go free. If not, it's death -- or back to the mines.
The first installment in a best-selling magical series, Sarah J. Maas' complex tale of a teen assassin is awash in gore and dark deeds but also fraught with ethical dilemmas and the possibility of something better. Throne of Glass finds its teen and twenty-something characters uneasily building trust and falling in love, even as palace intrigue and their own experience make betrayal a likely outcome. Along the way, some swoony romance and deep internal conflicts. The world-building and relationships that develop here set the stage for cosmic conflict in later books, and there's lots here for fantasy and romance lovers to enjoy.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about stories like Throne of Glass and the premise that sometimes none of your choices are good, but you have to choose anyway. Why do you think this is such a popular storytelling theme, and what stories do you think deal with it especially well?
Do you like to develop your skills and compete against others? What's an interest you're pursuing, and what are you doing to pursue it?
Do you think magic is an important thing to have in your life? If you do, how do you find and keep magic?
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
