Throne of Glass (review)

At just eighteen years old, Celaena Sardothien is already Adarlan's most notorious assassin—a reputation that has earned her a lifetime sentence of hard labor in the kingdom's harsh salt mines after she was betrayed to authorities. A year into her sentence, Celaena is offered a chance at freedom by the crown prince himself, on the condition that she win a competition against twenty-three other warriors to become the king's champion and then serve out a four-year term as the royal assassin. The contest is fierce and the weekly elimination tests are brutal, but when contestants start dying under mysterious circumstances outside of the sanctioned fights, Celaena begins to suspect that more powerful and perhaps supernatural forces are at play. With her stubborn spirit, playful wit, and wicked weaponry skills, Celaena is an entertaining addition to the YA canon of tough heroines, and references to her past exploits suggest that she used to be even tougher. There is plenty of scandalous court intrigue to fill in the gaps between the weekly sparring, and the love triangle that develops between Celaena, the crown prince, and the captain of the king's guard is charming in its innocence as she exchanges flirtatious banter with the two men. This doesn't quite rise to the stellar level of Cashore's Graceling (BCCB 1/09), but it will still be immensely appealing to fans of the genre.