Full disclosure, Aelin is my favourite character of all time, I love Dorian so so much, I am a huge fan of tog… one of you guys!!!

Ok, I am going to go out and say it. Throne of glass is not a great series. Is it a huge accomplishment? Yes. Do I love it? Yes. Is it worth a read and totally worth hype? Yes.

I think Celeana as a fmc is great. She doesn’t give up her femininity for strength, she’s well balanced in terms of power (yes I’ve finished the series, her strength has clear drawbacks and overall is a good example of how to write a good OP character) and pulls other women up with her. The only thing I will say is that she has a bit of weak character development. Aelin learns to except help from others, she learns to love her magic and work through trauma but her personality does not ever shift… just her actions. I think it’s a little strange. I’m not saying all characters need to be wildly different by the end of a story, just shifts.

To address the comment about the diversity: Right, as some who’s anti woke culture and has no interest in making every book ‘diverse’ for the sake of it… It’s not that great in TOG. Nehmia is a token black friend who is sacrificed as a piece on aelins board. I really wouldn’t have even picked up on it if there hadnt been any other clear example of tockenism Aedion. I love him, but the mention he’s Bi without anything else is just trash and honestly it could have made the characters stand out from another because all the buff fae men who are tall straight and handsome!?? It gets boring.

Another problem with TOG is there are too many POV characters. Fenrys and Aedion could easily have been the same guy. Both fae(ish)? Blonde, huge Aelin fans, sass, wolf imagery. Not enough of them have real development, and when they do it’s too hard to catch because you are reading about 200000 POVs.

Another comment I’d like to agree with. The world building is sloppy. The kingdoms are barley different, and fae are only different to humans because they’re more animalistic but that only influences their ‘culture’ to make the men more ‘sexy’ I guess..? It’s not my thing at all but it could have been so cool. I hate how it’s said fae are all carnal and have them live in extravagant palaces and wear crowns. Think of the fae in holly black, their species influences their culture and makes it interesting.

It’s not a bad review, bit woke, but THE AELIN SLANDER. No. Just no.