***First try*** - 2 stars 
 I waited for a year for this book, and I wanted to love it. Really and truly I did. I picked it up at the library as soon it was available, and instantly started to read it when I got home. It sounded kind of smiliar to books like Poison Study, Grave Mercy, Graceling, and other fantasy novels I love. I expected my mind to be blown by the time I was done. 
 But I was very underwhelmed. The heroine, I don't remember her name, it started with a C, is very, very arrogant. And a bit too perfect. She was awesome at fighting and killing, and apparently, was also very pretty. And she knew it too. I don't usually have issues when characters have confidence; I actually like it. But this one was an overload. By the time Throne Of Glass started talking about the fey, I was like, "She does magic, TOO?!" Well, of COURSE she does. She's perfect. Duh. 
 She also seemed to contradict herself quite a bit. One particular part I remember I will use as an example: When the heroine whose name starts with a C sizes up her competition in the contest she's in, she comments on the brute size of most of the men and thinks they were obviously chosen for brawn over brain. And yet, a few pages later, it says that she knows better than anyone not to underestimate an opponent based on appearances. There was steam coming out of my ears around that point. 
 So, a major aspect of this book that killed it was the heroine. The romantic interests, especially the prince, made me roll my eyes. He's pretty much a copy of other characters I've read in previous books. 
 The writing was fine, and the action scenes were pretty good. I also really liked Nehemia, the princess whom the narrator strikes up a friendship with. 
 ***Second try**** - 3 stars 
 So I wanted to give Throne of Glass another shot this year, because everyone is excited about the series lately. I actually managed to finish it this time, so that's a definite improvement. I still can't say I loved this book, because I didn't, but I enjoyed it more than I expected to. And the cover redesign they did is completely awesome. 
 Good Things: 
 - The writing is pretty solid. I wouldn't say it's one of the best styles I've come across but for the most part I liked it. The action scenes in particular were very engaging. 
 - Throne of Glass did a pretty good job holding my attention. Despite my complaints about it, that remained true throughout the whole thing. 
 - This apparently is going to be a long series, so it's a pretty good foundation to start with. 
 - I really liked the side characters, Nehemia and Nox in particular. 
 Bad Things: 
 - I have a love/hate relationship with Celeana. Once in a while I truly like her and think she's a great protagonist. She thinks things through most of the time. But she's not really the assassin I thought she'd be. She spent a bit too much time in pretty dresses and getting snuck up on by pretty much everybody. 
 - The foreshadowing in this book is a fail. It's never particularly subtle, and guessing who the villain is... Not hard at all. 
 - I felt like the multiple point of views were really unnecessary sometimes. They took away from the mystery of the plot and basically spelled out the problem or the solution before I even had a chance to wonder about it. 
 - I never really got into the romance. Dorian was alright as a character (though his cowardice and lack of real drive to do anything against his father despite disagreeing with everything he did was a real turn off). But his relationship with Celeana just felt a bit cardboard-y to me. I need to have some passion between two characters in order to ship them together, but for these two the chemistry was just not there. 
 - Of the two men, I definitely preferred Chaol. His gradual build up to liking Celeana felt very realistic, and I just really liked him in general. He reminds me slightly of Hector from The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, which was great. I kind of wanted more of a romance to start between Celeana and Chaol, but I was pretty much just teased about it throughout the whole book. 
 - I won't say who because spoilers, but Chaol kills someone in this book and later proceeds to feel very badly about it. There's obviously nothing wrong with that, but as Captain of the Guard who serves an apparently malicious, conniving King, I found it really hard to believe that he'd never had to kill anyone before. It feels like Maas makes big claims about her characters and then only pulls their title/abilities when it suits the story, and that was more than a little annoying. 
 Overall, I still can't say Throne of Glass was amazing or anything, but I may like it just enough to read the sequel at some point. 
 3 stars