BEA Book Club Discussion: Throne of Glass

Toward the end of July, I participated in the Throne of Glass blog tour (thanks to Bloomsbury) as well as a special feature for a small group of lovely readers called The BEA Book Club.
The reading group was a blast, and with it being the release week, we wanted to share our discussion. Thanks to Shanella for keeping up with it during our hectic GChat session!

You can check out my review to Throne of Glass here.

Also:

Shanella's review
AJ's review
Alexa's review

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The Discussion:

Q: Alexa and Pixie - you both loved Throne of Glass, can you tell us a bit about why you loved it?

Pixie: I don't read a lot of "high/epic" fantasy like that, so, it capturing my attention was pretty good as it was. But I really just loved the world-building and how I was fascinated in Celaena's story most of all. I liked her.
I also love that it makes me sit and think about it after I've finished. I know I'll continue on with the series because I'm invested in the character and story now. At first, I didn’t like her. But she grew on me the same way she developed throughout the book.

Alexa: What I loved the most was the premise, the idea of the whole competition, although I do wish there had been more competition-related scenes featured in the book. I also love Celaena's character - how she's tough, vulnerable AND girly all at once

Pixie: *nods* Yes! I liked the girly addition to her personality. It wasn’t always about being tough and gritty..

Q: So, the love triangle? What did you ladies think of that?

Pixie: Oy vey. The love triangle. That's perhaps the only thing that kept me from giving it a full 5 stars.

AJ: I was not drawn in by the love triangle. For Dorian I did not understand why they started to have feelings for each other at all. She’s a cold blooded, ruthless, infamous killer. The prince is using her to stick it to his father. Celaena is supposed to hate him, but suddenly she likes him and wants to kiss him. Chaol would have worked better for me if there was any development there, but one minute he’s showing a softer side the next minute he’s reminding himself, and her, that she’s a killer. I don’t think the relationship was pushed enough there, so even though I preferred ChaoI wasn’t terribly invested in either relationship.

Shanella: From the beginning, I felt as though she and the prince would be "something" but, compared to the relationship she was developing with Chaol, I wasn’t buying her romantic interest in the prince.

AJ: When I first started reading I thought Dorian would be a more evil character so when it turned out he was against his father I was like, okay what is it he’s after? When they kissed I was underwhelmed.

Pixie: Surprisingly, from the reviews I've seen, I may be one of the few who liked Dorian as a character. I really liked him. Realllyyy. I mean, I’m probably Team Dorian here even. He had the greatest personality. But the romance didn't make much sense at times when it came down to it. I admit that Chaol would be a better match. Though, I didn't quite find myself attached to Chaol. He was warm one minute and cold the next. Sometimes it was confusing.

AJ: Yeah he was very confusing!!

Alexa: I was on Chaol's side from the start, though I softened toward Dorian somewhere in the middle. But yes, I can understand other people being underwhelmed. I get the initial attraction to both guys; it’s undeniable since they’re good-looking and they’ve got their strong points. But for an actual relationship (beyond friendship)? There wasn’t enough yet.

Shanella: Yes - to Chaol being confusing! I liked that Dorian was not like his father, it made him seem like he had a mind of his own and I'd have loved to see more of that. But, it wasn't shown...
As far as characters go, I prefer Dorian to Chaol. As love interests for Celaena, I preferred Chaol, he had more time/relationship with her.

Pixie: I agree!

AJ: I liked Dorian more as the book went on, I don't dislike him at all I just wish the romantic angle packed more of a punch.

Alexa: Haha, I can understand that AJ! Especially when they kissed!

Shanella: Oh for sure!

Alexa: I felt like that too, but mostly because I wanted Chaol for her! I feel like they (Chaol and Celaena) would have had a better kiss. Or I could be biased.

AJ: I wish there was more with Chaol. I appreciate not having her fall hard and heavy for both men at the same time but it still felt lacking, Chaol went back and forth too much on how he felt about her.

Alexa: I think that's what made the so-called "love triangle" a bit more effective to me. Something happened, really happened, with one of the guys and the other one, there was just tension there.

Shanella: maybe book two will be the Chaol arc...
Alexa: I hope so!

Q: So, how did you feel towards the evil king?

Alexa: I felt like I had to take Celaena's word for it mostly, if I’m being honest. But, towards the end, I felt it a little more. There was something eerie there.

AJ: No real explanation for why he’s so evil... and I really didn't get why Celaena feared him soooo much. He wasn’t developed much as a character, I don’t know much about him other than he’s an imperialist.

Pixie: He was hardly in the story, so I didn't get to know him much or why Celaena feared him so much. I would have liked more back story on him.

Shanella: I wish we'd have gotten a glimpse of his evilness, whenever she cowered before him, it felt out of character.

AJ: I wanted to see his ruthlessness instead of being told about it.

Alexa: Yes, precisely. That part was a bit more tell, and not show. There was a lot of potential for the king to show his evil side though.

Shanella: Yeah! Like he should have slain a prisoner for no particular reason.

Pixie: Yes, even one scene of him doing something to one of the people would have put him into a more evil light.

Q: What else do you think could have been worked on a bit more?

Alexa: Well, the competition. And I wish, though this might happen in the next book, that there was more about the magic!

Shanella: Oh - that got me too, the competition. It's a big deal, but we don't see much and the parts that we do see I never felt as though Celaena would be kicked out.

AJ: Agreed

Pixie: Yeah, I was hoping to see more when it came to the competition. I felt like it ended up being the background more than the main idea.

AJ: I also wished there was more fantasy

Shanella: Yes!

Well, it seems - even with our differing views, that we all loved Celaena as a character, Chaol prefered as a romantic interest, and that we could have seen more tension in the competition and more fantasy.



I look forward to another chat and group read in the future sometime!

What did you think? Have you read Throne of Glass yet? Feel free to join in on the discussion, too, in the comments below! This is one of my favorite books this year! :)

Happy reading!