The third installment of the Throne of Glass series was epic to say the least. There was such a rapid expansion of the world that we really got to see how much more is yet to come in the next three books. In this continuation we got three main story lines to follow so I will break this down into three parts from my least favorite plotline to my favorite. ***SPOILERS AHEAD***
My least favorite, if only because they were new characters and I wasn't as emotionally invested in them, were the Ironteeth witches. In these chapters we were introduced to Manon and her coven who were sent for by the king to participate in a war game to determine who would be the Wing Leader in his plans to attack whoever he perceived as a threat to his power. There were three main clans of the Ironteeth witches and all were equally unlikeable in the beginning as we saw them gather and fight amongst themselves. Through Manon's perspective we got to see just how ruthless they were, but this drew a sharp parallel for me back to Throne of Glass when Celaena was forced to compete to be the king's champion. As we followed Manon to the mountain and she eventually claimed her mount, Abraxos, we started to see a subtle change in her point of view. Manon was initially a very hard perspective to read through until she claimed Abraxos, her wyvern, who was a very loveable pet like character who again drew the parallel to Celaena's hound, Fleetfoot, for me. As they began to form a bond we started to see that tough exterior was a mask and even if she didn't admit it to herself, she did begin to soften. As we finally got to the war games and Manon's coven was about to win, one of the other coven leaders was attacked and began to fall to her death, we saw her make the choice to give up the certain win to save the other coven leader. And again, I drew the parallel back to Celaena climbing the wall in Throne of Glass and jumping to save Nox when he was pushed off the wall. I wonder if these two will end up on the same side by the next book as they have such a similar arc that they seem to be following as far as character development.
The next plotline continued to follow Dorian and Chaol back in Adarlan with the introduction of a few new characters as well. I'll start with Dorian who seemed a bit lost at the beginning. He had lost Celaena, who had been sent to Wendlyn. Thanks to the love triangle aspect as well as Chaol keeping things from him he was also experiencing a rift with his best friend. He was dealing with his newfound magic basically on his own until he started to develop feelings for the healer, Sorscha. While I was not a huge fan of her as a love interest for Dorian, I did really like that he at least had someone to help him through this time. Chaol, on the other hand developed a new found friendship (sort of) with Celaena's childhood friend/cousin, Aedion. When we first met Aedion, we were lead to believe he was working for the king and had turned on his own people. We later found out he was working with the rebels against the king all along. He was so loyal to Aelin/Celaena that he was really hard not to like. All these new relationships culminated in the most heartbreaking way for all involved. The king rounded them all up in an elaborate trap. Just as Chaol was about to give himself up to save the others, Aedion threw himself on his sword instead and admitted to treason to save Chaol for Celaena's sake. Dorian, to his credit, did not betray his friends even as a sword was held to Sorscha's neck. The king had her beheaded anyway despite Dorian's plea to spare her and this was where your heart really breaks for Dorian, who had finally found some small bit of happiness with her. Now this was the most frustrating part of the book for me because after Aedion sacrificed himself to save Chaol, and Sorscha had already been killed, but he could still have gotten out of the situation safely, this was the moment when Chaol finally decided what side he was on. His stand against the king could not have come at a worse moment because of course the king tried to have him killed and Dorian outed himself and his magic to his father to save his friend. We end with Dorian telling Chaol to run and then being collared by his father. So I anticipate in the next book we will have an evil version of Dorian for our heroine to deal with.
The last and best storyline (in my opinion) followed Celaena to Wendlyn where she seemed to be completely adrift. She had just lost Nehemia and thanks to his minor role in her death, she had split from Chaol as well. She was completely broken when we first met back up with her. Then she met Rowan, the Fae prince who had been assigned by her Aunt Maeve to train her to use her gifts in order to be admitted to the Fae kingdom of Doranelle. Rowan was initially very tough on her and even a bit cruel at times. They had a very rocky relationship in the beginning until he finally went so far that she lost her grip on who she was and fell completely into the abyss of sadness and loneliness she had been heading for since Nehemia died. Rowan realized that his initial assumption that she was a spoiled princess was false and all the information about her past that Maeve had withheld from him had lead him to the wrong conclusion. He finally began to figure her out and slowly pulled her back from the abyss. Once they got to this point, she really began to grow by leaps and bounds in her character development. She learned to shift into her Fae form and to use her magic. She realized how much power she really had and to not be afraid of it. I loved most of all how, despite their growing bond, these two remained platonic. I really enjoyed it when they realized they were carranam and he helped her defeat the Valg princes. Once they finally made it to Doranelle and Aelin/Celaena faced off with Maeve, we got to see just how much she truly cared for Rowan when she took the gamble to free him from his blood oath, only for him immediately swear the same oath to Celaena. This was just such a refreshing relationship to see develop as they both had so much tragedy to overcome, but they were helping to heal each other and they did it in a non-romantic way. You rarely see a platonic male/female friendship where they just lift each other up anymore.
Overall, my initial prediction when I read Throne of Glass has been correct as each book is getting progressively better. With each book this series is building into one of my favorite fantasy series of all time.
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