The TBR Purge: Update #1

Since posting about my own personal mission: the TBR purge, here is what has been happening:

I started re-reading Beautiful Creaturesby Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I read the first two books years ago and I just never got around to reading the rest of the series. I decided to re-read the first two books to see if my opinion had changed and to refresh myself on all of the details. I intend to review these books on my blog very soon. So far, I am still enjoying Beautiful Creatures and as a re-read it is a faster read.

I also picked up Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I started reading this book years ago when it first became popular but I was studying and just ended up putting it down and not going back to it. As part of my TBR purge I decided to pick it up and read through the series. However, I did not get far. The main character, Celaena was brought up to be an assassin, she has been captured and believes that she is going to her death and what does she do? She remarks on the attractiveness of the Captain and the Prince and how her appearance is poor due to her being imprisoned to work in the mines for a year. I couldn’t help but compare this to Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I absolutely loved that book and reviewed it here. In that book, Yelena has been imprisoned but she acts completely differently and how you would expect a prisoner to behave. I find it frustrating when books focus on the ‘attractiveness’ of other characters. I love a good romance but written well. I don’t want to read about a ‘badass assassin’ who is thinking about appearances when she is going to die. She should be plotting her escape or a way to avoid execution, the rest can come later. That is just my opinion anyway. So I decided to DNF this book.

I also had a few other books in the series on my shelf, including The Assassin’s Blade, the bind-up of five novellas set before Throne of Glass. I had read most of the first story, The Assassin and the Pirate Lord before and I remember quite liking it so I thought I would at least give this book a go seeing as I had it. Again, I had issues. *Spoilers follow* The characterisation just did not make sense. Celaena had been raised to be an assassin, yet she risks everything to save some slaves? She practically ignores her companion but then she actually seems to like him? She betrays the man who raised her and then grins about going back home to face him? I’m all for complex characters but this just did not seem to match up for me. I feel like this again may be a plot where lots of love interests are thrown in just to make the story ‘interesting’.

After this, I went back to Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, a book I had begun reading last year. I am currently still reading it and I am so far finding it very interesting. I will keep you updated!

And if you got to the end of this post… What do you think about Throne of Glass/ The Assassin’s Blade? I would love to hear your opinions!