I spent December, January and February reading the Throne of Glass series by Sara J. Maas, a high fantasy series about an assassin who tries to save her kingdom from an oppressive ruler. All I can say after trudging through five books is the series is underwhelming and badly written.

At first the premise is great: the assassin was rescued from imprisonment to fight in a competition to become the King’s lead assassin. Along the way she discovers the king’s evil plans and that she is the heir to a faerie kingdom that was conquered by the king. The book spirals into a Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire ripoff with rings that corrupt you, towers harboring evil and dragons.

The main character does not have a personality, and her only emotions are sarcasm and uncontrollable rage. Maas focuses on the dullest characters in her world instead of the lesser non-fae who actually have personalities and goals that don’t involve following the assassin in everything she does.

The supporting cast, lacking in diversity, consists of her forced friends turned love interests; a shape shifter who the main character hates because she’s not like “other” girls who prefer feminine activities; and the dog, which is the best character in this book.

On the subject of love interests, the fae society is grossly misogynistic and highly toxic with the concept of mates. The female characters are expected to give up everything for their mates, and if they so much look at another man, their mate turns into a possessive and jealous monster.

The writing is clumsy and the author changes the personalities of her characters to make them appear to be enemies to the protagonist for no apparent reason.

The books had promise but turned into an excuse to write hot fae men in relationships with human women with a high fantasy quest tacked on to the side. I will not force myself to read the sixth and final book or watch the TV series set to come out on Hulu.h

Half of a gun up