December After-Meeting Mint: Heads Will Roll! ... Maybe!

This is classy monocle cat.  He would never be
 late with a blog post. Sorry, classy monocle  cat. 

Remember reading Throne of Glass?  Yeah, I know, that was a while ago (SO last month).  Sorry.  See the previous blog post for my reason for putting off this post (it's actually a pretty cool reason).  But if you still want to talk about Throne of Glass, here's a summary of December's meeting for Throne of Glass and your opportunity to sound off in the comments.

Apparently, like me, most of you liked Throne of Glass - yayforbooks. But a lot of you had trouble getting into the story because of the crazy, hard-to-read names (note to the publishers:  include a pronunciation guide with the book).  Also, this was the second book we've read that's an adaptation of the story of Cinderella, though most of the club didn't realize this about Throne of Glass; anybody spotted similarities between Cinderella and this book since the meeting? (Comments!)

Celeana, an assassin, was the heroine of Throne of Glass.  Most of us liked Celeana - she's fierce and independent like Katniss from The Hunger Games and isn't whiny and insecure like Bella from Twilight.  And despite being REALLY fat-headed, she's just so likable: she's fashionable, she's cool, she's super deadly - basically, she's a female Han Solo.

Speaking of Celeana being deadly: even though we're used to NOT rooting for assassins - they're usually villains - the club didn't have a problem with an assassin as a heroine, as long as she only killed the bad guys.  What we DID have a problem with was an assassin who didn't do any assassinating.  Seriously, I think Celeana's kill record for this book was something like "mythical creatures: 1, humans: 0".

The club didn't really mind that there was a love triangle, or how that story played out.  Celeana is in a relationship with another character for only a short time in the book before dumping the guy; most of us thought that this was a pretty accurate picture of real-life teen relationships.  Bigger question, though: Prince Dorian vs. Chaol, Captain of the Guard? Most of the club turned out to be Team Chaol: he's flawed, he's gruff-with-a-gooey-nice-guy-center, he's swoon-worthy - basically, he's totes dreamy. 

So what did YOU think?  Did you love or hate Throne of Glass, and will you be looking out for the sequel?  Are you Team Dorian or Team Chaol (quick, make your t-shirts NOW!)?  How to feel about the whole assassin-who-doesn't-assassinate thing?  Is Celeana your new literary BFF, or did she totally get on your nerves?  Sound off in the comments!

And keep watching this space - a summary of our January meeting for A.C. Gaughen's book Scarlet is coming soon!

Tongue-Tied? Pronunciation Guide!

Fantasy-genre books are great; in a different (made-up) world, there are different rules, giving you a sense that anything is possible.  The downside: the geography is different, the language is probably different, so the names of people-places-things can make for some REALLY HARD pronunciation guesswork. 

Throne of Glass definitely is no exception.  Seriously, who's going to guess correctly how to say "Eyllwe"? Seriously?

Lucky for us, Throne of Glass author Sarah J. Maas has provided a super-helpful pronunciation guide for the tricky bits!  Check it out here on the blog just in time for tomorrow's club meeting, or head to the author's website (sarahjmaas.com) and look for the guide under the "Extras" tab.

The pronunciations are... enlightening(?)... though a few of them aren't what I had in my head while reading about something for the ENTIRE book.  Did this happen to you? And if it did, which words, and what was your pronunciation?  Don't worry - since these are all made-up words, there isn't really a wrong way to pronounce them!

And don't forget to come talk about it in person at tomorrow's meeting - Thursday, December 5th, 6-7pm at the library!

Throne of Glass Novellas?! Um, YES PLEASE

So when I finished Throne of Glass, there was a little more than the usual grieving process of shucks, that was a great book, what am I going to read now; I really enjoyed this book, so it was more like OH MY GOSH IT'S OVER and THE SEQUEL'S OUT "FALL 2013"?!  THAT'S NOT EVEN A REAL DATE I NEED IT NOW SARAH J. MAAS I WILL FIND YOU AND--"*

You get the idea.  It was a bit traumatic.

So if any of you are also undergoing Throne of Glass-withdrawal, check out the Throne of Glass NOVELLAS!   These are four prequel stories about Celaena's missions as an assassin before she's captured and imprisoned in Endovier (where we meet her at the beginning of Throne of Glass).  They explain a lot more (almost 400-total-pages more!) about Celaena's backstory and Throne of Glass:  how she dealt with the Pirate King and his slave trade, her training with the Silent Assassins, who "Sam" is, and best of all, who betrayed Celaena and ensured her capture. Yes, you definitely want to know this. 

Bad news: they're only available as ebooks, and they're not free.  Good news:  they're really cheap! Only 99 cents each.  I read them on Google Play's site for books and downloaded the free app so I could read them on my phone; you can do pretty much the same thing with Amazon and a Kindle app or get the novellas in Spanish (!) at Barnes & Noble and use the Nook app (or just use a Kindle or Nook, if you're so lucky). Just click on any of the nice blue links in this paragraph - you can preview the first few pages for free!

From right to left, the order in which they're supposed to be read.  Y'know, if you're into following rules.

That's it!  And don't worry, you won't need to read these novellas for the book club meeting discussion - this is just an opportunity to get more Throne of Glass if you NEED MORE NOW like I did. Don't forget to come to the meeting, next Thursday, December 6th at 6pm.

*NOTE: I do NOT encourage threatening authors, either to get a sequel sooner or for your own crazy reason.  Authors are people too, and threatening them won't get a sequel to you sooner. F'reals.

December: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Ready for another great book, smithies?  Sure hope so, 'cause this is a book club.  In case you weren't sure. Y'know.

Anyways, December's pick is Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.  Not that we'd pick out anything not good for you to read, but srrsly, this one is LARGE AMOUNTS OF WIN.  It's like The Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones.  Or, if you've already read The Selection by Kiera Cass (think Hunger Games + The Bachelor TV show), it's like The Selection, but with ninja skills.  Yeah, awesome.

Check out the cover and summary:

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Though Celaena's bored stiff by court life, things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Mmmmmmawesome.  Sounds like a good way to spend your Thanksgiving vacation, no?  And don't forget to come to the meeting (and if you didn't get to read the book, come anyway): December 6th, 6pm.  BAM.