The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde - UPDATED REVIEW

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  Genre : Classics Blurb (on back of book) : Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind. UPDATED REVIEW MY OPINION : ****** I would like to start out this review by stating that this is undoubtedly m...
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Throne of Glass - Sarah J Maas

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Genre: YA Fantasy

Image result for throne of glassBlurb (on back of book): In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien. 
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass--and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

 MY OPINION: *****

Yay I started off 2018 with an amazing book! I'm so happy that it wasn't a bad start and I feel confident that my reading this year is going to be better than ever before! I've been planning to go through my 1000+ to-reads and finish as many as I can. I'm going to TRY not to add more, though I can't make any promises, no matter how hard I try.

I've been planning to read this book for a really long time... almost a year, perhaps more. I even bought my very own copy but it's just been sitting on my bookshelf for a while. I finally decided to pick it up and I loved it so much!

A lot of my friends have read the series and I actually know a lot now, due to spoilers, which I love :) I am still planning to read the rest of the series and I'm going to buy the second book ASAP.

ANYWAYS, let's talk about the book.

For 2018, I'm going to try to review key concepts in the book, like characters and setting and other elements. So I'm going to make a quick outline right now for this first review of the year!

CHARACTERS:

Celaena. Celaena is our protagonist and she's the greatest Assassin in the land. She was forced to work in the Salt Mines and she's recruited one day to train and go through a Competition to win her freedom and become the King's Champion. She's willing to do anything to win back her freedom, though she hates the King for her own personal reasons. She fights her way back and she uncovers secrets and things that ultimately end up saving her. Also, she finds unexpected love with both the Crown Prince Dorian and the Captain of the Guard, Chaol, who I loved.

Dorian. He was the Crown Prince and the son of the King. He had a rebellious streak though it was always quelled by his father for whatever reason. He found himself falling in love with Celaena which I thought was sweet but I didn't ship it since my heart belongs to Chaol and Celaena. Dorian was sweet and nerdy and powerful.

Chaol. He was my favorite character in the book by far. He was "formidable" at first but as the book progressed, we realize that he has a soft spot, though he never loses his judgy character and sternness which I found adorable. I don't know, I really loved him. I really loved his conflicted feelings for Celaena!

Kaltain. I didn't like her from the start, though at the end, I did pity her. She was just caught up in greed and lust and wanting the Prince and she was willing to do anything to get what she wanted.

Duke Perrington. He annoyed me to no end and when reading from Lady Kaltain's perspective, I could feel the disgust and revolting image that came up into my mind of Duke Perrington's character and I disliked him almost immediately.

Cain. Wow, his character was so complicated but I'm guessing he wasn't really too important especially since he died at the end at Chaol's hand. To me, Cain was the guy who just helped move the story along and allowed Celaena to uncover the things that we readers needed to know in order to understand the characters.

Nehemia. I didn't like her throughout the whole story because her rigid personality and mock innocence annoyed me. I didn't completely understand her character and where she was coming from but I was annoyed by her. Maybe I'll grow to love her as the series progresses.

SETTING:

I hate to say this but I honestly cannot remember the names of the places in this book. To me, they were both hard to pronounce and remember and I sometimes couldn't distinguish places in this book. But they sounded magical and pretty and I do love to read about fantasy environments.

WRITING:

The writing in this book was exceptional. I found things about that made me both smile and cry or scream and throw the book across the room! It was descriptive but not boring and endless. I also loved the generous amount of dialogue in this book.

I would recommend this book to Young Adult fantasy readers! Now excuse me as I go find the second book!

Main Character: Celaena
Sidekick(s): Chaol, Dorian, Nehemia, etc
Villain(s): Cain, ridderak, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book had fanatic creatures, characters, and settings.

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