After reading the synposis, it's almost impossible to not be curious and excited about the action, kickass heroine and the romance (even if it's a love triangle, blehh). Throne of Glass lived up to my expectations in the action and kickass heroine department, but as for everything else...I'm actually not sure.I admired Celaena for being a heroine who is a warrior but is not afraid to embrace her feminine side. She's all, "Yes, I can break your neck or kill you in a hundred other ways, but also look at that dress!". While I did like Graceling indefinitely more, one of my problems with Katsa from that novel was her stubbornness to be feminine at all as though she can't be both. At the same time, I found Celaena to be too arrogant - whether it's about her beauty or fighting skills. She's Ardalan's notorious assassin, so sure, she can be proud of her badassery, but I felt like she ran over the top with it. She continues to brag about how she can win the competition, but she couldn't even beat Chaol in the beginning when she was just released from jail! Glad to know that those training sessions with him didn't humble you at all, Celaena. Though we didn't see too much of Nehemia (or as much as I would like), she turned out to be my favorite character. Nehemia had an air of mystery, which made her intriguing and only disappointed me that we couldn't see more of her character. As the Princess of Eyllwe, she was smart, strong and independent. I feel as though I'm in the minority when I say this, but I liked Prince Dorian's charm. That doesn't necessarily mean I like his romance with Celaena, but I like his character and his morality in wanting to be different from his father. Most of their romance was physical attraction that could turn into something more, but he was already willing to sacrifice a lot to publicly love her, whether he acknowledges that or not. As for Chaol, other reviews think that his relationship with Celaena was more natural than her relationship with Dorian, but I didn't get the connection that I was hoping for. I suppose these things are saved for the sequel, but I really wished the author would go further in depth with:-how Celaena's parents died-the rebel groups in Eyllwe-Nehemia and her knowledge in magicEspecially with the latter, this felt essential to me because Nehemia was battling Cain all along, but all we get is that she has genes passed down to her that lets her do what she's able to do. I'm not settling for that, and I wished we had more to go on.In the end, I probably will read the sequel to see how the story develops. If you didn't like this book, I would highly suggest [b:The Poison Study|17960628|The Most Intimate Revelations about Poison Study|Sebastian Skeat|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370227942s/17960628.jpg|25177720], which is slightly similar in story line but with a lot more heroine development.