Review: My least favorite novella; thank goodness the fourth one was better
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2012
Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.This novella made me wish it were in print so I could throw it across the room without hurting my e-reader. That should be a fine summary of its quality, but reviews are best when detailed and I always try my best when writing reviews. I liked the first novella and cared less for the second one, but this third one offended me a little with how it treated female characters whose names weren't Celaena Sardothien.There was a little bit of merit to the novella and I will recognize that much. It's well-paced, smoothly written, and largely interesting. Readers can figure out the truth behind Celaena's mission if they pay attention, though. It appears Maas is not skilled at writing mysteries because this problem happened once before too. The build-up with Sam comes to a head and the attention to continuity is something I can respect. I'm sure the events of these novellas will play a part in the novel too.Now then, what offended me. Throughout these first three novellas, four relevant female characters have been presented to the readers. Two were villains, one was a horribly characterized caricature, and one was Celaena. A large portion of Throne of Glass's hype rests on its strong female heroine, but weakly characterizing or demonizing all other female characters so Celaena will look good is not the way to go. She'll look worse, actually. I sure wouldn't recommend the series to girls if it took that route of characterization, so I'm hoping ToG won't go that way. (Post-reading ToG: It doesn't go that way, thank goodness. I am beyond happy about that.As it was solely within this novella, the caricature girl, a courtesan named Lysandra, had no effort put into her characterization. The way Celaena looked upon her and the other courtesan girls carries a tone of implied slut shaming as she calls them all insipid. This also makes Celaena a hypocrite, since she uses her beauty to accomplish her goals exactly the way a courtesan might. I think the only courtesan looked kindly upon is Sam's mother and she's dead.Reading more of this series right now would result in a blown gasket and considering what is going on at this point in time in my life, a blown gasket is not what I need right now. One of my friends absolutely loved Throne of Glass and she is often as sensitive to issues of female representation as I am, so I'm hoping these novellas are a fluke and the novel itself will bring me back and make me fall in love. What can I say? I give things chances even when people say I shouldn't anymore.