throne of glass (throne of glass series book 1)  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.<br /><br />her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king&apos;s council. if she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she&apos;ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. <br /><br />celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, westfall, challenging and exhilirating. but she&apos;s bored stiff by court life. things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it&apos;s the gruff captain westfall who seems to understand her best.<br /><br />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.