Sarah J Maas - Throne Of Glass (2012)

Eighteen year old Celaena Sardothien was once one of the most feared assassins in the world but after being betrayed and caught, she's a prisoner in the salt mines and unlikely to survive the next winter.
 Then somebody arrives from the court of  the brutal  King of Ardalan with an offer. The King has gathered the most savage killers from across the land to compete for the chance to become his new Champion. Win and Celaena has a chance at freedom. Lose, and she comes back to the salt mines.

 Assuming she survives the experience, obviously.

  "Throne of Glass" is, I think, the first novel from Sarah J Maas and it's not a bad way to start a career.
  There are a few things I would take issue with: A couple of things are, I felt, skipped over as if the author realised she was running out of pages.  Also, considering Celaena is set up as a badass quite early on, it would have been nice to see her in action more often.
 The competition and the training for it doesn't occupy as much space as you'd expect although the bad guy is given enough time in focus to establish him as a credible menace and the climax delivers the required drama.
 Maas spends a lot of time on the interplay between Celeana and those surrounding her - allies and rivals - and although that could have gone horribly wrong, manages to make a decent fist of it.
 The title blurb "A heart of ice. A will of steel" is somewhat misleading, by the way. Celaena Sardothien isn't the Alpha bitch you'd maybe expect and, in fact, is curiously likeable for somebody who kills people. Tellingly Sarah J Maas lists Buffy The Vampire Slayer as one of her influences  and you could maybe draw a parallel between the two: Both teenage girls who can chew up the bad guys but still people you would want to hang out with.
  When it comes right down to it, "Throne of Glass" is a book that made me want to keep reading to the end and made me wonder what happens next. If a book does nothing more than that I reckon I got my money's worth.