So you might be thinking something along the lines of “Ashleigh…a review…of a COLOURING book? What?”

I know. It’s different. But there’s a story behind it.

But recently I joined the SocialBookCo Reviewing Programme. This is a site that compares all the different prices of books from different retailers, showing you where you can buy each book for the cheapest price. And then there’s the reviewing side – If you join their programme, there are opportunities for you to be sent books for free in exchange for an honest review by a given date.

That was quite a flimsy summary of the website – I’m not too great at explaining things. But basically, SocialBookCo sent me this colouring book in exchange for a review, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it because I didn’t think I’d get this book for months! So thank you!

Is it even possible to give spoilers for a colouring book?

Let’s talk about the Throne of Glass Colouring Book!

Title: Throne of Glass Colouring Book

Author: Original story by Sarah J Maas, Illustrated by Yvonne Gilbert , John Howe & Craig Phillips

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Series Status: Companion colouring book to the Throne of Glass series

Genre: Colouring, Young Adult, Fantasy

Number of Pages:  96

(Found on Goodreads)

For the first time, fans of Sarah J. Maas’s sweeping New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass saga can experience the vivid imagery of her expansive world. Celaena battling the ridderak in the catacombs, Chaol in the gardens of the glass castle, Manon riding her wyvern through the Crossing, and many other favorite moments, characters, and objects come to life as readers explore the vibrantly detailed realm of Throne of Glass. Stunning original black-and-white drawings will bring fans deeper into the series than ever before-making this a must-have companion to Sarah J. Maas’s beloved books.

*Thank you SocialBookCo for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review

(This is my first time reviewing a colouring book, so I apologise in advance if this seems different to my usual reviews at all)

How excited was I to find out we were getting a colouring book for the Throne of Glass series? VERY. I am so on board with the adult colouring book trend. Especially now that’s it’s seeped its way into the bookish community.

And for good reason. Because this colouring book – quite frankly – is absolutely stunning. 

I’m pretty sure that since owning this book, I’ve flicked through the pages 98568 times. Not exaggerating (totally exaggerating but shh you get my point). I just can’t believe there are people out there who can draw like this. It’s so incredibly detailed, and everything is just right. The characters are captured perfectly. And even though there are snippets of the story on the left hand pages to explain which scene it is, I’ve not needed them to explain who I’m looking at. You can just tell who it is immediately.

The story snippets are really handy for colour guidance though, sometimes. I make sure to read them through multiple times before starting a picture to see if there’s any mention of certain colours – like what colour someone’s hair is or what colour their clothes are, etc etc.

I will just give a warning about the snippets though. Since this is a companion to the Throne of Glass series, there’s no doubt that the snippets and drawings in here will spoil the books released so far if you haven’t read them already. So just bare that in mind if you’re partway through the series.

I love how much the drawings range in this, scene-wise. The scenes are mostly from the first four books, but there’s a couple at the end from the fifth book that’s just been released (Empire of Storms) and even a few pages at the beginning showing one scene from each of the novellas. It’s so nice to see, especially since so many of the scenes are favourite of mine. Plus it’s a nice reminder to flick through the colouring book and SEE the scenes again – it’s almost like a mini reread of the key parts. There’s a great mix of character drawings and landscapes to colour too, so you can pick and choose whatever you feel like colouring on the day.

The actual quality of the book feels amazing too. The colouring pages are thick and really smooth, so there’s no strange patterns from a bumpy page messing up the overall look of the colouring. I’ve been using pencils to colour mine because I like shading, so I can’t comment on whether pen ink goes through the pages or not. But the pages are quite thick, so I think they’d do a decent job of avoiding that.

The only reason I’m not rating this book a full 5/5 stars is because there’s a few pages that just look like they don’t fit in with the rest. Or they look that way to me, at least.

While most of the pages are highly detailed, there are others that just…aren’t as much. Sure, they’re still complicated because of the sheer amount of things to colour in, but compared to the rest they just look a bit less detailed without all the fine lines and shading. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – I’ll probably be glad for those pages when I feel like colouring but don’t want to tackle something so finicky. But there’s just a couple that I’d have loved to see just a tiny bit more detail involved – like there’s one with a drawing of fleetfoot, and yet fleetfoot herself just looks a bit more like a simple outline than a carefully drawn image.

Other than that, I am completely in awe of this book. If I could draw like this, I’d never stop. So instead, I’ll stick to colouring them in. I definitely think that if you like colouring every so often, and you’re a fan of the series, then this would be such a great buy.

Plus, it’s providing me with a great book-hangover cure for Empire of Storms. Just saying. 

Rated 4.5/5 stars!

Find the lowest price on SocialBookCo

And for the hell of it, here’s a picture I’m partway through colouring:

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Share your thoughts!

Have you got the colouring book? What do you think of it?

If you haven’t got it, do you plan to buy it at some point?

Also, what did you think of my first colouring book review?

I have the Harry Potter Magical Creatures Colouring Book too, so if you enjoyed this review, let me know if you’d like to see a review for that one too!

Until next time…

Come and visit me!

    

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