UPDATED DISCUSSION: Final Thoughts of a First-Time Rereader

In June, I tried to reread Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and ended up putting aside the reread. I wrote a post about rereading and my thoughts as a first-time rereader, which you can view here. Although my fears have remained the same (see below), my thoughts so far have vastly changed since I first tried rereading the book. Now that I am almost done rereading Throne of Glass, I thought I would share my final thoughts on my rereading experience.

The Main Reasons I Don't Reread:

1) I already know what happens so it is not as exciting and interesting
2) I am worried that I will not feel the same way about the book the second/third/fourth/etc. time around
3) See #2 except applied to my feelings/opinions about the characters
4) I have an overwhelming TBR as it is and it is a "waste of time" (for lack of a better term) to read something I've already read when I can read something new
5) After reading it the first time, I may have discovered a book/books that I liked better (so when I reread it, I will not enjoy it as much as the first time around/it will pale in comparison to other reads

FINAL THOUGHTS ON REREADING:

The first time I tried rereading Throne of Glass, I had just finished A Court of Thorns and Roses, and was still in a bit of a book hangover. Picking up Throne of Glass for my second attempt at rereading only seemed logical because Queen of Shadows was coming out and I needed to catch up. Anyway, my view on rereading (and my view of Throne of Glass) has greatly changed. I guess I'll address my feelings toward reareading Throne of Glass by addressing the 5 main reasons I don't reread.

1. I read Throne of Glass for the first time back when it came out THREE YEARS AGO. So my main reason for not rereading was completely invalid. I thought I remembered what happened, but it turns out I only knew the very basic plot, and completely forgot about some major details. If I tried to read the second and third books before rereading Throne of Glass, I think I would have truly been lost. Or at least a little lost.

2. I don't feel the same way about Throne of Glass. Except unlike what I thought, I actually like it better. I am definitely more engrossed and seem to be enjoying the book more than when I read it back in 2012.

3. In addition to not feeling the same way about the book and story in general, my feelings have changed slightly toward the characters. I used to absolutely HATE Chaol with a burning passion, and although I am still not keen about his existence, this hate has begun to diminish. (Let's see how long that lasts though.) I have yet to decide whether this is a good or bad thing.

4. Most of my TBR consists of series, so I guess it isn't a waste of time to reread a book in order to catch up on the rest of the series and essentially eliminate books from my TBR. Also, I guess it's not a waste of time if you reread a book you like/love because you know you'll enjoy it, rather than a book that may only be okay... To be honest, I'm not sure if this reason to not reread should be valid.

5. It's hard to say if this one is applicable or not because Throne of Glass was never my all-time favorite book to begin with. I enjoy it very much, but it has never been at the very top for me. Also, I'm in the midst of reading a bunch of assigned reading books, so I'm obviously (?) not going to enjoy those as much as books that I can choose for myself, such as Throne of Glass.

~Alexandra

Why I Don't Reread + Thoughts of a First-Time Rereader

I have never willingly reread a book before.  I recently decided, however, that I would break that habit.  I started rereading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas a few days ago.  I know that I enjoyed the book when I first read it, yet enjoyment of a book alone does not usually cause me to pick it up again.  The only reason why I am rereading it is because I want to read Crown of Midnight (book 2) and Heir of Fire (book 3) for the first time before the fourth book, Queen of Shadows, comes out this fall.  Normally, I would just not care and pick up Crown of Midnight, but it has been 3 YEARS since I last dove into Celaena's story, and from what I can recall, it is not the simplest of stories to understand.  Although my love for Dorian has stayed with me, as well as my general understanding of the plot, a lot of the important details have left me and I want to slowly ease myself back into the Throne of Glass world.

The Main Reasons I Don't Reread:

1) I already know what happens so it is not as exciting and interesting
2) I am worried that I will not feel the same way about the book the second/third/fourth/etc. time around
3) See #2 except applied to my feelings/opinions about the characters
4) I have an overwhelming TBR as it is and it is a "waste of time" (for lack of a better term) to read something I've already read when I can read something new
5) After reading it the first time, I may have discovered a book/books that I liked better (so when I reread it, I will not enjoy it as much as the first time around/it will pale in comparison to other reads)

My Thoughts So Far

I am about 20 pages into my Throne of Glass reread.  I remember it taking some time for me to get engrossed in the Throne of Glass world the first time, so I guess that hasn't changed.  One thing that I believe has changed, however, is listed above as fear #3.  Although I did read Throne of Glass a long time ago, I feel as if I would remember if I disliked the characters, and I do not recall such a thing (other than my dislike for Chaol).  I know I shouldn't judge so early, however I am finding myself disliking all three of the main characters, including Dorian.  I am not surprised that I still do not like Chaol, but so far at least he's been pretty quiet.  On the other hand, I am extremely surprised by how pompous and annoying Dorian is being.  I know he is a prince and all, but something about his attitude just gets on my nerves.  Something about him, Chaol, and Celaena's attitudes, actually.  Each of them seem so high and mighty right now, and I do not like it one bit.

It may not have been the best idea to reread Throne of Glass right after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, the first book in Sarah J. Maas' new series, but alas I did just read Maas' new book, and it was absolutely exquisite.  Unfortunately, after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, I feel like Throne of Glass truly pales in comparison, thus proving fear #5 is something I legitimately should be afraid of.  I am still willing to dive back into Throne of Glass and the rest of the books in the series, but I am truly worried that it will not live up to my standards and previous enjoyment (I think I rated it a 4, 4.5 or 5 stars the first time).

I'll definitely make sure to share my final thoughts as soon as I finish, and I'd love to hear your opinions on rereading as well!

~Alexandra

Oh and also, although I'd been wanting to write this post anyway, I recently saw an awesome post about rereading books over at Publishing Crawl, a blog run by a bunch of awesome authors and industry professionals.   (They had nothing to do with my opinions on rereading or this post in general, but I figured I'd mention it because I love their blog and it was relevant to the theme of my post.  If you're interested, check out Julie Eshbaugh's post about rereading here.)