Title: Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Page count: 418 pages
Date published: August 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Hardback
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars!
Blurb (from Goodreads):
"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.
It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.
Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.
My review:
"But death was her curse and her gift,
and death had been her good friend
these long, long years."
- Crown of Midnight
I plunged back into the world of Adarlan and the king's castle with ease. Back into the thoughts and emotions of Celaena, the King's Champion, and I must say that I missed it. Being in Celaena's head is easily one of the most entertaining experiences a reader can have. Celaena is so stubborn and rude. She can even be vicious and barbaric at times. She is in no way how a lady should be. But Celaena isn't just a lady. She's an assassin. She's killed many people; some in even gruesome ways. Her cleverness and quick-to-anger personality is fun to read.
I missed her.
Not only did I miss Celaena but I missed the other characters as well. If you've read Throne of Glass (which I hope you have or otherwise this will review will contain spoilers) then you know that this book is broken up into the POVs of Celaena, Chaol, and Dorian - plus the occasional other character. I missed Chaol just as much as I missed Celaena. There is just something about him that draws me in. I was so glad to be back into this world with characters I enjoyed and a plot that I liked.
This book doesn't disappoint. I can now say why fans rave about this series. The characters aren't the only thing that makes this series great - the world building, the plot, the mystery, the romance, the pacing, the tension - all of it makes for a great read.
Now that Celaena is the King's Champion, she must submit to killing anyone that the King deems fit to die. While Celaena has killed many people, she doesn't believe that all of the people the King orders her to assassinate deserve it. Instead she gives her targets another option: run far, far away and never come back. In return, she'll fake their deaths. She knows that if the King finds out she'll be dead. The King will have her murdered. Even so, there is a soft side to Celaena, a moral code, so to speak, and she acts upon it.
Not only is she stressed from keeping these secrets from the king but she's dealing with a demonic force inside the castle. Unsure of what or who it is, she only sees the creatures shadow. It was definitely interesting to go along with Celaena as she tries to figure out what this creature is and what it wants, all the while trying to figure out what the king is hiding.
She's also trying to keep her friendship with Nehemia on good terms as well. As Celaena struggles to uncover the truth, her relationships begin to suffer from it - her relationship with Nehemia included. She and Dorian were already on rocky terms and it continues to get worse as the book goes along. Celaena is determined to figure everything out on her own and she will lie to do just that.
The only relationship that seemed to prosper instead of grow worse was Celaena and Chaol. We all know they had chemistry from the beginning of the first book. The tension between the two doubles and eventually they act upon it. I'm not complaining. I love the two together and want them to stay as a couple. However, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen.
A character in the book is murdered and Celaena is unable to save them in time. This makes Celaena crazy with guilt and anger. She becomes the true assassin that I always wanted her to be. She becomes ruthless until she finds the killer. Even then, she is forever changed. There is no going back from that. That is a major turning point in the book. It changes the dynamics of some of Celaena's relationships with others and characters with other characters. This death will rock them all to the core, whether they were close to the person or not.
Those few chapters when Celaena was trying to save the person was heartbreaking. It had me standing on my feet, eyes racing across the words, desperate to know what was going to happen. And when it was tragic, I turned to my fiancee's sister and said, "This book is soooo good!"
Reactions like that are what I live for. It's why I read books. When I can get so invested in the characters that I care about whether they live or die... that means the author has done a great job.
I won't give away the ending but I will say that the ending leaves the reader wanting to know what's going to happen to the characters and if they can ever forgive themselves and each other. It leaves me wandering if the characters will ever be able to become friends again and care about each person as they used to.
You'll learn a lot about Celaena and why she has such unspeakable power. You'll also catch a glimpse into the major plot line of this series, which I feel will be a main focus until the last book. There is also a special something going on with Dorian that I found very interesting. It changes things up quite a bit and I like the difference.
The ending hints that the reader will be seeing different lands in the third book. I can't wait to see what is going to happen to my favorite characters in the next installment. I feel the third book is going to be quite different than the other two. I'm not sure how I feel about this but I'm looking forward to the third book.
Until next time,
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