Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Source: Netgalley via publisher
Rating: 5/5 stars
Get it: Amazon | B&N
An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.
After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.
Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.
Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?
My Review
There are very few books that I know will be epic before I even start and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas wasn’t just that, it was phenomenally epic. I can barely begin to explain how I thought and felt about this book. It just simply took my breath away.
Can Celaena get any more badass? Well, apparently in this sequel she can! This time around, I really got to see Celaena in action. She really lives up and possibly surpasses her title as Adarlan’s Assassin. She was never just a simple girl with fighting skills, but a girl who was beautifully dangerous and deadly in every way. She was a girl who was relentless, sometimes ruthless, and daring to boot. I really got to see Celaena at her highest and at her very lowest in this book. Her ability to hone in and focus on her craft was absolutely chilling. We definitely see the old snarky, fierce Celaena, but also the good hearted and compassionate Celaena as well. Either way, I adored her.
Between Chaol and Dorian, there was definitely more page time for Chaol. At least on the romance side of it all. It was too cute to see Chaol worry so much about Celaena. And I just loved their playfulness with each other. It was so different from their hostility in Throne of Glass and to see them now with tension and passion definitely had me swooning. While I wasn’t entirely convinced on Chaol and Celaena in the first book, Maas totally makes me understand the connection and understanding between them in this book. I am a firm Team Dorian fan for life, but Maas made me love Chaol more than I ever thought I could that I realized I wouldn’t mind if Celaena really did end up with either man. Dorian fans shouldn’t be disappointed because there was enough of him to go around in this book. His charm and sweetness that I originally fell for was still there.
To say that I was impressed by Maas in the creation of this sequel is an understatement. I was mind blown by the creativeness, the action, and the heartbreak that Maas put into this stunning novel. I liked that each character had their own issues to deal with: Celaena and her missions, Chaol’s struggle with loyalty to the king vs. his feelings for Celaena and Dorian with his discovery about himself. Even better, they all showed growth and even more potential in the future books to come. There was definitely a lot more insight to everything that was happening with more magic I hoped for in the first novel. There was Fae, witches and creepy inhumane things lurking in the library stacks that was just fantastically awesome if you asked me. The Wyrdmarks, the king's true plans, rising rebel movements, secret passages, riddles, betrayal, death and more death were also heavily intertwined into the story to truly make this book more than entertaining. What I really loved about Crown of Midnight was the unpredictability. I never knew exactly what was going to happen next so everything seemed to put me on edge. This made the twists and turns even more shockingly surprising. And don’t even get me started on the explosive mind blowing what-the-effery-just-happened-right-now kind of ending. That revelation along with everything else Maas intricately spun into this book brought this series way up high on my favorite lists for sure!
In a world full of treacherous people with ulterior motives, Celaena plays a dangerous game in Crown of Midnight and each calculated or spontaneous move is a risk that is both thrilling and heart stopping. Maas gives a sequel better the first novel that is so spine-tinglingly good, I’m running in circles for the book three!
*Thanks to Bloomsbury USA Children's Books for sending a copy for review purposes
I was not compensated for my opinion
