REVIEW: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #2)
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

REVIEW: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1)
Author: Sarah J. Maas - Website | Twitter | Facebook
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's
Published: August 7, 2012
Format: Netgalley eARC* 416 pages
Rating: 5/5 stars!

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. 

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. 

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

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My thoughts, feelings, & reactions.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas was the book I have been waiting for. I knew from the blurb alone that I would fall completely head over heels in love with this book and I was not once disappointed by the outcome. I have grown to appreciate and even adore books with a high fantasy aspect, such as this one. Throne of Glass has broken down all the walls I’ve built up and had me embracing a story that’s exceptional in the writing, the characters, the storyline, and in the romance.  

Celaena Sardothien in three words: extraordinary, impressive and kick-ass!

• I loved her without a doubt! She’s clever, sharp and cunning where she can quickly disarm more than a few men. She’s always aware of her surroundings; stepping into a room and counting out possible exits, number of guards standing in her way, and even surveying objects she could use as a weapon. Celaena’s big mouth stirs up trouble more than once, but is usually the cause of my excessive laughter. She got this sensitivity, kindness, and caring nature for people who were done wrong by Adarlan’s forces. What I love most about her was the fact that she wasn’t ruthless, but practical. She had this burning curiosity for knowledge and a severe sense of loyalty that made her unyielding and relentless. She’s tenacious, continuing to fight at all costs no matter what underlying doubt or fear she had within her. Even more important, Celaena was a young girl stripped of a happy, normal childhood who faced death at such an early age and continued to do so for one thing: survival. Under that tough exterior of being Adarlan’s Assassin lays an endearing girl with a true heart full of courage. 

Chaol and Dorian: different, yet both managed to capture my heart instantly. 


• Chaol was Captain of the Royal Guard who was a great fighter who doesn’t take crap from anyone. He’s rugged, strong-willed, and has a presence that’s both intimidating and enticing. He seemed like this fearsome warrior, but he’s quiet, kind and tender. He was seriously honorable and loyal and he had great amount of morality. He and Celaena had a different kind of relationship. It started off with him being totally hostile towards her where they didn’t like each other much. Their relationship slowly builds into a deeper understanding and connection throughout the book.

• Dorian was the Crown Prince of Adarlan, son of Celaena’s number one enemy. I really adored Dorian. He had a way of making the most serious moments light and amusing with his charisma and charm. He definitely had an immense amount of humor that just had me smitten. He had an easy going relationship with Celaena where both were comfortable with being playful with one another. Their banter was highly entertaining and their amusement with each other was contagious. 


Because both of these men were remarkable in every sense, it just became impossible to choose between the two and I commend Sarah J. Maas for writing such well developed, spell-binding, and lovable characters. 


The writing, the pacing, and the world-building was executed perfectly.


• I was in awe with Sarah’s elegant and lovely writing style. It was entirely gripping. The pacing of the whole book was written beautifully, if not flawlessly. I never did get bored and each chapter was a joy to read. Something new was always happening and the sheer amount of anticipation building inside of me was endless. There was plenty of heart pounding moments during the tests and more so during the dual that had me so nervous for Celaena I felt like I was always on my tippy toes burning with excitement. There’s definitely many different aspects in Throne of Glass that I really liked, such as the court politics with the mystery and intrigue of the past rulers of Adarlan, the magic of the Fae that is prominent in the book and weaved in effortlessly, monsters and creatures that lurk the dark depths of a different world around Celaena, and then there was betrayal, pure evil and sinister beings living within the breath-taking glass castle of Adarlan. It was this world that Sarah created that had me infatuated with the book to the point where I wanted to live, breathe, sleep and experience it all as my own.

When all is said and done, Throne of Glass is unforgettable, unputdownable, and one unbelievable book that made its way to being one of my all-time favorites! 



Get it. Read it. Love it. Repeat. :)

*Thanks to Bloomsbury for allowing me to read this book!