“To escape death, she'd become death.”
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BLURB: Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien is bold, daring and beautiful – the perfect seductress and the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But though she won the King's contest and became his champion, Celaena has been granted neither her liberty nor the freedom to follow her heart. Celaena faces a choice that is tearing her to pieces: kill in cold blood for a man she hates, or risk sentencing those she loves to death. Celaena must decide what she will fight for: survival, love or the future of a kingdom. Because an assassin cannot have it all ... And trying to may just destroy her.
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BOOK REVIEW
You will like this if you like:
~ Faes
~ Assassins
~ High Fantasy
~ Court Intrigue
~ Competitions
To Note:
Book 2 in the Throne of Glass series, must be read in order.
mentions gore, and mutilation
Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Writing style: 4.5/5
Personal Enjoyment: 4.5/5
Overall rating: 18/20
Well goodness what a difference a sequel makes! If you read my ToG review you know I was a bit unsure of how book 2 would go. Well, Crown of Midnight completely won me over and got me excited to carry on with the series. Gone is the whiny teen that always felt at odds with her life experiences, and in her place is the girl I thought she should have been all along: A slightly more self assured person, who is slowly standing up for her beliefs. We get to see her assassin skills in full effect. We also finally see her immerse herself in court politics and learn how to play it well. I loved the fact that finally we saw more personality development in all the other characters too. I especially enjoyed getting in Chaol's head. And even Dorian felt less like a generic cutout of a frustrated King in waiting. I really loved getting to know Nehemia a lot, her character is so complex, and she plays the game of court intrigue so well. We have old characters returning and new characters being introduced, its done flawlessly that it neither feels overwhelming or redundant. They all have a part to play even if it isn't immediately apparent what that is. What I love most about Maas is how she weaves such complex story arcs with a deceptively simple surface plot. Yes on the face of it, it's about a King's assassin carrying out her kings commands. But there is so much more happening in the background. In CoM you can see these threads being expertly laid before us, we are given a glimpse of the motivations and machinations of characters, which you know will not come to fruition till sometime later in the series. And this is how Maas has hooked me, I MUST know how all these threads will come together, I MUST know the answers to all the mysteries, she is laying before me, I MUST know how characters will reconcile their past actions with the people they want to become. I MUST know if friendships/relationships will be mended or deepen. I am so excited to continue on my ToG journey! Definitely recommend!
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Favourite quotes:
“It was like coming home or being born or suddenly finding an entire half of herself that had been missing.”
“But death was her curse and her gift, and death had been her good friend these long, long years.”
So Dorian closed his eyes, and took another long breath. And when he opened his eyes, he let her go.”