[Review: Crown Of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas]

"Crown of Midnight"
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #2
Pages: 420
Genre: YA, High Fantasy, Fairytale Retelling
Date Published: August 27th, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Format Read: Purchased eBook

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Summary:

"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 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.

-Goodreads
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My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Crown of Midnight,

Dang book, you really grabbed me by all of the heart strings. You gave me all of the feels, honestly, all of them. You left me giggling, laughing, swooning, crying, wanting to punch things, wanting to punch imaginary characters and most of all you left me reeling. You, book, did all the things that I wanted you to do, and even some that I didn't. And in the end that is why I loved you so much...

-The White Unicorn

I was utterly blown away by the world that Maas introduced me to in Throne of Glass, so you can be assured that I knew I was going to love the second installment in her series. I had no idea that she could get more creative and expressive in her story telling, but she did. Crown of Midnight took what I already loved from the first book and expanded on it. And boy oh boy did she tug on all of emotions with the words that she strung into magical sentences.

The book starts off where Throne of Glass left off, which means that there are going to be spoilers for the first book in this review. So, if you don't want those, read no further. Celaena is now the King's champion and she's already being forced to do all of his dirty work. It didn't take him that long to start using her in some dreadful ways and that's clear from the very opening pages of the book. But in the way that Maas writes, things aren't always as they seem. Celaena does what she wants, how she wants and even though people's lives might be at stake, she never crosses her moral boundaries.

Maas gives us new looks at relationships that she introduced us to in the first book, Celaena's wants and needs have changed in this book and Dorian and Choal, both benefit from that. Guys, the swoons that happen are wonderful, even if things get muddled fast. I heart Celaena and Choal forever and I fully understand why people are so into this ship. It makes all the sense in the world to me now. On the other hand I love her relationship with Dorian as well, now that they aren't sticking their tongues down each other's throats all the time.

I was so glad that we got to see more of Nehemia and Celaena's friendship as well. Maas does a great job of balancing the romance and the friendships in her series and it makes it all the more real and heartbreaking when the shit hits the fan, because she's also a bit of a master of misery. It was great to get a better read on the Princess and the way Maas uses her in the plot of this book is fantastic, if not slightly rage inducing.

We also get to see more sides to Celaena this time around. Added characters and mysteries unfold in her life and it brings her to some pretty dark and intense places. Sometimes I just really wanted to give her a hug and other times I cheered her on and backed her decisions 100%. Sometimes when life gives you lemons, you just have to chuck them as hard as you can at the people who have wronged you and Celaena proves that she's not afraid to do that, sometimes at any cost.

Maas also digs deeper into the mysteries of the castle and pulls more of her characters into the thick of things. It seems that no one is safe when she's concerned and it makes for amazing story telling and so many things that I would like to discuss with people. So, if you've read this book, hit me up, because I don't want to spoil it for the rest of you. Just know that if you pick this series up, you're in for one heck of an emotional ride! So yeah, read this book, because it's good for you!

Rating:

 5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this one NOW!