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Crown Of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
The Blurb On The Back:
Crowned by evil.
Bound by duty.
Divided by love.
Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Erilea’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood – but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, puts those she loves at risk.
Torn between her two protectors – a captain and a prince – and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart, or the fate of a kingdom …
It’s two months after THRONE OF GLASS and King’s Champion, Celaena, is hard at work assassinating the King of Ardalan’s enemies. Or so he thinks. In fact she’s faking the deaths and helping those named to escape to new lives although she knows that if the king discovers her deceit, he’ll kill her friends.
All Celaena wants is to mark her time until she’s released from her obligations but her best friend, Nehemia is pressing her to join the fight against Ardalan’s tyrant and at the same time she’s growing closer to Chaol. When the king orders her to kill Archer Finn, a male courtesan who Celaena knows from her earlier life, she realises that the time has come to pick a side even though the same threatens both her and everyone she knows …
Having loathed THRONE OF GLASS I’d not planned on reading the YA fantasy sequel but decided to give it a chance after being told that many of the problems I had with the first novel weren’t there in the second. This is true to a degree. There is far more plot and world building in this book and Maas has discarded the love triangle that made the first novel so tedious. My big issue however remains with Celaena who’s still a self-aggrandizing braggart, a bully and at times an absolute idiot and unfortunately Maas ups her Mary-Sue quotient with a revelation in the final quarter that had me rolling my eyes. Whether you enjoy these books turns on your ability to relate to her and for me she’s utterly repulsive and a guarantee that I won’t read the conclusion.
Maas introduces new factions looking to secure power and injects ambiguity into their motives, which was good. I also enjoyed the scenes between Celaena and Archer due to their shared history and the parallels between their backgrounds. I was grateful for the loss of the love triangle and although Chaol is too thinly characterised for me, it’s interesting to see Dorian come to terms with losing the girl and have his own story strand that gives him a genuine reason to keep secrets, while there was a surprise character death.
If Celaena was a more believable character then I’d enjoy the book more but her boasting, threats, constant sighing through her nose and misplaced arrogance turn me off and as such I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
Having loathed THRONE OF GLASS I’d not planned on reading the YA fantasy sequel but decided to give it a chance after being told that many of the problems I had with the first novel weren’t there in the second. This is true to a degree. There is far more plot and world building in this book and Maas has discarded the love triangle that made the first novel so tedious. My big issue however remains with Celaena who’s still a self-aggrandizing braggart, a bully and at times an absolute idiot and unfortunately Maas ups her Mary-Sue quotient with a revelation in the final quarter that had me rolling my eyes. Whether you enjoy these books turns on your ability to relate to her and for me she’s utterly repulsive and a guarantee that I won’t read the conclusion.
CROWN OF MIDNIGHT was released in the United Kingdom on 15th August 2013. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Bound by duty.
Divided by love.
Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Erilea’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood – but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, puts those she loves at risk.
Torn between her two protectors – a captain and a prince – and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart, or the fate of a kingdom …
It’s two months after THRONE OF GLASS and King’s Champion, Celaena, is hard at work assassinating the King of Ardalan’s enemies. Or so he thinks. In fact she’s faking the deaths and helping those named to escape to new lives although she knows that if the king discovers her deceit, he’ll kill her friends.
All Celaena wants is to mark her time until she’s released from her obligations but her best friend, Nehemia is pressing her to join the fight against Ardalan’s tyrant and at the same time she’s growing closer to Chaol. When the king orders her to kill Archer Finn, a male courtesan who Celaena knows from her earlier life, she realises that the time has come to pick a side even though the same threatens both her and everyone she knows …
Having loathed THRONE OF GLASS I’d not planned on reading the YA fantasy sequel but decided to give it a chance after being told that many of the problems I had with the first novel weren’t there in the second. This is true to a degree. There is far more plot and world building in this book and Maas has discarded the love triangle that made the first novel so tedious. My big issue however remains with Celaena who’s still a self-aggrandizing braggart, a bully and at times an absolute idiot and unfortunately Maas ups her Mary-Sue quotient with a revelation in the final quarter that had me rolling my eyes. Whether you enjoy these books turns on your ability to relate to her and for me she’s utterly repulsive and a guarantee that I won’t read the conclusion.
Maas introduces new factions looking to secure power and injects ambiguity into their motives, which was good. I also enjoyed the scenes between Celaena and Archer due to their shared history and the parallels between their backgrounds. I was grateful for the loss of the love triangle and although Chaol is too thinly characterised for me, it’s interesting to see Dorian come to terms with losing the girl and have his own story strand that gives him a genuine reason to keep secrets, while there was a surprise character death.
If Celaena was a more believable character then I’d enjoy the book more but her boasting, threats, constant sighing through her nose and misplaced arrogance turn me off and as such I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
Having loathed THRONE OF GLASS I’d not planned on reading the YA fantasy sequel but decided to give it a chance after being told that many of the problems I had with the first novel weren’t there in the second. This is true to a degree. There is far more plot and world building in this book and Maas has discarded the love triangle that made the first novel so tedious. My big issue however remains with Celaena who’s still a self-aggrandizing braggart, a bully and at times an absolute idiot and unfortunately Maas ups her Mary-Sue quotient with a revelation in the final quarter that had me rolling my eyes. Whether you enjoy these books turns on your ability to relate to her and for me she’s utterly repulsive and a guarantee that I won’t read the conclusion.
CROWN OF MIDNIGHT was released in the United Kingdom on 15th August 2013. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.