Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas Published by A&C Black ISBN: 9781408834954
on August 15, 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Epic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 336
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis
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.
I stand by my opinion in Throne of Glass, this one should’ve been the first book. While the first book sets up some stuff, it’s mostly filler to make us ‘care’ about this one. There was a lot of skipping involved though. Because I saw it was going somewhere, and I wanted the story to just. go. there.
Confession: I’m a sucker for lost royalty plots
Maybe that’s why I kept reading this one and didn’t give up like with the previous book? I wanted to see it unfold, and see the character’s reactions when the obvious is finally revealed View Spoiler ».
I knew the big reveal had to happen somewhere in this sequel -or else that would just have been another level of pulling a story out of your ass, sorry-, but it was all building up to that, and yes, I was eating it up. Not exactly a plot twist, but like I said, lost royalty is one of my weaknesses.
The plot became clearer
This is a big improvement, because you can’t read a second book and still be clueless about what the hell is going on. Now I knew why I should care, and what’s at stake. I didn’t particularly care that much, but at least I finally had some answers. There’s a downside though.
Aimless wandering around looking for clues is no fun
A lot of my skipping took place when the characters, Celaena specially would go to these secret passages and chambers and just… talk to animate objects? It was quite boring. I knew something would come out of it eventually, but none of these scenes created expectation and suspense for me, so it defeated the purpose. Celaena was super frustrated because of she had no idea what to do, or what to look for. And I was right there with her!
I liked how it ended
I’d decided that if I didn’t like Crown of Midnight, I’d stop this. But, the ending was actually pretty good. Not out of this world, but it set up what was to come nicely. I’m not even going to lie to you, I totally liked the ending because I finally had what I’d been waiting for!
[divider]
On to Heir of Fire!
I’m glad you at least enjoyed Crown of Midnight! Sadly, I think it’s the best book in the whole series. I haven’t finished it yet because I’m unhappy with where the series is going. I’m curious to see your thoughts on the next books!
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian
I think one of the reasons I do ultimately enjoy this series and continued with it even though it frustrated me (a lot) was because I am also a sucker for a lost-queen/royalty plot line. I just can’t help but love that kind of story. I can’t wait to see what you think of Heir of Fire!
Erin @ The Book Archive recently posted this awesome thing…Is The Cruel Prince Worth the Hype?
I feel like Heir of Fire was a significant improvement, in some things, but remained the same in others. I’m so happy about the introduction of more of the Fae! Yay for lost royalty!