Book Review and Discussion: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Summary (from Amazon):

She is the greatest assassin her world has ever known.
But where will her conscience, and her heart, lead her?

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 willing to fight for?

Rating: 9/10

This book blew me away. The first one was a bit tough to get through since a lot of it was focused on world building, but now that I had a better idea of how things work in this world, it was a much easier read. That’s not to say it was an easy read by any means. The whole time, I felt like I was cringing with fear and anticipation. Once I really got going with this book, I could not put it down. I actually read all but about 50 pages in seven hours straight.

There’s not a lot more I can say that’s non-spoilery other than I loved this book, minus the part where I wanted to curl up under a blanket with a pack of tissues after finishing. I’ve got to quit getting so emotional over books. Even if you weren’t a huge fan of Throne of Glass, I strongly recommend reading this book!

***Spoilers Below!***

I really didn’t expect Nehemia’s death. She seemed like such an integral part of the story that I thought she’d be safe for at least one more book, although I did have this feeling she wouldn’t make it through the whole series. She was by far my favorite character, and I loved her friendship with Celaena. The thing that made it even worse was when I realized (after finishing the book, because I’m slow) what the scene where Nehemia and Elena were talking meant. In my shock, I didn’t even register that Nehemia had prepared herself to become a martyr for the rebellion and to give Celaena the push she needed to be fully on her side.

The books so far have shown so much of Celaena’s soft side that it’s easy to forget just how terrifying she can be. The scene where Chaol was kidnapped and Celaena snapped was terrifying, even worse was what happened after. The part where she murdered Grave was equal parts scary and awesome. To quote Cell Block Tango: “He had it coming. He had it coming. He only had himself to blame…” I’m worried though that there may come a point where she snaps and doesn’t come back. Like Nehemia said, it’s hard to pull her back once she goes over the edge.

Since I’m a complete sucker for romance, I have to discuss in length the love story/stories. I loved Celaena’s relationship with Chaol. From book one, I’ve been hoping they’d end up as a couple. It felt like the book was just stringing us along. Every time I thought something was about to happen between them, nothing would. I loved the part where Celaena planned a dinner for him, and of course everything that happened after.

And then of course Chaol had to remind us of the number one thing young adult books teach us about relationships: Do. Not. Keep. Secrets. I couldn’t make myself be upset with Chaol for very long, because I love him too much to blame him, but I understand Celaena’s anger towards him. If I had been in her place, I’m not sure I’d be able to trust Chaol again either, even after finding out it wasn’t truly his fault.

I didn’t expect it to be Archer that hired Grave. He seemed a little slick to me, but I didn’t dislike him. I’m almost a little disappointed. He reminded me a lot of Finnick Odair, in attitude and unwilling profession. In that sense, I felt bad for him.

I’m interested to see what’s going to happen with Dorian’s magic. That is something I certainly didn’t see coming. If/when his father finds out, he’s going to be furious. I’m more than a little worried for Dorian now.

The biggest twist of the whole book, in my opinion, was Celaena being the supposedly dead Princess Aelin (forgive me if my spelling is off). She was discussed a lot throughout the book, even by Celaena herself, so I definitely thought she’d be alive. I didn’t think that she would be Celaena. I hope Celaena takes back the throne of Terrasen and gets rid of the King. That’s probably what I’m most excited about in the coming books.

On a side note, I was listening to the song No Light, No Light by Florence and the Machine, and it fits this book perfectly. I dare you to give it a listen and tell me it doesn’t remind you of this book even a little bit. Part of the chorus is “No light, no light in your bright blue eyes. I never knew daylight could be so violent.” Does that not fit the scene where Celaena snapped perfectly?

My predictions for Heir of Fire are 1: One of the wyrdkeys will be in Wendlyn, or at least someone who knows where to find it will be, 2: We will encounter Arobynn Hamel in person at some point, 3: Stuff (or another 4 letter word) is going to go down between the King and Dorian over his magic, and 4: Chaol and/or Dorian will go to find Celaena in Wendyln. Maybe not in Heir of Fire, but at some point, I think we’ll encounter that Lysandra lady that Celaena has such a problem with. I also think Fleetfoot will die at some point. What happens to all dogs in every book? They die. I don’t think Fleetfoot will be the exception. No one dare spoil it for me!

Book Review and Discussion: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Summary:

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass–and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

Rating: 8/10

This books was one of those books that I had never heard of until one day it seemed to explode on the fandom circuit. After hearing rave reviews, I had high expectations for this book. I’m not saying this was a bad book by any means, I did enjoy it quite a bit, it just wasn’t quite what I expected.

Unfortunately for this book, I read it at a bad time. I’m still in mourning over one series and I reread another book, which just refreshed the mourning for that series. Because of this, I had a hard time caring about the characters. At times, I felt that the characters were obviously written to go against cliches, which caused them to become cliche. I did learn to love them characters by the end, though, and I feel like I would have loved them sooner if it hadn’t been for my severe case of book mourning.

The plot was highly intriguing, although predictable at times. It was the only thing that kept me reading through the beginning. The writing wasn’t my favorite, but because of the plot, I was able to overlook it.

There were a lot of new terms and to learn in this book, and they aren’t easy ones (I never quite caught what Samhuinn was). I like to be able to pronounce all the words I’m reading, but I don’t let that stop me from reading a book. If you’re going to read this book, be prepared for commitment. It’s going to be a six book series!

***Spoilers Below***

Celaena was the character I had the hardest time warming up to. Yes, she was awesome, badass, sassy, and generally everything I love in a character, but I had a hard time liking her. I guess I expected her to do a complete personality 180. She’s a trained assassin. I have a hard time trusting her. For all we know, she’s been acting the whole time. How do we know if her true colors have been revealed yet? Despite all that, I had a hard time not feeling bad for her as her backstory was revealed. How awful it must’ve been to wake up between your parents’ dead bodies. No wonder she has trust issues. And Arobynn Hamel is a pretty awful guy to have as a father figure. Celaena seemed to go back and forth between admiration and fear of him, which i guess is the case in most father-child relationships. What he did to her as far as making her repay him for everything was pretty underhanded, though. I probably would’ve hated him for that.

I’m interested in learning more about Sam. I feel like he’s not going to be dead. Based on the mild amount of predictability of the plot so far, I could very much see him not being dead. Either he’ll be alive or the one who got Celaena caught. My bet is on both, and that he’s probably Arobynn Hamel’s right-hand-man now or something.

My favorite parts in this book were the training and test scenes. That’s when I feel like Celaena’s true colors come out, or the closest thing to them. If that’s the case, then she probably is worthy of at least a little trust. She did save Nox after all. It was interesting to me to see how she thinks in intense situations. My favorite part by far was when she fought Verin. After what he said to her, he deserved what he got.

Nehemia was the one character I instantly fell in love with. I loved her relationship with Celaena, and I certainly hope neither of them is playing some underhanded tricks, because I don’t want their friendship to fall apart. Plus, if it weren’t for Nehemia, Celaena would never have lived, let alone won the contest. I’m excited to learn more about her.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about Dorian yet. I think he’s a good person, even though he’s depicted as a bit of a lady’s man, but I just really want to see him stand up to his father. Once he finds his voice, he’ll be a good leader.

Since I can’t discuss this book without discussing the love triangle, I have to say I prefer Chaol. I’m not sure why, since we don’t get to see much of his personality beneath his harshness. It’s so obvious that he cares about Celaena, and I really want to see more of his softer side. Hopefully that will happen in the next few books, and hopefully Sam doesn’t come back to mess things up.

The final fight scene was one of the most intense things I’ve ever read. I was literally biting my lip the whole time. I knew Celaena wasn’t going to die (I mean, the whole series is about her, after all), but I didn’t think she would win. I was kind of banking on her not winning against Cain to begin with, even before Kaltain poisoned her. I thought she would expose Cain’s use of magic, get him disqualified, and end up winning that way. It’s a good thing Nehemia was there to save her butt.

The end was a little confusing. Obviously the King is toying with magic, and it can’t be for good reasons. The question is, what is he going to do with it? And Celaena has to be related to Elena in some way, and that probably ties in to the mark on her forehead. If she’s related to Elena though, wouldn’t that make her a distant relative of Dorian’s? I’ve got to be missing something somewhere. Also, what in the world is Samhuinn?

I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series. Hopefully, since a lot of the world building has been established, things will smooth out as far as confusion.