What a brilliant book! In case you haven´t read any Sarah J. Maas´s book yet, this series is the best way to get started with. The main figure is such a sarcastic, self-confident figure and the irony that comes through the lines is simply amazing. For me, everything started with the beautiful covers this series has. The first one of the German edition caught my eyes right away and later I started buying the original editions. So it was no question at all for me to keep reading this series. Especially not after I had read the novellas to this series in which you get an even better insight into Celaena´s life and world.
Crown Of Midnight
by Sarah J. MaasThrone Of Glass Series #2
Publisher Bloomsbury on August 27, 2013
Genre Fantasy
Pages 418
Format Hardcover
Source Purchased
Goodreads
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Happy reading
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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 allegiance – 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.
Story
Celaena Sardothien is doing her job as the king´s Champion and every time she arrives with a special gift for the king the faces in the council chamber was turning green. But even when she has to fulfill the devilish commands from the king, he can´t break her free will or that what she keeps safe deep inside her heart and soul. But when she is forced to kill a man she knows from her time as an Assassin and a bestial murder happened in the glass castle, for Celaena has come the moment where she is done with playing games.
Style
The sarcasm, the sharp irony Celaena has, her way how she sees things and how she thinks are only at the beginning of this novel to see. Later the tone turns into a more pensive tone but still, there is a power and strength in this novel that is very entertaining.
And it was exactly that, what kept me reading during the first third which was in my eyes a bit weak.
After that, the author burns a firework that keeps you turning the pages eager to discover what will happen next. The language is easy to understand, simple and yet powerful. The author answers some questions I had in my mind after reading the first book and brought up new ones at the same time. Despite that, her fantasy is really something and the movie I had playing inside my head was the perfect complement.
Characters
Many different figures play along. Some of them very profound others not so much, but despite that, some of them had to go through an emotional roller coaster while others only had a brief performance in this novel.
Celaena has still to suffer. But now it is because she has to fulfill the king´s evil orders. Her elegance, her self-awareness and her almost outrageous arrogance as an assassin are very remarkable and show a gracefulness you can´t train.
Prince Dorian is a character whose life isn´t easy. Not during book one and for sure not in this second. But how he developed and how he dares to stand up against his father, the king, in one scene is just wow. That scene is simply great, thought the following consequences are anything but good for him. But exactly that tightrope walk makes this figure so fascinating.
Conclusion
Brilliant. Simply brilliant. Good, the book had during the first few chapters some start difficulties but then the reader is haunted by a thrilling and very action-filled story with some very convincing characters. This is a must-read!Happy reading
Sarah J. Maas
Sarah J. Maas grew up in Manhattan and already with the first design to Throne of Glass she caused sensation. With sixteen she published “Queen of Glass” (the title back then) in an online forum for authors and initiated with that one of the earliest online phenomena worldwide. She currently lives with her husband and dog in Pennsylvania.