Review: Crown of Midnight - Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #2
My Rating : {★★★★☆}
Young Adult Fantasy
Published August 27th 2013 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Source: Borrowed
"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.I'm finding it increasingly hard to write reviews for books written by Sarah J Maas. It's just so difficult to write a review for something you love so much and remain coherent and not just shouting "READ THIS BOOK AND LOVE IT".
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 as 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.
For me Crown of Midnight is everything you want in a sequel and more. There's more of everything - more badassery, more action, more plot, more fantasy. It's epic. Just epic.
Even on the second read this book is leaps and bounds ahead of Throne of Glass. The plot gets more intricate and involved, the world gets more complex and the characters develop achingly well. The characters and their flaws, their choices, they are all authentic and multidimensional. The romance is a great side arc without being the centre of the story and even the triangle (such as it was) was not only bearable but enjoyable.
This entire series is just extremely well plotted with so many incredible aspects included. The scope of this book alone is fantastic but when you consider the entire series - this world that SJ Maas has created is sheer brilliance.
There's a lot more fantasy in this book - a lot. And this is where some of the readers will be lost. If you enjoyed the level of fantasy in Throne of Glass and that is your limit then this series isn't for you. There's the introduction of demonic realms, the Fae, various clans of witches and their own history, more magic and evil sorcery and a lot more nastiness.
While I'm on the topic of things that might turn you off I also need to mention that there's a lot of action here - a lot of graphic descriptions of fight scenes and gore. That's the physical turn offs. Then there's the feels, oh the feels. There's a lot of character development and growth and characters are ripped down and built back up and make decisions that physically pain the reader. Everybody changes and grows and Maas is not afraid of how they piece themselves back together. If you can't stand it when your original ship sinks - maybe SJ Maas is not the author for you. If you want all the sweet smelling happily ever afters - maybe SJ Maas is not the author for you.
But if you like fantasy, magic, nastiness, mystery, incredible plots, believable characters and just epic stories in general then READ THIS BOOK AND LOVE IT!!!
←Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) - Heir of Fire(Throne of Glass #3)→
