BOOK REVIEW: Crown Of Midnight – by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Crown Of Midnight
(Throne Of Glass #2)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal
First published: August 27th 2013
Finished reading: March 10th 2015
Pages: 448

“Why are you crying?”
“Because,” she whispered, her voice shaking, “you remind me of what the world ought to be. What the world can be.”

I read Throne Of Glass quite a few months ago and somehow I never came around continuing the series. The funny part is that a copy of book number two and three have been collecting dust on my TBR shelf for quite some time now… I guess that in a way I was afraid that the love triangle I didn’t particularly like in book one would become even more important in the sequels. Plus, sequels in other YA Fantasy series have let me down lately, so that could have held me back as well. I’m glad I finally did decide to start reading Crown Of Midnight, because I enjoyed the sequel way better than the first book. Sarah J. Maas was able to introduce a lot of new information about the past and Celaena has new difficult tasks to deal with. Not to mention the surprises the author has in store for her readers! I won’t be going into details to avoid spoilers, but Crown Of Midnight was good enough for me to pick up the third book straight away even though I had planned to read another book next. Definitely recommended for YA Fantasy fans who like a strong female heroine who seriously kicks ass!

WARNING: Possible spoilers! Please don’t read this summary if you haven’t read Throne Of Glass yet. I’ll keep the summary short but it’s almost impossible to keep it completely spoiler-free…

Celaena is now officially the King’s Champion and has to do as he wishes in order to free herself, but the King is planning something evil and Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. Since he has treatened to kill the people close to her if she doesn’t do as he asks, Celaena has to hide the fact that she isn’t actually killing the men the King has ordered dead… And that secret becomes increasingly harder to hide from her best friend and foreign princess Nehemia and above all from the Captain of the Guard Chaol as their relationship grows more intense. Celaena isn’t the only one with secrets though, and those secrets have terrible consequences… Soon the King’s Champion doesn’t know who to trust anymore and she starts planning revenge. Is there really a rebel organization that is planning to fight against the King, and what is their role in the recent terrible events? And what about the Wyrd marks and secret passages showing up everywhere?

Crown Of Midnight is one of those sequels that is actually better than the first book. Less romance, more action and intriguing new facts about the main characters and the world they live in… Things are about to get a lot more complicated, and Sarah J. Maas takes us on a very interesting ride. The pace is fast and the prose easy to read… Making this novel hard to put down before it’s finished. Not all characters are to my liking, but Celaena seriously kicks ass and her past is definitely interesting. This series is without doubt recommended for those who like YA Fantasy and a strong female main character! I myself couldn’t stop reading Crown Of Midnight and started the next book Heir Of Fire right after finishing this one. That says enough right?

WWW Wednesdays #30 – March 11th

Originally featured at Should Be Reading and now hosted by Sam at Taking On A World Of Words, WWW WEDNESDAYS is still about answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?

After finishing Crown Of Midnight yesterday, I just HAD to start the third book in the Throne Of Glass series straight away. I’m not too far into Heir Of Fire yet, but so far it’s definitely interesting… Especially with Celaena traveling around and discovering new things about her past. I’m probably going to finish this one soon! Such a shame I will have to wait until the fourth book is published to continue this series written by Sarah J. Maas…

 

• What did you recently finish reading?

I’ve finished Crown Of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas yesterday and I absolutely loved it! I enjoyed the sequel better than Throne Of Glass, but that might just be because the love triangle wasn’t as important in the second book. A lot of new facts about Celaena and the world she lives in has been revealed… A full review will be posted soon! I also finished I, Robot by Isaac Asimov the other day, and although I thought the story was going to be completely different (I blame the movie for that), it was an enjoyable read with short stories about the evolution of robots.

• What do you think you’ll read next?

My TBR cup has decided for me that I’m going to read Inferno by Dan Brown next. I’m not sure what to think of this title because other books by the same author have been a disappointment… I guess a lot of his work share too many similarities to be original. At least his books in general read fast, so I will probably finish this one before the end of the weekend.

Teaser Tuesdays #33 – March 10th: Crown Of Midnight

TEASER TUESDAYS is a weekly book meme originally featured at Should Be Reading. To participate, just open the book you are currently reading to a random page, and choose two ‘teaser’ sentences from somewhere on that page. (no spoilers!)

I started reading Crown Of Midnight, the second book in the Throne Of Glass series the other day, and until now I’m absolutely loving it. I’m glad that in this sequel Sarah J. Maas decided to push the whole love triangle to the background and focuses more on the tasks of Celaena has to complete in order to earn her freedom. The fast pace and easy-to-read prose makes it hard to stop reading!

“You’re the greatest assassin in Erilea, and yet you can’t stand watch for a few hours?”

“What’s there to watch?” she hissed. “Couples sneaking out to fondle each other between the hedges? Or His Royal Highness, dancing with every eligible maiden?”

 

What are you reading right now?

WWW Wednesdays #25 – February 4th

Originally featured at Should Be Reading and now hosted by Sam at Taking On A World Of Words, WWW WEDNESDAYS is still about answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?

I decided to put And The Mountains Echoed on hold for a while and read other books first… It was really good so far but I’m not exactly in the mood for it, so I prefer leaving it be for now. I’m currently reading Allegiant by Veronica Roth, the last in the Divergent series. This one has been on my TBR pile for ages, mostly because I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the ending and I didn’t really enjoy the second book as much as Divergent either. But, since one of my reading goals is to finish various series I’ve started previously, I decided to finally pick up Allegiant. I’m about a third into the book right now and so far it’s ok, although I still wish there would be less romance scenes between Tris and Tobias/Four.

• What did you recently finish reading?

I’ve done a Roald Dahl reread after seeing the Johnny Depp movie version of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory last Saturday. Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did when I was a kid, I still think Dahl was a genius and his books are perfect reading material for children. Great to read to them with funny voices! Yesterday I was also able to finish Under Dark Skies, an ARC novel by A.J. Scudiere I ended up loving. It’s a forensic mystery/crime novel with a supernatural twist; definitely recommended!

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Like last week, I’m still not sure what to read next. I have book two and three in the Throne Of Glass series lined up and waiting for me, but I should also make a dent into my TBR pile challenge list. A possible title could be The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett; the outcome of my latest attempt of using the TBR jar…