Publishers: Bloomsbury UK
Published Date: August 15th 2013
From: Publishers
My rating: 4 out of 5
Thank you to Emma at Bloomsbury UK for allowing me to read this ARC
Synopsis:
An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.
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 most willing to fight for?
Review:
Crown of Midnight is soon to be upon us and is the much-anticipated sequel to Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. While Throne of Glass had an ordered and organised feel about it, the high-fantasy world of Celaena Sardothien winning the famed competition to become Kings Champion, Crown of Midnight is equally as riveting with it's high octane tale of adventure and royal intrigue, though this time you never know what to expect from our heroine.
Celaena IS the Kings Champion. What deeds would the King have her do now that her task is legal killing on behalf of the Kingdom? Unfortunately for her, the kings wishes lead her to liaise with associates from her past. Associates she knows very well, even taught. More questions than answers take Celaena along a bumpy and sometimes lonely path to find out why the king particularly wants these certain people dead. Are they enemies of the Crown or merely important people in the way of something bigger?
This is no love triangle story of Celaena and Dorian or Celaena and Chaol, although Chaol does feature more greatly in this book but Crown mostly tells us about Celaena herself and her battle with her past and how she learns to embrace her future. But in the now, she learns the language of wyrdmarks from the lovely Princess Nehemia settles into a semblance of normal daily life during her duties at court. Celaena finally gets a chance to be herself. But who actually is she? Her past is still shrouded in secrecy and she gives little away until the end.
The writing of Crown is superb and if you've managed to pick up the short stories from the Throne of Glass series then they will help add substance to the main story going on here. Crown isn't as long as Throne, nor does it have as much density with regards to descriptions or even the magnanimous plush parties as we experienced before. Instead we have a fast-paced, action packed adventure that keeps its own mystery until the very last page. My only disappointment with Crown was the abrupt ending of each chapter. I personally would have preferred the scenes to play out just a little bit more rather than the knife edge slice to the next chapter but still, it does leave your imagination to run wild while waiting to find out what happens next.
Crown of Midnight brings back all our favourite main characters including a few new ones that include a doorknocker called Mort and a devilishly handsome good guy/bad guy in Archer. And I think hearts will melt again because the small bit of romance is pretty special too.
All in all Sarah J Maas did a great job of writing a rich and powerful sequel that will be loved by Throne fans everywhere!
You can reach Sarah J. Maas here:
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