Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 432pgs

The Story

Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien is bold, daring and beautiful – the perfect seductress and the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But though she won the King’s contest and became his champion, Celaena has been granted neither her liberty nor the freedom to follow her heart. The slavery of the suffocating salt mines of Endovier that scarred her past is nothing compared to a life bound to her darkest enemy, a king whose rule is so dark and evil it is near impossible to defy. Celaena faces a choice that is tearing her heart to pieces: kill in cold blood for a man she hates, or risk sentencing those she loves to death. Celaena must decide what she will fight for: survival, love or the future of a kingdom. Because an assassin cannot have it all . . . And trying to may just destroy her.

The Review

A big thanks to Bloomsbury Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

I don't know about this book. I really don't know. Apart of me likes it (or at least wants to like it) and the other part of me doesn't want me to like it at all. So as you can see, I'm quite conflicted with this book to be honest with you but here we go with my review.

So here's the thing I want to point out: I wasn't a huge, huge fan of the first book, Throne of Glass, but I still didn't mind it though and it entertained me enough. I mean, who doesn't love a bit of kick-ass action in a grand fantasy world? But in regards to the next sequel, CROWN OF MIDNIGHT, I still found it very hard to connect with the characters - more so the main character - and that's a major problem for me when connecting to the rest of the book that I am reading, and that's because a main character is the core of a storyline and if you can't connect with them . . . well the rest of the book isn't going to go too well for you which is what exactly happened to me with this book I'm afraid.

Our main heroine, Celaena, like what I experienced from the first book, is a very hard character to like and come around to. I mean, while she does eventually show a much more sensitive and compassionate side to her in this particular sequel, at least a much softer side than from what I've seen of her from book one where she was stuck up and cocky most of the time, but there's still something about her that I just don't like or even want to like. But don't get me wrong though, she can definitely kick ass when she wants to and I love girls like that, but Celaena . . . oh I don't know . . . this time she felt even more distant to me because she does some pretty odd things even though she is supposed to have street smarts and such, but yeah . . . it's still very hard to connect with her sadly. But apart from her, I still very much enjoyed reading the other supporting characters and the adventures they undertake, even her love interests offered something more than Celaena ever did.

In regards to those love interests, that being Dorian and Chaol, I still may like them as characters (because the boys are far more interesting than other characters), but I'm not exactly a huge fan of the whole whirlwind romance they have with Celaena. It's not full-blown romance of course, not like what we see in most YA books, but I just can't feel the sizzling chemistry between either one of those characters with our main girl. If anything, Chaol has more of a connection with our main character than Dorian ever did, even though we are told otherwise. . . but hey, maybe that's just me feeling this way. Romance is something that doesn't win me over too easily. But again, I still quite enjoyed Dorian and Chaol as characters and I'm looking forward to what they're going to offer in the next book.

Overall, CROWN OF MIDNIGHT may not have won me over, but I think this book will work best with readers who were major fans of the first book, Throne of Glass, and if so, you'll definitely will get excited over this book. As for me, I'll still be continuing with this book series in hopes that something wowing will eventually come along to surprise me!

The Rating

2/5 stars

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 404pgs

The Story

Meet Calaena Sardothien.

Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake: she got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom is return for one huge sacrifice. Calaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament - fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Calaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin's heart be melted?

The Review

A big thanks to Bloomsbury Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

THRONE OF GLASS was one of those pre-buzzed books that practically everyone was talking about! It was also a book title that I was so, SO excited for this year, mostly because it was described being much like some of my favourite books including A Game of Thrones, Graceling and Poison Study which, as you all should know already, I love and adore completely, so it was pretty much self-guaranteed that this book was going to be yet another winner in my books and in the end it certainly was!

Now before I get to the high praising of this wonderful debut book, I have to be honest with you all . . . this book didn't start off all so sweet for me like I wanted it to in the beginning. The main problem wasn't the storyline per se, because really there was nothing wrong with it at all other than some strange and confusing names where I lost myself in for a little wee bit especially in the spelling alone, but it had more to do with the main heroine herself which I didn't see coming. Honestly I didn't think I would have a problem with this main character in question, but unfortunately I did, at least for certain pivotal moments in the book.

For our main leading assassin 'lady', Celaena Sardothien, I have to say she was a pretty complicated young heroine and there are so many layers added onto her character arc as the book slowly came together, ones I didn't necessarily expect. Now while I do love her diamond-in-the-rough personality and how she tries to not portray any sort of emotion to every situation she seems to put herself in - not to mention I love how her sassy wit keeping all of the young men and women in check - but Celaena made it SO hard for me to come to like her. I don't know why exactly . . . it's rather hard to explain because I DO love my attitude chicks wanting to kick everyone's arse now and again. However, for the first half of the book, I often felt as if Celaena was too stuck-up for her own good and her ego got ahead of her at certain moments. Maybe it's just me thinking this but that's how I felt for most of the time when she came onto the page.

Of course when it comes to our Celaena I totally got that she came from a mysterious and perhaps a 'bad' background with a bad past. I also got that she was mad at the people for treating her the way they did and that she was the best of the best of all assassins and . . . she had to keep her reputation to make others fear her, but she was always putting people down and thinking badly of others without really thinking (you know?) which made her contradict herself at times. Like I said before, I'm probably the only person feeling this right now about her character but . . . that's just my opinion of her. So with overlooking those particular qualities about her, Celaena in the end was kickass. The thing I love most about her . . . she's not perfect and there are many, many things you could say that aren't her best qualities, but her mere determination was what made me believe in her character and while I would've liked to see more of her assassin skills being put to the test rather than her prancing around and not really doing too much like an assassin would do but . . . I'm still pretty impressed with her character and her two potential love interests who were all so swoon-worthy!

For once I'm tolerant of this love triangle presented in THRONE OF GLASS and it was probably the best thing I read in this book (of course the action was epic too!). In the past books I've read involving this cliche YA element, love triangles have a 50/50 percent chance of either being so right for the book or being so wrong, and in this case it was all so, so right! Taming the heart of our leading assassin, we have Dorian, the flirty, handsome and sometimes-compassionate prince who has two very different sides to him and offers so much fun to the book, and then you have Chaol, the quiet, protective and the serious royal guard who also has two very different sides of perfection to him. The thing I love about love triangles - if written right - is how you are given two very hot boys and yet you can't decide which one you love more than the other, and that's exactly how I felt with Dorian and Chaol as both were so good for Celaena for two very different reasons! While I must confess I do have a soft spot for Dorian but I think I'm more of Chaol fan because I like my serious guys and I felt that he understood Celaena on a far more higher level than Dorian ever could . . . so I'm totally on TEAM CHAOL people! No seriously trust me here . . . it's so hard to decide between these two leading men because they're all so perfect! Gah!

Overall, THRONE OF GLASS may not have outshined itself in the way I wanted it to, but it's about time we have some female assassins presented in young adult books! With plenty of action, friendship, romance and fantasy being blended together in all the right places, this book right here is a must on your to-read list this year and I'm seriously looking forward to seeing how far the author Sarah J. Maas is willing to go for her new series which, rest assured, will be just as kickass as this first installment right here!

The Rating 4/5 stars