vagasker
Written on Nov 30, 2014
The action-packed, heart-wrenching and fantastically addictive sequel to Sarah J. Maas's epic fantasy debut THRONE OF GLASS.
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. Celaena faces a choice that is tearing her 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.
- ISBN10 1408834944
- ISBN13 9781408834947
- Publish Date 15 August 2013
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 14 April 2023
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint Bloomsbury YA
- Format Paperback
- Pages 432
- Language English
Reviews
Mercy
Written on Nov 2, 2014
Después de que leí Throne of glass el año pasado estaba deseando mucho leer este, pero no sé porque a pesar de que lo conseguí, sólo leí unas pocas páginas pero lo dejé, bueno, fue en realidad porque uno de los personajes sufría mucho y yo no lo quería ver así, pero luego de que mi hermana lo leyó y encima leyó también el tercero y antes de que me soltara algún spoiler lo leí y bueno, me sorprendió mucho porque es mil veces mejor que el anterior, que me había gustado sí, pero me decepcionó que la parte de 'fantasía épica' se quedara floja. Pero en este la autora sí que sabe lo que hace, hay más acción, se conoce más de la magia, el mundo creado por Maas, la tiranía del rey y de donde viene su poder. Y lo mejor, también vemos ese lado de Cealena que eché en falta antes, vemos que ella de verdad es la temible asesina que se dice ser y también hay secretos, muchos secretos de su pasado, verdades que ella guarda en lo más profundo de su alma y poco a poco van saliendo a la luz, desde el inicio del libro los personajes van descubriendo y soltando pistas de algunos secretos y cuando te enteras es de OMFG! porque puede que imaginaras algo así pero no algo tan grande y es perfecto porque no dejan de suceder cosas y la tensión se mantiene, pero tampoco es algo exagerado, vamos, que es un buena historia. También hay nuevos personajes, algunos con un par de sorpresas también. Y están los antiguos, como Dorian y Chaol que me siguen rompiendo el corazón de amor y de dolor y yo sólo quiero que todo les salga bien. Otra cosa importante y que tiene relación con los secretos de la Asesina es el desarrollo que ella tiene a lo largo del libro, es bastante notable y eso me gustó muchísimo.
Así pues, Crown of midnight ha sido una continuación genial y ahora está saga va directo a mis favoritas y que seguiré con fervor.
elysium
Written on Oct 21, 2014
In the last book I thought Dorian was annoying and too superficial but he did grow up in this book. I don’t remember if we had his POV in the last book but at least in this one it worked well.
Even though I like Chaol, I can’t but wonder his stupidity at times. I think he trusts the king way too much and he should doubt more about what the king tells him. I’d like Chaol to be little more hardened especially since he’s the Captain of the Guard. But he’s still my favourite character.
Vicki
Written on Sep 14, 2014
Amanda
Written on Sep 13, 2014
It's not that I prefer a heavy focus on the romance -- I rather like (and it makes me laugh a little at myself to say this, because I never used to be this way) Celaena and how she approaches love. Provided she even understands it.
No, it's that I like the neatness of knowing that everything's going to be okay (or heading in that direction) at the end of the book. Series, like Throne of Glass, don't have that luxury. And that's okay!
Because it's a series. And bad things have to happen for the series to continue. I get that. But now, more than ever, it's slightly frustrating for me. Because things happens. And more things happen. And I wanted a resolution to those things that's impossible to have at this stage of the series.
Did I like this book? Yes. Do I like this series? Definitely. But I may have to revisit the way I read series like this and wait until they're finished before diving in, so I can read the series the way I'd read a single, standalone book.
Nessa Luna
Written on Sep 7, 2014
After finishing Throne of Glass, I knew I had to get a copy of Crown of Midnight, the second book in the series. So I ordered as soon as I could, and started reading it not too long after it arrived. And wow, CoM completely blew me away. I loved it even more than I did ToG, which is why I gave it a star more.
I just loved this story so much, I kept on making weird noises while reading certain scenes and ended up hugging the book a lot of times after finishing a chapter. It felt as if I had fallen through the book and into Erilea, because I just got so into the story, that at some points I forgot to eat/drink/sleep. I wanted to know what was going to happen in the next chapter, and the next. Like with Ruin and Rising, I put down the book around the last couple of chapters for a bit, because I felt anxious and I didn't want bad things to happen.
Celaena is really one of my favourite characters, and also one of the bamf-iest characters that I've read about. I haven't read many stories about a female assassin, and even if I did, I can safely say that Celaena is my favourite of them all. She just made laugh at the right moments, made me feel sad at the right points, I just love her. And my other two favourite charaters, Nehemia and Chaol were amazing as well. I fell in love with them more and more throughout the story. When Nehemia was killed I might have cried a bit and I prayed to the Gods that no one touched Chaol.
There was also a new character, named Mort, who I just adored. He was a bit annoying at some points, but also very funny and he actaully reminded me a bit of a rude/annoying version of Olaf from Frozen. Of course, I liked Dorian as well, but seeing as I turned into a Chaol/Celaena shipper (which I will talk about in a bit), I found him a tiny bit annoying every time he thought about Celaena sometimes, because I wanted him to just be friends with her. I really liked their friendship. When I found out he had magical powers, I wanted to protect him as much as I wanted to protect Chaol, so yeah I started to like him a bit more in this book.
I'm not sure what I 'shipped' when I was reading the previous book, I think it was Celaena and Dorian, but everything was thrown away at the beginning of CoM because of Chaol. Chaol Chaol Chaol. I said in my review of Throne of Glass that I imagined him as a younger version of Richard Armitage, when he played Guy of Gisborne in the Robin Hood TV show (and not long after that, I said the same for the Darkling from Shadow and Bone, shh) and I kept imagining him the same way. Oh yes, I definitely ship Chaol and Celaena now. D e f i n i t e l y.
The writing was amazing again, and I found it a bit less predictable than the previous book. There were some minor things that I guessed before they were actually confirmed, but they weren't really big things like in ToG when it was obvious who the champion killer was long before it was confirmed. I also still had a minor issue with the changing POV's, but I was glad it mostly stayed to Celaena, Chaol and Dorian; with some small parts from the POV of other characters.
In the end, I loved Crown of Midnight to bits, and I have added both Heir of Fire and The Assassin's Blade to my basket to purchase as soon as I've got money again. Because the ending left me really really sad and confused and u g h, yeah. Let's pretend 'ugh' is an emotion.
My opinion on this book in one gif:
Mackenzie
Written on Sep 6, 2014
Full incoherent and gushing review coming soon.
Berls
Written on Sep 6, 2014
My Initial Reaction...
Wow - can I give Crown of Midnight six stars? Because I'm not sure 5 really expresses how great this book was. Up until about the 85% mark it was probably a solid 4.5 stars but then holy hell the twists and turns that I hadn't seen coming even though I REALLY SHOULD HAVE...
Note: Some series spoilers.
The Characters...
Celaena hasn't changed much in the time between Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight. She's now the King's Champion and that's put her in a very dangerous position, especially the way Celaena does things! She's still arrogant and smug as hell, but Crown of Midnight is a book of serious change for Celaena (and for my view of her). A combination of higher stakes and learning from past mistakes has Celaena making decisions I'm not sure she would have made in the past. She's much more serious and darker, for one. It's kind of hard to talk much about the changes in Celaena over the course of Crown of Midnight because so many of the changes are wound up in HUGE spoilers. But let me just say that we learn things about Celaena that are EPIC! And things happen that made me SQUEE and SOB.
Crown of Midnight is also a book of change for Prince Dorian. When Throne of Glass ended, Celaena had hit the brakes on their relationship. So that's over and neither Dorian or Celaena exactly know how to be friends. His relationship with Chaol is strained as well, which sucks because that means Dorian is basically alone. And he's going through a hell of a lot alone!! His story line was so interesting and it has me really freaking nervous, because I just don't know what will happen to him dealing with everything so alone. Especially with his father being that tyrant, power-hungry, ass that he is.
I already expressed my extreme love of Chaol after Throne of Glass and never dreamed it would be possible to love him more, but I do. In Crown of Midnight we get to know Chaol so much better. He's super smart - booksmart & street smart (for the most part) - loyal, and lovable. He wants so badly to be good - and when his loyalties collide, he has to make some tough decisions. Poor Chaol's worldview is changing and sometimes his decisions can't keep up, to my colossal heart-break.
Across the board, so much is happening with these characters and yet it's so hard to talk about it in any real terms because the characters' changes are so bound up with spoilers. But complex and huge changes sums them up pretty well.
The Story...
Crown of Midnight picks up pretty much where Throne of Glass left off. Celaena is doing her work as the King's Champion and her next assignment is a man that she knew when she was Adarlan's Assassin - Archer Finn. The king informs her that he's one of a series of rebels that he wants taken down before they get in the way of his plans.
So on a very basic level, Crown of Midnight is about Celaena trying to find out what the rebels are up to and, more importantly, what the king's plans are. Of course, nothing is that simple. There's all kinds of surprises around every corner. And for those of you, like me, who were a bit shocked by the magic that appeared in Throne of Glass at the end (but loved it) - Crown of Midnight is a real treat. Magic is at the very center of this book - even if it's not happening, the how and why of that is more key than we realized before.
Concluding Sentiments...
This was such an impossible review to write, but the key message is: Crown of Midnight was amazing! There are so many twists and turns and jaw-dropping moments. The character development is out of this world and you'll be so ready to pick up the next book when you finish!
KitsuneBae
Written on Mar 27, 2014
tellemonstar
Written on Feb 21, 2014
Crown of Midnight is fairly character driven, but rather than it being all just character feelings, the desires and motivations of the characters and the actions or reactions they have because of these desires and motivations push the plot along nicely. At the same time the way these actions cause the other characters to react sets other things in motion as well. And it's all good... Or bad depending on your viewpoint I suppose.
There are some major moments in this book, including a fairly enormous plot point revealed in the final chapter that was hinted at quite a few times within earlier chapters. Certain elements (a song, some of Celaena's behaviours) that perhaps didn't make sense certainly make sense once this is revealed. I was left going o_0 *flail* when I closed the book.
I don't know that I can really say too much else for fear of spoiling, but I will say that I don't think everyone will like the second book in the series, mostly because of how the author chose to characterise Celaena in this one. HOwever, we do have to remember that for all her experience as an assassin, she's still only an eighteen year old girl.