Photo Credits: Val Vesa
Edited by Vaishali
Title: ‘Crown of Midnight'
Author: Sarah J. Maas Series: (Throne of Glass #2) Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Young Adult, Romance Publisher: Bloomsbury Year of Publication: 2013 Version: Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4088-3494-7
Themes: Romance, oppression, slavery, faeries, friendship, hope, freedom
Warning: If you have not read the first book in this series, there will be spoilers!
R E V I E W...
“It was war upon them all. Let them tremble in fear at what they had awoken.”
'Crown of Midnight' by Sarah J. Maas was even better than its predecessor. I truly enjoyed every moment of it. We have mystery, and suspense, and spy work, and enigmas, and solving them only to find more. 'Crown of Midnight' was paced thoroughly well, the plots were intricately intertwined, the sub-plots were too, the characters continued to fascinate me, unravelling into more far dynamic people (i mean huge character development). The writing continues to be absolutely stunning and well edited, and you would not think so much could be packed into a 400 page book but it is!
With all the wonderful delights of this book comes twice as much anguish. There are secrets and tangled webs, ancient dungeons and monstrous creatures, new pockets of the world and ancient lore, new species and incredulous exposures. 'Crown of Midnight' is full of swooning romance, companionships, political intrigue, magic, loss, grief, betrayal, vengeance, death, rebellion, secrets and ancient history. Every character in Sarah J. Maas’s books has a purpose; she doesn’t introduce them frivolously or shallowly. They all weave into the plot and thicken it in some way. Sarah J. Maas does not leave anything to chance as her storytelling is meticulously threaded together, and if she leaves loose ends it is because they will be tied later on. This read had me feeling many things; I was rising and falling with the characters through all the heartache and the drama.
"It was a freedom that she was still working for, because even though she'd tasted it only for a heartbeat, it had been the most exquisite heartbeat she'd ever experienced."
'Crown of Midnight' follows on seamlessly from 'Throne of Glass'. Celaena had one goal: to establish her freedom, take back her independence and run as far away as she could from her oppressors. Well , she bargained for MUCH more than that when she was dragged from the hells of Endovier! Now the King’s scythe and puppet Celaena realises that the fight is much bigger than she could have ever imagined, and she is torn between which fight it is exactly that she should be fighting: for her own selfish clemency, for a love she never saw coming, or to be brave enough to fight for the people who truly need it.
Celaena is a morally grey character, and though she has killed she still lives by her own code and system of rules... but she is still plagued by past grievances and betrayals that haunt her. Though Celaena is skilled in every way assassin she cannot kill for her lifelong enemy. She finds herself discreetly disobeying the King’s orders under the radar and toying the line of treason. Celaena dabbles with her own death, making dangerous decisions that could potentially put the people she cares for most in dire trouble. She is playing with fate and dances a very precarious line of outright rebellion, and she can't turn back now.
"The best lies were always mixed with the truth."
Though Celaena completed Elena’s mission, this game is far from over as there even greater evils at play alongside the King. Celaena must follow clues and allow Elena and Mort to guide her on her quest to change the fate of the world, uncovering the King’s secret power and plans. Celaena however, cannot accept that the world is worth saving, that it can be redeemed, and she doesn’t want the responsibility to save it either. Even though she is in a place of power she continues to run away from doing the right thing. Nehemia very much mirrors Celaena’s character flaws as she is everything Celaena cannot be and does not want to be. There are shocking disclosures in this book and perverse, unnatural ones too, and with each piece of news Celaena uncovers is another secret she must carry on her shoulder.
There are more integers at play in 'Crown of Midnight', including a growing rebel movement in the name of Terassen; aiming to dethrone the current sovereign and appoint their lost princess Aelin Galathynius in her rightful place as Queen- rumours of which speak that she is indeed alive, and not only alive but raising an army to overthrow his Kingliness, and raise a court as powerful (if not more so) than those they spoke of from Terassen’s legends. Celaena must hunt them down and takes care to navigate her duplicity as she functions to hide any evidence of her opposition. Monsters do not feel remorse, or regret, or sorrow, and Celaena does in plenitude. She is constantly trying to do what is right despite her mind’s confliction and hindrances. She makes mistakes aplenty but she learns and acknowledges, and tries again.
Celaena has to question whether her freedom truly is worth it for the price she is paying; whether she can overlook the masses for her own selfishness when she has the power and a position that enables her to act. But fear still rules Celaena, fear of her safety, of the king, of his threats for retaliation and most of all the fear of putting into practice her own bravery and courage. Because once she takes those steps to facing deep and deadly fears she cannot turn back from them…because when a person spends a lifetime of running they forget how and what it means to fight…and though Celaena has grown up without real freedom of choice she now comes to find that she must make some of the most difficult ones she has ever faced. The world is at her feet but her feet continue to run.
"But death was her curse and her gift, and death had been her good friend these long, long years."
Chaol is a logical man who does not let his emotions rule him. His honour is all he has, and he can't grapple with the idea of losing it because who is he without it, what kind of man is he without it? He only has his occupation as the Captain since his family abandoned him for his servitude to the King. His survival is dependent on his obedience to his King. He walks the safe line to keep his character intact but Celaena is no safe bet; she is the lightning in his world, hitting Chaol harder than anything has ever hit him before...and he can't resist her fire. Chaol is in a constant state of conflict in this book with his heart and head as well as where his loyalties llie. He may be Celaena’s friend but he still has responsibilities to the crown as protector of the Royal family, and there are lines he can't cross even for Celaena….to his own detriment.
Dorian contends with his own losses and distresses. He is still coping with losing Celaena, and his friendship with Chaol is not quite the same as it was because boundaries have been crossed. I found Celaena to be quite cruel to Dorian at the beginning of the book; i know she was trying to push him away to make the break-up easier but she threw away their friendship unnecessarily. Chaol and Dorian's relationship is hostile and distant, but I also think that Dorian’s separation from both Celaena and Chaol serves his own journey because a very specific, impossible, scenario takes place which changes Dorian’s life forever and possibly for the worst.
He has secrets, that which he cannot share for it would mean his death, leaving him to his own devices to steer his own fate. I think Dorian’s story was always meant to be more than just losing love. It is about his gradual steps in understanding what it takes to become a leader and what kind of leader (when and if the times comes) he chooses to be. In fact I think this applies Chaol and Celaena too; they all have individual obligations and endeavours to discover, and they need to do so without being attached to one another. Dorian has a huge burden to carry, and doesn't have a choice in his birth right. But Dorian has bigger things to worry about because magic is chasing him and it has closer roots than he thought.
"Some things you hear with your ears. Others you hear with your heart."
Celaena Sardothien is a controversial character and one that I have much appreciation for because she doesn't fall into a category. When she loves, she loves ardently, she loves wholeheartedly and fiercely, and when she does love, when she does care it's unwavering. She doesn’t do anything by halves, she is an all or nothing kind of person and when she gives, she gives everything. Her love is also a loyal one, and I hope the universe has mercy on anyone causes harm to her loved ones because Celaena certainly won’t.
Celaena is very passionate and she feels so much and so strongly, harbouring so much rage inside of her, originating bone deep and soul deep. Her pain and secrets are obviously substantial, coming from a deep place, from a bleak kind of obsidian darkness for her to feel that much, and more importantly to conceal so much. Celaena is lost to the claws of grief in this book, and she earns new scars that run deeper - my heart bled for her because the losses kept coming and I just hoped that Celaena didn’t lose herself in the process. There is an unending abyss in Celaena, a gloominess that I don’t think Chaol and Dorian could even begin to tackle if they wanted to. I think it will take someone just as strong as Celaena to be able to understand her darkness, and I don’t think that person can be Chaol.
"Perhaps the world would never be perfect, perhaps some things would never be right, but maybe she stood a chance of finding her own sort of peace and freedom."
When it comes down to life and what it encompasses, we are left with the question and choice of wrong and right, and distinguishing wrong from right is the easy part, but it’s the circumstances we are in and bound to coupled with obstructions of the mind that stop us from acting on the most important decisions. This, I think, is the case for our three young protagonists, and it’s a battle that they unceasingly go through with each decision they make. It’s not easy sailing for any of them and they are definitely challenged in multiple of ways in this book.
The drifting narrative is so very indispensable in this story that Sarah J. Maas is telling. We see from the other lower but just as significant members of the society, such as Rena Goldsmith (the musician who used music as a form of defiance and was bold enough to meet her death head on knowing that it was coming), and the slave from Calculla who took a stand against her oppressors. 'Crown of Midnight' tells the necessary stories of the people who can’t be heard, the fights that the forgotten go through, and despite being bound to the King they remain audacious and spirited enough to make a final stand, even if that means suicide. Even though these characters live in a conquered nation they are defiant in their existence, even if that existence leads them to death and I loved the way Sarah J. Maas executed this.
As the second installment in this gripping high fantasy series, 'Crown of Midnight' propels a wonderful and thrilling foundation for a sure-to-be, game-changing development in high fantasy. I can already tell that this series is going to be one HELL of a ride! Celaena is now shipped off and on her way to Wendlyn - the land of myths, monsters and nightmares. 'Crown of Midnight' is just the start, and we are only beginning to see the kind of story that Sarah J. Maas is painting for us. Wyrd be with her!
"If they let you out," Captain said, both of them staring into the blackness of their prisons, "make sure that they're punished someday. Every last one of them."
"They will be be," Celaena swore to the darkness.' “Do not let that light go out.” I gave this book 4 stars -
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R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● Book Review: 'The Assassin's Blade' by Sarah J. Maas ● Book Review: 'Throne of Glass' by Sarah J. Maas ● Book Review: 'Heir of Fire' by Sarah J. Maas ● Book Review: 'Queen of Shadows' by Sarah J. Maas ● Book Review: 'Empire of Storms' by Sarah J. Maas ● Book Review: 'Tower of Dawn' by Sarah J. Maas ● Book Review: 'Kingdom of Ash' by Sarah J. Maas _____________________________________________________
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M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read --------------------------------------- L E A V E A C O M M E N T A N D L E T' S T A L K A B O U T
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