Published: August 27, 2013
Pages: 418
Source: Gifted
Rating: 5 Stars
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.
Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.
Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie...and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.
In short: I loved Crown of Midnight to pieces. And it just about destroyed me...
I mean, of course I loved Throne of Glass when I first read it years ago, and then when I read the prequel novellas, I truly grew to love Celaena and this world that Sarah J. Maas has created. But then there was Crown of Midnight. And Crown of Midnight has all the fantastic elements of the first novels, but just takes everything to a WHOLE new level. There was more intensity, more action, more character development, more mythology, more of EVERYTHING.
And more emotions. I can't recall the last time a book brought me on such a rollercoaster of feelings. I alternated between feeling utterly ELATED to feeling wretchedly HEARTSICK in what was seemingly the space of a few pages. Scene after scene just flew by and though I was super busy at the time, my head and heart were fully consumed in the pages of Crown of Midnight even when I wasn't reading it.
It's kind of insane that I waited so long to read this considering I was pretty much chomping at the bit to read it when it was first released a few years ago. I am so glad to have finally read it now though. And this way, I still have Heir of Fire to enjoy (and I will be getting to that one SOON!) and then not too long to wait until Queen of Shadows!! Yup, I am SUPER stoked this!!
Previously, my reviews of The Assassin's Blade and Throne of Glass.
Other Reviews:
Lunar Rainbows
Small Review
YA Book Queen
Author Links:
Website
Blog
Goodreads
Oh wow, I can't believe you waited so long to read this one, Aylee, considering how much you've loved Throne of Glass and the novellas! I still need to give this one a try; hopefully, I'll like it a lot more than Throne of Glass. I hope you get around to reading Heir of Fire much sooner ;)
ReplyDeleteRight?? It's pretty crazy. I won't wait so long to get to Heir of Fire though, I tell you what! And I do hope you give this series another try... I think you'll come to like it or maybe even love it!
DeleteI am so incredibly happy that you LOVED this one just as much as I did Aylee^^ This book seriously went and changed the game for the series. Things were already pretty awesome, but then CoM came in and took things to a whole other level! And the feelings. Oh! the feelings were nearly too much to handle but I reveled in every instant of them too! And OMG Aylee, if you don't get HoF soon I WILL send it to you because I NEED to gush about it with you :D If you think CoM was a roller-coaster well strap yourself in for the HoF ride! And after that we can both have a feels party and count the days until QUEEN OF SHADOWS ♥ I loved your review as usual, even though it might have been said by others, I ALWAYS want to read what you thought^^
ReplyDeleteYeah, it totally changed the game! Not that the game was weak before... but some major new elements were introduced here and holy wow it's different but OH SO GOOD! I will ABSOLUTELY get to Heir of Fire soon, I PROMISE! Potentially even the next book I read :) I will have to share with you what I think :):)
DeleteI was such a fan of this book! Are you reading Heir of Fire next? That one is my favorite in the series. I agree the world was so much bigger. I thought there was less action but it was still just as engaging and exciting. I think maybe because there is more scheming in this one and more character development. I love these characters, especially Celaena. Great review!
ReplyDeleteCassi @ My Thoughts Literally
I may read Heir of Fire right next! That's so exciting that that one is your favourite in the series. I can't wait to see the world get bigger and bigger!
DeleteI'm worse because I picked it up and I got to that point where Chaol and Celaena...well you know. And it crushed me so I put the book down and...it's been there ever since. AOIDJSJFSDKJFDSF so many feels.
ReplyDeleteAah on no Sandy! You must pick it up again!
DeleteYay I'm so glad you liked CoM! I love this series, it keeps getting better with every book! Heir of Fire is my favourite so far, can't wait for you to read it (and to meet Rowan, who is my favourite character now, besides Celaena). Great review! :)
ReplyDeleteYay, so stoked to hear that! And I can't wait to meet Rowan! :)
DeleteYAYAYAY I'm so happy you loved this one! Oh gosh, I read Crown of Midnight maybe 2 years ago right before it came out and I totally remember feeling the same things you did. Sarah J. Maas seriously blows it out of the water! I have no idea why I haven't picked up Heir of Fire yet :( And I got an ARC of HoF early, too! WHAT AM I DOING?? Anyway, good luck with book three!!
ReplyDeleteAw we can't explain ourselves or what we were thinking! Who knows... But just think of it this way: If you read Heir of Fire now instead of when you first got your ARC, you won't have the excruciating wait until Queen of Shadows that you would have had! :D
DeleteISN’T IS FANTASTIC? I could utter any number of excited exclamations on this, but I think you probably get it from just that. Sarah J. Maas writes with an incredibly ability to capture ones imagination and thoughts and hold them, despite whatever else they may be experiencing. I mean, how fantastic is that? I get so caught up in her world and stories and I just miss what else is going on, and it’s brilliant. Heir of Fire takes things to whole new levels, and I’m so excited for you to read it, but CoM was… well that was an awakening, of a sort. And the end! Endless inner tears. And brilliance.
ReplyDeleteAre you planning on reading A Court of Thorns and Roses? I’m reading a review copy of it at the moment, I think it’s published at the end of the month… I think you should read it. We’ll say that. Xxx
You describe the feeling so perfectly, Romi! Exactly. Sooooo excited to hear you say such excellent things about Heir of Fire!! I will hopefully get to it soon!
DeleteI am planning to read A Court of Thorns and Roses, of course! I've preordered my copy already. So cool that you're reading a review copy and loving that one too!
I kind of like that we read this one at almost the same time. I finished it just a few days ago (okay- maybe a week ago). I had a harder time getting into the story, but as soon as I was, I flew through the story, and much like you, I experienced a magnitude of emotions in such a short space of time (or pages). The end of this book blew me away and I was like- what? What now? What does this mean for ________ and ________. And what about __________. I am eager to get to Heir of Fire- but I might wait a month or so. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
Oh good, I was hoping you would get more into reading it once you reached a certain point in the book. I had sort of a similar experience, kind of slow going at the beginning. The rest was EPIC! Especially that ending, like WOAH! I had the same thoughts/questions! I plan on reading Heir of Fire soon-ish. I don't know how much longer I can hold off.
DeleteEveryone has been raving about this series and even though it doesn't exactly seem like my kind of read, I would love to give it a try. Great review, Aylee!
ReplyDeleteSarika @ The Readdicts
Oh, please do! You might end up surprising yourself :)
Deletehey, thanks for linking me :)
ReplyDeleteBasically one big DITTO for everything you said! I'm really, really curious to see what you think of Heir of Fire. I'm so conflicted!