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(#2, Throne of Glass)
The Assassin's Blade | Throne of Glass | Crown of Midnight | Heir of Fire | Publication (dd/mm/yyyy): 15/08/2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 353
Pages: 353
Source: Publisher for review
Genre: YA (14+) - Fantasy
Genre: YA (14+) - Fantasy
My thoughts
*sigh* This is the second time I'm writing this review. I accidentally copy and pasted right over my entire review like 10 minutes after I finished it. :( I was legit about to go on hiatus, because I was that frustrated. Anyway. Hope this review is at least half as good as the first time around. I will be writing this in the same format as I did last time -- responding to my previous notes from Goodreads, my reactions after finishing the book about a whole year ago.
~~~
By the Wyrd, this book just... kicked ass. Maas writes suspense SO WELL!
That, I remember well. If nothing else, I remember how much this book kicked ass. There is still so much action, so much violence, so much going on that it was hard to stay away. I remember picking up the book and telling myself, "Just one chapter," and then that would stretch into two, three, four chapters.... There's a slow build-up, suspense and mystery that keeps you on the edge, Maas reveals at a good pace -- not too fast, and not too slow. The writing, as usual, is fantastic. I love the style that she utilises, and her writing just flows nicely.
I love that we are given much further insight on the characters, particularly Celaena. She's definitely one of the most well-rounded anti-hero[in]es around. I feel like we see more of her vulnerabilities and softer side; she is an assassin, but she's also a girl. She's also alone... etc.
Celaena is one of my absolute favourite literary heroines to date. She's so headstrong, stubborn, brave, loyal, independent and so on... but she's also got such a vulnerability about her that you only catch sight of if you really look hard enough. Right from the beginning, when she defied the pirate lord AND her boss, the Adarlan -- I loved her right from the start. But not like this. In Crown of Midnight she really showed another side of herself that goes way beyond what we'd seen before. She's gone through so much heartache, so much turmoil, and to come up on top of everything, to still have that fight left in her... and also after what we learn of her...
The love triangle is so very twisted, but it's one I can deal with. I'm still with Chaol. Especially after....
The love triangle is so very twisted, but it's one I can deal with. I'm still with Chaol. Especially after....
From what I can remember of the romance aspect of this book, the love triangle aspect - by the end anyway - becomes a non-issue. Truth be told, I'm reading Heir of Fire and I have no idea how exactly this book left the two of them (and by "the two of them" of course I mean Celaena and Chaol). But I remember feeling melancholic when THE BIG THING happens that changes the two of them, irrevocably, forever.
We learn more about Wyrdology. Wyrdgates, wyrdkeys. And the deal with magic disappearing. Highly interesting stuff!
This plays into why there was so much suspense and why I couldn't put this book down. I found all of these revelations and discoveries simply fascinating and I think that Maas imagined everything beautifully. The world building is phenomenal; it is richly imagined and there are actual politics and history and life pulsing throughout this world. The "witches" are extremely threatening, and I remember finishing this book and knowing that bigger things were to come.
If you read the previous installations in the series (and enjoyed it), it should be no question as to whether or not you read Crown of Midnight. In this book the stakes are higher, the pressure is building, and the mysteries are slowly unraveling... If you loved Celaena you'll fall even deeper. If you hated Celaena you'll at least like her by the end. It's hard not to feel sympathy for her, but also, it's hard not to know what she's going through too. She goes through hell, again, but it's of a different kind than the one she goes through in Throne of Glass and in her later novellas. It's not too hard to relate to at least some of her pain and struggle on some level. Anyway, bottom line is read it. Even those who read Throne of Glass and were turned off by the love triangle and all that nonsense, this book is ten times better, and worth every single second.
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I have received this review copy in return for an honest review.
