Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

I previously reviewed the first book in this series, Throne of Glass, HERE. ...if you read my review of the first book, you're probably wondering why I bothered to pick up the second book. In my previous blog post, I had a merry time picking apart the book.

...after making that post, I ended up discussing the first book with different folks and after many internal debates with myself, I ended up giving the second book a go.

...it was MUCH better than the first book. ....which isn't saying a whole lot.

If you would like Throne of Glass to remain unspoiled for you, I suggest you stop reading this review right now. It will undoubtedly have spoilers for the previous book.

Like in my other review for this series, I'm going to refer to the characters by their titles or roles within the story because their names are exhausting to spell and I pronounce them weirdly with my reader voice so for my convenience, titles/roles.

...an amazon summary, "She is the greatest assassin her world has ever known.
But where will her conscience, and her heart, lead her?

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice. Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she willing to fight for?" AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

I just finished reading this book, and I am having troubles remembering the middle of the book. I distinctly remember the beginning of the book, the end of the book, but the middle gets a little hazy. There are a few points where I have an 'Oh yeah!' moment, but I'm referring to the book a bit to remember. ...that should tell you things. I suppose it could also be that most of the middle of the book was wrapped in mystery, and some of the mystery was solved by the end.

Sigh. I need to stop arguing with myself, I'm too good at it.

Now this sequel really did read like a romance novel, and it was. There was a lot happening between Captain of the guard and Assassin (at the end of Throne of Glass, Assassin went all NOOOOOOOOOOO at the Prince (see book for details, LOL)) because love, duties to the king, friendship, and all that garble.

There was also the ongoing struggles of accepting that the Assassin is an assassin and carried out duties as such. Both Captain of the Guard and Prince kind of recoiled from her when she started murdering....because she's an ASSASSIN, THE BEST IN ALL OF THE LAND. I don't know why that would ever suddenly be a hiccup when that was established from PAGE 1 OF THE FIRST BOOK. REALLY? WHAT DO YOU THINK ASSASSIN MEANT? HUGGING KITTENS? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

So Assassin goes about life being like, "Man, I hope I solve this mystery about the Wrydmarks. Hopefully nothing too weird happens. What's that over-dang it. DANG IT. RUN FROM THE WYRD." There's a whole convoluted plot that happens with the Wyrdmarks, the history of the magic of the land, and more on the fae. That was prettttty sweet.

What really ground on my nerves for this book was how much the Assassin was just EMOTIONAL. ALL THE TIME. I understand there were a lot of things to emotionally respond to, but seriously, CALM DOWN.

Even with all of this said, I'm still going to pick up the third book.

Here's why.

SPOILER LAND.

I want to know what happens to the Assassin and the Captain of the Guard. I want to know what happens to the Prince with all of his magic. I want to know what happens with this war torn ravaged land. I want to know why the wicked king is so weird about everything.

I want to know why the Assassin is suddenly the lost heir to the true throne. I want to know why she's fae. I want to know what happened with all of the magic ever. I want to know more about the iron teeth witches and the more supernatural creatures.

I really want the supernatural creatures to be a more present thing, I wish they had been all along. Serious.

Side note: I feel that the author made a BIG DEAL about the Assassin waiting until she was 18 to have sex. (Note: sex is only referenced, there were no graphic scenes. Just the characters being like I WANT YOU *suspicious lapse of time*.) Like she was waiting to be legal. Ummm....she's an assassin. SHE'S AN ASSASSIN. I feel like things of that technicality are no longer a big deal after murdering people. Also, the assassin confesses that she totally would have had sex with previous love (Sam) who died in the e-novels I'm sure (which I refuse to read because I shouldn't need to).

Anyways.

The writing of the book was still trying with how slowly the mystery was unveiled, but I can see how it all had a point and looped in on itself. I can see how easy it would be to stop at book 2. However, I wish the author would have more faith in her readers to let some things remain more unresolved until the next book. I feel like there was a lot of 'tidying up' of the smaller loose ends.

...so I'll pick up the third book. I feel like this is becoming a sort of situation where I know it's bad writing, but I want to read it anyways.

Happy reading!