Heir of Fire

The third book in the "Throne of Glass" series by Sarah J. Maas, just didn't do it for me. I got to page 248 when I couldn't take it anymore and stopped. I may pick it up later, or I might just find a wiki on it to find out what happened, but I just can't get myself to finish it. I don't not finish books very often, especially after starting this here blog, but I just couldn't.

After Choal sends Celaena away across the sea to another country for her own safety, she finds she doesn't want to kill the mark she was sent to get rid of him. So she meanders around town until a Fae, the strong, silent type (who is also immortal) who could be described as a Juggernaut, finds her and she willingly goes with him (for no real reason except he is Fae...) to one of the cities of the Fae where she meets her great+ aunt who is queen of the Fae. But before her aunt will answer any of her questions that she has about how to defeat the king she serves so then he doesn't annihilate the world and all who are in it, she has to prove herself magically. Now that she is away from the country and the king who is stopping magic, she can access her uber powerful magic that she has been scared of/doesn't have access too since she was eight (someone cliche in my opinion). The Juggernaut Fae is the one set on babysitting duty to help her find a way to control her magic. But then as she is starting to gain access and minor control over it, there are baddies in the woods she she starts investigating--because she can't get any answers about the world wide problems that are erupting back at home.

Meanwhile, back in the castle, the Prince is starting to fall for a medic who has been twitterpated over him for years (he is the Prince after all). She also finds out about his new magic that made themselves  known in the second book. She okay with it and is willing to keep his secret, so much so that she is willing to help him find away to control or stop it. I foresee this going badly and probably hurting him. Also, there is a new man in town. Someone from Celaena's hometown, before it was destroyed, who is known for being a traitor to his country. He even holds Celaena's uncle's sword, which she was supposed to inherit. No one likes him but the king because he's a traitor-pants. But the also has something going on. Going out to party at night but only staying at his parties for a but before sneaking off. Choal finds this out and is super suspicious and follows. Suddenly, everything is thrown in the air and isn't what it seems.

Then way up north we get an introduction into Baba Yellowlegs (from book two) colony of witches (like they eat people and all they want to do is kill, not nice people at all). The King has something up his sleeve and has given the clans of witches packs of wyverns. They start training how to fly so they can go off to battle for the king.

This book jumps around a lot. There are so many points of view, which are distinct enough that it is easy to tell apart so it didn't get confusing, but it just jumped through so many and I didn't care like I had previously. It seemed to take too long to get anywhere. While Celaena is trying to learn how to use her magic, we get nothing more than Rowan yelling at her to "shift" and being boring for hours on end. They get into some dialog but even halfway through the book we know nothing about him except he will follow all of Celaena's aunt's orders until he immortally dies of old age. I don't care about him. He will be a love interest, but... eh. Whatever.

I didn't like Manon (the witch lady) for a long time. The death, death, death, and more death got old waaaay fast. How she got her wyvern was pretty cool, but then it went back to death, blood, smelling humans and wanting to kills them again. Ugh. But then that's what all of these books is about. I mean, Celaena is an assassin, of course it's going to be about death. But with Manon there is nothing but killing. Death ends up trickling into the other characters stories as well and it just gets so over done. Like a cloud of gloom hangs over the book. I'm so not up for gloomy or the foreseeable romances.

I think the characters we also not much like themselves, mainly Celaena. In the first two books she was witty, a book lover, it was fun to read. And I get that after the death of her friend she would change, but her wit is what I liked most about her. Now it seems to have pretty  much vanished unless she's getting beat up by Rowan. Those conversations don't last long and they aren't as funny.

OH, I also am very put off by her lack of description. People are blurry, if they were described it was probably only once and what seemed half heartedly. There is very little repetition of description to remind the reader what the freaking people look like. This drives me nuts!

It also swore a lot, which I don't care for in the least bit. It became very annoying. (Call me a prude, whatever.)

It felt rushed to me but weirdly enough it took forever to get anywhere. 560-ish pages of not a lot happening. Almost like a hurry up and wait game we play in bureaucracies. It got boring and I have a very large pile of other books that are due back at the library soon that I want to get to. So I'm putting it down.

Also, it was funny, when I was trying to explain it to my husband, he got all confused--possibly due bad descriptions on my part. But there was so much going on with so many characters and popping in and out and just odd things happening. It was a very long conversation, where, at the end, he asked me, "why are you still reading this then?" And I didn't have a good answer to give him.

I know there are lots of other people who like it, but I just didn't.

Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight is the second book in the "Throne of Glass" Series by Sarah J. Maas and I really enjoyed it. It is one, if you are a dedicated reader, you could probably finish in a day. It took me a bit longer than that, but once I sat down I easily busted through about 200 pages today. It's do-able.

After Celaena becomes the King's Champion, AKA personal assassin, she is told to dispatch lords and ladies who stand as threats against the King. Only the King is crazy, power hungry, and  crazy! so in order to fulfill her contract sends them off into hiding and finds cadavers to pose as her victims. Saving innocent lives while not fullying doing what the King says. But things get complicated when she is told to find and kill one of her old friends named Archer. She doesn't believe him to be capable of being a master criminal. Archer, a male prostitute for the noble class and a friend to the Assassins guild Celaena was a part of, quickly folds under her interrogation and believes that there is a movement to put the lost heir to the Terrasen thone back in her rightful place. She gives him a month to giver her information before she'll let him slip out of the country.

Only getting information from Archer isn't the only thing that has started creeping in. The underground passageway in her room holds more secrets than a tomb, and there happens to be more than one passageway in the castle that has been left undisturbed for what seems centuries. Books and strange markings seem to follow her everywhere. Nehemia also has her own treasure trove of secrets that complicate Celaena's life greatly. And finally her relationship with Choal begins to blossom.

But then, tragedy strikes and Celaena goes bazerk. Crazed with vengeance, her friends don't recognize her anymore and she ends up being thrown in the dungeon. Oops. All kinds of poop hits the fan and she dives deeper into the castles shadows and finds creatures that shouldn't exist. Can she trust anyone within this glass prison?

Aside from the vulgarity of its expletives I really enjoyed the book. The world it created was as well done as the previous book. It expanded the realm and explained little questions that had popped up from  the first book, though more questions had arisen (as it should be for a continuing story).

When the major tragedy strikes, I understand why Celaena goes crazy, but I wanted to cry. I didn't cry. It was such a shock to Celaena causing the scene to be hazy (great narration through an unreliable narrator at the moment) and she snapped so quickly that it gave the reader no time to freak out and cry over the tragedy. I wasn't drawn out as much as I wish I had been.

The fight scenes here and turn of events were great. Some things I didn't seen coming. Though the big surprise at the end, I guessed at fairly quickly. I really enjoyed the underlying mysteries that haunted this book and finding out all the intricacies that have happened in the past of this kingdom, the magic, and the Fae. I greatly enjoyed it.

Celaena and one of the boys also become lovers throughout the course of the story. I have been warned by others that things tend to get steamy and explicit as the books go on. But the scenes in this book are veiled with a "draw curtain" breaks. I am very glad for these because I don't want to read it. I prefer class to vulgarity any day. I didn't choose to skip any scene in this book and I feel it still keeps to it's YA category.

I have the next one waiting upstairs for me to pick it up and start reading soon.

Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass  is a book I've heard nothing but praises for and, after having read it, I completely agree.

The best assassin was previously captured and put into a mining camp to pretty much die. But because she had the will to stay alive, she is invited to the palace of the man who imprisoned her in the first place. Live in a palace and find a way to escape while going through a competition against other villainous peoples to be the "King's Champion" (AKA personal assassin) with a chance of freedom or die in the mines... the decision was easy. In becoming the Crowned Prince's champion in this competition, Celaena is watched over by not only the Crowned Prince (who is a handsome, charming, reputation-holding man who doesn't like the King/his father), but also the Captain of the Guard (a shy, glaring, but kind guy) is keeping an eye on her so then she won't assassinate anyone while she is residing in the palace.

While she is the best assassin in the land, she is also an 18 year old girl. She still acts like an 18 year old girl. There is a slight love triangle that happens, but it's not super heavy so I overlooked it. (Except at the cute parts anyway.) There were a few Cinderella moments (which the author makes reference too in the commentary at the end) where she goes to a masquerade ball where she gets to dance with the prince. But she's also an assassin and doesn't take crap from anyone.

At the same time of the competition to be the King's Champion, there are ghosts and murders among the competitors. Not only are they getting kicked out of the competition but they are also getting murdered and eaten by something that is haunting the palace. There is magic, fairies (referenced, but not so much in the book), assassins, fighting, love, deep backstories, etc. Setting was well thought out and beautiful, different. Characters were entertaining, with witty bantering and simple conversation. There was one part where a Princess of a conquered land makes an appearance and she has a conversation with Celaena in another language while most everyone else didn't know what was being said. Being completely honest about situations and people, while those people around around, and they can't understand you... It was must funny.

My only problem with it would probably be that it was a bit predictable. I could tell who the bad guy was going to be from about the middle on, but I still very much enjoyed it. How things happened were surprises to me. It's an action book, not really a murder mystery. But I am eagerly awaiting the next book that I'm in queue for at my local library.

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