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.