Oh
my, oh my, oh my!! Adarlan's most kick
butt assassin is back with a vengeance.
In Crown of Midnight, Celaena
Sardothien reminds us exactly how she earned her title, and everything--the
danger, the romance, the mystery, the kicka**ery--is turned up about 100
notches.
Honestly,
I've been a fan of Maas's work since Throne of Glass, the amazing introduction to Celaena's cutthroat world. But this book just took it to a whole other
level!
In
book 2, we find Adarlan exactly how we left it.
--Crazy,
power-hungry king determined to keep Adarlan and its people under his thumb
--Dorian/Caleana/Chaol
love triangle still unsettled (see: angst/confusion/who-will-it-be?)
--Danger (and magic)
lurking behind every corner and everyone hiding their own secrets.
The
main difference: Caleana is now the king's Champion. That means she's in charge of carrying out
his dirty work, including using her assassin-y mojo to dispose of anyone
the king deems a traitor. But our girl
isn't very good with following orders--which is one of the many reasons why we love her J.
From
beginning to end, Caleana blew me away. Her bravery, just her overall
independent attitude was spot on. She's
fierce. She's ruthless. And she's got the skills to take down her
enemies and protect the people she loves.
There
were 2 particularly awesome scenes where we get to see Caleana let loose. One was the memory of her almost-escape from Endovier. Sometimes memories can slow down the action,
but this one only enriched the story.
Caleana went off on those cruel guards, cutting them down with a
fierceness I always knew was in her.
Then
there was Chaol's kidnapping. That scene
was just too good!! I can't do it
justice. Again she goes to the quiet
place in her head, a place where only her goal matters and anyone who stands in
her way…well. Let's just say, they won't
be standing long. Here's one of my
fave quotes from that scene:
"Enough!
We have enough enemies as it is! There are worse things out there to
face!"
Celaena slowly turned to him, her face splattered with blood and eyes blazing
bright. "No, there aren't," she said. "Because I'm here
now."
Another
great part: The Romance. The triangle is
finally put to rest. No. I'm not going
to ruin it, but…she made the right choice J. Ninja happy dance, much love to Sarah J. Maas,
thank-you-thank-you for letting our girl choose the right fella. YAY!!
Okay,
finished fangirling.
The
best thing to me was that Crown
totally lived up to the promise in book 1.
Everything that made me love the series was built upon and
made even more fantastic/intriguing in book 2.
I'd definitely recommend to anyone who loves epic fantasy with a healthy
dose of romance, mystery, and assassin-y goodness.
Happy
reading,
Ninja
Girl
