YA Fantasy Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #2)

Egalley thanks to Bloomsbury UK

Synopsis from Goodreads
Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien is bold, daring and beautiful – the perfect seductress and the greatest assassin her world has ever known. But though she won the King’s contest and became his champion, Celaena has been granted neither her liberty nor the freedom to follow her heart. The slavery of the suffocating salt mines of Endovier that scarred her past is nothing compared to a life bound to her darkest enemy, a king whose rule is so dark and evil it is near impossible to defy. Celaena faces a choice that is tearing her heart to pieces: kill in cold blood for a man she hates, or risk sentencing those she loves to death. Celaena must decide what she will fight for: survival, love or the future of a kingdom. Because an assassin cannot have it all . . . And trying to may just destroy her.

Love or loathe Celaena, she will slice open your heart with her dagger and leave you bleeding long after the last page of the highly anticipated sequel in what is undeniably THE hottest new fantasy series.

Amazon  US/UK | Amazon kindle US/UK | The Book Depository US/UK | Fishpond

8/10

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Alright, here is the deal. You remember how much I enjoyed Throne of Glass last year? I'm sure Crown of Midnight would have come a close second if only I could read it properly. 


My kindle ARC was horribly formatted. Sentences missing endings, words missing half of their letters like c on instead of coffin or ve instead of five. Words strung together and so on... My eyes hurt every time I was reading it, and it took me two weeks to finish this book. I sincerely hope that the finished product will be corrected otherwise Bloomsbury will experience a lot of refunds.

You can see, that my judgement was impaired but even then I managed to gather some enjoyment from this book. Crown of Midnight is a lovely and exciting mystery and just as dark as the first book. Celaena is still her bloodthirsty self, but until she experiences a serious trauma in this book she lacks focus. She just flits around here and there and even her blooming romance with one of male characters doesn't do anything for the plot and her character development.

That traumatic experience though, - it brings back this dangerous, almost feral edge which is what old Celaena was about - a little bit snarkalicious, a lot vicious and all lethal. I absolutely loved that.

That girl works best in extremely stressful circumstances, otherwise she gets bored. I also enjoyed her interactions with Chaol and Dorian. There is no love triangle anymore, thanks God. Instead one of them is for her to love and another becomes a friend, and it's good to see that there can be such a development instead of cliched fight for a proverbial bone.

Prepare for dungeons and monsters, forgotten labyrinths, traitors, riddles and talking door knobs. Crown of Midnight is a delightful addition to Throne of Glass fantasy series, it doesn't give away its secrets easily, and I'm looking forward to the next book from Miss Maas to find out more about Celaena, Dorian and Chaol's twisted paths.

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Мне очень испортила все впечатления от книги моя электронная копия - отформатирована она была просто ужасно - терялись буквы, слоги и даже исчезали концовки предложений. Я так с этой книгой мучалась две недели пока наконец не дожала последние 30% на моём киндл.

На самом деле, если отделить мои впечатления от формата, книга написана на солидную четвёрку. Хороший сюжет, полный тайн, подземных лабиринтов и головоломок от королевы Елены. Селаэна в основном первую часть книги дрейфует без какой-либо цели, и только очень травматичное событие во второй части превращает её в беспощадную, кровожадную боевую машину, с которой мы успели хорошо познакомиться в прошлой книге и четырёх новеллах.

Ещё что очень радует, это исчезновение любовного треугольника. Селаэна наконец-то выбирает одного из парней, кого не скажу, но второй перестаёт пытаться её добиться и становится хорошим другом. 

В общем, приятного прочтения. Я очень надеюсь, что финальная электронная копия книги будет отличаться от моего варианта в лучшую сторону :)