Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2) in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Jan 01, 2014 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cover-love, romance, 5-stars, audio, dramarama, heroine-can-kick-ass, witch, reviewed, best-heroes, book-girlfriends

12/09/2022: Reread on audiobook!
(view spoiler) 12/09/2022: Reread on audiobook!
(view spoiler)

This follow-up really shook me up something fierce. My heart is in pieces on the floor and I am just not okay. I need book three right now! This story has sucked me in and consumed me. I am again applauding Maas for her unique storytelling ability. The way that she seizes you and makes you care so much for these characters is extraordinary.

The characters really shine in this book! The characters grow so much. We find out so much history about them. We really get inside their heads and their hearts. Celaena is so much more badass in this book. She really has become a heroine that I adore to pieces. In the first book, I found her self-involved and petty. At least in the beginning of the first book. Now that we see how much she has grown and we find out some of her past, she is really outstanding.

This story is just so clever. The plot thickens so much in this. We get so much more information. So many things happen. Things really start falling into place. Little bits of information totally change your perspective about where the story is going. And there is just so much content. Surprisingly, the story does not go by too slowly because of the influx of new information. It really flows nicely. In fact, I couldn't put the book down!

This book is captivating. I am so excited for the rest of Celaena's journey. If you haven't read this series yet, please don't wait any longer! ...more

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Jan 05, 2016 Yashima rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, thieves-and-assassins, epic, weight-medium, 2016-read-in, previous-recommendations, kick-ass-heroine, 2024-read-in, fae

Note: this review may contain spoilers for the previous book in the series.

TL;DR: the series grows up and reveals an epic scope. Celeana is no longer only a pawn in the plans of others, she makes her own now. But friendship, love and loyalty can twist the best-laid plans especially when everyone has different goals.

This is one of those books where I would like to yell at the characters: "Communicate, you idiots!" Which makes for a good read. And also sometimes (un-)predictable turns.

After readi Note: this review may contain spoilers for the previous book in the series.

TL;DR: the series grows up and reveals an epic scope. Celeana is no longer only a pawn in the plans of others, she makes her own now. But friendship, love and loyalty can twist the best-laid plans especially when everyone has different goals.

This is one of those books where I would like to yell at the characters: "Communicate, you idiots!" Which makes for a good read. And also sometimes (un-)predictable turns.

After reading Throne of Glass I was rather sure I was dealing with the average YA fantasy series. However, this sequel managed to surprise me in that regard.

In the first book Celeana fights to become the evil king's champion. She finds friends and with their help, she wins the contest. While the gloomy setting already hints at the epic scope this series takes on, for now the plot keeps to the glass castle and its inhabitants. Her friends teach her that something besides death and revenge matters.

In this second book, she has won that contest and must now find a way to protect those she loves while also defying her new master. (She does have a thing against masters or so it seems). But now all her relationships seem to turn into conflicts, and she must find a way out of a labyrinth of deceit, lies, and untold secrets. And while I was afraid throughout the first book that I might be reading about a bunch of Mary Sues, (minor hint at what's to come => )(view spoiler) The deeper I got into the dense drama of this book, the more the contest from the first was like a walk in the park.

I enjoyed the first book because it was an easy fun read with a nice collection of classic fantasy elements put together in an entertaining way. The second book was much better because it grows out of the initial clear-cut path where the goals are defined and the obstacles visible. In book one the reader knows exactly who to blame, who is evil and who is good. In Crown of Midnight the evil are still evil. But the flaws of those who are good become more pronounced and their differing goals are revealed. Romance plays only a minor role in this book, which is just the way I like it.

Definitely adding the series to my recommendations list. ...more

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Mar 31, 2017 Shelli rated it liked it

Shelves: book-i-own, kindle, favorite-author, expected-more, in-a-series, had-to-buy-it, ya, read-in-2018

Hmmm. My first book of 2018 and I'm a bit disappointed. I liked it. There were parts I really liked, but there were also things I didn't like at all. I gave the first book in this series 2 stars. It was just ok for me and I really disliked the audio version. However, this is an author I really like. I LOVE her other series. A Court of Mist and Fury is one of my favorite books in this genre! I read so many rave reviews of this and had to at least give it a try. It was better than the first book. Hmmm. My first book of 2018 and I'm a bit disappointed. I liked it. There were parts I really liked, but there were also things I didn't like at all. I gave the first book in this series 2 stars. It was just ok for me and I really disliked the audio version. However, this is an author I really like. I LOVE her other series. A Court of Mist and Fury is one of my favorite books in this genre! I read so many rave reviews of this and had to at least give it a try. It was better than the first book. In fact, in the beginning I thought it would probably be a 4 star read. I finished this morning and I just can't do it. Parts of it were 4 star but others were 2 star so I'll meet in the middle with 3.
Celaena is a MC I have a hard time with. She is supposedly this hardass/kickass ASSASSIN, but she doesn't like killing people. In fact, she doesn't kill most of the people she is supposed to but she does kill other people. I just feel she is written too "wishy washy" and I have a hard time liking her or believing her. The book deals with very adult situations at times but then feels very "young" in some of its dialogue. I liked a lot of the secondary characters which is probably what kept me going.
I also want to mention...I like this kind of book! Kings, Queens, magic, witches, Fae, sword fights...a bit of romance, a dog!...it's all here, but it doesn't feel cohesive. Many sentences were repetitive. I found myself rereading sections just to make sure something wasn't wrong with my Kindle.
Another thing was the sentence structure...so many sentences started with "And" and "Because" that I started to count them and that was distracting.

I decided to check when these were published in comparison to the other series and this one was first. Maybe this author's writing just got that much better, I'm not sure. A couple of these are more recent so do I dare try another? I'm not sure. Maybe I just don't like these characters/storyline enough to forgive some of what bugs me.
Note: I am in the minority. I had to look thru pages of reviews before anyone rated it lower than 4 stars.
Another note: I really disliked the audio version of the first book and that held true for this one. I briefly tried the added narration and it is not good. REALLY made me not like the MC. ...more

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Dec 29, 2015 Nirkatze rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I really enjoy this second book in the series. It shows Maas's growth as a writer and is more solidly plotted--not just within the volume, but as a piece of the greater whole. This book is the one where the author really starts plotting for the bigger picture. There aren't as many seeds in the first book, but this has a LOT--and much of it pays off by the end. There are still a lot of plotholes that make me facepalm or yell at characters for ignoring the obvious, but I didn't care that much beca ...more

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Apr 26, 2020 Keyona rated it really liked it

This was quite boring until the last 200 pages then it got really good.

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Jun 09, 2018 C.S. Daley rated it liked it

Shelves: teen

If you had asked me if I was going to read book three of this series I would have said no halfway through the story. Then the second half happened. It was so much better than the first half it was like it wasn't even the same book. This one is more like a 3.5 and I will give the next one a chance. ...more

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