Hello everyone!
So I am slowly trekking my way through these book series, even though sometimes it certainly does take me longer than one would think! In my defense, I tend tor read SO many books and start SO many series that I sometimes forget to go back to the ones I'd already read, or something else catches my eye, and then of course before I realize it, it's already been ages from the time I've read a certain book!
Then again, I also have to be into the story, so to speak. If I'm not, those books will be left waiting there on the shelves forever ...
I'm not exactly sure what my issue is with Sarah J. Maas' first published series though.
I absolutely love Celaena, she's the kind of character I could go for any day of the week, and yet when I actually sit down to read the books with her as the titular character, time seems to slow down into a crawl.
I start them alright - and when I actually read them I can breeze through them. But STARTING them to begin with is a complete chore for some reason!
Which is sad, because they're amazing. So, on to Crown of Midnight!
To briefly recap, although I will be linking all my previous reviews of Maas' work down below, including the previous books in the Throne of Glass series as well as the ones about Feyre:
Celaena, when we first meet her in the novellas, is an assassin that's trying to shake herself free of her master's clutches, only to lose both her love and her freedom in the process. When the series actually begins, she is plucked from the labour mine to enter into a championship where, if she wins, she will be set as the King of Adarlan's assassin, but essentially free.
At least, free-ER than before.
So, in Crown of Midnight, that's where we're at: Celaena is the King's Assassin, she still wants to do like an ostrich and put her head in the sand, and Dorian and Chaol both kind of want her still.
But being the King's Assassin is harder work than it looks, especially as she gets wind of a name she thought she'd forgotten, from a time when she had still worked for a different master: Archer, a man from her past (who Chaol is instantly jealous of, of course), who eventually reveals to Celaena that there are factions even in Adarlan who believe the true Queen of Terrasen is still alive somewhere, and are trying to bring the court back together and find her.
Of course, for some reason, the people on Celaena's kill list are the people who are part of this faction, ergo she devises a different strategy as to how to deal with them all: she fakes their deaths and smuggles them out of the city.
Not the easiest thing to do, but the girl has always been resorceful, you have to remember that.
Although, no girl in her right mind can resist Chaol for long.
Celaena is quite in her right mind, truthfully, and she and the Captain finally get to the whole point of their relationship, coming together after circling one another for a VERY long time.
It does not, however, last.
See, unfortunately for Chaol, he got wind that Princess Nehemia is facing some sort of death threat, and he chose not to tell Celaena that because he himself didn't know its origin or even the source of the threat itself. And then he gets kidnapped by Archer & Co because for some reason they're trying to make some sort of point, but the only thing they accomplish is that they unleash a darker, more dangerous side of Celaena who pretty much beats them all up with one hand, without looking.
While this is going on, however, a killer sneaks in and kills Nehemia.
And after learning Chaol had known about the death threats, Celaena almost kills HIM.
After a time, as the worst of the dark period passess, Celaena decides to finally honour her dead friend's wish and look further into the rebellious factions - and into magic, something she'd been desperately trying to avoid.
Visiting - and killing - a powerful old witch of the Yellowlegs clan, she learns that Dorian is also meddling about in the same soup.
Terrified, considering magic is outlawed and persecuted in his father's kingdom, Celaena tries to dissuade him, but then both of them have to go and fight some sort of monster caught in the old dungeons beneath the modern-day castle, so really, it's moot point since both their magic is needed. And while Celaena has an affinity for fire, Dorian's is what they call raw magic, which makes him a little bit ... dangerous.
Driven almost to her wit's end, Celaena decides to open up a portal so she can speak to Nehemia, but unfortunately when the markings change the portal opens into a world where magic still runs free.
With Chaol joining in on the 'fun' (hear my sarcasm), he's the first one through because Celaena's dog rushes into the other world. Her owner bounds after them, and with the restraints on magic gone, she can shed the skin she wears for her true form, which is Fae, to defeat what's coming at them.
But, that being said, Chaol now knows about magic both in Celaena AND Dorian. And he knows how the king feels about it.
Time for some super planning.
Dealing with his father to get the old guy to back him up, he devises a plan in which the Assassin should travel to a neighbouring kingdom which had always been a thorn in Adarlan's side - and, conveniently enough, the King agrees.
While Dorian is pissed off about this, Celaena (who had previously learned Archer had been the one to send the assassin after Nehemia and kill her, although she kind of ordered her own hit in a way ... convoluted, I tell you!), after finishing up her business (read: killing Archer), tells Chaol that she would always choose him, if given free will. She also tells him a little piece of information as well, which confused him seeing as he doesn't know what to do about it ...
... until he goes and does some digging, and realises that the woman he has just sent into 'enemy' territory is actually Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, the lost Queen of Terrasen and the last surviving member of the Galathynius line.
And he just sent her back to her family.
Gotta love endings like that, right?
I mean, the story itself is spectacular, it has intrigue, it has character building, world building, world history, magic, assassins, AND love, and it still manages to surprise me as I turn the pages!
With five books of the series already out and published, there's a lot of reading to be done to catch up, I know, and I will be working on it. Because Aelin's journey is only just beginning, and all the supporting characters are already trying to climb mountains of their own.
Now, if only someone managed to take off the pesky King's head, we would ALL be happy.
xx
*image not mine
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