501 reviews by:

clar2d2


Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

So many thoughts....let me compose myself first before writing a review. I may have liked it more than Crown of Midnight (I'm not sure) but I don't think I can give it a full 5 stars, simply because Chaol kind of pissed me off at times in this book.

It’s not often when sequels are better than the first book, but, while I did love Throne of Glass, I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH MORE!

If the lack of action in the first book is what’s keeping you from reading the second one, then you absolutely need to read Crown of Midnight now! While there was a good amount of action in the first book, and while I did like the romance in the first book, the action to romance ratio was a bit off with Throne of Glass for me.

The crazy thing is, there was a lot more action in the second book, which I loved, but the romance was also more intense in the second book, which, again, I also loved (go team Chaol, woo!)

This book was just playing with all of my emotions. The romance made me feel all giddy, the intensity made me hold my breath from anxiousness, the action got me so excited. In some parts, I was overcome by so much sadness and/or anger that I couldn’t bear to move on until I was able to pull myself together first. This book was an emotional rollercoaster.

Again, though, the best part of this book was that, in Crown of Midnight, we really got to see Celaena’s deadly assassin side in full force. There were parts of this book wherein Celaena was so overcome by her anger and so scary that the rational side of me knew that I probably should’ve been frightened or worried for the other characters. But nope. I was mostly just cheering for Celaena in my head. She’s gonna give that guy a slow and gruesome death? YES. She’s gonna kill a bunch of people in a vengeful rage? AWESOME. Adarlan’s Assassin is back – she’s frightening but awesome.

I loved how the characters developed in this book. I loved how, while in the first book we saw Dorian and Celaena’s relationship develop, in this book, we got to see Chaol and Celaena’s relationship develop. I also loved how we were also able to see Dorian develop outside of his relationship with Celaena. It allowed us to see Dorian as more than just a possible love interest, but also as a significant part of this story as an individual.

There’s so much I want to say but cannot without spoiling, but, all in all, this book was a definite 5 stars from me. We got to see just how deadly Celaena could be, as well as see the characters develop in ways that they weren’t able to in the first book. It goes without saying that I absolutely cannot wait for Heir of Fire to come out – it pains me to wait!

There were a lot of things I enjoyed about this book.

It was interesting how this novel was told in the second person, how nobody was referred to by their names, and how it was told kind of like a self-help book, but I didn't get confused.

There were also moments when the writing really impressed me, and I had to stop reading for a second to just think to myself, "Wow, that was a good sentence".

At the same time though, I never felt that I was able to fully immerse myself in this story or feel any sort of attachment to any of characters. Maybe it was because it was told in second person. Maybe it was because I couldn't relate to the characters. Maybe it was because I didn't read it at the right time. Whatever it was, it prevented me from experiencing this book the way I had wanted to, so I was left feeling okay with but underwhelmed by this book overall.

This rating may change soon. I may have to process this book a while before I can properly review it. Hmmm...