Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)By Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 5+
'"Is it done?"
Celaena reached a gloved hand into the sack and tossed the severed head toward him. No one spoke as it bounced, a vulgar thudding of stiff and rotting flesh on marble. It rolled to a stop at the foot of the dais, milky eyes turned towards the ornate glass chandelier overhead.
Dorian straightened, glancing away from the head. Chaol just stared at her.
"He put up a fight," Celaena said.'
'She was a beautiful wraith - and when she looked at him, it was like she didn't even know who he was.'
As the Crown Prince, the son of the King of Adarlan, Dorian has grown up in the cold shadow of his father. He's seen cruel things, watched silently as death was handed out swiftly - and horribly - to those who dared to oppose his father.
But watching Celaena become the King's Champion is a whole new experience.
Gone is the girl with the teasing grin and the fancy for trinkets and pretty gowns. Gone is the soft-eyed pianist with gentle waves of golden hair falling around her face. In her place stands a woman, made up of edges sharp enough to cut, clothed from head to foot in black.
The King's Champion...the King's Hand of Death.
And Dorian can't help but wonder if she really has transformed...or whether Celaena is simply showing her true colours. The colours of an assassin. The colours of a cold-blooded, cold-hearted killer.
'Of course Chaol would notice the difference - he noticed everything. She couldn't tell if it pleased her or not.'
Celaena's duties are smothering her, choking her like an iron collar around her neck. Killing off the king's enemies one by one is a gruesome and difficult task. Especially when her trips are not at all what they seem. Though from the outside, it may look like Celaena's nothing more than the king's pet assassin, her iron will is far from broken.
But she cannot afford for her loyalty to the crown to be in doubt...so her plans, hopes and efforts remain a secret, locked up away inside of her, behind her cold and hard facade.
Keeping up the charade may not be the death of her. But it could be the death of everyone she loves.
'He's got little to lose and a lot to gain. That makes people dangerous. Ruthless.'
Secrets are not the only things hidden within the castle walls. Enemies hide behind saccharine-sweet smiles. Ancient powers rise to the surface. And above it all, the chess master scanning the board, sits the King of Adarlan - whose every move is deliberate, malicious. All aimed towards one end. The securing of power. Supreme rulership.
Not only must Celaena deal with physical threats to her safety and that of those who she cares for, but she must face a horrible truth - a supernatural force that threatens to unravel the framework of the kingdom and plunge it into chaos.
Fate calls. And Celaena isn't convinced that she should answer its summons - the stakes are too high. The price too heavy to pay.
'Do not let the light go out.'
Choices. Loyalties. Sacrifices. Love. Celaena is at the forefront of an epic battle that has the power to change the kingdom forever - for better or for worse. But she must remember who she is. What she is fighting for.
Or lose herself to the madness and to the darkness that lurks within her, in the depths of her eyes of brightest blue, ringed with gold.
The making of a literary legend, Sarah J Maas' Crown of Midnight is a thrilling sequel which will have you sitting on daggers, awaiting her storytelling magic and more of Celaena's passionate spirit!
A big thank you to Sarah J Maas, Netgalley and Bloomsbury USA Children's Publishing for the chance to read and review an ARC copy of the book :)
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