Review: Crown of Midnight by S. J. Maas

Title: Crown of Midnight

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass Series 

Past Reviews: (Book 1 Review) (Novellas Review)

Published: August 2013

Edition Read: Purchased Hardcopy

Level Recommended: Young Adult 

Overall: I enjoyed book two of this series more than the first, and I'm very intrigued to see where Maas goes with the final two books in the series. 

Summary: After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice. Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she willing to fight for?

Review: I know I wasn't too thrilled with the first book of the series (Throne of Glass), but strangely enjoyed the four e-book novellas more than the first book. I attribute this to slow pacing and the book being marketed as high fantasy, but with very little fantasy actually occurring until nearly the end of the novel.

Book two follows Celaena after becoming the kings champion. She is tasked by the king to dispatch his rivals, conspirators, and anyone else that he believes is opposing him. The opening scene of book two is, rightly, Celaena completing one of her assigned tasks to kill a conspirator. However, she is actually deceiving the king by giving her targets a choice. She can either kill them or they can disappear and never be seen again. 

Along with her ruse Celaena cannot tell anyone what she is  doing. Either to protect herself or to protect  those that she loves. When the king decides that Celaena is trustworthy he tasks her to infiltrate a group of conspirators where she is confronted by more of her past.

Maas did a good job bringing more fantasy into this series. This second installment broached many subjects in the world that Maas has created. Where did the magic in the land go? How did the king somehow stop magic from existing? How does the king continue to keep magic from reinstating itself into the world all over again. Why where Celaena's parents killed?

I truly enjoyed learning more about Maas's world and the players that built it. Throw in a blossoming love between Celaena and her captian of the guard and you have sold me on the story! Crown of Midnight continued with its slow pacing, and that did still make me wish that events moved along faster. Or, in some cases, wish it had been removed over all. 

However, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this second installment. I can't wait for book three, Heir of Fire, to be released later on this year. While this series isn't blowing me away it is continuing to be apart of my To Be Read list. I hope to continue to see more of this world that Maas has created.  Slowly, Celaena's world and what was lost when the king destroyed magic is becoming more and more formed. I'm intrigued to know what comes next in Celaena's journey towards freedom and her seeking to find answers about her past.

Review: The Walking Dead (Compendiums 1 & 2)

Title: The Walking Dead Compedium 1 & 2

Author: Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Tony Moore

Series: Ongoing

Published: Compendium 1 2009, Compendium 2 2012 (First issue published in 2003)

Edition Read: Traditional Paperback

Level Recommended: Adult

Overall: I started watching AMC's The Walking Dead, and like most people who love zombie stories I found myself needing to read the original series. I was not, at all, disappointed.


Summary: (Compendium 1) Introducing the first eight volumes of the fan-favorite, New York Times Best Seller series collected into one massive paperback collection! Collects The Walking Dead #1-48. This is the perfect collection for any fan of the Emmy Award-winning television series on AMC: over one thousand pages chronicling the beginning of Robert Kirkman''s Eisner Award-winning continuing story of survival horror- from Rick Grimes'' waking up alone in a hospital, to him and his family seeking solace on Hershel''s farm, and the controversial introduction of Woodbury despot: The Governor. In a world ruled by the dead, we are finally forced to finally start living.


Review: It's fair to say that I love zombie movies, books, and now the tv series, The Walking Dead. (I've reviewed at least three zombie novels and a triology just on this blog. I should probably have a tag especially for it.) Around Valentine's Day I ended up buying both Walking Dead compendiums off of Amazon for half off the original price. I really, really wanted to know what happened in the original story after watching two seasons of Walking Dead on AMC. I pretty much couldn't stop reading from the moment I'd started. The Walking Dead the comic starts very much like the series. Rick gets shot just before the zombie apocalypse breaks. He wakes up in a hospital, and begins his journey into finding his family whom he hopes is still alive. The act of trying to survive leads Rick into making decisions he never thought he'd have to make with the final goal being the safety of his wife and son. Every decision Rick makes is to ensure his family's survival. 

Any Walking Dead fan has to read the original comics. The comics delve into a dark side of humanity and survival that truly had me asking if Rick's decisions were right or wrong. I asked myself how far I would go if my own husband or children were faced daily with the possibility of death not just from zombies but from other survivors.  The comics are not for children, but as an addition to zombie literature it is definitely a keeper. Zombies eventually become the background for the even scarier evil of humans fighting for what's left of the food, shelter, and ammunition. Even the "good" people eventually come to the conclusion that they have to do horrible things to survive. Some of those people become the villains of Rick's story, like the Governor. 

If you have been putting off reading the comics like I did then what are you waiting for? Go to your library, bookstore, or Amazon and pick them up! Admittedly the compendiums are pricy--Right now they are $32 on Amazon, and that is just not cheap.--but considering how many volumes you get in one book. Well, for me it was worth it. 

Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas (Author Site)

Series: Book 1 of 3

Published: August 2012

Edition Read: Traditional

Pages: 406

Level Recommended: Young Adult

Overall: I forget how I originally ran across Throne of Glass, but I was thrilled to read this book. I read all four novellas leading up to Throne of Glass. My only regret is that I didn't read the novellas before the novel. Celaena is a tough cookie to love, but somehow Maas really pulls it off.

Review: I just have to restate that you have to (HAVE TO) read the novellas before reading this novel. I feel that you will really understand Celaena and who she is walking into Throne of Glass. I feel like once you know what there is to know in the novellas you'll read Throne of Glass in a whole different light.  I reviewed the novellas before delving into what I thought about the novel. 

When we first met Celaena she is 18 years old, and has served a year of her nine life sentences in the salt mines of Endoiver. Most people don't survive this long in Endovier, and Celaena is given a chance to become the King of Adarlan's Champion. The Crown Prince has chosen Celaena as his champion in a competition created to chose the best candidate for the position. In a choice between the salt mines and sure death and becoming the King's Champion Celaena agrees to the competition. Celaena is sure that it will be and easy enough competition to win, and after four years of service she will be a free woman. The competition is a shining light in the darkness of her time in Endovier.

Celaena travels from Endovier to the Glass Castle where the King of Adarlan lives, and where the competition will be held. She is given a room of her own, fine food and clothes, and told that if she fails just one of the tests in the competition she will be sent back to Endovier and never given another chance at freedom again. Throughout the competition other champions, and mixture of thieves, warriors, and killers, begin to be found dead. Not just dead but mutilated, the next one worse then the last. Celaena takes it upon herself to find out just what is causing these deaths while at the same time restoring herself to health winning the competition. In the end, Celaena's arrogant and tough exterior is slowly chiseled away, and she eventually allows herself to care for others. She befriends the Princess Nehemia, and in her quest to learn the causes of such brutal deaths finds herself even more of a target in the competition. 

What I thought: I really found Celaena's arrogance to be off-putting. While I understood that Celaena had been hell and really had no reason to be sweet or kind. However, the author does not tell you why Celaena had been sent to Endovier. Or, if she did, I completely missed it. All we are told in the novel is how notorious Celaena was before being sent to Endovier, but somehow most people had no idea that Celaena was just a teenaged girl. Eventually Celaena's toughness is chipped away and you see a character you can connect with, but it takes quite a while to see it. This is is also the case in the novellas. By the end of both the novel and the novellas you really connect to Celaena and who she is. It just takes some time to get there. By the end I wanted to read more about Celanea and had already taken a side in the love triangle that had been pulled together in the novel.

Oh, my goodness, the love triangle! At first Celaena is not at looking to fall in love, and honestly why the heck should she? If you read the novellas you can see just how her last love ended. I kept reading the novel wondering just what the heck the summary meant by a love triangle between Celaena, Prince Dorian, and Captian Westfall. It takes some time, and little bit of forced mingling of feelings between Prince Dorian and Celaena, but eventually the love triangle takes place. I'm personally shipping Celaena and Captian Westfall, because no matter how I read it the relationship between Celanea and Prince Dorian seemed so forced. Captian Westfall on the other hand seemed much more authentic, and quite similar to how Maas portrayed Celaena and Sam's eventual love for each other. Chaol and Celaena gain a mutual respect for each other, and eventually fall in love. Celaena and Dorian just don't have that same relationship.

Overall the novel ended with quite a bang, and I ended up going back to the novellas to get answers about Celaena's past that weren't answered satisfyingly enough in the novel. It bothered me every time Celaena thought of Sam, Arobynn, and how much the King despised her enough to sentence her to Endovier, but there was no backstory written into the novel to understand why. Even so, I ended up loving Celaena, chosing Team Chaol, and wondering just what would happen next between Celaena and the King that hates her so much. I can't wait to read the next novel in the series, Crown of Midnight, in August of this year. 

Review: Throne of Glass Novellas by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass follows the heroine Celaena Sardothien, 18 year old assassin and main character of the series.

Bloomsbury published for e-book novellas written by Maas to be published before Throne of Glass was published in August 2012. 

I purchased these e-books with the intent to read them all before Throne of Glass was published and thus would be caught up with Celaena and her world before I delved into the novel.

I really wish I had actually accomplished this task before reading the novel. I believe it would have made the novel a much better experience for me as the novellas really told a history not really broached by the novel. 

I'll review the novel separately, but before I can do that I felt I should review the novellas first. 

Celaena Sardothien is 16-17 years old in the novellas. Her homeland was destroyed by the King of Adarlan who also outlawed magic and set about destroying and conquering as much of the world as possible. For Celaena this meant that her family and past were destroyed, and that she was picked up and raised by the King of the Assassians, Arobynn Hammel. She has been trained and raised to be the best, and she has always wanted everyone to know it. In The Assassin and the Pirate Lord Celaena has been sent to collect a debt owed by the Lord of the Pirates for Arobynn Hammel. Celaena is accompanied by Sam Cortland, and once both assassin's have arrived they realize that the debt they are here to collect involves slaves from a war torn country. This causes Celaena to start a chain of events that will eventually reverberate throughout the rest of the novellas and lead her to the beginning of the first novel, Throne of Glass. 

Up until I hit the final novella, The Assassin and the Underworld, I was a little underwhelmed with Celaena. She is very self involved, but there is reason behind it. In the world she has grown up in she has been taught to be competitive beyond measure. She has to be the best, and to be the best she must believe she is the best. However, this egotistic nature is hard to read and feel like your nose isn't being rubbed into how wonderful a character is. Throughout the second and third novellas Celaena falls in love with Sam Cortland.  When she does finally realize that she has fallen in love with Sam she allows herself the luxury of dropping her need to be the best and just enjoy her love for Sam. She would do anything for him, and their relationship is well fought for. She does all that she can to ensure that she and Sam will have a life without the Assassin's Guild and without Arobynn Hammel. By the time I finished the last novella I found myself turning digital pages as fast as I possibly could just to know what happens next. 

Now, if you ask me these novellas should have been the first novel in the Throne of Glass series. While I will review Throne of Glass the novel I just feel that Bloomsbury made a mistake in not taking these novellas and publishing them in as the first novel. Although I had planned to read these novellas before Throne of Glass I hadn't read novella four before I read Throne of Glass. All throughout the novel I kept wondering what the heck happened that landed Celaena in Endovier, what happened to her great love, and why did the king hate her so much? I felt like the novel didn't answer these questions, and you were expected to read the novellas to find out. BUT, at the same time you're told you don't HAVE to read the novellas to understand Throne of Glass. I felt that keeping these important elements to Celaena's past a secret, quite possibly because the publishers and author wanted you to buy and read the novellas, left huge holes in Throne of Glass. Okay, not gigantic holes, but enough to bother me.

I felt that reading the novellas would have greatly enhanced reading the first novel. The novellas left me with a connection to Celaena, and the love she and Sam held together. I would have walked into the first novel with a connection to her and that would have really helped me understand Throne of Glass and Celaena better. The novellas, and especially The Assassin and the Empire, left me with a real connection to Celaena, the world she lives in, and her hatred for the King of Adarlan. Sarah J. Maas's writing is great, and her world building is fairly seamless. Not surprisingly I didn't learn or understand the king's hatred for magic. Magic, although Maas stated that in the world of Throne of Glass magic does play a part and the king has set out to outlaw and destroy it completely, isn't a huge factor in the novellas. Most of the novellas are set in places and times were Celaena doesn't encounter much of it. I'd say the most magic is seen in novella two, The Assassin and the Desert. I'd really love to see how magic does pay out in the rest of the series.

Over all I enjoyed the novellas. I will definitely read the second novel in the Throne of Glass series, Crown of Midnight, that will be out in fall of 2013. However if you really want to walk into Throne of Glass with a better understanding of Celaena and the world that Sarah J. Maas has created for her it would be best to read all four novellas first. I really, really hope that Bloomsbury will publish the novellas together in one bound book so that more people can be introduced to the series in a better way. Not everyone will have read the novellas before the first novel, and not everyone will have an e-reader to do so. Plus, having the novellas in bound form on my bookshelves will really round out my collection, and help me re-visit Celaena's world whenever I want. 

Book Review: The Shifter by Janice Hardy

Title: The Shifter

Series: The Healing Wars, Book 1

Author: Janice Hardy

Published: 2010

Edition Read: Nook e-book

Pages: 211 e-book edition.

Grade Level Recommended: Mid-Grade

Overall: I actually didn't realize this novel was mid-grade until I checked out the author's website for a summary. A good, engaging introduction to a world of healers and those using healing as a weapon.

Summary (From author site) : Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker—with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person into her own body. But unlike her sister, Tali, and the other Takers who become Healers' League apprentices, Nya's skill is flawed: She can't push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it into another person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she'd be used as a human weapon against her own people.

Rumors of another war make Nya's life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purposes. At first Nya refuses, but when Tali and other League Healers mysteriously disappear, she's faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price; but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?

My Thoughts: First of all, I didn't know that this was a mid-grade novel when I started it. That would be a compliment towards Janice's ability to write a novel that appealed to someone who doesn't normally read mid-grade level novels. I could go on and on about all this, but really it's just something that surprised me when I went to the authors website to get the summary.

Moving on...

Nya lost almost her entire family in a war that left her with nothing. When her sister goes missing Nya finds herself learning more about her abilty to heal injuries. Unlike Tali, Nya does not have the ability to push that pain into an enchanted metal, pynvium, when she is done. Nya is only able to push that pain into another person. Nya finds herself scrambling everyday to get enough work to eat and pay her rent. Nya is determined to get Tali back, and learn what happened to her. The further that Nya goes to look for her sister, the more blurred the lines of healing and hurting become. Nya never wanted to face these issues of her healing abilities, but does with the singular thought that she will find her sister.

This simple premise is what makes The Shifter a really good novel. Hardy takes the issue and makes her main character face it almost every step of the way. Nya has to make decisions, and, right or wrong, she must live with them. The more that Nya must make, and live with, these decisions the more blurred the lines become. By the end of the book I found myself disagreeing and thinking of her decisions more then I think Nya allowed herself to. There are two more books to the trilogy, Blue Fire and Darkfall, both of which are already available.

What I didn't like:

Overall I really enjoyed The Shifter. The writing was well done, but had it's own things I'd like to change. Really, just nit-picky things like:

1) Cheesy moments.

Danello closed his eyes for a moment. "This is crazy."

I grinned at Aylin, and she grinned back. We both crossed our arms at the same time. "We know." (pg. 204)

Honestly, that whole little moment there? Made me think, 'OMG, so cheesy." I felt like that moment just detracted from the book. Other cheesy moments occurred, but not enough to make me not like the book. It was seldom, but still would make me roll my eyes a bit.

2) Odd descriptions.

"On the front table at Zertanik's. I figured he owed you."

I grinned wide as the lake at sunset. "This will buy a lot of dinners." (pg. 205)

Wide as the lake at sunset? The lake is wide no matter what time of day. I don't have many examples of this right off the top of my head. I had just found the highlight and note-taking function of my Nook, and realized I could take advantage of it for my review. Otherwise I'm sure I'd have quite a few more odd descriptions like that. They aren't bad, but they are distracting and detracts from the novel.

Recommended for:

I plan on picking up and reading the next book in the series, and I would definitely recommend this book to fantasy readers. Seeing as it's mid-grade I'd probably give it to them as an introduction into fantasy. The world isn't so fantastic that a reader would have a hard time getting into it, but it's still not a modern day world either. I still think that high schoolers would find this book interesting, too. I think even the hardcore fantasy readers would like this.

Book Review: The Secret of Ka by Christopher Pike

Title: The Secret of Ka

Author: Christopher Pike

Published: 2010

Edition Read: eGalley from NetGalley.com

Overall: Just not completely pleased with this story, and how it was handled. As a stand-alone I'm disappointed. As a possible series starter I'm a little more intrigued.

Summary (From Publisher) : One minute Sara's bored on vacation in Istanbul. The next, she's unearthed a flying carpet that cleverly drags her to the mysterious Island of the Djinn—or genies. By her side is Amesh, a cute guy she has a crush on but doesn't yet trust. When Amesh learns the secret of invoking djinn, he loses control. He swears he'll call upon only one djinn and make one wish. The plan sounds safe enough. But neither Sara nor Amesh are any match for the monster that that swells before them. It hypnotizes Amesh, compelling him to steal Sara’s flying carpet and leave her stranded on the island.

Discovering the carpet has sparked a new path for Sara, one that will lead her to battle creatures even deadlier than djinn. In this fight, Sara can save mankind, herself, or the boy she cares for. Who will she be forced to sacrifice?

My Thoughts: I'm truly torn with this book. On the one hand I really was thrilled to read a new book by Christopher Pike. I loved him when I was younger, and I read all his Adult books because I love his work so much. I was even more thrilled to find out that his older books are being repackaged and reissued. Especially the Remember Me series which I still love. The Thirst books, originally the Last Vampire series, which I'd actually not read when it first came out. A new book by Christopher Pike? Yes, please!

But here is where I'm confused. Was The Secret of Ka the start of a new series? Because the ending was left wide open. I looked around on the interwebs, but found nothing about this. If not, and The Secret of Ka is really a stand-alone, then I'm even more confused. What was Pike thinking writing a book that ended in the way that Ka did? Loose ends weren't tied up, new revelations happened and...and...what happens next?! I'm thinking Ka is supposed to be the start of a series. We'll just see how that goes.

That aside I wasn't thrilled by this book. Overall Pike took a long time to get where he was trying to get this the story. By the time Sara and Amesh found the island of djinn I believe I was on page 75. That is a long time to get to the point of the story. In a book that was over 400 pages long I really felt like Pike needed to get to the point. I'm a get-to-the-point kind of person when it comes to my books. I understand you can't just say what you want to say because you want to build mystery and create a more diverse world by gradually bringing the reader into it. Especially when your main character is a 16 year old girl from the modern world dealing with creatures like djinn. But, in all honesty I just really feel like Pike could have spent more time on the island building up Amesh and Sara's relationship or building up Sara's knowledge of djinn and that world instead of just getting us to the plot point of Amesh making the big mistake of getting involved with the djinn. And, of course, not listening to Sara tell him HOW bad of an idea it was. THEN, start teaching us about the djinn. I may be in the minority, but that's just how I personally felt.

Then you read on as Sara risks everything to save Amesh from his very bad decision. Even if that means risking her own life and soul to do so. And, no I am not exaggerating when I say she risks her own soul. You can see why I feel like a little more time on the island building more of a relationship between Amesh and Sara so that her risking her own soul to save him would have made a little more sense. Or at least you'd understand her romantic interest in Amesh a little bit more then she'd just met, fell in love with him, and will now risk everything for him. I'm not an unromantic  person. I even believe in love at first sight, but the way that Pike navigated Sara and Amesh's relationship did not leave me with the sense of happiness for their love. It's really the best way I can put this.

That being said if Pike continued on with their story I'd still read it because I am intrigued greatly by the fairy tale-like aspects, and the world of the djinn. I loved the world building, the history of the djinn and how Sara plays into it. I really want to know more about Sara and her family, and, yes, I'd even like to see if Amesh and Sara's love will mold into something more. As a stand alone this novel simply confused me, and for that I'm sorry to have to give it such a low review.