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The idea of rooting for an assassin is somewhat like watching "Dexter" and rooting for the serial killer. When that happens, you know an author is not only skilled, they can turn everything you thought you believed in on its heels. Sarah J. Maas does this in her Throne of Glass series. In the second book, Crown of Midnight, Celaena Sardothian is a woman we can all admire.
As the King's champion, Celaena must carry out the assassinations he orders. As a paranoid man who enjoys eliminating his possible enemies, the King isn't afraid to send her after anyone who might be plotting against him. As Celaena appears to do his bidding, however, she keeps to herself what she is really doing: helping the targets to disappear while secretly digging up information on the real enemies to the king. Celaena isn't a fan of the king, but she prefers to know what is happening in the kingdom as opposed to operating under fear and assumptions.
Celaena has seen her parents murdered, has been imprisoned to work to death in the mines, and trained under the most lethal and cruel assassins the world has ever seen. She isn't afraid to kill, but she refuses to be the king's hired dagger. While she can't trust anyone with all the knowledge she has amassed, Chaol is the first person she has let enter her heart since she can remember. It seems as though Celaena's ruse is successful until her entire core is shattered by the loss of a dear friend in an evil and brutal way. Celaena is the King's champion, but she will not be led about by a ring in her nose. Celaena is the champion of all her people, and she will find answers to every question she has unearthed.
This series took some huge turns with the switch from the competition in the first book to the true assassin work in the second book, but the pace hasn't slowed. Instead, it seems Maas has picked up even more momentum from the craziness of the first book! It seems impossible, but I think this book got a little darker from the first, and it certainly got more magical. There is a lot of magic hiding under the surface of everything in this sequel, and by the end, it has opened up a magical portal that can never be closed again. While this really changed the flavor of the story, I found it incredible and couldn't put the book down! I mean, seriously, this was a fantastic sequel to an incredible series. The fantasy keeps building and building, bring the reader into a magical world you never imagined you'd see. It is a brilliant way to build such a fantasy world, and I cannot wait to see more from Maas.
More importantly, I love Celaena. A lot of fantasy out there has an epidemic of weak ladies, but lately we have seen a flurry of leading ladies who take no prisoners. They are moral and ethical, but they also aren't afraid to throttle the bad guys in the meantime. It is such a relief to see this shift in gender roles where girls and women aren't weak and in need of protection, they are the characters others should fear! In fact, there is one part of this novel where a character is kidnapped and he tells his kidnappers Celaena will come for him. They muse that there isn't much to be worried about with all their armed guards and the kidnapped man chuckles. He knows 20 grown men are no match for Celaena! I loved this murderous side of Celaena paired with the young woman who is willing to go against the king by faking the deaths of all his marked men (and their women and children, since the King's orders are to kill the whole family). She is a fabulous leading lady, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. The ending of this sequel is so gripping I am going to wait with bated breath for book number three!
Celaena has defied Arobynn, her master, once already and suffered the consequences, but she survived. In fact, she has come out on top. In The Assassin and the Underworld by Sarah J. Maas, Celaena learns the truth about her master, and the truth about herself.
After returning from the Red Desert and being trained by the Silent Master himself, Celaena returns to Rifthold in an entirely different position than how she left. The Silent Master gave her enough gold to buy her contract back from her own master, and she no longer has to live under his thumb (or beneath his fist). When he gives her a new job that pays well to assassinate a slave trader trying to establish a foothold in Rifthold, she assumes he is trying to make amends for what he has done to her and Sam. But something is wrong, very, very wrong, and Celaena doesn't figure it out until it is too late.
Yet another fabulous novella from the Throne of Glass series. These four prequel novellas are truly enlightening little morsels to be gobbled up either before or after you read the first novel in the series. I love this evolution of Celaena and how she becomes a dependent young woman to an independent assassin who follows her own morals, even if it means risking her own life. And Maas is a brilliant writer. I thought that at the end of Throne of Glass, but these novellas have solidified that opinion!
Celaena may be one of the most feared assassins, but her training never ends. And after setting the slaves free, her master isn't pleased with her. In The Assassin and the Desert, Celaena must seek the Silent Assassin Master for training and approval before she can return home. But after the beating her master gave her and what she fears he may have done to Sam, she is terrified to return.
The desert in the summer is more punishment than the beating she received ever was. She knows she must serve her penance for the slave escape, but she didn't expect her penance would come with such a surprise: friends. For once, Celaena actually feels like she belongs somewhere. Her roommate, although annoying at first, is even starting to grow on her. But the master hasn't agreed to train her himself, and without his approval she can't return home. Although she doesn't want to know what happened to Sam, she has to know.
Another great novella! I loved this one just as much as the last. In fact, I really hope Maas publishes these in paper as opposed to just ebooks because they are vital to understanding Celaena and everything she is doing now. This is a fabulous way to break in your new series, and congrats to Maas for such wonderful tales!
No one would think a 16 yr old girl could best a pirate lord. But no one has seen Celaena in action before. The assassin's apprentice may look young and innocuous, but there is nothing that can stop her when she has set her mind to something- not even being trapped on an island with hundreds of angry, violent, murderous pirates.
When Celaena's master sends her, the heir to the Assassin's Guild, to settle a debt with the pirate lord, she is annoyed that he also sends Sam, the boy her master passed over to make her the heir. But what sends Celaena off is when she realizes their presence on the island had nothing to do with accusing the pirate king of killing three assassins. It was to broker a deal entering the Assassin lord into the slave trade. Celaena may be a kill for hire, but she will not settle for entering innocent people into slavery. But how can a young girl take on this battle by herself? Maybe she isn't alone...
This was such a good short story, I can't wait to read the other four. I was a little skeptical about these short stories Maas released before the big release of the Throne of Glass series, but I was totally wrong. In the first book of the series, we already saw Celaena captured and fighting to regain the foothold she used to have, but with this short story, we see her in her prime. We see her as the full assassin she was born and trained to be. And it is... AWESOME! This is a great way to continue with the series (even though it is a prequel). If you liked the series or if you haven't started it and need something to entice you, try this short story. You will get hooked! (pun intended!)
Who would imagine that the most dangerous person in the world could be a young woman? Well, the King did, which is why he put her in the most dangerous prison in the land. In Sarah J. Mass's Throne of Glass, we watch a young woman transform from a nameless prisoner to the prince's champion, but she never becomes any less deadly.
Celaena was put into the work camp in the mines with the expectation she wouldn't last long, but she is always underestimated. Trained by the King of Assassins, she counts on being underestimated. But when the prince comes to the prison, she isn't expecting to be brought back to the castle for a competition. In an effort to find the ultimate assassination, the king has devised a diabolical competition between the toughest (and the most dangerous) thugs and criminals in the country. Each competitor is sponsored by a member of the court, and Celaena is the prince's tribute.
Throughout her earliest training, Celaena is advised to keep her true identity and her true abilities a secret. She struggles with keeping her deadliness a secret with some of the other, less refined, competitors mock her, but winning her freedom is worth swallowing her pride. But when the competitors start showing up dead, and not just dead but disemboweled and partially eaten, it becomes clear the competitors aren't the only deadly creatures in the castle. Celaena is sure she is on the list for whatever is skulking about at night, but she won't let it frighten her. And she certainly won't let it convince her to give up the fight for her freedom.
This was a fabulous fantasy for anyone who has read and enjoyed Graceling, Finnikin of the Rock, etc. It is that mild fantasy that has an otherworldly feel, but isn't too out there to discourage the realistic readers. it is a great book for any strong middle readers through young adults. There is a little violence, but it isn't too graphic. But most of all, the books is tremendously exciting. You won't be able to put it down, it is so exciting!
The thing I like most about this story is Celaena herself. Sometimes when an author writes a truly strong female lead, they can feel artificial. Sometimes they are too mean, too aggressive, too disconnected, or even just plain unlikable. But Celaena is different. She has the ability to kill a man three times her size with her bare hands, but she is still someone you find yourself wanting to root for. She is an assassin, yet you find yourself wanting to know her better. Celaena is an awesome female lead who can inspire oodles of young girls out there. So pass this on to a girl you know, and let her bear witness to one fierce and fabulous leading lady!
