Tiny Reads

The last thing that I was expecting was to have finished this book in one day. It didn’t start off as slowly as Throne of Glass did, and I was anxious for all of my favorite characters the entire time.

Crown of Midnight opens with Celaena doing her work as the King’s Champion, assassinating targets that he gives her without so much as a second thought. When she returns from her latest mission, the king provides her with her next target: Archer Finn, a man she knew from her past in the Assassin’s guild. The king tells her that Archer is part of a rebel movement and gives her a month to take care of it. It’s in her silent planning for this task that we learn that Celaena hasn’t actually killed a single one of her targets.

Celaena and Chaol have been getting closer and closer, and she spends her evenings in Chaol’s quarters. She learns that more rebels are being sent to the Calaculla mines and meets Roland, Dorian’s cousin who has been appointed to the council. Chaol hates him. One night, Celaena tells Chaol about Sam, and in return, he tells her about Lithaen, a girl he liked. Roland knowingly slept with her.

One night, Celaena goes back to Elena’s tomb, where she learns that the door knocker is animated and named Mort. Mort is far too sassy for his own good. Celaena also convinces Chaol to go into town with her as a set-up to pin down Archer. She manages to set up a dinner arrangement, making Chaol jealous in the process. At their arranged dinner, Celaena informs Archer that the king wants him dead and gives him the same choice she gave the others: fake his death and escape, or fall to Celaena’s blade. Archer tells her about a rebel group that is trying to restore Aelin Galathynius to the throne of Terrasen.

Archer takes Celaena with him to a masquerade to help her try to get more information that will provide insight as to what the king is doing. The owner of the house is a man named Davis, and Archer manages to sneak her into Davis’ study, where she finds a book full of Wyrdmarks and a riddle: It is only with the eye that one can see rightly. Davis finds her in his study and attacks her with a knife coated in glorellia, a poison that causes temporary paralysis. Celaena kills Davis and flees back to the castle to get help from Chaol. After she recovers, Celaena discovers another secret passage, this one in the library, where she finds a large iron door.

Dorian’s younger brother, Hollis, returns, prompting a massive variety of celebrations, including a banquet where famous singer, Rena Goldsmith was invited to perform. She sang a song about Fae and magic and was beheaded by the king for it. Later, Celaena tells Nehemia the truth about the “assassinations” and shows her Elena’s tomb. The royal family throws a ball in honor of Hollis, and Celaena is put on guard duty. She still ends up sharing a dance with Chaol, which Dorian sees. Nehemia finds Dorian and tells him that he has power within him. Shortly after, Dorian attends a council meeting and notices that Roland, Perrington, and the king are all wearing matching black rings. Dorian storms out after the meeting doesn’t go well and punches a wall, cracking the stone and shattering the nearby window.

Chaol is made aware of an anonymous threat against Nehemia. He doesn’t tell Celaena or the princess. A carnival also arrives, again in honor of Hollis, and Baba Yellowlegs, an Ironteeth witch, is part of the traveling carnival. Dorian gifts Chaol an Asterion stallion for his birthday. The next day, Celaena disappears from the castle on the tenth anniversary of her parents’ death. When she returns, Chaol spends the night with her to comfort her and keep her company.

As Dorian is realizing that he has magic that he can’t control, Celaena takes Chaol out for his birthday to a rooftop greenhouse for dinner. She also tells him that she hasn’t been killing her targets and that she wants to leave Rifthold far behind once she gains her freedom, and Chaol says he’ll go with her. They sleep together that night. Meanwhile, Dorian visits Baba Yellowlegs to try to get some answers about his magic. Nehemia attempts to get Celaena to help her free Eyllwe; when Celaena refuses to make that promise, they argue. Nehemia calls Celaena a coward, and Celaena storms out.

Chaol joins a hunting party with the council. The king tells Chaol and Dorian that he’s going to have Nehemia questioned. Later that day, Chaol is kidnapped as he takes a walk. Celaena attacks the warehouse to get Chaol back, but Archer is there and tells Celaena about the threat against Nehemia, which Chaol didn’t tell her about, and pins the blame on Chaol as the king supposedly doesn’t want to question her, he wants to kill her. Celaena sprints back to the castle, only to find Nehemia already dead. When Chaol returns, Celaena snaps and tries to kill him. Dorian is able to use his magic to keep her from killing Chaol. They knock her out and put her in the dungeon, and when they return her to her rooms, she doesn’t leave bed. Word of Nehemia’s death reaches the slaves in Calaculla, sparking an uprising.

Celaena begins to suspect Grave, one of the assassins from the competition, killed Nehemia. She finds him and brutally tortures him for information, bringing his head to the king. Celaena also informs the king that Minister Mullison, who is in the room, hired Grave to kill the princess. Celaena burns all the clothes that reminded her of Nehemia and the dress she wore for Chaol’s birthday. She returns to Elena’s tomb and finally figures out the riddle, which leads her to another riddle in the form of a poem. Celaena visits Nehemia’s grave and sings a song for the fallen princess, which Chaol overhears. Chaol tries to find a translation from the song and learns that it’s in the Fae language, marking Celaena as a member of the Terrasen nobility. Alone, Celaena has dinner with Dorian and realizes that she’s not completely alone after all.

Celaena pays Baba Yellowlegs a visit to seek help with the poem. The witch tells her about the Wyrdkeys, and Celaena fights and kills her to prevent her from selling Dorian’s secrets. Using a book called The Walking Dead, Celaena opens the massive iron door in the library, which leads to more doors that are down hallways lined with cells, ending beneath the clock tower. Celaena realizes that something has broken out of its cell, and she runs for the exit, chased by the creature. Dorian had followed her and helps her kill the creature and seal the door. Celaena believes the king created it and that it used to be human. She goes back to the tomb, realizing that’s where the first Wyrdkey had been hidden, only to learn that the king already had it. Celaena decides to try to open a portal to talk to Nehemia.

Celaena manages to open a portal and sees Nehemia, who tells her that she should never do this again. Archer finds Celaena and tells her everything: he wants the Wyrdkeys, he ordered Nehemia’s murder, and he planned it so she would blame Chaol. Celaena tries to close the portal but accidentally changes one of the Wyrdmarks, opening the portal to somewhere else, allowing a monster through. Chaol and Dorian find her with Fleetfoot, Archer, and the monster. The monster takes Fleetfoot through the portal, and Chaol goes in after the dog. Celaena charges in after them both and transforms into her Fae form. She kills the monster and closes the portal with Dorian’s help, after which she chases down and kills Archer.

Chaol meets with his father and says that he’ll give up his position as Captain of the Guard and come home to Anielle if his father will help convince the king to send Celaena to Wendlyn to “kill” their royals. They succeed, and Celaena is given the orders. She makes a blood oath to free Eyllwe at Nehemia’s grave, then heads out. Chaol meets her at the dock. She tells him everything about the Wyrdkeys, and he tells her that he loves her. Celaena whispers her parents’ death date in Chaol’s ear before she leaves. Chaol realizes that Celaena is the biggest possible threat to the king of Adarlan because she is Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, rightful Queen of Terrasen.

Crown of Midnight was a much better-paced book than Throne of Glass was. It was engaging and intriguing, with new story threads and unexpected twists. Nehemia’s death was devastating in multiple ways, and the reveal that Dorian has magic was a jaw-dropper. The end tied the book up well with a shocking revelation, though I am still a bit devastated with how little time Chaol and Celaena had to be happy together. Next are the prequel novellas, then back into the main storyline!

Favorite Quotes:

"I worry because I care. Gods help me, I know I shouldn't, but I do. So I will always tell you to be careful, because I will always care what happens." -- Chaol Westfall

It has been a very long time since I’ve picked up a Cassandra Clare book, and my goodness have I missed the Shadowhunters world. It is good to be back! The Infernal Devices trilogy are my comfort books, and I didn’t realize exactly how much I missed these characters or how long it’s really been since I read them.

The book opens on a dark London night with Shadowhunters Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs out on a hunt, where they kill the demon they were looking for but also find the body of a dead little girl, stabbed to death by the dagger they find lying next to her, engraved with an ouroboros. They believe that humans are likely behind this and that the demon was sent to track the girl. Will decides to start investigating further. Our other main character, Tessa Gray, arrives in London from New York on an invitation from her brother following the death of her aunt, one of her last remaining relatives. Her brother, Nate, however, is not there to pick her up, and two ladies named Mrs. Dark and Mrs. Black are there to retrieve her instead. They give her a note written by Nate, telling Tessa that he was sending the two women to retrieve her, so Tessa gets in their carriage, which has “Pandemonium Club” written on the side with the symbol of the ouroboros.

Unfortunately, Tessa’s trust has been woefully misplaced. The Dark Sisters keep her locked in their home, harshly training her to use a magical ability that she wasn’t even aware she had: Tessa is able to shape shift into anyone, dead or alive, as long as she’s holding something that belonged to them. During one of her final training sessions, it gets revealed that the Dark Sisters are training Tessa for their boss of sorts, the Magister, who intends to marry her. Tessa attempts to escape that night and fails, with her attempt ending with her tied to her bed so she can’t escape again. They trained her too well, though, as Tessa Changes and shrinks herself just enough to work herself free. She gets ready to slip out again, only for someone to come into the room. Tessa hits him over the head with a pitcher, and it turns out to be Will Herondale. The investigation led him here, and he just so happened to find Tessa. Will helps her escape from the Dark Sisters and their automaton servants alongside other Shadowhunters and brings her back to the Institute to keep her safe.

At the Institute, Tessa meets the rest of the Shadowhunters that live there: Charlotte, the head of the Institute; Henry, her quirky, inventive husband; Jessamine, a bratty girl who wants nothing to do with the Shadowhunting life; and Jem, who Tessa meets by accidentally wandering into his room while he’s playing the violin. They tell Tessa that she’s a warlock and agree to help her find her brother, who seems to be missing. Part of the search includes looking into the clockwork automatons at the Dark Sisters’ house. The pieces were manufactured by Axel Mortmain, who is a wealthy tea merchant with a manufacturing side-gig. Mortmain was Nate’s former employer, and when interrogated by Charlotte and Henry, admitted that he had introduced Nathaniel to the Pandemonium Club, a social club for humans interested in the occult and Downworlders. Mortmain informs them that the head of the Pandemonium Club is a vampire named de Quincey, who hates Shadowhunters and has been breaking the Law behind their backs while masquerading as an ally. He says that Nate went to work for de Quincey and notes that the head of the Pandemonium Club is called the Magister.

In order to get more info, Charlotte reaches out to a vampire named Camille Belcourt, who acts as an informant. She confirms that de Quincey has parties at his house with Law-breaking involved as they feed on and kill humans for fun. Camille offers to let Tessa Change into her so they can catch de Quincey red-handed. With assistance from warlock Magnus Bane, Will and a disguised Tessa infiltrate the party, where they hear de Quincey give a speech against Shadowhunters and the Accords before bringing out a human to feed on: Nate. The Shadowhunters raid the place at Will’s signal, killing vampires and freeing Nate, but de Quincey escapes.

They bring a feverish, delirious Nate back to the Institute, where he’s treated by the Silent Brothers as Tessa is ushered out of the room. She meets Sophie, one of the servants, in the hall and finds out that Will is in the attic, refusing to drink the obscene amounts of holy water he needs to drink since he ingested vampire blood, so Tessa tries to help. Will ends up kissing her instead, then pushes her away and tells her to leave. Jem and Tessa go on a walk and get chased back to the Institute by attacking automatons, one of which severely hurts Jem and leaves after getting its hands stained in his blood. After the automatons are fought off, Jem tells Tessa that he’s dying. Turns out, when he was a boy, a demon attacked, tortured, and murdered his family. Part of the torture included repeatedly dosing Jem with a demon poison that he is now addicted to and will die without. The drug is why his hair and eyes are silver, and it will eventually kill him.

When Nate recovers enough, he essentially confirms what Mortmain told Henry and Charlotte, calling de Quincey the Magister and that the vampire forced him to draw Tessa in from New York. He claims that de Quincey told him about Tessa’s gift, and that de Quincey is building an automaton army to take down the Clave using automatons bound to demon energy. The binding ritual is to happen on the next full moon…that very night. Charlotte, Henry, and the Clave got to stop de Quincey, and Mortmain arrives to inform Will and Jem of where the warlock performing the ritual is. Will and Jem leave, and everything at the Institute goes to shit.

Automatons force their way inside the Institute, using Jem’s blood as their key, and attack, killing Agatha and Thomas and injuring Jessamine. Mortmain returns and Nate bows before him. De Quincey is a distraction. Mortmain is the Magister, and Nate is a traitor. Nate intends on handing Tessa over to Mortmain, who wants to rule the British Empire with his clockwork monsters and he steals the Pyxis, essentially a demon storage box, while Mortmain tells Tessa that he created her and that her father is not actually her father. Tessa uses her powers to make it look like she stabbed herself in the heart, and Will, when he charges in for the rescue, freaks out. When she turns out to be fine, he goes back to his usual, aloof ways. The Magister vanishes, and Tessa gets to stay at the Institute, but this tale is far from over.

Re-reading this book has been an interesting experience. I love this world and the characters, and though I remembered some details, most of what I recall of the story is from this book alone. It was really nice to reacquaint myself with these characters like they’re old friends, and I can’t wait to re-experience the rest of their story. They’re funny and sweet and intriguing, and I truly have missed them quite a bit.

Favorite Quotes:

"The handsome young fellow who's trying to rescue you from a hideous fate is never wrong. Not even if he says the sky is purple and made of hedgehogs." -- Will Herondale

"One must always be careful of books and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us." -- Tessa Gray

Okay, I won’t lie, this book just about bored me to tears at the beginning. I was interested, I wanted to see where the hell this story was going to go, but the beginning just dragged. We open in the brutal salt mine death camp of Endovier, where Celaena Sardothien, also known as Adarlan’s Assassin, has been imprisoned by a king who seeks only to conquer, destroy, and rule over everything. When we meet our other two main characters for our tale, it’s in a situation surrounded by mystery. Celaena is led by Chaol Westfall, the king’s Captain of the Guard, to meet with Dorian Havilliard, who is none other than the Crown Prince of Adarlan, son of the king who is desperate to remake the world in the way he wants it. Dorian is here to present Celaena with an offer that she would be foolish to refuse. The king is having a competition to find a Champion, a warrior to do his dirty work. Nobles in his court are each sponsoring a candidate, and Dorian has chosen Celaena as his candidate. Should she win, she will serve a number of years as the king’s Champion, after which, she shall be set free. Celaena agrees, and Dorian and Chaol take her on the long journey back to Rifthold, where the king waits for the arrival of the Champions in his palace made of glass.

Celaena is essentially put on house arrest after her arrival, with her own servant, Philippa, to tend to her. Celaena is to be competing under an alias, according to Dorian, which understandably frustrates the legendary assassin. When all of the Champions are gathered and the king finally sees fit, they are summoned so that he can explain the contests. They are to participate in a series of tests that will gradually eliminate them one by one until only four remain, who will then duel to determine the winner. Celaena is the only woman present, and with her true identify secret, everyone begins to underestimate her.

The Champions train both independently and with the group, and it’s in the group training sessions that Celaena spots the competitor that will give her the most trouble: Cain, a mountain of a soldier that harbors more violence and bloodlust than can really be healthy. Things seem like they’re going to proceed normally…until the first violent murder of a Champion takes place in the middle of the night. From this point on, everything takes a turn. The Tests continue, including scaling the castle’s outer wall, poisons, archery… but even as tests eliminate Champions, the grisly, violent murders continue, leaving the victims eviscerated, internal organs and brains just gone.

The mystery and intrigue continue to deepen as the trials continue. Celaena meets and befriends Nehemia, princess of Eyllwe, just as she becomes closer with both Dorian and Chaol. In addition to that, though, she discovers a secret passage in her room, one that she eventually learns leads to the tomb of Elena, the first half-Fae Queen of Adarlan. Elena visits her in a dream and gives her a mission: vanquish the evil in the castle and become the king’s Champion. Celaena doesn’t take the whole “evil” thing too seriously until more Champions are killed, but she also starts looking in the wrong direction. Noticing that Nehemia has been acting strange, Celaena suspects the princess is behind it all, especially after Celaena accidentally discovers that Nehemia is more fluent in the common tongue than everyone has been led to believe. Celaena sneaks out to spy on the princess at the Yulemas ball and ends up dancing with Dorian…making Chaol jealous. Dorian even kisses her that night.

Not too long after that, though, Celaena learns the truth. Cain has been the one summoning the monster to kill the other champions, and he gains the strength of those that the beast kills. Celaena stumbles upon him summoning it in the secret passages, and he sends it after her. Celaena manages to kill it with the legendary sword in Elena’s tomb, but not without being bitten. The venom in the beast’s bite nearly kills her, but Nehemia saves her life.

The day of the duel finally arrives, and Celaena has made it. Today, she proves herself worthy. Nehemia gives her a staff to fight with, to make a point about fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves, and Celaena soundly defeats her first opponent. However, the final fight between her and Cain would not be so easy. Duke Perrington, one of the king’s advisors/conspirators, convinced one of the Court ladies, Kalthain, to slip poison into Celaena’s wine to disorient her in the final duel. It works too well, as Cain nearly kills her, but the poison also lets Celaena peer through worlds, seeing creatures and forces that aren’t visible to anyone else. Nehemia calls for help for Celaena, using Wyrdmarks to open doors to other worlds, and Elena comes to Celaena’s aid, removing the poison from her body so she can defeat Cain and win. Dorian, feeling guilty for not stepping in and trying to help as Nehemia and Chaol had, picks Celaena up to carry her to her room for healing. Cain tries to stab her in the back during this, but Chaol kills him before he can succeed, sending himself into a spiral. Celaena is healed slowly but surely, and she becomes the king’s Champion…and calls things off with Dorian. We also learned that Duke Perrington was controlling or charming Lady Kalthain and Cain, but we’re not sure how yet.

Throne of Glass, like ACOTAR, took a while to get going. It was slow and a bit dense and kept referencing the history of the world and of Celaena that the audience isn’t privy to. Yet, in a way, it worked well. It creates interest and intrigue and guides the reader into wanting to know more. The three main characters are all loveable in their own ways. Celaena is tough and sassy, Dorian is hilarious, and Chaol has an endearing sweet side that he very rarely shows. The love triangle between Celaena, Dorian, and Chaol had the potentially to get incredibly messy, but it stayed simple, serving more of a role as a chance to get to know the characters better.

Part of the fun of reading this book is trying to figure out how it links to ACOTAR. So far, I think it takes place in the same world, just on a different continent, as the Fae and their disappearances are mentioned multiple times. I also think Amren arrived through an opened Wyrdgate, though what manner of creature she is remains to be seen. I’m curious to know what’s going to happen next and how well Celaena is going to take to being the king’s Champion, especially with threats against Chaol and Nehemia having been made should she fail. Adventure awaits in Crown of Midnight.

Favorite Quotes:

"We all bear scars...Mine just happen to be more visible than most." -- Celaena Sardothien

"My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me." -- Celaena Sardothien

"Names are not important. It's what lies inside of you that matters." -- Nehemia