Showing posts with label crown of midnight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crown of midnight. Show all posts

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Re-reading for August: #ReadThroneOfGlass and #TLCReadAlong!!

Hello there guys!

Today I don't have a regularly scheduled Saturday Pages review but I'm gonna be babbling about books anyhow because that's what us bookwyrms do when given half a chance!

Before I fell into the rabbit hole of Goodreads and eventually book blogging I still read and devoured books as much as I do now, but since my TBR pile wasn't as life threatening, I used to re-read my favourite books for comfort. There are some books that I must have read over 20 times, like The Eight or Miguel Strogoff...

But since I started discovering so many new books and series and authors I haven't really given myself time to re-read books, and I decided I needed to change that this year.

I've decided to give myself permision to re-read and not worry about the ever growing TBR pile or the ARCs that I get approved for on NG or anything else! Re-reading books that I loved is a joy that I need to allow myself to enjoy more often!

And to nudge myself into it, I decided to join two re-readalongs! #ReadThroneOfGlass and #TLCReadAlong!




The #ReadThroneOfGlass is a readalong or re-readalong to prepare ourselves for the release of Queen of Shadows on September 1st.

I must say, I couldn't be happier that I have joined the readalong!

I finally read my hardcover of Assassin's Blade because I had read the Kindle versions of some of the novellas only, and reading them all one after the other, inlcuding the new one was fantastic! Highly recommended for anyone wanting to start the Throne of Glass series: READ THE NOVELLAS FIRST! They give a much better understanding of Celaena and her character and her career as an assassin and her complex relationship with Arobynn. And we meet some characters that we'll be meeting again in upcoming books, Queen of Shadows onwards!

I read Throne of Glass first and the novellas later, and at first it took me a while to understand Celaena and cheer for her. And then I read the novellas, and I understood her so much better!

Re-reading Throne of Glass was such a different experience, with so many little details that I had not noticed or had forgotten about and that will have such a relevance in the upcoming books! And some definite foreshadowing and hints that I missed on the first read! I loved reading about the interactions between Chaol and Dorian and Celaena and her meeting and growing friendship with Nehemia, her hate for the King and her intense fear of the man... So many things that make sense from the very first moment in a way that the didn't the first time!

The same thing happened with Crown of Midnight, I was so shocked to realize how many important things I might have missed and how I had forgotten about some of the things that happened! Of course that the revelations aren't as shocking, at least not the big ones, but there are plenty of things you read hoping to find more clues that you might have missed the first time, and some are really ominous knowing what we do know now! But even knowing what will happen doesn't lessen the heartache or the pain of the bad things when they happen, and the one thing is that at least I know that Fleetfoot WILL be okay!

Now I am re-reading Heir of Fire and I'm hoping to finish it this weekend so I can have it fresh in my mind when I read Queen of Shadows next week!




The #TLCReadAlong is hosted by Britt from Book Addicts Guide!

To prepare myself to reading Winter when it releases, I decided to join this low pressure read along because I have a month to read each of the books, so I'll manage to squeeze them in between whatever other books from the TBR pile and ARCs I plan to read without worrying about "I should be reading this or that instead of re-reading"!

Cinder was a surprise the first time I read it because a retelling of Cinderella with a cyborg and in a futuristic science fiction dystopia? But this time I already knew what kind of book it was gonna be, so I had less trepidation that let me enjoy the book more. And of course I also managed to notice the lil details here and there that didn't seem as relevant at the time of reading and maybe forgotten when reading the next books.

Some of the obscure mentions make a lot more sense and the first time we meet Cress? My poor adorable Cress! Cinder didn't know what to make of her! And of course the big reveal is not surprising any more, but I think it's fun to see the clues you might have missed at first!

And of course it was simply a joy to read again all the interactions between Cinder and Prince Kai and of course my fave lines had to be the ones by Iko! I still giggle when I think of "Do you think she's seen him in the nude?", her crush on Kai is so delightful!

Now I cannot wait to re-read Scarlet starting next month!! =D


Friday, August 23, 2013

Friday Reads: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas!!

For my next Friday Reads review a highly awaited sequel that didn't disappoint!


Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's not everyday that a sequel of a book you loved exceeds your expectations and blows you mind as thoroughly as Crown of Midnight did for me.

This is one be one hard review to write, and the reasons are manyfold. For starters this book was INTENSE and such a rollercoaster of all sort of feeling that even after 4 days I can't really put my opinions into very coherent words, the more I love a book, the more I babble! Let's not forget the fact that this a book that needs to be experienced as spoiler-free as possible and that means trying to convey how fantastic it was without giving any specifics... you get the picture.

Celaena is now the King' champion, but that doesn't mean that she's loyal to the crown. If you remember how scared she was of the king, you can only imagine what her deception must be costing her and to keep her charade realistic, she's keep it a secret even from those closest to her.

Celaena keeps being this amazing mix of girlie girl with deadly assassin, loyal to the core but not letting others come too close in fear of putting them at risk. She's full of secrets and we find out what some of those secrets are, and let me tell you, they are BIG ones!

Chaol and Dorian are also full of surprises for us, some more unexpected that others, and for Dorian specially, quite shocking ones! The not-exactly love triangle continues to be explored here, but I think it seems to stop being a love triangle and become more clearly solved, despite some more shocking and "what the...?" heartwrenching moments.

The plot? Well, let me tell you this plot is a maze of twists and turns and shocking revelations one after the other! It seemed to be a case of turning page after page and getting your expectations and theories blown to the wind! I was kept on my toes all through the book, and kept avidly awaiting more pieces to add to solving the multilevel puzzle that Crown of Midnight was.

In short, characters grown, there are swoony moments and some truly happy ones, some terribly heartwrenching ones, many shocks and surprises, many twists and one hell of a "you've got to be kidding me, you can't end the book like this and leaving me hanging for a year!!" kind of ending.

I'm just gonna leave you with one spoiler, rest assured FleetFoot IS well and safe.

A wonderful whirlwind of emotions and a severe case of book hangover makes Crown of Midnight a 5 stars read!



View all my reviews