Crown of Midnight: Sarah J. Maas: 2 (Throne of Glass)

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Chaol searches Celaena’s rooms and finds her will, which states that she’ll leave everything to him when she dies. Celaena shows up and tells him she’s not going to change the will. Chaol cries. The king waved a hand at her, the obsidian ring on his finger gleaming in the afternoon light. “Is it done?” Afterwards, Celaena tells Chaol that her great-grandmother was Fae. She has lost her ability to shift to her Fae form when magic disappeared, but somehow in the other realm she could still shift. Chaol realizes that as Fae, the glass castle is the most dangerous place to be for Celaena, and he forms a plan with his father (who is visiting from Anielle, that Chaol left to be Captain of the Guard) which says that Celaena needs to be sent to Wendlyn to kill the royal family, but actually to keep her safe because that’s where the Fae are. In return, Chaol will return home and rule Anielle, like he was supposed to but never wanted to. Celaena tries to kill Chaol for not protecting Nehemia and Dorian stops her with MAGIC. Celaena is imprisoned in the dungeon, and she is completely broken because she has lost so many people already, my precious baby. She talks to Kaltain for a little bit because they drug her, and she’s happy to be unconscious. The king drummed his fingers on the arm of the throne, still playing with Nirall’s ring in his other hand. “There are several people on my list of suspected traitors, but I will only give you one name at a time. This castle is crawling with spies.”

Add it: Goodreads Goodreads 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. Dorian Havilliard stood beside his father’s throne—and she could feel his sapphire eyes fixed on her. At the foot of the dais, always between her and the royal family, stood Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Guard. She looked up at him from the shadows of her hood, taking in the lines of his face. For all the expression he showed, she might as well have been a stranger. But that was expected, and it was just part of the game they’d become so skilled at playing these past few months. Chaol might be her friend, might be someone she’d somehow come to trust, but he was still captain—still responsible for the royal lives in this room above all others. The king spoke.

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Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become the King's Champion. But she is far from loyal to the crown. Though she goes to great lengths to hide her secret, her deadly charade becomes more difficult when she realises she is not the only one seeking justice. Her search for answers ensnares those closest to her, and no one is safe from suspicion - not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a princess with a rebel heart.

She avoided the urge to stare at Chaol’s face as he gave her the letter, though his gloved fingers grazed hers before he let go. Keeping her features neutral, she looked at the paper. On it was a single name: Archer Finn. However, Calaena is being driven by her own personal agenda. One that requires unearthing all the dark secrets the king has tried so hard to bury and facing her past. The shutters swinging in the storm winds were the only sign of her entry. No one had noticed her scaling the garden wall of the darkened manor house, and with the thunder and the gusting wind off the nearby sea, no one heard her as she shimmied up the drainpipe, swung onto the windowsill, and slithered into the second-floor hallway.Celaena realizes Lady Kaltain and Roland have both been having terrible headaches, which probably has something to do with the evil magic. From a book, she learns that Kaltain’s bloodline had magic, just like Cain’s used to have. She thinks that the king is using them as pawns in his game. Duh. The book is about an 18-year-old assassin, Celaena Sardothien, who is training to win the competition to become the King of Adarlan’s champion. The competition is the only way for her to free herself from the slave mines. One thing I found whilst reading Crown of Midnight was that my opinions on the characters had changed from Throne of Glass, as true colours began to show and characters started to unravel. Chaol, Calaena’s love interest in the novel is someone I very much championed for in Throne of Glass, because he had this sense of simplicity and warmth about him that made him highly attractive. However, Chaol really seemed to struggle with who Calaena really was in this novel which left me wondering whether he was the one? Dorian, the Crown Prince and a close confidante began to mature and grow as a person - this somewhat brought him and Calaena closer together. Celaena hides a secret from everyone, and she is actually a princess from the Land of the Lilies, a country that is being destroyed by the King of Adarlan. If Celaena wins the competition, she will be able to save her people and restore her kingdom. Celaena has to stand guard during the Royal Ball and she starts dancing on her own because she’s so damn bored, but then Chaol comes outside and they dance together and it’s adorable. Meanwhile, Nehemia and Dorian watch and Dorian decides to let Celaena go, and then Nehemia tells him that there’s something within him waiting to get out (spoiler: HE’S GOT THE MAGIC).