Book Review #637 - Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J.Maas

My Rating: 4/5


Source: Bought


Goodreads

Crowned by Evil.

Bound by Duty.

Divided by Love.

Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan's deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies' blood - but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, put those she loves at risk.

Torn between her two protectors - a captain and a prince - and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart or the fate of a kingdom... 

Throne of Glass was a book that I enjoyed, but also a book that I had a number of issues with. 

Crown of Midnight however is my favourite second in a series book since Catching Fire. 

Celaena becomes more of the bad ass she was supposed to have been in TOG and I think this is due to the amount of time she spent with Chaol. I think that both of them as characters really feed off one another and bring out the best traits in one another. 

Whilst Dorian is a character that I really don't have any problems with, the relationship between Chaol and Celaena was a lot more believable and real than his relationship with Celaena. 

Chaol having to face his family and getting his loyalty questioned really opened his character up and enabled enormous character development. 

Dorian was a character that really surprised me and proves that I was obviously underestimating him by only seeing him as the third point on a love triangle. He is a lot stronger than I gave him credit for. 

I love the setting as well, it has a very cinematic feel to it and I so I would really love to see some kind of movie/TV adaptation of this series. 

There were so many plot twists throughout this book but the ending was completely unexpected. 

I had planned on reading another book after this one, but with that ending I had no choice but to pick up book 3 Heir of Fire. 

 

Book Review #636 - Salem's Lot by Stephen King

My Rating: 3.5/5


Source: Bought


Goodreads

Thousands of miles away from the small township of 'Salem's Lot, two terrified people, a man and a boy, still share the secrets of those clapboard houses and tree-lined streets. They must return to 'Salem's Lot for a final confrontation with the unspeakable evil that lives on in the town.

This is my second Stephen King novel. The first one I read was Carrie. 

The synopsis of my copy of this book was EXTREMELY vague and so I went into this book not knowing anything about it at all. 

This book is a lot longer that Carrie and I felt like the pacing was a little on the slow side. 

The story is set in the small town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine. The story follows just about every occupant in the town. 

This is something that Stephen King does extremely well. It doesn't matter how old the character is, King is able to give them such a realistic voice and none of the characters blurred with one another. The only other author I know of that can do that so easily is George RR Martin. 

I loved the small town feel of Jerusalem's Lot. There was a real sense of community. 

It was also really refreshing to read a vampire book where the vampires are really something straight out of a nightmare and not like the overdone modern take on them. 

Book Review #635 - Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods #1) by Melissa de la Cruz

My Rating: 3.5/5


Source: Bought


Goodreads

When the Mayflower set sail in 1620, it carried on board the men and women who would shape America: Miles Standish; John Alden; Constance Hopkins. But some among the Pilgrims were not pure of heart; they were not escaping religious persecution. Indeed, they were not even human. They were vampires.The vampires assimilated quickly into the New World. Rising to levels of enormous power, wealth, and influence, they were the celebrated blue bloods of American society. 

The Blue Bloods vowed that their immortal status would remain a closely guarded secret. And they kept that secret for centuries. But now, in New York City, the secret is seeping out. Schuyler Van Allen is a sophomore at a prestigious private school. She prefers baggy, vintage clothes instead of the Prada and pearls worn by her classmates, and she lives with her reclusive grandmother in a dilapidated mansion. Schuyler is a loner...and happy that way. Suddenly, when she turns fifteen, there is a visible mosaic of blue veins on her arm. She starts to crave raw food and she is having flashbacks to ancient times. Then a popular girl from her school is found dead... drained of all her blood. Schuyler doesn't know what to think, but she wants to find out the secrets the Blue Bloods are keeping. But is she herself in danger?

I have read this book once before (before I started this blog). I decided to re-read it because I am trying to condense my TBR and having almost the complete Blue Bloods series on there really helps with that. 

This book reminded me so much of Gossip Girl with it following Manhattan's elite - the elite in this book just happen to be vampires. 

Also like Gossip Girl, there was continual product name dropping which was annoying at first but I blocked it out pretty quickly. 

I found the whole Croatan plot really interesting, the only other time I have seen theories of this was in an episode of Supernatural. 

I also really loved the whole vampire mythology in this book. It was highly unique and I can't wait to learn more about it. 

The only negative things I can say about this book is that it took too long to get going. I think the word 'vampire' was first used around page 144 and this is a 302 page book. 

The other negative is what I mentioned earlier about the product name dropping but also the full descriptions about characters wardrobes.