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

8/10

Crown of Midnight has to be my favourite book in the series so far with Celaena really coming into her own and where we really start to get into the story.

Having survived the trials in Throne of Glass, Celaena takes on her role as the King's Assassin for a King that she despises. Her role causes some friction between her and her friends as Chaol and Dorian struggle to understand why Celaena would work for a man that killed her entire family. Secretly Celaena has her own agenda as she is tasked with killing one of the court's most popular male consorts, a young man who trained with Celaena as a child.

While the characters in this book go about their daily lives, Celaena begins to unearth dark secrets of the king and finds herself drawn into a plot which forces her to confront her past and who she truly is. Something she has worked hard to run away from for so many years.

The opinions that I developed in Throne of Glass about various characters really began to change in this book as characters such as Chaol and Dorian start to show their true colours. I found that I started to like Dorian a lot more in this book and while I rooted for Chaol in a lot of the storyline he quickly fell from my good graces as he struggled to cope with what Celaena truly is.

As for Celaena, I found that I really enjoyed seeing Celaena go from a girl who worked at the whim of others to a young and powerful heroine. You finally get to see a fraction of why she is considered Adarlan's most famous assassin now that she has some freedom to manoeuvre. Despite the strong woman she becomes, I love that she continues to have a weakness for books, luxuries and beautiful dresses. Despite her weaknesses she comes across as a strong and confident lead willing to sacrifice everything for the person she loves but not letting that love define her in any way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as the pacing was good; it rarely felt like we were being forced into a plot twist at any point. There were some plot twists that I guessed while others I was pleasantly surprised with. To be honest anyone who is a regular reader of fantasy will predict many of the plot twists but I found them all rather enjoyable anyway.

The greatest surprise for me was the big romance for Celaena. One of my pet peeves is that romance in fantasy stories always feels so forced and characters end up being dictated by them. In Crown of Midnight I found that while Dorian and Chaol let their feelings guide them, the way Celaena is able to detach herself from this to do what she needs to do was a refreshing change.

If you liked Throne of Glass then you will love this one. While it isn't one of the great epic stories like Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth, or George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones, this is definitely a great read and I could barely put it down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an enjoyable read.

Review by

Sarah J Maas biography

Throne of Glass

Crown of Midnight reader reviews

from United States

This book began my adoration for the series. Maas' writing style still rubbed me the wrong way but it begins its evolution for the better. Moving on from that complaint I would like to address what I loved about this installment. I was madly in love with Princess Nehemia, I rooted for her in everything and I loved the way she pushed Celaena to be a better person and called her out on her BS. Nehemia is a heroine in her own right even though she is far from a main character and I don't think that she gets the praise she deserves. Celaena in this book is once again very likable, snarky, and more human in this book. We see her deal with grief, denial, anger, distrust, betrayal, love, and pure hatred. She really grows up in Crown of Midnight and spreads her wings by the end of the book. I have to say though, one of the biggest plot twist of this series was painfully obvious to me but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the one that made me fall in love with Chaol as a character. No longer the scowling jackass, he opens up and we see that he has a lot of issues that made him the way he is. He's supportive of Dorian but still incredibly protective and their bond is something that I admire in characters that are rival love interests. Chaol began to grate on my nerves by the end of the book but I still loved him. Later on in the series I found myself hating him but for now, he was my favorite character. Snarky, harsh, funny, sweet, and almost empathetic. Dorian is always a joy for me. He doesn't have as much of a strong presence in this one but he still grew as a character. That's all I really have to say about him for Crown of Midnight. Archer...Oh boy you guys are in for a ride with every encounter with him. It really brings up the ghosts of Celaena's past and it managed to sway her character in a more relatable and likeable direction than before.
8/10 ()

from Erelia

I love this book!!! Please read it! You will not regret it. Read the first one though.
10/10 ()

from Canada

Really good book and I couldn't put it down.
10/10 ()

from Canada

A definite page turner. A must read for all fantasy lovers It just gets more and more intriguing by the page.
10/10 ()

from Philippines

It is perfect!! and the ending blew me away. The series just keeps better and better <3
8/10 ()

9/10 from 6 reviews

All Sarah J Maas Reviews