Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)

Author: Sarah J. Maas

My rating: 5/5
Goodreads rating: 4.52/5

Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary (Goodreads):

“A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend.”

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

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Warning some spoilers ahead because I love this book so much I can’t help myself.

Review: 

Oh my gosh why did I take so long to read this book. This book was brilliant, just amazing! I was probably nervous – second books are always the hardest in a series people say- but this book was just so fierce! The eye catching red shades on the cover really some up the book and the main protagonist with one word. Badass.

I slept on my feelings on this book and I still come to the same conclusion so, I am happy to crown this book the first five star book of 2016 and here’s why.

Plot:

Crown of Midnight starts off right Throne of Glass left off with Celaena doing the King of Adarlan’s bidding and killing off anyone who he deems traitorous or so it seems…but there are more pressing issues like a growing rebellion movement and the growing mystery surrounding the deadly, ancient weapons- Wyrdkeys- and the deepening relationship between herself and Chaol. The King’s Champion can only take so much until she snaps.

There is so much going on in this novel and main plot is executed brilliantly! I was wondering how Maas was going to pull this all off while I was reading Crown of Midnight, because there was just loads of stuff happening. Lets talk about the central plot firstly, the Wyrdkeys. I love how Maas kind of dragged out this plot and didn’t make it easy for Celaena to figure it out. Also I liked how it intertwined with Archer who I think everyone was easy to cast away into the corners of their minds. It made for a big shock and reveal.

But I only highlighted a few plots however in the first paragraph. Because this book multi-POVs this leads to many other side plots as well, one being Dorian’s brilliant brilliant brilliant magic plot. Also we have Chaol’s inner confliction plot. I felt kind of spoiled!

The pace, though slow in some areas, was fast and the story kept me addicted.

Writing: 

I don’t know how by Mass just has a wonderful way with words. It isn’t lyrical as such, but it just has a sense of thrill to it, like its carrying an adventure. When she describes Celaena’s cold, deadly tempers it’s like you can just feel the rage coming from Celaena.Her description of the areas are great as well, which help with the world building  in he novel.

Characters:

So basically Maas can write some awesome characters.

Celaena is quickly becoming one of my favourite female characters. She is strong, independent, fierce, smart the list can really go on. Shevis deeply scarred and you really do feel for her when someone just knocks her down after so many times. Um but can I mention that she is an absolute badass. Celaena is my spirit animal.

Dorian swapped places in Chaol to be my favourite male character in the series so far. He got a lot of depth in this book which was well needed and he matured I think. Can I just have a book about Dorian please? Chaol on the other hand….hmmm I still like him of course, but I think I wanted him to be a bit more stronger emotionally.

I wasn’t really affected by Nehemia’s death and I don’t really have any strong thoughts attached to her so…

I LOVED ARCHER! As a character but he did seem rather handsome through the descriptions…

What I liked:

• Dorian
• The intriguing plots and mystery
• Dorian
• The addictive writing
• Celaena
• The gasp-causing revelations
• Umm I’ll put Dorian here again

What I didn’t like

• Umm that it didn’t come with a chapter extract from Heir of Fire?

Verdict: This sequel is everything you want in a book. It’s has action, murder, a badass assaian, romance and plot twists. Basically this book is treat so read it.

-Astra