Book Review - Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #2
Genres: Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 15th August 2013
Publishers: Bloomsbury
No. Pages: 418
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
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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..

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.
If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

Dear readers, I am sorry. Why am I sorry I hear you ask? I am sorry for the mess of a review that is sure to fallow, I'm sorry for going all out fangirl leaving you with a unreadable jumble of words. I am however not sorry that I liked loved this book enough to rave about it, to feel how the characters felt, to be happy and dad with them in all the right moments. My only grievance with this book is that it's finished.

One of the things I loved the most about Throne of Glass was the deliverance of a strong minded deadly assassin that we were promised, what I loved about Crown of Midnight is the characters didn't lose any part of themselves. Too after have a read a book with characters who were brilliant, only to have them seem.. a little bit less than so as the books go on. Of course there are times when you like characters, only for them to get better, like Chaol. I loved him in the first book, but I had to stop myself from swooning in this one. Gone is the act professional for the sake of Dorian, gone is the hiding his feelings and not embracing them and gone is the shame I sometimes thought he felt. His character really flourishes in Crown of Midnight and I was so excited to read more about him. When it comes to Dorian, I liked him just as much as I did in the last one, which is to say I could take him or leave him really. That's not to say he isn't a good character, he's just forgot about for my favourites is all.

Action? it has just as much as the last one, only all the things I seemed to find fault with Throne of Glass were fixed. The problem I had with the first book of the series is it felt like everything was more focused on what was going on around the trails than the trails itself, and considering the importance of it, I felt a lot more could have gone in to that side of the story. However with Crown of Midnight though we have Celaena doing the kings bidding and going after his enemies, that wasn't the focal point, finding out what the king was up to and where he seemed to be getting his power was. So in that sense, the lack of action in parts felt just right because it wasn't supposed to be a book based around it, if that makes any sense at all? Haha..


Love? Can we just not. The romance in this novel really did at time seem to be stomping all over my heart. I was happy, then I was sad. And just like the grand all duke who marched his men up to the top of the hill, when it was up it was up, and when it was down it was down. It was one extreme to the other, but everything was beautiful and well developed, even the heartache (yes.. I did quote a nursery rhyme, but I am tired and ill so don't judge me to badly).




First come the shock, then the disbelief that it was actually happening, then came the acceptance of it. Was the ending brilliant? without a doubt. It made me have hope only to rip it out again. Crammed in to such a few pages is one emotional ride. Over all I loved it, in case you didn't know. I honestly wasn't sure that the second book could be better because of how great the first was but I'll tell you, I have very very high hopes for the rest of the series.