Book Review: Crown Of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Crown of Midnight is book 2 in the Throne of Glass series – but does it live up to the hype? In this Crown of Midnight review, we’ll explore whether the Throne of Glass books go from strength to strength or flop.

Crown of Midnight Summary

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.

Crown of Midnight Review

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Celaena, Adarlan’s most dangerous assassin, has won the King’s gruelling contest to become King’s champion. She is now contracted to do his bidding for the next four years to win her freedom back. The King of Adarlan sets her to work, killing off potential traitors and rebels but the unwilling Celaena has got a few tricks up her sleeve yet.

With whispers of amassing rebel forces and secrets between those who once trusted each other, Celaena must keep her wits about her as she tries to figure out what is going on and what demons are lurking in the dark.

Read on to find out more about Crown of Midnight…

NB. If you haven’t read my Throne of Glass review (#1), then you may want to read that first.

After the action packed and exciting debut to the Throne of Glass series, the sequel, Crown of Midnight, gets off to a slow start. There’s still a lot of world and character building to be done as the relationship between Chaol and Celaena is mapped out, Dorian’s family history is explained and the King’s plans for domination are slowly revealed.

The story focusses much less on Celaena now, widening its scope to include many other members of the court and various characters’ histories.

RELATED: 33 Best Quotes from the Throne of Glass Series

The romance between main characters Chaol and Celaena was surprisingly passionate and whilst I wouldn’t exactly label it ‘mature content’, it certainly implies some very adult things (wink). As with Throne of Glass, the romance isn’t cringe-worthy or childish, it does seem realistic and passionate.

Celaena is often seen to be a cold-blooded assassin but Chaol, Captain of the Guard, turns her into an ordinary girl with ordinary feelings. That said, at no point did I think she was ‘silly’, which I think is the right word to describe a lot of female YA protagonists in love, which I was glad about.

I’d definitely say this series is aimed at older teens and young adults because the characters are all mature, working people with ‘real-life’ problems. This is a dark high fantasy tale that seems to just get darker with each new chapter. This series gives you real monsters that bite, not sparkling vampires and I just wish they would make this into a film so I can see these demons take shape.

Now can we just take a minute (or hour) to discuss the ending of Crown of Midnight. My eyes were glued to my Kindle for the last few chapters and I think a hurricane could have blown my home away (Dorothy-style) and I still would have continued reading. Celaena is – ? Chaol said – ? Dorian has – ?!

There are at least half a dozen questions burning on the tip of my tongue and I am desperate for answers! I actually re-read the last few passages of this story again as soon as I finished because I couldn’t believe what was happening and I needed to check I hadn’t just made it up in my head!

To conclude, Sarah J Maas has swiftly become my favourite young adult author and she certainly knows how to surprise her fans. Although the first half of this book was a little sluggish, S J Maas throws down plot twist after plot twist in the second half. I have never read a book that has gone from good to extraordinary in the space of just a few pages.

Crown of Midnight is full of mystery and intrigue and as soon as you think you’ve got all the characters sussed out, a new piece of information is revealed to completely change that. You’ll have to read the next one to find out where each character’s loyalties lie! 

Onto Heir of Fire we go…

Buy Crown of Midnight
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Laura

Founder & Editor of What’s Hot?

Laura is an award-winning travel and book blogger based in the UK. She studied French literature at Oxford University and is now an IP lawyer at a top law firm in London. She was named UK Book Blogger of the Year in 2019 and loves to combine her passion for books and travel with literary travel.