C: Crown of Midnight Review by @SarahJMaas #AtoZChallenge

C stands for Crown of Midnight, the second book in NYT’s bestselling Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. Be sure to check out the new collection of novellas, The Assassin’s Blade.

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul 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.

“There are worse things out there to face!”

 

Caleana slowly turned to him, her face splattered with blood and eyes blazing with light. “No there aren’t,” she said. “Because I’m here now.”

By now, you’ve might have heard raving reviews about Crown of Midnight. They are well deserved. When I write sequels, I want them to be like this. Drama. Humor. Secrets. Blood. Celeana grows up and the YA genre is left behind.

Celeana is every bit of a badass killer as rumors say she is. She is Adarlan’s Assassin, a killing machine that puts on a fancy dress and transforms the top level of a restaurant into a magical garden for a special birthday present for Chaol, who will go to any length to save a friend.

Though she may be told to kill off the king’s enemies, she is no one’s pawn and decides her own path.

The love triangle from book one disappears when Celeana makes her boy choice. I loved this because we had the chance to see both a relationship develop and another side of Celeana. Though when the-heart-crushing-event happens (trust me, you’ll know when it does), the relationship hits a wall. I was okay with this because no relationship is perfect and it only means more conflict for future books 🙂

Magic and wyrdmarks appear again as Celeana discovers clues in a mystery-treasure hunt, leading her to a dangerous truth wrapped around the king and the kingdom’s history. And there are magic secrets—Darian can use magic and even Celeana herself has a whopping huge secret that comes out in the book’s climax.

And the book’s last sentence? Oh gosh. A perfect characterization of Celeana.

Read this book. Read it now.

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