Review Detail

Crown of Midnight, the sequel to Throne of Glass, picks up right up right after the first, with Celaena now the King’s Champion, which basically means she is the King’s private assassin expected to carry out every command with no question. She is as deadly and lethal as ever, and now has her freedom to look forward to. But she is also playing a dangerous game – one that if the King knew, a trip to Endovier would seem like a walk to the park. Her secret can only be shared with her best friend, Princess Nehemia and Captain Westfall, whom she grows closer to. For the King, is planning far worse things for the Kingdom – worse than what he did 10 years ago when he massacred and conquered the neighboring kingdoms to bring them under the rule of Adarlan. A hint of his plans were given at the end of Throne of Glass, which indicated it having something to do with Wyrdmarks, but Celaena stumbles upon a more nefarious plot.

Sarah J Maas, as before, has written the book so well. The plot advances with many twists and shocking revelations, some betrayals and some extremely sweet developments. I finally now know that I am Team Chaol – who couldn’t be? He keeps up with Celaena, even with the shocking truth towards the end. And Celaena – man, she is more dangerous than ever – especially when she is bent on vengeance. The crowning glory of the book is that Celaena is so well-written and described, that even though the book shifts through perspectives, you can feel that you are her. You can feel her anguish, her happiness, her calm, her rage and her ruthlessness – you just become her while reading. Nehemia is the doting friend as ever, the revolutionary – and even though it’s never from her POV, you can feel her despair when she witnesses the King pushing her country down even more.

As I said before, there are many revelations throughout the book – some of them can be guessed soon enough and some just hit you out of nowhere. For the most part, Celaena shows incredible wit and cleverness but sometimes I do feel she could have realized some things sooner. Even so, I like that she is not without flaws; she definitely has grown from the previous books (including the novellas).

The book was divided into two parts – and at the end of the first part, I was like – Noooo! That did not just happen. Yet, as I delved into the second part, I did realize that it had to happen – so that things could be set in motion, as Elena said. And with an ending like that, even self-contained, the possibilities in the next book – they are exhilarating. I want the next book – like now. Sad thing is, there is no name for it yet. But yes, I do expect it to be as engaging, passionate, and enthralling as this one.

Lastly, I am not one for gushing about covers in their reviews but – HOW AWESOME IS THAT COVER!!!