Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas - Book Review

Crown of Midnight is the second book in the Throne of Glass series authored by Sarah J. Maas. It is strongly advised to read the first book before diving into the adventures of the second one since the events are interrelated and follow a timeline.

Before going reading any further, you need to know that this review has some spoilers. The second book starts off with Celaena Sardothian seemingly following the tasks given to her by the King of Adarlan.

Most of these tasks given to her as the king’s champion are assassinations that everyone around her, including her new friend, the Captain of the Guard, Princess Nehemia whom Prince Dorian disapproves of.

After presenting a decapacitated head as proof of finishing the latest task given to her by the king, she is given orders to investigate rumors of rebels being in the kingdom and to get rid of their leaders.

Celaena immediately thinks of contacting her escort acquaintance Archer Finn since his name is on the list of suspects the king has given her. In this book, we can see the assassin getting even closer to Chaol.

This all falls apart when she finds out that he has been keeping threats against her close friend, Nehemia, from her. There is a widening drift between the prince and the assassin since her involvement with his best friend and it becomes worse when the Prince suddenly finds himself in weird situations involving much-dreaded magic.

While looking for rebels, trying to balance between her relationship and her work as king’s champion, Celaena also has to look for the Wyrdkeys which are the only way to open the Wyrdgate and either get rid of the Vlag (which was what the creature killing off contestants in the first book was) or release them unto the world. 

Celaena must decipher a riddle to locate the wyrdkeys before anyone else (particularly the king) can find them, and in the process meets the unlikeliest of people. 

Unlike the first book in which all the focus was on Celaena, in the second book of the series, the author additionally focuses on side characters such as Chaol and Dorian who have also begun developing into characters with bigger roles.

This is not the end of Celaena’s adventures, though. Crown of Midnight has some major events that will help mold the assassin for more adventures to come.