Note from VBC HQ: It’s Throwback Week at VBC, and we’re highlighting some of your favorite reviews from VBC. The VBC team is obsessed with all things Sarah J. Maas. We’re not alone. Our review of Crown of Midnight—from back in 2013!—was one of the top-read reviews on VBC in 2016. Are you a Throne of Glass fan?
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)
Sarah J. Maas
Published: August 27, 2013 (Bloomsbury)
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon
Review Source: Provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Reviewed by: Krista
Rating (out of 5): 5 stars
Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it does reference events from Throne of Glass (read the VBC review).
Throne of Glass was one of my favorite books of 2012. So I had high expectations for Crown of Midnight and I was almost scared to read it, in fear of being disappointed. But I have to say this was one of the best books I read this year, maybe ever. The entire time I was glued to the page and kept murmuring to myself how much I loved this book. I walked around for days telling everyone I met how much I adored it.
At the end of Throne of Glass Celaena had won the competition and was reluctantly crowned the King’s Champion. She had also chosen between the prince and the handsome captain of the guards. They both loved her equally and vice versa. Now she is the killing hand of the king’s whim. She’s also tentatively making process in her relationship with Chaol. He’s also trying to figure how he should feel about her and to justify his feelings. As an infamous assassin she is far and away from anyone he would have imagined falling in love with.
Normally I am not a fan of multiple points of view, but each POV enriches the text further. Sarah J. Maas fleshed out all the characters creating even more depth and detail that I only fell more deeply in love. She also delved into the history of the characters and land so we got more history on what birthed Celaena. Some of the questions we had from Throne of Glass were answered, but we only end up with new ones.
The action was even more spectacular than I expected. Not only do we get a detailed recounting of her attempted escape from the salt mines, but we also see Celaena let go of all the reins she keeps on herself. When one of the few people she loves is threatened we see her snap and become the weapon she was raised to be.
“It was late enough that the streets were mostly deserted, but the people that saw kept well out of her way as she sprinted past, her lungs near shattering. She pushed that pain away, willing strength into her legs, praying to whatever gods still cared to give her swiftness and strength. Who would the king use? If not Chaol, then who? She didn’t care if it was the king himself. She’d destroy them.”
I could go on and on about this book for hours. I fell in love with the characters in the first book, and Crown of Midnight only cemented their place in my heart. Maas took me on an intense emotional rollercoaster ride, so that I felt each of the characters ups and downs as if they were happening to me. There was never any lull in the pacing; each moment was crafted to pull the reader deeper into its pages. Maas is also a master of misdirection, just when I thought something was a foregone conclusion she pulled me in an entirely different direction.
I will be shocked if this book isn’t on everyone’s Best Of lists come the close of the year. If you are a fan of kick-ass female heroines, run out and buy Crown of Midnight.
Sexual content: Sex
