Throne of Glass #2: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Genre: YA, high fantasy, romance
Released: August 2013
Read: Maybe 2014? and then again September 2019

READ IT BECAUSE...

I read Book 1 :P.

THE REVIEW

Celaena is officially the King’s Champion-his own personal assassin. We follow her as she goes out to murder the people ordered to be by the king.

The second book in the Throne of Glass series continues to develop the hidden magical remnants of Erilea of the past. Celaena continues to fall in love (i.e., CHAPTER 22 <3. ;_;!!) and her friendship with Nehemia also grows. But none of her closest companions, Chaol, Dorian, or Nehemia, can fully grasp that their friend is assassinating people at the king’s command.

When one of the king’s targets turns out to be an old acquaintance, a new rift of events causes Celaena’s mission to change, losses to happen, and more prophecies to be answered.

Celaena is definitely the reluctant heroine in this book (as she also was in Book 1), but who can blame her after all she’s been through? She’s an 18 year old girl, who isn’t a girl anymore—the hardships she’s gone through have made her more mature beyond her years. She’s had to deal with so much loss in less than 18 years, so I think she gets to behave and have the characteristics of whoever she wants (this is continuing my argument against people who don’t like Celaena; as mentioned in my Book 1 Review). Her silly parts and her angry parts are just the younger parts of her acting out—because she didn’t get to experience all of that when her parents were brutally murdered 10 years ago. She was only 8 and she started her assassin training when she was only 8. I believe she rightfully can be girly and flirty and a deadly assassin at the same time.

SPOILERS

“She and Chaol finally admit their feelings for each other and are together (Chapter 22). They sleep together. They were nervous for their own reasons; Chaol primarily because of Dorian… But on his birthday, it all changesssss * _ *!

Also. Celaena ISN’T killing the king’s targets. Because those people are traitors to the crown, meaning they don’t support the king. So why would she kill them if she also hates the king? She gives them the option to run away, which all of them choose to do, and she takes the bodies of the sick who have passed and fakes them as the targets she had been ordered to kill. So she she’s not as crazy as her friends thought she was!!

Archer Finn, a courtesan (=prostitute) who Celaena knew from assassin training days, is the next target, and Celaena wants to know about the rebel movement that he spoke of. She gives him the option of running away or being killed, and gives him the month to get his business in order.

The king also tells Chaol of a threat to Nehemia’s life… And Chaol doesn’t tell Celaena or Nehemia. This was a grave mistake for Chaol—because it ends up driving Celaena mad.

Chaol gets kidnapped one night, and Celaena is enraged. While saving him and murdering lots of people—she finds out that they’re Archer’s people, part of a rebellion group. She finds out from him that the King is going to murder Nehemia—Chaol knew about Nehemia’s danger and didn’t tell her! So she storms back to the castle as fast as she can—and finds Nehemia and her guards brutally murdered. She goes berserk and nearly kills Chaol—but is stopped by Dorian… (‘s magic!!!).

She’s briefly thrown in the dungeon for a few days (and Kaltain is also still locked up and going crazier). Celaena refuses to speak to Chaol. They move her back to her chambers. One night, she sneaks out when she realizes that Nehemia was killed by Grave (the competitor who she faced in the semi-finals of the competition), so she tracks him down and murders him.

She interrupts a king’s council meeting and tells him that Grave killed Nehemia, as ordered by the minister (who had hired him).

Ends up, it was Archer Finn who did it, in order to bring up trust issues or whatever. And ACTUALLY… Nehemia already knew what was going to happen. She knew what was going to happen and let it happen to her, in order to drive Celaena into action.

Also. Celaena has a fae form. What. Maas keeps describing Chaol as like disgusted or freaked out.. I can’t imagine that her fae form-with pointed ears and fangs?-would look much different.. But I guess understanding the fear of far as the people of Adarlan do adds to the menacingness. I guess. But anyway. Last thing that happens in this book. Chaol knows that Celaena is magical, and he wants to—need to—protect her. And the only way he can think of doing that is by sending her away to Wendlyn, where there are fae still. And so he has his father back him up, by promising his father that he will return to become Lord of Anielle. So the idea passes and Celaena is sent to Wendlyn. And Dorian didn’t know about this, know why (since Celaena had knocked him out to run after Chaol in the weird portal). So now there’s a rift between the two. And Celaena gets shipped to Wendlyn until the pretense of killing the king and prince of Wendlyn. And there relationship makes me so sad and like 답답해 (stuffy feeling)… He still loves her.. And she loves him too, but she still feels that he was responsible for not alarming her to Nehemia’s endangerment.. But even when she knows what she knows and that it’s not her fault, it still sort of didn’t help that he didn’t tell her, and we know why he didn’t tell her—he didn’t want to make anyone burdened or panicked, not because his loyalties necessarily laid with the king, but because.. he had a good/no bad intentions… And he loves her but he’s sending her away… And she shows her feelings even though she can’t forgive him fully… by giving him the Eye of Elena to protect him.

And when she leaves, she tells Chaol a date. And he pieces it together. She’s Aelin Galythensifgodhg. I’ll figure it out. SHE’S the lost heir to Terrasen. ”

(highlight below to read)

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OTHER COMMENTS

To be honest, some of the descriptions I speedread through; i.e., a lot of the castle tunnel exploration scenes… I read them really fast, not because they’re not good, but because my mind isn’t creative enough to imagine them fully. Like I just want to get to the meat. I think I did this the first time I read some of these books (and like parts of the witch parts), but it’s because my mind keeps jumping ahead. :P.. I’ll do better.

OVERALL

- Did I cry? No
- Should you read it? YES PLEASE. I think people that didn’t fully like the first book, liked this one better. I like both.

-huay