"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.
It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."
From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as 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.
Hi, everyone!
Yes, this is going to be a review of a Sarah J. Maas book. So controversial. So dramatic. I know many in the book community have mixed feelings regarding her books, as do I.
First, I want to preface this by saying that this is the second in the Throne of Glass series, and if you have not read this far (just in case) and you plan to, I advise you not to read on. There will be spoilers.
Now, let's dive right in.
I read this book in a little over a week. Normally it would've taken me less time, but I got busy. Here's the thing with Sarah J. Maa's books for me: I get through them pretty quickly. Now you may wonder, then why is she so behind on the series? Well, I space out my reading of each of her books, mostly because I have other books on my mind. I have read both Throne of Glass (obviously) and The Assassin's Blade (which I loved), however.
This book made me mad. Yet, I gave it 4 stars.
Right off the bat, I knew it was going to stress me out when the King of Adarlan asked Celaena to assassinate someone she knew. I could tell it was getting complicated for her, and although she wasn't actually killing his targets, I was still worried about her getting caught.
It had been a while since I read the first book, so Celaena's relationships with both Dorian and Chaol were a bit fuzzy in my head, and I had forgotten where her stance was with both of them. She had ended it with Dorian and was very close with Chaol, but that all changes in this book anyway.
Before this book, I had no problem with either of them. In fact, I loved them both a lot. I understand why Celaena ended her romantic relationship with Dorian, I just don't understand why she was so cold with him the first half of this book. I know it's a bit hard if you have an intimate history, but she acted like Dorian had done something wrong and barely spoke to him.
Her relationship with Chaol was cute while it lasted, but I don't necessarily care much for Chaol and Celaena's romantic life. I preferred them as just friends. I was a bit bitter about the jealousy between Chaol and Dorian and didn't like how Celaena sort of got in the way of their friendship.
Celaena's friendship with Nehemia on the other hand was so nice when they were on good terms. I did not like Celaena's attitude toward Nehemia's cause at all. I know Celaena has gone through a lot and didn't want to risk getting into more trouble, but she was literally shutting Nehemia down. The cause was important, her people were dying, and yet Celaena basically told Nehemia not to take any action other than research things for Celaena. I know she regrets it later on, but still.
Throughout the better part of the book, Celaena is doing her own investigating into the rebellions the king is worried about, the Wyrdmarks, and the task that Queen Elena gives her. These parts were some of my favorite in the book. They focused on the plot and not the complicated romantic elements.
In this, Dorian discovers he has magic in him. I honestly wasn't expecting this, but I know the Fae become more involved in the series after this book, so this was a cool addition. I love Dorian a lot (let's hope he doesn't disappoint me in future books) and so the fact that he is kind of getting his own storyline and is finally taking action against his father and his council (by Nehemia's words) makes me happy.
Now we come to the turning point in the book, Nehemia's death. I'm not saying I blame Chaol, but he was definitely a factor. The thing for me is, this book made me despise Chaol. The more the story progressed, the more I realized how Chaol is a bit selfish and blindly loyal to the king. The King even said near the end of the book that Chaol should have been his son instead of Dorian.
I believe Nehemia's death gave Celaena a much-needed reality check. However, I have issues with Nehemia dying. For one, she was an important figure in the plot, and her role could have been expanded in future books. Secondly, she is the practically the only person of color so far in the series, and from what I hear, not very many more appear in later books. I may do a post later about diversity in books, and use Throne of Glass as an example.
Archer's betrayal really hurt honestly, because I thought he was just a coward, to be honest, and wasn't capable of doing what he did. I had actually hoped he was a good guy.
In the final parts of the book, when Celaena opened that portal, I knew it was all downhill from there. I was still so annoyed with Chaol, so the fact that he showed up at all made me mad. Dorian was more capable of using his powers than Chaol was of doing any sort of damage.
Finally, the reveal that Celaena is Fae and the lost Aelin Galathynius. I knew this was coming, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I'm interested to know how Sarah J. Maas deals with this transition in the next book. I am not at all happy that Chaol knows, because he's way more likely to tell the King than Dorian.
My overall feelings about this book are positive aside from Nehemia's death and Chaol. I loved the fast pacing because I hate when I can't get into a book quick enough. I love Dorian, can you tell? I also love Celaena, however now that she's technically Aelin, I believe this may change.
I don't want to base my opinion on what other people are saying because I know people get pretty passionate about this series (whether positively or negatively). I still wish Nehemia didn't have to die (especially in such a brutal manner, when Sarah J. Maas didn't even include Nehemia's fight back). I didn't like how this book made me essentially hate Chaol (and put Dorian on such a high pedestal). I hope Chaol gets a redemption arc in the future because right now he's too loyal to the King for my liking.
Celaena leaving Rifthold excites me because I loved The Assassin's Blade so much, and I'm interested to see her character develop away from the castle and those characters.
This is the first series I've read with the Fae. I love fantasy, and the Fae are an element I'd love to read more of. If you have any suggestions of Fae books, let me know!
This is also my first book review. I hope my reviews will be more structured in the future, but I'm just trying to find my groove right now.
If you have any opinions on Crown of Midnight, don't hesitate to express them in the comments or with me on my social media.
Thank you for reading!
Love, Ru.
Instagram: @ru.reads