Title: Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J Maas
Rating: 4/5
Series? Yes, 2 of 6!
Well, this is super awkward because the last time I mentioned Throne of Glass in a blog post, it was to rail on how disappointed I was. I marathoned the next 3 books over the last 2 weeks and let me eat my words. Never judge a series by its first books, guys. I am a verified fangirl of Celaena & co. In fact, I declare this week to be THRONE OF GLASS WEEK! on the blog 😀
Let be rave on about the ways in which Crown of Midnight was superior in EVERY way to Throne of Glass.
1. No More Pesky Exclamation Marks!
One of the things that really put me off Throne of Glass was the excessive use of exclamation marks. There are none to be seen in Crown of Midnight – already a marked improvement. This also meant that Celaena’s voice was a lot more enjoyable in this book, I felt that she was a little childish in Throne of Glass (I know it still sounds like I’m dissing the series, but trust me, it gets better).
2. Meatier Plot, Less Ambling
“Then Celaena and the King of Adarlan smiled at each other, and it was the most terrifying thing Dorian had ever seen.”
I am glad to see the plot solidify in this instalment, working towards a greater scheme and grander conflicts. I love epic fantasy for its ability to span across years and continents in the name of storytelling, as Crown of Midnight veers the series into more comfortable territory for me plot-wise, you an imagine my glee. The world building is more fleshed out as we get more details of kingdoms aside from Adarlan, we also get more entrenched in magic as the story progresses. There are also glimpses at goddesses and faes, basically all that fantasy good stuff that turns me into a fangirl with ready ears.
3. Turned Me Into A Celaena Fan!
“To escape death, she’d become death.”
I’ll admit, I was completely bewildered and confused by the Celaena love in fandom – I thought she did very little to earn it in Throne of Glass. However, in Crown of Midnight she gets a bit more agency and starts driving the plot forward in her own way, which goes miles into making me love her. I am exposed to her fierce protectiveness (something you only tend to see in male characters in YA, to have it be the defining characteristic of a female character? AWESOME). I can see more of her layers, on how Celaena is one persona she puts up in order to survive. We get to see the first conflict in what will become a long journey of self-discovery in later books. Celaena’s also unflinchingly gray morally, she does some truly horrific and despicable things in the book – but I get her reasonings, I still root for her. Plus she looks fabulous no matter what she does, there’s a woman after my own heart, right there.
4. More Complex Relationships
“It was like coming home or being born or suddenly finding an entire half of herself that had been missing.”
I love romance, but I can’t handle it when a love triangle appears to take centre stage. Thankfully, while Crown of Midnight had a romance between Celaena and Chaol that was pretty much burning up my pages with chemistry – it also had a lot of other relationships going for it. There’s her beautiful and heartwrenching friendship with Nehemia (which, I don’t even want to talk about anymore). There’s her complicated relationship with the past, which we get tantalising hints about in this book. There’s also the complicated layers to her relationship with Chaol, torn as they are between loyalty and love. Although I can’t say I’m a fan of the Chaolena ship (my ship arrives in the next book, for those who have not seen me froth at the mouth all over twitter), I do appreciate their link a whole lot more in Crown of Midnight.
5. ACTUAL ASSASSINATING!
YES! Celaena Sardothien lives up to her name: the most lethal Assassin in Adarlan. I was legit scared of her at some points in this book. I could finally see the light as to why the characters were all waxing poetic about her in Throne of Glass. I also enjoyed that while she is a formidable fighter, she is not all powerful. There’s just enough vulnerability here to temper her various traits to help her veer from Mary Sue territory.
Have you ever changed your opinion on a series part way through?
Anyway, I will be posting my review of Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, and some graphics later on this week! Keep an eye out 😀
Read at Midnight 
YAY SO HAPPY YOU NOW LOVE THE SERIES 😀 And yes to a ToG Week!! DO IT
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Yes this week will def be TOG week!! I am so glad I continued with the series. I am pretty much a rabid fangirl by the end of HoF!!
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OMG Yaas, I’m so glad you liked it!! All I’ve heard are rave reviews on this series and that it gets better by each book. 😀 I’m waiting for it to finish though so I can binge read all the books when they’re out haha.
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EEEP get on the hype train while the series is ongoing and suffer the wait with us!!
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Love this review! I am in complete agreement with you. I disliked Throne of Glass, and then things got better in Crown of Midnight, and then the gloriousness of Heir of Fire came along! I have yet to read Queen of Shadows, but I know for a fact I am going to love it!!
Celaena definitely starts to grow on you more as the series progresses. We finally get to see why she’s the best assassin in the country. But the most important factor was the fantasy lore this book explores more in depth with.
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If you like Heir of Fire you will love Queen of Shadows. It seems people either love the first two, or the latest two books – there are no in between XD I LOVE AELIN! I think Celaena was great by the end of Crown of Midnight but I enjoy her living as her true identity a whole lot more! So glad we agree on this series 💗
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I’m definitely on the latter half of the series. The first two were just alright for me. Nothing spectacular! Except my fav character getting murdered T__T
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I know!! Nehemia!! My beautiful princess!! I am so upset. Even though Manon is suitably awesome as a new female character.
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But no one can replace Nehemia. I think that’s what kind of pissed me off about the first two books. She could have been the best of friends with Aelin xD
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YES! ToG WEEK!
I also was not a big fan of Throne of Glass (I gave it 3.5 or 4 stars, but I enjoyed all the other books more, including The Assassin’s Blade). Crown of Midnight was definitely a huge step up. I didn’t really see where the series was going to go after I finished ToG, but CoM and all the other books so far have had clear (ish) future directions.
Also, I cannot wait until your HoF review because we can finally talk about our man! *dies*
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I still have to read The Assassin’s Blade! Couldn’t find it at my local stores. I think ToG was definitely the weakest plot wise. And you know my HoF review would just be me rolling on the floor raving about Rowan and Manon XD
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And you know that I will read every word of your fangirling and roll around on my own floor.
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Now I’m officially curious about this series. Thanks to you Aentee.
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Yes check it out, and hang in there even if you don’t like ToG! It gets better!
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I still have no idea of what ToG is about. All I know is how majority of the social media disliked the book. Hopefully before this year ends I will have the time to read the series. 🙂
(I’m looking forward to your next reviews (and graphics) so hurry up!) Lol
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Awesome review, Aentee! Everyone’s raving about the Throne of Glass series, especially since book 4 dropped! I am sort of reading it but will give it my full attention once I finish Night Owls 🙂 I can’t read two books at the same time unfortunately lol. Sounds like this is the book that Celaena gets involve in some kickass assassinating! I’m glad you enjoyed this more than the first book! I know I’m not going to like book 1 but everyone’s enthusiasm on the series is encouraging me to give the series a chance. And I am fangirling over the illustration you’ve created! I love the roses graphics and the watercolours are a beau! Makes me want to go off and paint 😀
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Night Owls looks so awesome, I hope you enjoy it 😀 I would start with The Assassin’s Blade first as it sounds more representative of the entire series, lest you be put off by Throne of Glass haha. And thank you so much, you are such an amazing artist I get ridiculously happy when I hear you enjoy my graphics XD
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I’m almost crying with happiness that Crown of Midnight changed your mind. We could have been one fan missing if you didn’t continue on with this series! While I loved Throne of Glass, I have to agree that Celaena didn’t really live up to her label in the first book. But the book really set the foundation for the story to REALLY begin in Crown of Midnight. I flew through Crown of Midnight and damn that chemistry was burning up my pages too! Honestly I was really shipping Celaena and Chaol… But after meeting a certain silver-haired Fae prince, that ship has long since sunk. 😆😆😆
I am so extremely happy you are now part of the Throne of Glass series family 💕💕💕💕💕💕
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I am crying with joy for myself as I’ve finally caught Throne of Glads fever! The fans for the series are all so wonderfully creative and passionate I am glad to join you all. Lmao Rowan is the only ship for me tbh 💕
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This book is one of the strongest in the series so far, IMO. I’m so glad that you enjoyed it! It was such a giant step up in terms of so many aspects, like you mentioned.
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I agree!! I actually liked book 3 and 4 even more, but I know lots of people think that Crown of Midnight is the best. I can understand why, there’s lots of gutsy emotional conflicts!
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This second book was definitely stronger than the first one. It’s certainly where we get to see Celeana emerge as a character. I couldn’t get into HoF, so I think I’m done with this series. I struggle with multiple POVs way too much and there were too many in HoF for me to enjoy the book. But I hope this series continues to be amaze-balls for you! 🙂
Fabulous review and graphics as always, Aentee!
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Oh I’m so sad to hear you didn’t like HoF, that’s actually where I became a rabid fangirl of the book!! I adore multiple POVs when it’s done well like in these books so I don’t have the same issues! Thank you Nick!!
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The second was my favorite of the first three book. The third felt like it had too many narrators, but I still liked it. Excited to see what happens in Queen of Shadows now that more of the characters should hopefully be meeting back up.
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Queen of Shadows is amazing!! But I am speaking as someone who loved Heir of Fire – and the two books are quite similar in tone. I hope you’ll love it as I did!
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Yeah, I’m kind of worried about how I’ll like Queen of Shadows after thinking Heir of Fire was good but not great. Guess I’ll have to read it and find out. 🙂
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I haven’t read any of these books yet. (More because it seems like my library never has them when I am there) but I might just have to go out and buy them 🙂
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Yes! Try them! Even if you don’t like the first book you’ll probably end up loving the rest of the series. Or try Assassin’s Blade first. It’s the prequel and a lot more representative of the series than the first book.
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I blame you for actually making me laugh out loud. In the staffroom during my lunch break. With someone else here. *pityingly weak glare*
I almost want to speed through ToG, but me speeding through anything is a miracle and of itself, lol. Glad you gave the other books a chance, and it’s certainly great that you ended up liking the characters! 😀
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You are welcome for your lunchtime entertainment *beams* I’m so glad I pushed through with the series as well. The gorgeous covers certainly helped in motivating me cos I kept wanting to buy the books lmao.
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Crown of Midnight is my favorite of all the books so far. That assassination was epic…she SLAYED him! Glad you enjoyed this book!
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That assassination scene was bloodcurdling and quite epic. I agree! Glad you enjoyed it as well!!
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It’s good to know that the series get better book by book. I am not really into Throne of Glass but I guess I’ll try my luck with Crown of Midnight. Great review as always!
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Yes! Definitely try out Crown of Midnight, Throne of Glass is the weakest link in the series but the rest of the books are fantastic!
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Crown of Midnight is my favorite in the series so glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂 SPOILERS: I was also worried at first when Celaena wasn’t killing them at first because I was like…you’re an assassin but the ending really picked up!
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The latter half of CoM was amazing even though it broke my heart a little! Have you read QoS?
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I haven’t! And I don’t know when I’ll get to it but it would be cool to buddy read that too? haha
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YES I HAD THE EXACT SAME THOUGHTS AS YOU. I read Throne of Glass and I was like…what’s everyone raving about? Then Crown of Midnight was just amaaaaazing. You should also read The Assassin’s Blade – it’s my second-favourite of the series 🙂
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I can’t find The Assassin’s Blade at my local bookstores, I’ve read two of the short stories before ToG came out, though I must brace my heart for the rest of the stories because SAMM!
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I absolutely LOVE the graphic you used for this review. And I agree! Assassin! Team Celaena! Yessss! I’m so glad you loved this and great review! 😀
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Thank you Vane! I’ll be posting a wallpaper based off this graphics later on this week so I hope that pleases you! I am so glad I stuck with the series 😀
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Interesting that this one started looking up for you, as I thought it was probably the weakest of the four books so far. Not bad, but still, way more dramatics than I would have preferred. The series really started turning around for me with Heir of Fire, so I’m looking forward to your thoughts! 🙂
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I live for angst, might have been why I enjoyed this book so much. I started LOVING the series in Heir of Fire though, it turned into a more fully fleshed fantasy with that book. QoS is amazing! Have you read it?
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I can’t believe I gave up on this! *hides away* I promise I’d pick it up and give it another go! If it changed your mind about Celaena then it must be a big leap from Throne of Glass 🙂
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YESSS You must try it, I was vehement about my dislike of the first book but it really turns around -especially in book 3!
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I’ll be honest I’m still working on this series and still not completely sold. The audiobook made her seem even more annoying in book one, I’ve read Crown of Midnight so now I’m neutral, but not convinced yet ;-). I do plan on reading Heir of Fire sometime since there are dragons, so I must haha
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YESSS go read it, there’s a great dragon and dragonrider alike in Heir of Fire, I think you’ll love Manon and the witch society 😀 The first two books were the weakest IMO, the 3rd and 4th are heading in a direction I am 100% happy with.
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This is one series I NEED to read! Which turns my stomach because books here in SA are SO expensive!! (She says, adding more books to her online shopping cart)
Nihaad – the little blog of STUFF
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You can try Book Depository? Hope you’ll get a chance to read the series soon!
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I’ve been following this series ever since it’s first draft on fictionpress but I completely agree that Crown of Midnight was the one that won me over to the TOG series! I really need to dive into Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows – my sister has copies and she is bemused over why I haven’t read them so that we can chat about them. I also need to read them so I can join in the squeeing over here!
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Yes I pretty much lost my shit and became a rabid fan girl with Heir of Fire haha!! You must finish Queen of Shadows soon! There’s a goodreads group hosted by Anjie, Josie, Erika and Miedjel, I linked to it in my HoF and QoS post. Omgggg spoil me for the fictionpress ending. I heard it was Dorian/Celaena in the end?! Say it isn’t soooo!!
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Now I must read the sequels to jump into the goodreads fun!! I’ll start them as soon as I finish Pantomime. XD Yes, it was Dorian/Celaena in the fictionpress version (but I assure you all of her suitors had quite the presence in that one too. Also, Chaol and Celaena had chemistry in the FP version but I was not prepared for it to step up another notch in the published version!) Though SJ Maas has said that the ending she has in mind now is completely different from the fictionpress one – so it will be fresh for all of us! I reckon any ship has a chance at this point.
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