Crown of Midnight is the second book in the Throne of Glass fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas that follows the story of assassin, Celaena Sardothien. I’m listening to this series on audiobook and the narrator Elizabeth Evans is brilliant. She truly embodies the characters and really makes getting drawn into the story easy.
And now, we hunt…
Crown of Midnight really picks up the pace from the first book with less scene-setting and far more action. Celaena is now crowned the King’s Assassin, and in order to earn her freedom in 4 years time, she is tasked with killing, well, anyone the King decides. However, she’s not quite playing by the rules.
Alongside her day job, Celaena is discovering things about the King’s palace via hidden tunnels and a highly entertaining talking door-knocker. (This is true fantasy, go with it. Plus the narrator gives the door-knocker AKA Mort a cocky New-York accent which really works for him.) The primary issue being the King’s ability to get rid of all magic from his kingdom…
And so, through this plotline, the obligatory fantasy-book-search-for-things begins. In this case, it’s wyrdkeys that will unlock the wyrdgates and, in theory work to bring back the magic. To begin to crack any of this, Celaena must also solve a riddle (standard).
The love triangle that began in Throne of Glass continues here (with Captain of the Guard Chaol and Prince Dorian) but it’s the way the two love interests are balanced that give it all a very interesting dynamic. Still no spice though. These books are very much fantasy, not romantasy.
The whole Maas universe
There are hints dropped throughout Crown of Midnight that there is a lot more to Celaena’s backstory that she has not yet revelaed to us (the reader), that her roots might be a lot more high-brow and noble than we have been brought to believe so far…
We also get our first references to the other worlds and portals that the whole Sarah J. Maas universe is built on. The fact that all of her series (this one, ACOTAR and Crescent City) are all part of same universe with subtle, snaking links makes reading these books even more exciting.
Now, thanks to BookTok, I did actually know the twist / revelation at the end of Crown of Midnight BUT that didn’t take away from the my reading (well, listening) experience. It’s perfectly paced and I really wish I didn’t already know as my jaw would have been on the floor.
It really feels like things are ramping up now in the story and I’m looking forward to delving into the next book, Heir of Fire.
- Get your copy of Crown of Midnight here;
- Audiobook narrated by Elizabeth Evans;
- Running time:12 hours 43 minutes;
- Published by Bloomsbury 2014;
- 420 pages;
- My rating:
Books on the 7:47 