Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas Review

Goodreads summary:
Crowned by Evil.
Bound by Duty.
Divided by Love.

Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan's deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies' blood - but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, put those she loves at risk.

Torn between her two protectors - a captain and a prince - and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart or the fate of a kingdom...

Review:

Oh. My. God.

I thought the first book was amazing. This one is better! I could not stop reading. I read it in a day and immediately started Heir of Fire!

The characters are as consistent as the first book, and the story just flows on from the end of Throne of Glass. I love the development of all of the characters, especially Celaena and surprisingly, Dorian, who has discovered that he too has some special abilities.

Some of the way, I was thinking, "Celaena, just do what you're told!" but where's the fun in that? Lol. And then it turned out that I was right!

I loved the advancement of the relationships in this book. I wasn't really fond of the pairing in the first book, but this one got it right (I ship those two so much!).

There were a few new characters, as well as one favourite character of mine that is gone for (as far as I know) good. This departure was necessary though, as it triggered the climax of the story (and ripped my heart out along the way).

If there's one thing we can all learn from this series, is that you should never push Celaena's Berserk Button. Shit goes down, and down it went!

I don't know how I got the impression that Celaena didn't remember her past before she became an assassin, but that's what I thought from the start of Throne of Glass, and then I realised as the story progressed, that Celaena knows exactly who she is and hides it on purpose, not only because she doesn't want anyone to know, but that she'd rather not take up that particular role again.

Whilst the book didn't end on much of a cliffhanger, Chaol's realisation in the last chapter that Celaena isn't who he thought she was gives the impression that his attitude toward her is going to change dramatically. For better or worse, I'm looking forward to finding out!

I can't wait to finish Heir of Fire, and I'm sure it won't disappoint! I give Crown of Midnight a rating of 5/5.