Title: Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J Maas
Publisher/Year: Bloomsbury USA 9/2/14
Length:   448 Pages
Series:  Throne of Glass #2

Overview

Celaena Sardothien is the king’s Champion-yet she is far from loyal to the crown, for the man she serves is bent on evil. But working against her master in secret is no easy task. As Celaena tries to untangle the mysteries buried within the glass castle, she can trust no one, not even her supposed allies Crown Prince Dorian, Captain of the Guard Chaol, and foreign princess Nehemia.

Then, an unspeakable tragedy shatters Celaena’s world. She must decide once and for all where her loyalties lie . . . and whom she will fight for.

My Thoughts

The story continues now that we know that Caleana has been named the king’s champion and that’s where we pick up the story.  Of course it’s made even more complicated since we know that there were feelings between Caleana and Dorian but she put an end to that because of what she is expected to do, and that opens the door for Choal.  Mind you i know that there are a lot of ‘Team Choal’ folks out there, i’m not one of them.

The biggest thing about this second book is that we are seeing Caleana come to terms with what she’s been told to do by the king, and of course she’s going to do it in her way.  We also see that Queen Elena keeps coming back to her with her task and it’s really hard to see what it is exactly that she’s being asked to do.

On top of that, we still see that there’s dark magic at play like we did in the first book and don’t now where it’s coming from.  That’s the biggest bit of the story that we have to see manifest throughout.  Nehemia continues to be a really good source of information, but there’s so much distrust for her throughout the story that you don’t know exactly what she’s involved with and what side she’s on.  Caleana spends a lot of the time on both sides of that friendship, trusting and not trusting her.

Then there’s the threat of a rebellion of sorts – there are rumors that the true heir to Terresan isn’t dead like presumed, and that if there’s any hope in overthrowing the King in Adarlan, it’s this mystery heir since she supposedly has the military backing that would e needed and a magical heritage that would lay down a path of something so much bigger than anyone else.

Throughout this second book we see the stage laid out – wondering who’s going to survive and who’s relationships are going to hold strong.  Caleana continues to be plagued by Elena and the magic in the castle and when she finally realizes the meaning to some of the clues, that there are 3 keys that can open a portal to another realm, and that the king has at least one, we know that her mission is clear that she needs to get the power back.

Where we are left at the end of this story is a very exciting place.  We learn that Dorian has magic in him but we have no idea where it came from and what he’s capable of.  We also learn more and more about Caleana’s past and how it makes her so much more than she appears.  We also see that there’s really no way to trust anyone since there’s so much magic floating around.  I’m excited to see what’s next since one of our favorite characters has been killed, a favorite is being sent to another world, and one has made the decision to leave Adarlan in the hopes of saving everyone.  So….onto the next.  Have a great day!