A review by readwithmekt
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Celaena has become the King’s Champion and all that entails, at least that is what she wants the King to think. She will stop at nothing to prevent the evil that she can feel lurking. However she is not the only force trying to right wrongs. Celaena will do anything to protect the ones that she loves, but with secrets surrounding everyone and everything will she be able to keep those she cares most about safe?

I loved every second of this book! I felt that the pace really picked up, especially during the second half of the book. It was a challenge to put it down most nights/days. I went through a bunch of emotions as I was reading, there were times when I was shocked and times when I was sad, almost to the point of crying (not going to spoil why, in case others are like me and are late to reading this series 🙂). There were times when I wanted to yell at the characters! I was completely immersed in this installment!

Celaena is amazingly strong and kicks butt. I loved reading through her continued development and her challenges with being able to open herself up to others again after how she had been burned in the past. I have seen that there are different ways of reading this series and at this point I am going to say that I agree that The Assassin’s Blade should be read at the beginning because it gives a lot of context for the challenges and struggles that Celaena is dealing with. 

Chaol, I think that I am going to be in the minority when I say this, is one of my favorite characters so far in the book, aside from Celaena. I feel that he is a great balance to her and allows for her to be who she is. The banter between them continues to be incredible and I looked forward to every scene they were both in. Dorian, especially during this book, started to get on my nerves a little. Though he said he accepted things I found his character to be extremely whiny at parts. Him outside of the Celaena part has very interesting character development and I am excited to see what the future holds for him. 

The pace of this book was medium for the first half and then fast for the second half. The chapters varied in length, which surprisingly did not bother me because I was so invested m. From what I have read so far this is shaping up to be a really fun series and I am super excited to see what the next books bring. 

Have you read Crown of Midnight? What did you think?