I’m not normally a fan of high fantasy, but Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass enchanted me last year — and once again, Maas has swept me away with the much-anticipates sequel, Crown of Midnight.
After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king’s contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.
Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king’s bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she’s given a task that could jeopardize everything she’s come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon — forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.
Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?
I always second-guess myself when I pick up a book in a genre that isn’t normally my cup of tea — but it took only a few sentences for me to forget that wariness and get sucked into the action within the pages of Crown of Midnight.
Maas writes her epic fantasy with a breezy, enticing flair that makes it easy for readers to slip into her world — whether regular readers of the genre or not. The adventure is fast-paced and engaging, the romance is deliciously enticing, and the ever-twisting plot impossible to put down.
Crown of Midnight continues the elegantly plotted and easy to read saga of Caelena that began in Throne of Glass without slowing down. There is no “middle book syndrome” to worry about here. The plot twists and surprises continue to unfold as the action and intrigue is elevated to a whole new level. And while Maas is certainly setting the stage for an explosive finale to her trilogy, Crown of Midnight is no mere segue. This middle book holds its own with an unraveling mystery, shocking revelations, and a love triangle that is far from cookie cutter.
Crown of Midnight is in stores now.
Novel Novice 