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The second portion of April's assigned books for the SJM Readalong starts with Crown of Midnight. This is the second book Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series. The readalong is being organized by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and each portion will have various other booktubers helping host. The plan is to read SJM's backlist in publication order. I was able to use this book for the Love Has Sprung prompt booksta rec and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt Wildest Dreams (outside normal romance sub-genre).
Now that Celaena is the King's Champions, she's been tasked to deal with various "traitors." As rebel forces start to grow stronger with the supposed backing of the missing Terrasen princess, Celaena is torn between helping those and staying alive. As Celaena struggles balancing her true motives, staying on the king's good side, her friendships with Dorian and Fehemia and a burgeoning romantic relationship with Chaol, the king's nefarious plans start to advance. Celaena and her friends are put into tough situations to make the best out of what's going on, but also struggle with being able to fully trust in each other. When a death occurs close to Celaena, all bets are off.
Wow, this was a good continuation of the series. I do have to say, while I really enjoyed this book as well, I think it will be after Throne of Glass on my ranking list. Back to here though. I really enjoyed seeing how Celaena was dealing with actually winning the competition and being forced to follow the King's bidding. I did love though that as the reader we got to see that she wasn't actually killing these so-called traitors, but helping them escape the continent. I loved that we got to see a lot more of Celaena's assassination skills and she was such a badass. I know that she'll just get more powerful from here though and I can't wait.
Now, there were a few detractors for me that kept it from 5-stars. One of the big parts though was the romance with Chaol. I didn't like the dynamic between them and just found myself so uninterested in their romance. I disliked the way he treated Dorian and Celaena in the first book at times, and really disliked how much he kept from her. It just didn't feel like he actually loved Celaena. He was constantly getting on my nerves and I was just over him. Another thing I do want to mention is that there are a lot of hints throughout that are revealed at the end of the book. I saw on the readalong discord that a lot of people were getting blown away by the ending, but because I caught a lot of the hints it was more of a "okay, I'm right" feeling. Not that it wasn't good, but I just want to put it out there since I feel it was a little overhyped for me. I was expecting things to be completely blown open. I have to say, I was more surprised by the fact that Dorian has magic than the reveals we learned about Celaena. But then, once again, she only confides in Chaol even though her and Dorian have more secrets shared between them!
I'm certainly happy to continue reading the story and can't wait to see how this is all going to culminate. As for the romance, at this point I'm really hoping it's with someone we haven't met yet since it seems that Dorian has been friend-zoned. I just don't like Chaol. What makes me the most excited about the next book, Heir of Fire, is that we are leaving Rifthold and heading to a new city. I'm excited to see how the world expands!
Have you read Crown of Midnight?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: Crown of Midnight, Sarah J Maas, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 432 pages, published in 2013, traditionally published
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