But death was her curse and her gift, and death had been her good friend these long, long years.
Crown of Midnight follows on from Throne of Glass and is where we really start to gain a better understanding of Calaena’s character and her past.
After surviving the trials in Throne of Glass, Calaena finds herself working alongside the king as his personal assassin, which seems to cause friction amongst her fellow companions as they find it too hard to understand why she would want to work alongside the same man that is responsible for the massacre that killed her parents ten years ago.
However, Calaena is being driven by her own personal agenda. One that requires unearthing all the dark secrets the king has tried so hard to bury and facing her past.
One thing I found whilst reading Crown of Midnight was that my opinions on the characters had changed from Throne of Glass, as true colours began to show and characters started to unravel. Chaol, Calaena’s love interest in the novel is someone I very much championed for in Throne of Glass, because he had this sense of simplicity and warmth about him that made him highly attractive. However, Chaol really seemed to struggle with who Calaena really was in this novel which left me wondering whether he was the one? Dorian, the Crown Prince and a close confidante began to mature and grow as a person - this somewhat brought him and Calaena closer together.
Maas delivers a strong sequel that offers hard hitting and jaw-dropping revelations throughout. I found it extremely difficult to put down Crown of Midnight as I felt like every time I got to a point where I could, a new secret was revealed. As a result, I would describe the second novel of this amazing trilogy as a roller coaster of emotions.
In conclusion, Sarah J. Maas took all the good stuff from Throne of Glass like action and romance, increased them dramatically and added great insight into characters and elaborated on previously hinted history of fae ancestors and magic abilities. A definite 5*.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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