Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #2
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: August 15th 2013
Source: Netgalley

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.But her heart never wavers.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?

Never in a million years did I imagine that this book would be so much better than the first one. But Sarah J Maas upped her game with this one. There was a lot more mystery, some assassin-y behaviour and a lot more twists that I never saw coming!

Crown of Midnight was such a spectacular book. Celaena is one of my all time favourite characters. She's badass, protective of her friends, funny and she always tries to do the right thing. that last reasons is why I loved her so much in this book. She's a completely different person from who she was before she got sent to Endovier. Her morals had changed and she was determined to keep it a secret. She has these two sides to her: the assassin and the girl who loves nothing more than wearing pretty dresses and reading. Both sides of her are awesome!

I fell in love with Chaol even more in this book. He's so protective of Celaena and he cares deeply about her. He would do anything for her. He's so funny and sweet and everytime he and Celaena were together, I found myself smiling. I just wanted them together so much! <3

I did feel slightly bad for Dorian in this one. After what happened between him and Celaena in Throne of Glass, and then him having to see Celaena & Chaol together must have torn him apart. He did try his best to move on, but he just couldn't. I very intrigued by him now after that twist with Dorian was revealed (which I think had something to do with Nehemia - remember the ball and the hand on his chest?) and I'm looking forward to seeing Dorian discovering more about it and how it happened.

Crown of Midnight was so fast paced that I just didn't want to put it down. There was so much mystery surrounding the characters and the storyline in this book and I was desperate to know more.
The King is definitely up to something, and I'm hoping the Celaena will be able to find out what it is and stop him before he gets too powerful. There was the rebel forces building up against The King too, and Celaena got mixed up in all of it and she was led astray which led to such a horrific experience for her.
And then there's the creepy thing wandering around the castle. I'm very curious to know why The King has it there, and whether he knew it was getting out. Oh, and what the hell it actually was!

The ending was fantastic! I'd kind of thought it throughout the book, but it was nice to see Chaol figuring it out and confirming it! So after that twist, I'm definitely even more excited for the next book!

My favourite part of the whole book would definitely have to be Chaol's birthday. <3

Overall, this was such a superb sequel. Definitely much better than the first book (and I really loved that one!). If you haven't started this series yet, I definitely recommend that you do! Asap! :)