Crown of Midnight Review and Recap

So, you finished Throne of Glass, and now you’ve decided to pick up the next book. I applaud you for making it this far, my friend. Now, get ready for the real fun to begin. I was so enamored by Throne of Glass that I read Crown of Midnight in a single day. That’s not to say that you should or need to read it that fast, I simply say this to point out that don’t worry, this book doesn’t disappoint after book one.

Who Should Read this Book…

People who like an assassin on a mission. Readers from Throne of Glass who loved Chaol (Dorian fans don’t worry, he has his shining moments too). 

Perfect if you Like…

• Yearning love triangle
• Chaol
• Drama and suspense
• Lore dropping for the world of Adarlan and Erilea
• Learning Celaena’s backstory
• Sword fights and secret missions

Non-Spoiler Review

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Crown of Midnight is the second book in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, and, in my opinion, is the point in the series where the flame is lit that carries the rest of the series to completion. The story picks up right where we left our beloved assassin, now King’s Champion, Celaena Sardothien, as she must now serve a king she hates for four years before she earns her freedom. If you want a quick refresh on the points from the first book, check out my Throne of Glass Recap blog post, where I break down the plot of the book (click here). Crown of Midnight dives a little bit more into life outside the glass castle of Rifthold, since Celaena is no longer confined to her room at all hours. I find this book to be a particularly fast read (considering that I read it for the first time in a single day lol). If you enjoyed Throne of Glass, I don’t see how you wouldn’t enjoy this continuation of the story, where you dive more into the story of Celaena, Chaol, Dorian, Nehemia, and Fleetfoot. While I find some of SJM’s books to start a little slow, Crown of Midnight is not one of them. The plot is always pushing and moving forward, which keeps it an engaging read. Welcome back to Adarlan. Enjoy the experience, my friend.

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SPoiler ZONE

We will now be diving into the full recap of Crown of Midnight. If you need a review of the events of Throne of Glass, check out my recap here. This is a recap of the entire book and WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS for Crown of Midnight (but there will be no spoilers beyond book 2). So if you haven’t finished the book yet, I implore you to go finish before you read the rest of this post. You have been warned…

The King’s CHampion

Eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan’s Assassin and now the King’s Champion, struts into the throne room after coming back from a mission. She plasters on the face of a cold killer and hoists up a head to display to the king, proving that she has taken out her target. Only, you quickly learn that Celaena is not actually killing any of her targets. Despite her position, she can’t stomach aiding the king in taking more innocent lives. So instead, she helps her targets escape and is playing a dangerous ruse. So when the king says her next target is Archer Finn, a courtesan that Celaena has personal history with, who the king claims is part of an organized rebel group, she knows she’s about to get in way over her head.

After Celaena ‘broke up’ with Dorian, pointing out that their current positions would not be conducive to a relationship, she keeps her distance from him and naturally finds more comfort in her evolving friendship with Chaol. Celaena has only a month to dispatch Archer, and she tracks him and his little rebel friends down in a matter of days.

Archer spent some time training with Celaena under Arobynn Hamel, King of the Assassins, so she cares for him a little more than her other targets. She makes the same deal with Archer that she has with her past targets, promising to help him fake his death, but she demands that he scrounge up some information that she can feed to the king to appease his interest in terminating the rising rebels. Archer, eager to stay alive, quickly accepts the terms of her deal and tells her that the rebels in Rifthold who are gathering want to put Aelin Galathynius, the lost heir, back on the throne of Celaena’s home kingdom, Terrasen.

Celaena treks behind the tapestry in her room to the hidden tunnels beneath the castle, where she goes to the tomb of Elena, the first queen of Adarlan. On this particular trip, Celaena is introduced to Mort, a sassy talking doorknocker into the tomb who seems intent on annoying her to no end (if you ask me, we don’t talk about Mort enough – he’s the best). Elena/Mort charge Celaena with finding the source of the king’s power and urge her to fight back against the tyrannical rule of the king of Adarlan, and Celaena mildly freaks out. She is just one person, one assassin. How can she single-handedly overthrow the most powerful ruler on the continent? Celaena confides all her worries, doubts, and schemes with Princess Nehemia of Eyllwe, showing the true friendship and trust between them. Nehemia knows that Celaena is not killing her targets and intends to help Archer Finn escape, information that is deadly for them both.

Celaena then makes the bold choice to visit Kaltain Rompier, the snotty court lady who poisoned her in the final duel to become the King’s Champion, in her cold and disgusting dungeon cell. She sees how poorly Kaltain is being treated and how Duke Perrington is using her and her body simply because he can. She comes to ask about Duke Perrington’s plans and hears of Kaltain’s worsening headaches, and, in her pity and solidarity, she offers Kaltain her cloak (then goes to tell Chaol that his men suck and are mistreating Kaltain so that he willdo his job and fix it). 

In Dorianland, he is processing the lose of his previous relationship with Celaena. He still loves her, but it seems that she is shunning him every chance she gets. He eventually has to accept the fact that they will not be more than they are now, which saddens him as he sees his best friend fall in love with the same girl. Things get particularly interesting when Dorian starts to form icicles out of nowhere. Dorian Havilliard, son of the man who banned magic, has magic… He begins to wonder if he can seek advice on how to control his power from Baba Yellowlegs, the Ironteeth witch who is visiting Rifthold with the carnival.

And now, Chaol girls, enjoy your moment in the spotlight. Over the first half of the book, Chaol and Celaena grow closer and closer. He takes care of her after she collapses half dead at his door from poison. He also gets a bit jealous seeing her flirt a slight bit with Archer Finn, but don’t you worry, they still go on their morning runs (where some court ladies come to watch a shirtless Chaol that Celaena doesn’t notice, of course). The tension between the assassin and the captain grows and grows, and they even share a sweet dance in the moonlight while on guard duty.

Chaol has feelings for our girl, no doubt, but his duty constantly battles his heart’s longing for her. They have an undeniable connection, but I truly don’t understand Chaol most of the time. His defining trait is loyalty, which is why Celaena loves him – because he is a good man with a loyal heart in a heartless kingdom. However, I don’t understand how quickly we overlook the fact that he is loyal to the king. She ends her relationship with Dorian because of his position, but Chaol’s stance is no better (at least Dorian makes it very clear that he wants to change). Chaol was the first place of rest for Celaena, but that doesn’t mean it was right or safe (sorry not sorry to all you Chaol fans).

Celaena then celebrates the ten-year anniversary of her parents’ death. Nehemia tells Chaol about this, and he finds her later that night, in the midst of emotional processing. So, he comforts her, and they almost kiss… But don’t worry, folks, because the very next day is Chaol’s birthday, when Celaena prepares him a very special dinner and tells Chaol that she hasn’t actually been killing her targets. And in this moment, Chaol commits to his feelings for her, saying he will run off with her, and they share a passionate kiss and a memorable night. 

Celaena and Chaol enjoy sneaking around in their newly committed romantic relationship and carving out time in their schedules to be together. But the two decide not to break the news of their relationship to Dorian quite yet (although rest assured, he knows). Celaena skips off to visit Nehemia and tell her of her escapades with Chaol, but the two get in a nasty fight. Nehemia insists that Celaena begin fighting back against the king. That she takes a stand for what she knows is right. But Celaena backs away from the proposition, hoping only for her freedom and self-preservation. She may care about the rebel cause, but that doesn’t mean that she will throw everything out the window after just escaping Endovier. 

When Celaena huffs her way to Chaol’s room later, still upset over her argument with Nehemia, she finds a note saying Chaol has been kidnapped. And in that moment, the assassin snapped. She was not about to let another person she loved die, so she grabbed her weapons and stalked down to an abandoned warehouse for a hunt. She practically flies through the window and kills everyone, not stopping for a moment until Chaol is safe back in her arms. Imagine her shock when she sees that Archer is the one who decided to take the captain. 

Archer reveals that Chaol had been made aware of an anonymous threat on Nehemia’s life, which he conveniently decided not to mention to Celaena. Archer was hoping to kidnap Chaol and turn Celaena to side with the rebels, for he reveals that he had been working alongside Nehemia for months to build the rebel cause. We then learn that the king planned to question Nehemia that night, and Chaol still said nothing. Archer is worried that the king will try something on Nehemia, and Celaena freaks out once more, even more so tbh, and runs faster than the horses back to the castle. She is horrified to find her friend’s room covered in blood and her broken body on the bed: dead.

THE QUEEN’S ARROW

Needless to say, Celaena losses it. She lays there at the feet of her mutilated friend, and when Chaol and Dorian enter the room along with several other guards, it’s not pretty. Celaena attacks Chaol and slashes his face real good. She screams that he will always be her enemy and nearly kills him (she gets a dagger right above his heart), but then Dorian stops her hand with magic – and she is the only one who knows it. 

Chaol has Celaena placed in the dungeons while he waits out the rage of her temper, but that doesn’t work too well. The second Celaena was released from that chamber, she hunted and stalked Rifthold to find Grave, the assassin hired to murder Nehemia. Grave was one of the competitors in the champion competition, and Celaena remembers his sadistic tendencies and love of extravagant blood and pain. Celaena brings his head before the king and reveals that it was one of the Lords of the court that held Grave’s leash. And she gladly watches as the nobleman gets dragged off. 

While all of this is happening, Chaol is just looking on, horrified. For how could the woman he cared for, the woman he loved, be so cruel and blood thirsty? He keeps watch on her, wary that she will snap and destroy everyone and everything, so he sees when she goes to the patch of dirt where Nehemia was buried and sings an ancient lament in a foreign language. This strange yet beautiful song leads Chaol to question Celaena’s past, for how could she know something done only among the inner circle of Terrasen’s court? So Chaol begins investigating Celaena’s past, worried that she poses a threat to Adarlan as a high noble of Terrasen. 

Celaena is pissed and grieving, so she tells Archer he needs to get the hell out of dodge ASAP or she will kill him. In this same grief, she ends up having dinner with Dorian, who welcomes her with open arms. Not in any sort of romantic way, but as someone who sees his friend struggling and wants her to know that while they may not be romantically involved, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love and care about her. That and well, Celaena questions him a little bit about his magic, and they mend their friendship slowly but surely.

And then we return back to Baba Yellowlegs, who drops some serious lore. So you see, Celaena finds a riddle in Elena’s tomb and has been working to crack it, and uncovers that the riddle/poem depicts the location of three Wyrdkeys. The Wyrdkeys are used to open the Wyrdgates that connect realms, which is how the horrible creatures called the valg were able to enter Erilea. The only way to close the gate that exists between worlds and to permanently sever the ties with the valg is to reunite all three Wyrdkeys, which have been scattered, and seal them back within the gate. The Valg were defeated long ago, but the Wyrdkeys still exist, and the King of Adarlan has at least one, which is how he took over the continent and why he holds so much power. 

Celaena is horrified by the implications and worried that if the king obtains all three keys, he will be unstoppable and take over their realm and countless others. As Baba Yellowlegs explains the Wyrdkeys, she also reveals that Dorian visited her and was asking questions about magic. Concerned for her friend, Celaena kills Baba Yellowlegs so she can’t spread anything about Dorian’s abilities. Yet, killing Yellowlegs proved to be difficult since she was a blue-blooded, ruthless Ironteeth witch.

Celaena begins to adventure through a long-forgotten passage in the library that she stumbled upon earlier in the book. She uses the creepy book that keeps appearing randomly when she needs it (almost like magic!), The Walking Dead, which shows her Wyrdmarks unlocking the doors in this dungeon-like library tunnel. She goes through a hall with 99 doors, then one with 66, then one with 33, then 22, 11, and 9. Celaena walks these spiraling hallways until she realizes she is beneath the base of the creepy black stone clock tower. As she puts two and two together, she finds that she is not alone in these corridors.

Dorian saw Celaena enter the tunnel and decided to follow her, but just as he caught up to her, the prince and the assassin found themselves running away from a monster from the depths of the dungeons. Celaena and Dorian fight the unnatural creature, and Dorian attempts to use his magic to help while Celaena beheads the thing, which smells yucky yucky yucky. Upon closer examination of the body, Celaena makes an educated guess that this thing used to be human at one point. She theorizes that the king is using the twisted power of the Wyrdkey(s) to create these monsters. She also remembers how Kaltain mentioned constant headaches, and how several of the king’s closest douchebags all wear matching black rings made from the same stone as the clock tower. 

Celaena continues piecing together information about the Wyrdkeys and discovers that Kaltain and Roland, Dorians’ obnoxious cousin, were taken to Morath with Duke Perrington (presumably for something bad). And then Celaena makes the brass decision to use the Wyrdmark spells from The Walking Dead to open a portal (similar to how Cain did in Throne of Glass) to speak to Nehemia to get clarification on all this, as well as get some closure for the death of her friend. But the first king of Adarlan, Gavin, enters into Dorian’s dream and tells him how to find Celaena in the secret tunnels and basically warns him that she needs assistance. So naturally, Dorian springs up and then snags Chaol before going to investigate whatever is up with Celaena now. 

Celaena uses Wyrdmarks to open a portal, where Nehemia tells her that she knew she was going to die and embraced her fate, and that Celaena can never open the portal again because next time something much nastier will come through. Then, as Celaena turned around, she found Archer Finn, her original target. It is revealed that he also knows about the Wyrdkeys and was ultimately behind orchestrating Nehemia’s death. And he decides to steal The Walking Dead and make a run for it as Dorian, Chaol, and Fleetfoot come crashing through the tunnel, and a monster pops up out of the portal. 

During the ensuing fight, because everyone (minus that traitor Archer) is together, Chaol finally learns that Dorian has magic. The monster grabs Fleetfoot and takes her back through the portal, and Chaol follows, trying to save the dog. So, of course, Celaena follows too (and knocks Dorian out real quick so he can’t be too stupid and try to come after them. Celaena, in a twist of events, turns fae in the realm on the other side of the portal and kills the monster, saving Chaol and Fleetfoot. She stumbles back into the tunnels, then hunts down Archer as he tries to escape and guts him for treachery in organizing Nehemia’s death. 

Chaol is shocked at the realization of Dorain’s magic and Celaena’s fae heritage. Her grandmother was fae, and because of that lineage, she could switch between her fae and human forms (or did before magic disappeared 10 years earlier). Chaol ends up making a deal with his slimy father: he will return to the home (Anielle) he hates if his father helps approve a proposal that will send Celaena to Wendlyn, the continent to the east. Chaol’s slimy father accepts, and so Celaena, as the King’s Champion, is tasked with traveling to Wendlyn to dispatch the royal family. 

Celaena goes to Nehemia’s grave one last time before she departs, and makes an oath. She vows to free the people of Eyllwe, Nehemia’s people, since she is no longer there to do so. Celaena stands at the docks with Chaol as she gets ready to depart and whispers to him the truth of the Wyrdkeys and the Wyrdgate. Chaol caves in this final moment and tells Celaena he loves her. She only responds “I’m sorry” and whispers one last clue in his ear. The date her parents died. And so as Celaena sails off, unsure if she will ever return and what that would even look like, Chaol ponders over this riddle and at long last uncovers the truth. Celaena Sardothien is actually Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, heir and rightful Queen of Terrasen. **insert gasp** 

See you for Heir of Fire R&R soon…