Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

128 reviews

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

While I think the book had solid elements, I don’t think it was too much of a change from the last book.

I enjoyed the narrator and think she’s very skilled. Furthermore, I thought the introducing action of the book was very solid. My favourite part was Nehemia’s plot line and how it led to conflict between her and Celeana. It expanded on both characters very well.

However, I thought there was a lot left to be desired.

I was frustrated that Celeana wasn’t allowed to be morally grey. She’s a trained assassin, stopped in her tracks by a man seeming nice. I can’t buy into it. It also just made me really doubt Celeana and her skill, like she’s not everything the book CLAIMS she is.

I also found the foreshadowing and prose to be rather weak. To start, while the reveal of Celeana’s past was well built to, the big twist of the book was not. It caught me off guard in a bad way and I was baffled as to why and what the motivations for such actions were. The writing itself was also very repetitive. There were a lot of repeated words and phrases that would have been an easy fix, but weren’t. It just got old after a while.

I also, personally, didn’t care for the love triangle. It just severed to make me think less of the characters. Dorian and Chaol came across and entitled and whiny. Chaol especially was disappointing in this book, more than usual. Celeana also just felt too passive. It felt like so much of the book focused on this romance and I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Overall, the book was fine. It’s not my cup of tea but I see why people enjoy it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

nightingfae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is perfection. I don't know how this series can get any better (I know it does though).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

emma97louise's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Torture, Violence, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

abbyynormal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kristanjenkins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

hxlleann's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

miss_berry315's review against another edition

mysterious

3.25

The storyline in this one was more interesting than TOG was, though it still kinda feels like a setup to the main stories we will get with these characters. 
Not a fan of

like 85% of the book being driven by the absolute lack of communication between Celaena, Chaol, and Dorian

Also didn't really like

the whole love triangle thing. Just thruple and be done with it y'all smh. ((Half joking 🤭))

I am very very happy that

Fleetfoot is alive and going to be taken care of by Dorian. SJM if something happens to that doggo I will write a strongly worded, tear-stained letter about it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail

Dog:

gets hurt, but does not die.

natalierfields's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death

savage_book_review's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

As with my 'Throne of Glass' listen, I do think I got more out of the physical book (which I have reviewed previously) - my reading pace means I can work my way through the plot quickly and keep things moving, but listening at a predetermined speed means this feels a lot slower. This one is also a LOT of worldbuilding and set up for the main story arc, and this early on there are a lot of unanswered questions, which also drags the narrative down.

I'll say it now; I don't really get all the shade people throw at Chaol. No, he isn't my favourite character, but I get the sense that he genuinely just wants to do the right thing for his country, himself and his friends. He may not always achieve the desired result, but it's not him being malicious, it's just how he's wired. The audiobook for me only reinforces this view. 

I appreciate that the 'reveal' in this doesn't come as a surprise to me as this was a reread, but if it was I think I'd have had a bigger reaction to it by reading the physical book. The narration is as good as ever, but there's just something about this section that falls a bit flat for me - it doesn't give me that heightened heartbeat or that build up and crash of a wave that should come from a big moment. 

In accordance with SJM's instructions, Assassin's Blade is up next.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and War

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Updated Review (June 2024):

Still fantastic. Dorian really grew on me this time around, and all the little hints and bits of foreshadowing are really just so fun to catch on a reread. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Original Review (March 2023):

Rating: 5/5 stars.

Splendid, perfect, marvelous, a bunch more adjectives. I was already enjoying this series but this is definitely the one that truly hooked me after the midway point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Torture