Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

29 reviews

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Another solid re-read. In Crown of Midnight, Sarah J Maas focused a little more on romance but also didn't pull any punches when it came to the rebellion, politics, and the air of mystery surrounding the plot in general. 

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

As much as I love this book and understand the reasoning behind it, I will never, never, EVER forgive Sarah for what she did to Nehemia. I know why it had to happen, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. 

Overall, I think I enjoyed Crown of Midnight just as much this time as I did the first time, even though I was dreading rereading the events of that cursed night.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kkellymsu's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty and Slavery

ameydireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

“It was war upon them all. Let them tremble in fear at what they had awoken.”

I was hoping to see more of Celaena’s skills as an assassin and this book definitely fulfilled that! There is so much happening and we learn more about the magic in this world. I do like that both Dorian and Celaena are such avid readers, lol.

I was so invested in Dorian’s arc. He is my favourite character without any doubt. We already know that he is a good guy, but there’s more to him and this made me like him even more. His journey in discovering

his magical ability was interesting. It’s not easy to understand this part of him, let alone accept it, especially when his father could have him killed for it.

Can’t wait to read more about this in the other books. I wouldn’t mind having more Dorian and less Celaena, oops. AND why do we still have this love triangle…

Celaena is still guided by Elena. What I don’t understand is why Elena’s hints are so cryptic. Especially now that time is of the essence, I would expect Elena to give as much crucial information as possible to set Celaena on the right path. Instead, she’s sent on a treasure hunt, only to discover at the end that

the king has beaten her to the first Wyrdkey.

But sure, anything for a plot I guess. Or is it all part of a bigger plan for Celaena? I also wonder what kind of troubles Celaena’s actions will bring in the future.

Killing a witch and opening a Wyrdgate are big enough problems that cannot be ignored.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part of the book started off slow, but the pace picked up as the second part drew near. In the second part of the story, grief plays a central role and I found that very interesting. It’s difficult to experience the loss of a loved one. Grief is definitely neither pleasant nor rational, but eventually it has some upsides as well. You might think I'm crazy, so allow me to explain! Grief makes one think about the meaning of life and creates a new perspective. It reminds one of their path and goal in life. If there were none to begin with, it provides an opportunity to set a path or goal. This is what Celaena experiences as well. Celaena is not always a pleasant character and her grief only made it worse. At times, I found her annoying and immature, but then I realised that this is normal when someone’s grieving and of course she is still very young.
“It was hard to care, she realised as she started the trek back to the castle. Incredibly hard to care, when you don't have anyone left to care about.”

We were also in for a bit of a surprise! There will be a big secret revealed at the end, IYKYK. Not fully a surprise I have to say as there were so many clues and suggestions dropped over time, making it possible to piece it all together.
“To escape death, she’d become death.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Colonisation and War

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

booksinherhead's review against another edition

Read this for the second time almost ten years after reading it the first time–this time around doing a buddy read so I can finally finish this series. Let me tell you I am IN THIS. Very invested. So far I've definitely been tracking how each book feels individually versus in the larger series arc. Each book ends with the promise of things to come, for sure, but I'm not feeling frustrated by cliffhangers or "filler books." Onward!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Sexual content

sharlapeggy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

A good book. I’ll read the next to learn more about this world and the characters, but I preferred the first two books to this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

huddlestonmaeg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The beginning of this book was really slow, I’m surprised I finished it but glad I did and I’m excited to read the next one. I enjoyed the plot line and loved reading some of the hints we got in book one!! The characters were great and I know it’s probably not going to happen but I love Chaol and Celaena together right now. I also love Dorian. These are great characters! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

faithsbookreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

annikenr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Death of parent

hannalizzy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Compared to the first book this one wasn’t as great, mostly because I felt it was a bit slow and I was so mad at why Celaena wrote off Chaol. I hate misunderstanding tropes, she went bezerk before she even talked to him about it, and Celaena is just so wishy washy about who she is, what she stands for, what she even wants. spoiler: she has no idea yet so we’ll see how the next one pans out for her

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent