Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Crown of Midnight

Oh my word! Gah. Those are the two things that keep popping in my head.

I love this. This was a huge step up for me from AB and TOG and I still enjoyed both of them. I love these characters so much already and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Content Warnings

bookedandbusy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was such a strong sequel and I can’t wait to see how the story continues to progress! Love being back with these characters ✨

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laceylove's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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ktmcd26's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

A solid follow-up the first book in the series. It picks up not long after the original book and includes all of the players that we saw in the first with very few few additions. It primarily serves as a bridge book, primarily setting up what’s to come next. And I think it does that in a compelling way.

However, one of the main devices to move us to that next section is a very explicitly racist and sexist troupe.

Spoiler

The only main character of color and the only other female character was brutally murdered for the sole purpose of propelling the main character forward in the story. This is also not conjecture or reading between the lines; there is a whole chapter dedicated to spelling it out for the reader.

I knew that something like this was coming based on other critiques of this author, but I didn’t expect it to be this blatant.

Our three main characters are all kind of navigating the same basic journey of discovering where they fit into the larger picture of the world around them. It’s interesting to see how they are all handling it differently, and I am more surprised than anyone to find I think Dorian is handling it the best.

Celeana needs to stop taking things that people say at face value. She has yet to learn to think just one layer deeper, and critically analyze the information see is receiving. I think once she does that and has a chance to process her past (and not resort to murder as a first resort), she will become a more enjoyable heroine to read. I will be looming for that character development in the next few books.

Now for Chaol. O Chaol, I need to stop loving this boy for his potential and acknowledge his actual actions.

I do think this book does and excellent job of telling a young love story. The highs and lows are felt very acutely. And the complexities that come with love are also explored.

Spoiler

I am relieved the author didn’t try to drag out the reveal that Celeana is the lost princess any longer because that would have gotten cumbersome.

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jcrawford31's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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gretchenplz's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I found this book to be much slower in pace than I expected. It took me until almost halfway to get fully into it.

I find Celaena to be a complicated protagonist, and I'm not sure that I actually like her. I find her logic confusing, especially when it comes to keeping secrets from her vs. her keeping secrets herself.

I'm still firmly #TeamChaol (if that is even a thing).

I find it pretty offensive to kill off the only POC character, but I digress.

Looking forward to reading the next book. I was told by some friends to read The Assassin's Blade now (3rd) instead of after Heir of Fire (4th). I think I'm going to do that to get some backstory now and be able to delve into the true plot fully once that is out of the way (plus I'm not sure I'm ready for a 600 page book rn).

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dalek_caan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a really solid middle book of a series, it progressed the plot in a way that was important to the series overall and had its own contained plot line as well as some interesting plot twists going along. My one complaint is that the romance plot has been getting a bit repetitive as the series goes on but everything else is great. I love the world and the main character.

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katharina90's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Definitely better than the first book. The characters are more likeable but they remain pretty flat. The pace is fairly slow and the plot doesn't really get going until the last third of the book.

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