Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

97 reviews

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: Violence, Murder, Death, and Blood

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

Minor: Sexual content

booksemmahasread's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Genocide

Minor: Torture and Confinement

xnessatm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

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

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: Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, and Violence

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

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

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

Minor: Death of parent

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Ok I had more fun with this one than the first one. 

The truth bomb explosion at the end I had my suspicions about for the last 200 or so pages, but it was a great KABLAMO moment to end off the book with! I’m excited to go sailing across the sea for a family reunion!!! 

One thing that bugs me in this series though is that no one trusts each other at all?! They’re all damned secret keepers! Like the three main characters never got told that team work makes the dream work??!! I feel like if they just talked it out or explained their plans before setting them in motion, then they could’ve solved their problems a lot faster!?!! I totally get why they don’t fully trust each other, but at the same time - as George Michael says “you gotta have faith” 

Watch me say that and one of them brutally betrays the others in the future books lol - if it does, please just call me Baba Yellowlegs, clairvoyant evil witch beeyotch extraordinaire 💁‍♀️ 

Also, side note, I really thought this story was about to be a doggie snuff book and I was THIS CLOSE to throwing it across the room. 

Anywho, time for the highly controversial reading timeline placement of ASSASSINS BLADE for a fun lil blast from the past of short stories and then I shall be back to find out what we’re doing with all of this crazy ass stuff going on! 

WHOOP WHOOP

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Gore, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

noerlund's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

I really liked this one! A lot better than book number one! It’s like the story is really taking off now. Looking forward to read the next one! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Racism, Genocide, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Death, Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Sexual content

tiredtori's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

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

Moderate: Grief, Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, and Kidnapping

Minor: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Vomit, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, and Sexual content

rpetro's review against another edition

adventurous fast-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

Really enjoyed this, especially as the plot picked up toward the middle of the book. There was one twist at the end that I saw coming from the first book, and another that I did not expect.

 

I called it from the moment that they mentioned Aelin Galathynius that she was Celaena Sardothien. However, I was very surprised when I learned that Celaena was Fae. 

I really enjoyed Celaena’s development in this one, especially when she really came into her own dark power while rescuing Chaol, hunting Grave and fighting the monster in the portal.

 

I think the world building is decent, but could be better, especially when it comes to details about the other kingdoms. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Animal is injured during fight,

but survives