Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

122 reviews

knitreadkate's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.75

Absolutely tore through the last 25% of the book - what an ending!

SJM has a thing for big reveals in the second book.

It was hard to care, she realized as she started the trek back to the castle. Incredibly hard to care, when you didn’t have anyone left to care about.

📖
The first half of the book is a slow burn. You're gathering information, bits and pieces that I didn't put together until the reveal at the end.

I found it a surprise to find out within the first few chapters that Celaena, as the King's Champion, had not killed a single person. Had instead faked their deaths and presented this to the King who accepted it. This is such a huge risk considering the threat the King gave to kill Chaol and Nehemia if she stepped out of line. Maybe I'm over thinking it - but part of me thought back to Throne of Glass when she said she wanted to be a healer. Maybe deep down, Celaena doesn't want to be an assassin?

And all of this—every death she faked, every lie she told—put them at risk. Nehemia shook her head but didn’t reply. Whenever the princess or Chaol or even Dorian looked at her like that, it was almost too much to bear. But they had to believe the lies, too. For their own safety

💖 The Main Relationship:
There is a lot of tension between Chaol, Dorian and Celaena left over from Throne of Glass. Slowly through out the first 40% of the book, we get those small moment of Celaena and Chaol getting along and I was fully invested.

Faster, never faltering, never breaking her stare.The rest of the world quieted into nothing. In that moment, after ten long years, Celaena looked at Chaol and realized she was home.

The moonlight and the garden and the golden glow from the ballroom blurred together, now miles away. “We’ll never be a normal boy and girl, will we?” she managed to say.“No,” he breathed, eyes blazing. “We won’t.”

It was so wonderful, warm, and heartwarming for that short run.

I'm still so upset that Celaena won't get past what happened. I thought Chaol was a perfect fit and felt so strongly for them. I felt like it had always been Chaol since she was taken out of Endovier. The quote below from Choal broke me:

He’d realized it the moment Celaena had turned to him in Nehemia’s bedroom. He had lost her. And she would never, in a thousand lifetimes, let him in again.

💖 Friendship:
Nehemia and Dorian's friendship was an important part of the book. Dorian in the first half to me felt jaded and hurt from being rejected by Celaena in Throne of Glass.

Nehemia and Celaena's friendship grew close and I was feeling so strongly connected with their bond. Nehemia was still fighting the good fight, trying to have conditions in Calaculla and Endovier as the conditions int he slave labor camps had become abhorrent. Nehemia was a voice of reason, understanding and motivation to Celeana.

I loved Nehemia and was so upset when she was murdered. I felt like it was a cheap plot point to create a catalyst of reaction to her plight and Celaena's. Couldn't there have been another way?

I still have so many questions with Nehemia. I felt like Nehemia knew who Celaena truly is. How did Nehemia actually know about the 10th anniversary of Celaena's parent's death?

I think that's why she was so blunt to Celeana, why she really called her a coward. I felt like Nehemia being the Princess Heir was a reflection of what Celeana would have been like if her parents were still alive.

While I agree with Nehemia below, it's such a deep cut that hurts my heart.

“And what is so wrong with wanting my freedom? Haven’t I suffered enough to deserve it? So what if the means are unpleasant?”
“I won’t deny that you have suffered, Elentiya, but there are thousands more who have also suffered—and suffered more. And they do not sell themselves to the king to get what they, too, deserve. With each person you kill, I am finding fewer and fewer excuses for remaining your friend.”

😱 That Big Reveal
If you're a clever one, you're probably pieced a few parts at this point. I was not, and enjoyed the ride of that last 25% of the book. It was only after going back through my annotations I could see those clues.

Has Dorian met Celaena/Aelin in the past as a child?

What sort of throne would he inherit someday? If the heir of Terrasen, Aelin Galathynius, had lived, would she have become a friend, an ally? His bride, perhaps?
He’d met her once, in the days before her kingdom became a charnel house. The memory was hazy, but she’d been a precocious, wild girl—and had set her nasty, brutish older cousin on him in order to teach Dorian a lesson for spilling tea on her dress.

Celaena's fae and is the heir of Terrasen! THAT IS HUGE!

There were many sassy, funny moments in the book but the latter half were so emotional and action-packed. I enjoyed Crown of midnight more than Throne of Glass, it was wonderfully written.

Now, on to Heir of Fire!

I have a read along everyone is welcome to joint if they like. It's open until 31st May 2025 next year.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/readalongs/c906d102-66c5-4fbd-b2dd-0367b8ee9f3b

Content Warnings

hannalizzy's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

mary_do_12's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense fast-paced

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

4.5

i have so much to say, so let me put this into a summary in 3 points:

1. AAGSAJSJFKEDKSKS
2. celaena, what THE ACTUAL FUCK?!
3. chaol please stfu. stop being annoying.

Content Warnings

noerlund's review against another edition

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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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emis_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Really great book. I love Sarah J. Maas’ writing style. I love the characters so much and it really made me feel everything. Screaming, crying, throwing up.

Content Warnings

cait's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

Content Warnings

mrsalexisrjones's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The kings champions mission is to defeat those that attempt to rise against the king. The problem, she herself hates the king. In her search for the kings hidden power source, Caelena finds herself connecting to her past and the future freedom that she seeks.

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Two years after reading Throne of Glass, I finally read the sequel, Crown of Midnight.

If you somehow haven't heard of the author, Sarah J Maas, she also wrote the A Court of Thorns and Roses series and the Crescent City series.

Crown of Midnight, the second book in the Throne of Glass series, was published by Bloomsbury YA. Throne of Glass is a YA fantasy series targeted to older teenagers (though adults can still enjoy them!)

Crown of Midnight continues with Celaena's story after she becomes the King's Champion as to be his personal assassin. Meanwhile, she is trying to figure out what all the secret passageways and riddles she finds in the castle means, and would they have any answers to stopping the king's thirst for power as he continues to dominate other countries.

I really enjoyed this book--even more than the first one. I'd give it 4 stars out of 5 on the rating scale system because I did enjoy reading it, but there were a few hiccups with the book.

Part of me loved seeing the intricacies of Chaol's, Dorian's, and Celaena's friendship. I loved the character development that happens--particularly with Dorian, though Celaena grew the most as the main character. I didn't like the jealousy trope being played with both Chaol and Dorian. It just seemed a bit childish and annoying.

I also enjoyed the plot and there were many twists and turns, even if I did ultimately guess the big twist at the end. There were a lot of other reveals I didn't see coming. The plot also included a lot of fight scenes, so I was never left too wanting for action. That being said, the first half of the book did move a lot more slowly. I wish the romance in the book didn't come and go so quickly, too.

Content Warnings

graciejlc's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.75

I loved the imagery in this story. The grittiness of Rifthold was well described, and I could easily picture the scenes whilst reading them. I would love to see this get picked up as a tv series. It's a good mix of action & fantasy that kept me engaged in the story
The character development is getting better, and world building is enjoyable. There is more information on the lore of the realm too, which I was hoping for more of in the previous book.
There were multiple occasions i had to set the book down to process what just happened due to a couple of twists I didnt expect, however, there were a couple of revelations that seemed glaringly obvious to anyone but the characters involved.

Content Warnings

mangofraiche's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.75

Content Warnings

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