Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

13 reviews

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

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Murder, Classism, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Violence, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Child abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, and Abandonment

bi_n_large's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Rape, War, and Child death

rafacolog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Genocide, Blood, Emotional abuse, Violence, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Sexual harassment

booksalacarte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

First read (6/2022)- 3⭐️

Reread (1/2024)-4.5⭐️2.75🌶️

New Adult fantasy romance

Multi POV

Magic

Magical beasts

Fae

Morally grey FMC

Found family

Secret history

Politics

Treason

Rebellion

Closed door romance

The second book started not long after the first, with the King’s Champion taking hits off a list. Only she wasn’t.

I think the incident with the carnival is one of the most vivid memories I have from the whole series. Along with the wearhouse scene. The set up is really great for such a pivotal turning point in Celaena’s journey. 

Chaol having to deal with his lawful nature was just as hard to go through the second time as it was the first. His self deprecation after Neimiah died is SO much. He does absolutely nothing and basically disappears for multiple  chapters. Why didn’t he fight for her?! 

Dorian’s journey in this book is an interesting one. Going from infatuated playboy to someone with their own dark secret was a great arc. But the unresolved attraction Boggs his character down.

The arc with Chaol was beautiful, and devastating. I forgot how intense it was.

I was disappointed that the only diverse main character in the book was used as a tool to further the plot in the way they were. It’s almost like she was becoming too good of a character, more noble than the FMC, and had to be taken out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Murder, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

firehearttt's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Body horror, Grief, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: War and Sexual content

ladydeathnesta's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I had a harder time getting through this book than any other SJM book. That being said, it was still a good book, and vital to the storyline for the rest of the series. This book is definitely the turning point of the storyline.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Hate crime, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, Gore, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexism, and War

a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Death, and Murder

madmadmaddymad's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-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? No

4.0

This series is really shaping up to be something special. I think the first book works better as a cohesive story, and this one feels like setup for a larger narrative, and not as cohesive as a stand alone book, but it was still an enjoyable read.

It suffers from pacing issues and is very boring and plot laden at times. The romance of this book is not as good as the first one, but that’s ok, because not every book has to be romantic. 

I liked getting to know the characters a little more. I liked the reveal at the end, but honestly, it just makes me mad that we had to spend so much time being bait-and-switched by the author to in the name of worldbuilding rather than start in the faerie realm and have the actual story play out! 

Still!

I’m looking forward to book three! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Toxic relationship

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I am continuing my journey to read the Throne of Glass series this year.
"Crown of Midnight" picks up right at the end of "Throne of Glass". Celaena has become the king's champion, but she is hardly loyal to him. She can see that he is evil, and she wants to bring him down. She quickly learns that she is not the only one who is unhappy with the king, but she struggles to uncover which alliances are true.
This sequel is violent and really veers more towards action than romance, which I think will appeal to more people. Celaena is a deeply flawed character, and I love that! She makes mistakes and takes risks to fight for what she believes in. She is admirable, strong, and the perfect person to take on the king.
This was hardly my favorite Sarah J. Maas story, but I am definitely excited to continue and see where this series is going. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship