Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

153 reviews

cait's review

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

Minor: Violence, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Confinement, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Child abuse, Gore, Vomit, Physical abuse, War, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Death, Addiction, Torture, Blood, Murder, Slavery, Cursing, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Stalking, Grief, Misogyny, and Self harm

allydoessomereading's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.25

So much fun! Such an adventurous series and I'm so excited to see how the story unfolds. The plot and world is getting much bigger and the state  are getting higher, can't wait to read more. This one was a little slower then the first but when the plot unfolded, it happened fast and explosively. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, Death of parent, Blood, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Gore, and Violence

faythfarrar's review against another edition

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Body horror, and Death

mrsalexisrjones'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? 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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Violence, and Torture

Minor: War, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Sexual content

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

This book blew me away. I feel like the story continuously amped up throughout which was really fun pacing. I also had no idea where the story was going so I was hooked. And that ending!! That twist!! I didn’t see it coming at all, though I knew something magical was going on. My only critique is the Chaol- Celaena drama with keeping secrets, etc. It was overly dramatic for barely any reason. But other than that this was the perfect setup for the rest of the series!

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual content, Confinement, Classism, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Medical content

micaelamariem's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Stalking, and Vomit

ladypalutena's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Celaena would do anything for her friends - even if that means killing dozens of people for the king and not even thinking twice.

Except she's not killing them. Just like in the book of novellas, she's letting them go - without a thought as to whether or not they could come back to haunt her some day. She just assumes that these people are going to be able to get away from Rifthold, set up entirely new lives, and never breathe a word of their past to anyone, and she'll stay safe. And I assume that this has worked for her so far. We know that Celaena can kill - we saw it when she went in to avenge Sam. 

It seems like a whole lot of nothing happened throughout this book, while Celaena tries to follow Elena's directive to find the evil and get rid of it. As with the rest of Maas's novels, nothing really happens until the final hundred pages, and then it does not stop until the book ends. 

Throughout the book, there are hints about a figure named Aelin - the lost daughter of the King of Terrasen, and that she could possibly be gathering an army to rebel against the king. However, the clues are not subtle - even before Chaol figures it out, I knew that Aelin and Celaena were one and the same. When Celaena turns into fae in the portal in the end, it was all but laid out there. Chaol just took a hot minute to figure out what was going on with the girl he loved.

It's a very, very long book, and while some things happen, not a lot of things happen until those final hundred pages, as I mentioned before. It would be nice to have seen some of the filler cut out, but then you'd miss something small that most likely connects to a larger overarching storyline. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, and Blood

mangofraiche's review against another edition

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

Moderate: Stalking, Violence, Kidnapping, Slavery, Death of parent, Murder, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Confinement, and Colonisation

hollymileham's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.25

big slay from me such a good plot and i loved celaenas character arc 
this series is really giving bbc merlin and that was my whole personality at age 9 so some things never change

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Torture

Minor: Vomit and Sexual assault

scarlett_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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