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A review by bibliorama
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.75
Review finally happening!
Enjoyment - 4
I liked this sequel more than I liked the first book, but less than I liked the novellas. The novellas showed how well edited and precise this series' writing could be, but I haven't seen that kind of writing since the novellas so far. This sequel did feel like a necessary part of Celaena's story and not like a filler book, so props for not falling into that trend like some other YA books have. Celaena's character also deepened in an interesting way when we learned more about her backstory. I had already been spoiled for her backstory, but I still found the rollout of it in the story convincing if not a bit predictable. What I didn't enjoy as much were some of the character decisions that were made with Nehemia's character arc. That's where my overall enjoyment ticked down.I don't believe that anyone would sacrifice their life just to give another person "motivation" especially because of how drastic of a decision that is. That wasn't realistic to the character imo, especially with how intelligent Nehemia is written to be, I think she would have found another way. All of that is compounded with the fact that Nehemia was the only poc character in the story and she was killed off.
Start - 3
The start of this book was fine. Nothing super memorable happened during the beginning and most of it was building on the romance. I will say it wasn't a slow read to get through the beginning, so it gets a 3.
Characters - 3.75
I liked Celaena in this installment. We got to see more of her assassin skills and we got to see her fear. That made her reactions to situations interesting because she does have times where she is a coward and not just a straight foreword "super brave" hero. This book rounded her out as a character for me. I also liked Chaol in this book. He's not a super favorite of mine, but compared to Dorian (who acted pretty immature) was more interesting to be around. I get Dorian's stress and immaturity, but I can't say he was at all a good friend to anyone in this book really. Nehemiah was barely around in this, which I wish wasn't the case. Considering the friendship Celaena and Nehemia built in the first book, I would have liked to see more of their interactions and more of the growing strife
between them.
Atmosphere - 3.75
We're still in the castle, and I can't say it's my favorite setting. I tend to like it more when the characters venture outside of the castle setting and see more of Rifthold.
Plot - 3.75
My favorite point in the story was Baba Yellowlegs. Those were some fun scenes. The plot doesn't really pick up until the halfway point, then we get some hints at the King being suspicious (as he obviously) is, Dorian has his own side plot start, then the main plot is when Celaena is ordered to kill someone as she is the King's champion now. This order complicates her situation quite a bit. Laying it all out like this, there is quite a bit going on and that was some basic bullet points, however it doesn't feel like an overwhelming amount of stuff thrown into the plot. Plus information is rolled out in a way that feels semi-naturally, sometimes a bit too much just told rather than shown.
Ending - 4
This ending has a lot of things pop off, which makes it an entertaining read. There were some reveals, some added questions, some betrayals. It all ties together and kicks off the situation for the next book, as one would expect it to do, but I don't feel like any of the plot was dropped. There were some satisfying fight scenes as well.
Style - 3.5
Typically SJM writing style, except younger, more YA version.
Overall - 3.7 rounded 4
I liked this sequel more than I liked the first book, but less than I liked the novellas. The novellas showed how well edited and precise this series' writing could be, but I haven't seen that kind of writing since the novellas so far. This sequel did feel like a necessary part of Celaena's story and not like a filler book, so props for not falling into that trend like some other YA books have. Celaena's character also deepened in an interesting way when we learned more about her backstory. I had already been spoiled for her backstory, but I still found the rollout of it in the story convincing if not a bit predictable. What I didn't enjoy as much were some of the character decisions that were made with Nehemia's character arc. That's where my overall enjoyment ticked down.
Start - 3
The start of this book was fine. Nothing super memorable happened during the beginning and most of it was building on the romance. I will say it wasn't a slow read to get through the beginning, so it gets a 3.
Characters - 3.75
I liked Celaena in this installment. We got to see more of her assassin skills and we got to see her fear. That made her reactions to situations interesting because she does have times where she is a coward and not just a straight foreword "super brave" hero. This book rounded her out as a character for me. I also liked Chaol in this book. He's not a super favorite of mine, but compared to Dorian (who acted pretty immature) was more interesting to be around. I get Dorian's stress and immaturity, but I can't say he was at all a good friend to anyone in this book really. Nehemiah was barely around in this, which I wish wasn't the case. Considering the friendship Celaena and Nehemia built in the first book, I would have liked to see more of their interactions and more of the growing strife
between them.
Atmosphere - 3.75
We're still in the castle, and I can't say it's my favorite setting. I tend to like it more when the characters venture outside of the castle setting and see more of Rifthold.
Plot - 3.75
My favorite point in the story was Baba Yellowlegs. Those were some fun scenes. The plot doesn't really pick up until the halfway point, then we get some hints at the King being suspicious (as he obviously) is, Dorian has his own side plot start, then the main plot is when Celaena is ordered to kill someone as she is the King's champion now. This order complicates her situation quite a bit. Laying it all out like this, there is quite a bit going on and that was some basic bullet points, however it doesn't feel like an overwhelming amount of stuff thrown into the plot. Plus information is rolled out in a way that feels semi-naturally, sometimes a bit too much just told rather than shown.
Ending - 4
This ending has a lot of things pop off, which makes it an entertaining read. There were some reveals, some added questions, some betrayals. It all ties together and kicks off the situation for the next book, as one would expect it to do, but I don't feel like any of the plot was dropped. There were some satisfying fight scenes as well.
Style - 3.5
Typically SJM writing style, except younger, more YA version.
Overall - 3.7 rounded 4
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery
This series is the upper range of YA. Personally, I don't believe I would've had any issues reading this book and its content when I was in high school, but it doesn't hurt to be aware. There is a lot more assassin things and murder in this book than the previous two. This is a spoiler, however, this book does have the "women in refrigerators" trope except it's the death of a POC woman to further a white woman's character development. It doesn't help that Nehemia is the only character who is black in this book. So, if you don't want to read that trope, now you know it's there.