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rai_ishardtoplease 's review for:
Crown of Midnight
by Sarah J. Maas
3 stars…
retroactive review upon finishing Tower of Dawn; spoilers for Heir of Fire ahead
fun fact: I hate the love triangle here. I hate love triangles in general, but it’s especially intolerable here. What was the point? Neither Chaol nor Dorian are endgame, and HOMEGIRL DIDNT EVEN CHOOSE THE RIGHT DUDE. Like… Chaol??? Chaol, babe?? Over Dorian and all that raw chemistry??
I mean, if SJM really, REALLY felt it was necessary to entangle the three of them, it should’ve played out something like this:
Dorian and Cel click first; become fast friends; casually flirt a little (bc duh). Cel and Chaol gradually get closer, but Chaol obviously misconstrues her relationship with Dorian and resists his attraction to her out of respect for him. This way, Maas could’ve still played the love triangle angle without it feeling all juvenile and pandering. Eventually the misunderstanding is angstily resolved; the happy couple becomes official (eyeroll); Dorian is a little bummed that Cel got snatched up before he could explore his interest in her further, but he’s not unhappy with how things worked out bc he never developed serious romantic feelings for her.
That’s how I feel this should’ve played out if it absolutely had to be a plot point, which I’m still not convinced it did. If you ask me, SJM over emphasized a dynamic that ultimately amounted to nothing—nothing that couldn’t have been achieved through a strong platonic friendship. As a result, when Rowan and Sorscha come into the picture, it doesn’t hit as hard. We’ve done the love dance upwards of 5 times by that point (if you read AB). It’s repetitive and makes getting invested progressively harder each successive time, and that’s exactly what happened for me with Rowaelin. I was just so desensitized and over it by then that I couldn’t fully enjoy the blossoming of their mutual respect and love—WHICH IS A DAMN MF SHAME
*deep breath*
just- the love triangle (derogatory) exudes strong “Mary Sue, gotta catch ‘em all, author’s fantasy fulfillment” energy, to me. It is a constant effort to ignore it ever happened.
retroactive review upon finishing Tower of Dawn; spoilers for Heir of Fire ahead
fun fact: I hate the love triangle here. I hate love triangles in general, but it’s especially intolerable here. What was the point? Neither Chaol nor Dorian are endgame, and HOMEGIRL DIDNT EVEN CHOOSE THE RIGHT DUDE. Like… Chaol??? Chaol, babe?? Over Dorian and all that raw chemistry??
I mean, if SJM really, REALLY felt it was necessary to entangle the three of them, it should’ve played out something like this:
Dorian and Cel click first; become fast friends; casually flirt a little (bc duh). Cel and Chaol gradually get closer, but Chaol obviously misconstrues her relationship with Dorian and resists his attraction to her out of respect for him. This way, Maas could’ve still played the love triangle angle without it feeling all juvenile and pandering. Eventually the misunderstanding is angstily resolved; the happy couple becomes official (eyeroll); Dorian is a little bummed that Cel got snatched up before he could explore his interest in her further, but he’s not unhappy with how things worked out bc he never developed serious romantic feelings for her.
That’s how I feel this should’ve played out if it absolutely had to be a plot point, which I’m still not convinced it did. If you ask me, SJM over emphasized a dynamic that ultimately amounted to nothing—nothing that couldn’t have been achieved through a strong platonic friendship. As a result, when Rowan and Sorscha come into the picture, it doesn’t hit as hard. We’ve done the love dance upwards of 5 times by that point (if you read AB). It’s repetitive and makes getting invested progressively harder each successive time, and that’s exactly what happened for me with Rowaelin. I was just so desensitized and over it by then that I couldn’t fully enjoy the blossoming of their mutual respect and love—WHICH IS A DAMN MF SHAME
*deep breath*
just- the love triangle (derogatory) exudes strong “Mary Sue, gotta catch ‘em all, author’s fantasy fulfillment” energy, to me. It is a constant effort to ignore it ever happened.