Crown of Midnight

2⭐️

There are so many flaws with this book. It is boring, the characters are as deep as a cardboard cut out, and the plot usually makes no sense and even when it does, has tons of plot. I really want to give SJM the benefit of the doubt because I really enjoyed ACOTAR. Even when ACOTAR had plot holes and poor worldbuilding, it was still fun and entertaining. So far the Throne of Glass series is all the worst parts of ACOTAR with none of the good. I can forgive A LOT about a bad book if I have a good time reading it (see Fourth Wing, all ACOTAR books, the 1st and 2nd Twilight books).

I think Dorian is the only character with any personality or depth. If he was the main character maybe I would like this book more. Probably still wouldn't like it.

I could go into detail about how a brain washed assassin should not have trouble killing targets. I could complain about how predictable the ending was. I could talk about how shallow the romance is and how the whole plot hinges on you caring about the (poorly done) romance. I could explain how the relationships aren't developed so when characters die, leave, break up, etc. I couldn't care at all. But I won't waste anyones time. I've wasted enough of my own time reading about it.

I don't understand how these books have such high ratings. Scrolling through reviews it is all 4 or 5 star reviews talking about how "engaging" and "surprising" the ending was. Did we read the same book? I've seen people on TikTok say that Throne of Glass is the better version of ACOTAR. Who are these people that like these books? Maybe if I was younger (which to be fair is the target audience) and I could ignore glaring writing issues but this is just bad. I don't think it being YA gives it a pass to be bad. I've read some YA fantasy books that are incredibly good and 10x better than this book (see Legendborn, The Cruel Prince, Divine Rivals, Iron Widow, even Hunger Games and Children of Blood and Bone). Most reviews are from the same demographic as me! I think those people need to get out more and read more fantasy because this is embarrassing. The prose is awful. I also don't like the audiobook narrator. Something about her male voices drives me crazy. I think it is just exacerbating all the other issues I have with this series so far.

I gave it 2 stars because of Dorian being interesting and it not being offensive. It is just boring, predictable, and insults the intelligence of the reader by making the plot so stupid. I think this was marginally worse than TOG because the romance was the only saving grace of the first book and it is awful in this one. I am determined to finish this series because SO MANY PEOPLE LIST IT AS THEIR FAVORITE FANTASY SERIES?! There has to be something here.

I enjoyed this but not as much as the first one, seemed a little all over the place at times and I don't think the love bullshit it needed, however ill keep reading as itrs fast paced enough to see where this leads in the next book.

This was interesting and a bit exciting, but fully invested in the story but hopefully I will with the other books in the series!

i’m so glad my stump is over

Whilst this one is a slow read, a lot happens and it does keep you on your toes. I feel it’s where it starts to become that foundation for the rest of the series and each book just builds on each other.