Number one New York Times best-selling author Sarah J. Maas launches her brand-new CRESCENT CITY series with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night - until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose - to assassinate his boss' enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion - one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and pause-resisting suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by number one New York Times best-selling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom - and the power of love.

Listening Length

27 hours and 50 minutes
Author

Sarah J. Maas
Narrator

Elizabeth Evans
Audible release date

March 3, 2020
Language

English
Publisher

Audible Studios
ASIN

B082YHJS14
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	27 hours and 50 minutes
Author	Sarah J. Maas
Narrator	Elizabeth Evans
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	March 03, 2020
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B082YHJS14
Best Sellers Rank	#154 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #2 in Fantasy Romance (Audible Books & Originals) #7 in Action & Adventure Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals) #13 in Epic Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals)

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Dani

This is what being a popular author can do for you

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

All righty,

let me start by saying, *SPOILERS.*

Let me also start by saying, I've read SJMs' books before, and like probably half the population, I liked her ACOTAR series. I don't mind SJM in general, (she can be a bit too graphic for me at times but whatever) but I honestly wasn't planning on reading this book. Not because of anything in particular, I just wasn't drawn to it, you know?

But a friend of mine told me that it was sooo good and all this so I decided, okay, I guess I'll give it a shot. So here are my thoughts and why this is 3 stars. Let's goooooOOO

1) Info dumping/world"building"

Okay, here's where the title of my review comes in. If SJM wasn't SJM, I doubt she could get away with how she info dumped in the first several chapters of this book and have very few people take issue with it. I honestly believe that since she's an established, popular author, SJM was able to skirt by with the text book/Wikipedia description of this new world that was very, very dense to read and quite difficult not to skim over with glazed eyes.

I mean, we know in writing it's show and not tell. We know that in establishing a world, it's like a ball of yarn unraveling; Information coming to light gradually through action, dialogue, events, etc. But this... phew. I was honestly surprised at SJM and the way she revealed--no, dumped--information about the world on the readers. Like it was a LOT and I STILL have no idea what's what and who's who, and I finished the book.

Every other paragraph, every other sentence, was PAUSE. Allow me to explain in great but also confusing detail about why this world is the way it is, who runs it, why, how, where, when, and also, let me give you a quick history lesson about it all that will not clear anything up. (As a writer my head is exploding with just the thought of creating an outline for this world).

It really pulled me out of the story countless amounts of times and was honestly super annoying. If this was SJMs' first book, I'm sure her editors or beta readers or whoever would have been like girl....this is word vomit and you need to disperse this information throughout the book instead of ALL AT ONCE. I felt like I was reading a text book during the first few chapters. It was a chore to get through. If I had picked this up in a bookstore and read the first three pages it was going right back on the shelf. Peace out

2) Pacing

You know what I noticed immediately? Bryce, our wonderful, great and awesome main character (sarcasm, though, she was all right, but we'll get to that), really had no goal for several chapters. I'm pretty sure your character has to have a goal or an objective within the first few pages....? Something they want, even if it's just to get to work on time. Refer to the title of this review for something else you can get away with when you're a popular author: Your MC can aimlessly wander around while you focus on your history book worldbuilding & everyone's okay with it because you've sold millions of books so whatevs.

You can argue that Bryce did have a goal in the beginning, and that was to find the horn for Jesiba. But Bryce didn't even care and made probably a .02 effort to actually search, and so I don't think that counts since your character's goal is something they truly want. For instance, Bryce's GOAL was to catch the murderer and that didn't come in until very later on. I don't know, I guess it can be summed up as Bryce was very passive rather than active for a very long while before actually getting a goal and objective and something we could root for her on and want her to succeed in.

Also-- side note-- this book was WAY too long. Let me say, I have NO problem with lengthy books. I actually love them, because more pages means more adventure. I don't believe in limiting word counts when the book has something important to say and when it all gears toward the plot. But there were a lot of unnecessary things here or just events that could have been sped up or cut out altogether. (Bryce's date with her ex? That scene was for what? To give us info on Redner industries? To show us why she dumped him? (is that how Redner was spelt? oh well lol))

But here we go. This is just something else you can fly under the radar with when you're SJM:
SLOW. PACING.

A part of me gets it. This whole thing (the plot) was supposed to be gradual. It was like in real life, where nothing is instantaneous and things just kind of happen over the course of months/weeks/years. But this isn't a documentary, you know? Like, I get that SJM needed to show us Bryce and Danika's relationship and their dynamic and all, but I honestly feel like the first several chapters dragged on and on. The whole book sort of did until (SPOILER)
near the end when Micah revealed he was a true psycho and then things went from (literally) 0-100000000000. And I mean ZERO because before this we were stuck at The Summit along with all the other bored shifters/animals/angels/aquamans/witches/whatever other creatures SJM made.
And I was as bored as Hunt and Rhun. (Ruhn?)

It was just a lot but also nothing at all. I will hand it to SJM-- she kept Hunt and Bryce moving once they were put on the case by Micah because THEN they had objectives in every chapter. THEN we got active and not passive characters. But it just took too long to get there.

And the runaround with the horn and that whole case was a bit of a web that could have been shortened tremendously. This book kind of reminded me of an author who had multiple favorite scenes that the book could have done without, but she ignored her editor and didn't want to get rid of them because she simply liked the scenes even when they could have been snip snipped.

3) Characters
I saw some reviews saying these characters were cut and paste from SJMs' previous books, one review in particular calling Hunt a mix of Azriel and Cassian and honestly, very true. I won't harp on SJM for giving us another love interest with wings because that could just be what she loves, and you know, write what you love and whatnot. And Hunt was at least a different breed than Rhys, so I give her a pass on that one. (Also you guys, if the LI doesn't have wings, how else are we supposed to get the excuse for further contact by the protagonist being carried into the skies while leaning against the muscled chest of her soon-to-be-lover?)

I honestly didn't mind the characters, I just had a hard time differentiating between them all. You can't tell me Rhun and Hunt aren't the same exact person. They spoke the same, were overprotective of Bryce the same, etc. If they swapped places no one would notice. Bryce and Danika were even similar in a lott of ways. I did like Bryce-- I really didn't have any issues with her except for her forced feminism, but everyone else sort of blurred together.

(Side note, the 'I'm so hot and I know it and everyone (EVERYONE) also thinks I'm hot' protagonist trope is stale. Can we just get an unconventionally attractive unique looking protag for once in these upmarket books like sheesh--)

What I think SJM could have done is differentiated her characters in dialogue/thought. They ALL swore. (Swearing in a book is whatever but this got old very fast and lost effectiveness almost immediately). Let's say if at least one character didn't swear, there's a distinct difference right there.
Like, Lehabah. Putting aside the fire sprite thing, if she were a human in this book, she would have been distinct just because the way she spoke and acted was different from literally everyone else, who said and did more or less of the same things. *SPOILER*

(Lehabah's death-scene was heartbreaking but well-written, so I'll give SJM that).

4) Romance

I'll keep this short-- I really liked Hunt and Bryce together. I saw some people saying it was insta-love, but I think it was very slow burn and I thought their progression was well executed. My annoyance came with the overly done sexual tension.

We. Get. It. Hunt is hot, Bryce is hot, they want to do terrible things to each other, let's move on.
But no, we had to be subjected to (especially Hunt's) constant dirty thoughts. Just make them kiss already and skip all the...taking matters into own hands and toe-curling skin pebbling kind of thing. Like, please. We get it. & their moments would have been a lot sweeter and had much more meaning, I feel (like the shower scene where Bryce cleaned Hunt up) had they been just that--short and sweet.

But it's not like expected SJM to suddenly go all PG13 on the romance after her last few books, sooooo. Moving right along.

5) "Zootopia" LOL
The Zootopia references I saw to describe the amount of creatures in this book was hilarious. But also spot on. I love fantasy-- it's my favorite genre ever. And I love it because there are no rules and you can make up whatever the heck you want. But this felt a littleeee excessive. It reminded me of a fantasy I drafted where I dumped every creature under the sun in the book just because I wanted to, but I trimmed 96% of them out by draft 2.

By the time we got to the Mer, I was just skimming over the aquatic life descriptions. And the Nokk (Nook?) creature in the library was just another "huh?" I skipped over whatever his deal was too. But I get that creature had to be there because it played a role in the random escalation at the end. Which brings me to my final point:

6) 0-1000000 in record speed

We all know every book has a climax that's built up to throughout the chapters. But I needed glasses to see the buildup to this climax because everything exploded in no time.

Now, the last few chapters were actually my favorite because we finally had ACTION. And it was the only time I truly enjoyed the book (also because I was finally nearing the end lol). But the cliché 0 to hero was a taddd annoying. SJM dropped crumbs here and there about Bryce that she wasn't super ordinary, like blinding the Oracle and such. But everything at the end and who she was felt unrealistic, and not in a sense that this is fantasy but just...rushed? And a littttle random.

Things just escalated to new heights after literally nothing happening for hundreds upon hundreds of pages. It's like someone woke SJM from her fever-dream typing frenzy and was like, you need to end this book soon. And you also need to get some action going while you're at it. Because before everything went down, before Micah revealed his psychotic behavior and the demons were released, I know everyone (readers, I'm looking at you) were BORED at the Summit.

(WHY did we have to read the details of everyone arriving at the Summit and what they were wearing? WHO cares?) Add this to what you can get away with when you're a famous author-- pointless chapters.

Miscellaneous closing thoughts:

--The mind-speak between Ruhn (Rhun?) and Hunt was a COP OUT and no one can convince me otherwise. This is what annoys me, when an author makes up something on a whim just to give themselves an out. "How can I make Hunt communicate with someone across the room while he's in shackles? OH mind-speak!" with no prelude or hint beforehand. No.

--The cutting of Hunt's wings-- predictable. Why is it when authors have angels, they think they need us to read through their wings being severed? I felt like it was a cop out for Hunt and Bryce not to go all the way on her couch so that Sara can dangle their "unfinished business" around for more buildup and tension that I've honestly had enough of.

--Blowing up the club felt unnecessary and a way to add action to lagging chapters. Just me?

-- I get that Hunt's hands were tied (literally) when everything with Bryce was going down while he was at the Summit, but literally having to read him just standing there staring at the screen and doing nothing for a few chapters was sort of annoying.

-- The Jelly Jubilee thing and whatever those toys were was humorous and added another layer to Bryce but also was one of the many things that could have been cut. That's just me being picky, though.

SJM did do a good job of layering and adding twists, and overall, this book is okay. It's not a BAD book, just too slow. Way too slow. A tad confusing (all I really know is this world is on a planet called Midgard. Midgrad... or whatever) and a little eye-rolly but not awful. I won't read anything else from this series though lol. It just wasn't gripping enough and there's honestly too much going on.

I just think SJM got away with a lot of things a debut author (or a lesser-known author) could never. There were lots of things here that I think an editor or publisher would grimace at or make major changes to for the sake of clarity and conciseness and just the sake of interest for the reader. & SJM is surrounded by the 'hype' complex where her other works are so well-liked that everyone feels like they HAVE to love whatever else she puts out because otherwise I don't know why this book is so raved about.

But hey, this is what being a popular author can do for you.

(P.S, don't get me wrong, SJM deserves her success. This is just a result of what all that success can allow you to get away with).

Also, fellow writers out there, imagine writing a query letter for this. LOL.

100 people found this helpful

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5-stars: 'House of Earth and Blood' by Sarah J. Maas

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 6, 2022

Verified Purchase

I’ve had House of Earth and Blood on my bookshelves since it was released in 2020. Sarah J. Maas became an automatic buy author for me when I read ACOTAR and Throne of Glass. I didn’t even read the first book’s synopsis in her new series Crescent City. I knew anything she wrote; I would be sucked into the world and never want to come out of it. Someone should have warned me about the first dang chapters, though. (I stayed away from reviews for this book, so nothing was spoiled. I’m glad I did. Just like I’m staying away from the reviews of the second book.) Seriously, I should have read the synopsis of this book. I just finished reading a tearjerker of a Romantic Suspense trilogy, and then Sarah J. Maas had to do the unthinkable in this book. Dang it, woman! I still adore you, Sarah J. Maas, even when you continuously break my heart.

Storyline/My Thoughts: Sarah J. Maas is a master of writing characters that automatically become your favorites that you can’t stop thinking about them. She writes the kickass female characters that I love in my fantasy books. Bryce Quinlan has become my favorite female MC over Aelin and Feyra. (Sorry, not sorry. I still love those two, though.) Now Bryce has her faults. She’s a party girl who loves to have fun. She’s Half-Fey and Half-Human. She’s treated like crap by the other full-blooded fey; even her biological father treats her horribly. (Don’t even get me started with that male. Grrrr!!). She holds her own, though, and doesn’t take any crap. Her best friend Danika has been there for her since day one, and they get in trouble with each other often. Everyone knows that Bryce and Danika are inseparable until something happens.

One night, Bryce’s life is turned upside down when she finds her friends brutally murdered by a demon, and she’s left alone without her friends. Two years later, Bryce, after the murders of her friends, the demon is killing again, and the Archangel Micah needs her help finding the demon since she had a close look at it.

Micah will have his enslaved assassin, Hunt Athalar watching over her and assisting in the investigation. Hunt Athalar, what can I say about this bad (boy) fallen angel who is forced to kill whoever his boss says because he has a debt hanging over him for trying to overthrow the Archangels. He is forced to watch over Bryce, and Bryce makes it difficult for him at first. I loved how they had a hate/love relationship first. Hunt, though, starts to realize that Bryce is not what everyone thinks. He finds out who Bryce is and why she acts the way she does. Bryce finds out what happened to Hunt to have become enslaved by Micah. She also finds out who Hunt fears the most and how he lost his first love in battle when they fought the archangels.

There are some other characters in this book that caught my eye immediately. Ruhn Danaan. He’s there for Bryce even when she doesn’t want him there. Everyone knows Ruhn as her cousin, but there’s a massive secret that Bryce and Ruhn are keeping from everyone due to Bryce’s birth father. If you haven’t read this book, I won’t spoil it. I enjoyed getting to know Ruhn and can see why readers have an infatuation with him, but Hunt is who I focused more on in this book. I loved his dark past and how he changed at the end with Bryce. Oh, boy, did he change a lot. There was a blip in the book (yes, a blip) where I questioned him. Oh, he almost had me going through the book wanting to yell at him for what he did.

When Bryce and Hunt unravel what truly happened the night a demon killed her friends, Bryce will realize her closest friend was keeping secrets from her that may have caused her to be killed. Bryce will question everything and everyone. I felt for her when she uncovered the truth and who was actually behind everything. I was shocked by the twists and turns at the end of this book on who was behind everything. Sarah J. Maas knows how to mess with readers’ heads, as she did in this book. I loved every minute of it. Once the truth came to light, I screamed and yelled at the book.

That friggin' epic ending!! I’m still thinking about it. This is why Bryce Quinlan has become the most prominent kickass female heroine that (in my opinion) that Sarah J. Maas has ever written.

Another character that I loved in this book was Bryce’s mom. She handled a specific person when they called her. Now, I know where Bryce gets some of her qualities from, and I hope to see more of Bryce’s mom in this book.

This book was a tearjerker for me. I cried so many times that I had to step away to recover. I had just finished reading a trilogy that had me in tears, and now this book had to make it worse. I loved reading about this world that Sarah J. Maas has crafted for her readers, and I can’t wait to dive more into soon. Before I read the second book, I will reread ACOTAR since it’s been a while. I’m going to stay away from spoilers. Overall, the first book in the Crescent City series receives five stars.

Why am I so addicted to FAE? It’s all due to the lovely and talented Sarah J. Maas.

Standalone of Part of Series: It’s part of the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas, and I would recommend reading in order.

Cliffhanger: Yes.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. This book is for you if you are a fan of New Adult Fantasy books with Fae, Fallen Angels, Shifters, Archangels, Witches, Mermaids/Mermen, and Demons. I’ve read Sarah J. Maas’s other series, and I highly recommend this one.

8 people found this helpful

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Obsessed Fan

Exposition overload, unlikeable characters and a messy plot

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

Typically, I enjoy SJ Maas books - I enjoyed most of the Throne of Glass books (thought the final one was a bit of a disappointment from halfway) and I really enjoyed two out of the three ACOTAR series, but definitely not the novella which was fluffy rubbish.

I had expected this book to be a great starter for a new series, as typically the first books in a new series are the ones that SJ writes the best. Plus this was meant to be an Adult series rather than her usual YA / teen fantasy, a bold new move that should indicate a good level of confidence in the novel and subsequent series
However, the information exposition overload in the first few chapters was a warning for the strength of the rest of the novel. It became a compilation of SJ’s of plot repetition from previous novels.
There’s a Mary Sue main character (Bryce) that has the most obviously implied talent (no subtly at all with that one - when the sword mysteriously started humming a quarter in, I knew that was going to go down) but of course some extra mad skillz because why not make her super powerful like the other female characters in the other series’ (Celena and Feyre) but with no real justification or logic as a half human / Fae.

There’s obviously a SUPER powerful hero (Hunt a replacement for Rhys and Rowan) that has been abused at the hands of female villains (Maeve / Amarantha) but has instant feelings for the main character possibly because it’s not possible to play the “mate” card across different species. There’s no clear reason why Hunt, a hardened and haunted ancient fallen angel, suddenly softens to Bryce other than the fact that she’s very attractive but very much out of character, he enjoys their ridiculously annoying banter and made up words such as alphahole. That, or, the character is so badly shaped that to a reader, it makes no sense.

This book reads as though it has many different attempts of plot threads but they’ve been thrown together in a frantic rush to get them all into one book. This has resulted in a romantic pairing that isn’t believable (or based mainly on lust), main characters that I don’t really like or care about, supplementary characters that I also don’t care about or understand why they were needed in the first place, lots of “watching” the plot unfold but not really “doing” anything aka not much action - mainly exposition, and a jumble of plot threads: grief over dead friend, insta-love with mysterious misunderstood killer, crazy boss that has unlimited supplies of random crap that coincidentally happens to be useful, villainous female torturing hero, crazy one-of-a-kind super powers defying all odds, drug addiction, unjust class structure etc etc (the list goes on) all within the new structure of a paranormal fantasy world mix of every single possible type of creature, categorised in a new system, layered into a hierarchy.

Basically, I am disappointed and not sure I can be bothered to look out for the next one. There’s not enough for me to remain interested.

If you want a good world building fantasy that IS adult, check out Ilona Andrews and put this glorified older teen / YA book away.

172 people found this helpful

HRouge

Nowhere near as good as it could have been

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 16, 2022

Verified Purchase

I want to start by saying that this book really doesn't deserve the flood of 5 star reviews it has received. I know these things are subjective, but it's a bit bizarre that anyone could sit through the first 3/4 of this book and still think it's worthy of a 5 star review. I've got my theories about why it's so highly-rated, but I'll come to that in a bit!

I've read a few Sarah J Maas books before, so I've a good idea of what to expect when it comes to her writing. I wasn't a big fan of the Throne of Glass series, but I loved ACOTAR and I thought the premise to this new series sounded really interesting. However, as my 3 star rating suggests, it was a bit of a mixed bag.

So what didn't I like? Well it was far too slow-moving and far too long, for a start. The first 3/4 of the book move at a glacial pace and it is probably 200 pages longer than it needs to be. Honestly I was very close to just giving up at various points, because it felt like the plot was just moving in torturous circles and really not getting anywhere. Sarah is really not a good enough writer to keep you hooked when nothing is actually happening in the plot, and I did find myself wondering quite often what had happened to the editor!

I also found the writing really quite poor for much of this book. I mean, Sarah J Maas is hardly Ian McEwan and she's nowhere near as good as other YA authors like Leigh Bardugo, but even so I was surprised by how bad some of the writing was. Lots of her annoying literary "tics" crop up - toes curling to show someone is turned on, grown adults constantly "snickering" and "giggling", men being referred to as "males"...if you've read Maas's work before, you'll know exactly what I mean! I also couldn't stand the constant swearing. I'm not a prude, at all, and I don't mind swearing in books when it actually suits the character/ moment. I.e. George R R Martin does it quite well with characters like the Hound in GoT. However, here it felt like Maas was throwing in a swear word every sentence just to remind us that this is an ADULT book (although frankly it often felt more infantile than her previous YA books). I just found it annoying and distracting, it constantly brought me out of the story.

Another big flaw was the amount if "info-dumping" that went on, especially in the first half of the book. I had this memory that Maas was quite good at world-building, but based on House of Earth and Blood I'm wondering if I've mis-remembered this. The problem is that there is no subtlety to the way Maas does it and she constantly bombards you with information, characters and places until it all gets a bit muddled. It's all tell and no show, if that makes sense. And it's a shame really, because somewhere in the last 1/4 of the book I realised that the world she's created is actually quite interesting and well-thought out, but unfortunately I hated the process of finding out about it!

The characterisation was a bit patchy. I actually quite liked Bryce, although I know a few reviewers have referred to her as a bit of a Mary Sue. I could really have done without the constant references to how attractive she was though. I think someone needs to tell Maas that a) it's okay for a character not to be absolutely astonishingly ravishingly drop dead gorgeous and b) that she doesn't need to wang on about it for the entire book, the reader will actually remember what a character is supposed to look like! Hunt I found less interesting, especially because he seemed to fit into Maas's preferred trope for leading male characters. Devastatingly handsome? Check! Wings? Check! Tortured by a powerful female character? Check! What really drove me nuts though, was the way that Maas kept alternating between using their first names and surnames. I get they didn't know each other that well to begin with, but I've literally never referred to someone just by their surname in my entire life and it was just so jarring. I also got a bit muddled at times, possibly because they've both got first names that could be surnames! It also got a bit weird once they got to the stage where they actually knew each other quite well and I was just like "why is Bryce still referring to him as Athalar in her POV sections when he's literally LIVING IN HER HOUSE?"!!

Despite all of the many, many things I disliked about this book, though, there is a reason that Sarah J Maas is a best-selling author and she definitely shows it at the end of House of Earth and Blood. The final 1/4 of the book is where the plot finally seems to get moving and I thought that Maas's writing actually improved significantly, to the extent where I found myself thinking "wow, that was really moving" after certain passages. After hundreds of pages of boredom and nearly giving up, I actually found myself getting invested in the plot, much to my surprise. In particular, there is a phenomenally gripping final action sequence involving Bryce that really builds up the tension and makes you desperate to read on (although it drove me nuts that everyone just sat around and watched on camera instead of actually going to help her!!). The final reveal regarding Bryce is eye-rollingly predictable and (dare I say it!) just a teeny bit boring, but overall the ending really saved this book for me and made it worthy of an extra star.

Ultimately, I suspect that the reason House of Earth and Blood has gained lots of five star reviews is because, if you're a big enough Sarah J Maas fan, that ending is big enough and show boaty enough that it will make you forgive what's come before. However, I think it needs to be made clear that this is a deeply flawed book and the casual reader is likely to find it a real struggle to finish. It's worth it for the ending though...just!

30 people found this helpful

booksy

Formulaic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

I came to Crescent City with great anticipation and high hopes, having really enjoyed both Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass and Court of Thorns & Roses series. So when I heard this was Maas's first foray into an adult novel (as opposed to the usual YA) and one which was going to have closer ties with our world, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. In fact, I'd pre-ordered this well before it came out. But, boy, was I disappointed. Here's why - spoilers are included, so if you don't want to know anything about it, look away now!

Firstly, this is not what I'd describe as an adult novel. In fact, the writing seemed less sophisticated than TOG. The only thing that made it more 'adult' was a littering of swear words which felt forced/contrived - as though that's what the author feels is needed to elevate a novel from YA to adult. Really, the dialogue felt incredibly YA still (almost childish in a way when it came to the 'romance' and Bryce's inclination to call all strong males 'alpha holes'. It was a sort of high school language almost.

This novel isn't set in our reality either. Not, of course, a valid criticism of the book; just something that (probably via fan rumour) had been mis-communicated. However, I would have loved for Maas to do a new spin and start a novel in this reality. Like I say though, it's not a reason to have a dig at CC; just something to be aware of if you were hoping for this novel to be set on 'earth'.

Next, let's talk about sex/sizzle. Way disappointing. Now I realise that this is the first in the series, and Maas may want to leave some titillation for later books. However, this was woefully disappointing for an 800 page grownup novel. When it comes to writing smouldering fiction, Laura Thalassa is waayyyy better - her Bargainer series knocks Maas out of the park. Even Natalia Jaster brings it on more. And I found Natalia Jaster's writing in Trick (admittedly the only novel I've read by her so far) to be a lot more sophisticated.

I struggled getting into this book - it started slow and there was a ton of info dumping at the start. It didn't seem to build as naturally or organically as TOG. I'd hoped to see Maas getting better as a writer but this felt very paint-by-numbers. There was one part (a couple of hundred pages in) which was a 'wow' moment. But that was then obliterated by a storyline that I found less than engaging. It seemed to go round and round in circles regarding the search for a stolen fae artifact and somthing called synth. A bit like a fantasy detective story but without being very gripping. I hung on in there though because, well, it's Maas. The book finally picked up in the last 150-so pages but it was all quite predicable. In fact, the whole thing just felt like a re-skinning of Maas's other novels, with nothing very original (just a change of scene and character). We have a heroine (who doesn't know she's got powers - but of course the reader knows she's going to come into great power because Celaena did, and so did Feyre). We've got winged males - but this time it's the angles. The angels bothered me because we have fae too, and I couldn't really see what the difference was, except for the wings. The angels in this novel don't feel very different to the winged fae in Maas's other novels; I couldn't pick out a quirk or feature that made the angels interesting. I'd have found CC more interesting had there been a greater distinction between them and the fae. In fact, I'd have probably preferred it if the love interest was a shifter because at least that's a point of difference. There were repeated turns of phrase that I've grown bored with now, across thousands of pages of Maas's work (characters 'huffing laughs' 'grinding out' phrases' and the amount of times Bryce's 'toes curled' to indicate she was horny was laughable). The sex scenes were also laughable: 'hard, considerable length' - I ask you! Okay, I get the author wants (as always) to convey her lead male is well hung - but find a new way to do this!

Generally, the romance between Bryce and Hunt was predictable and dull. There was certainly not enough conflict/tension for it to be a satisfying hate to love storyline; this is no Rhys and Feyre. Hunt isn't dark enough either - he's actually quite boring. Ruhn, Bryce's brother, is a more interesting character who seems to have more of an edge - and maybe he'll appear more in the next books. If this remains Bryce and Hunter's series though, I'm just not sure how much I care about them or how invested I am in their story at the moment. Will I read the next book when it comes out? Probably - I'll give in one more bash. Generally, though, unless Maas ups her game and makes this a more adult, well-written series, then I think I've seen her do it all before - and better.

37 people found this helpful

Tay_LT

Uma excelente e surpreendente fantasia adulta centrada em personagens fortes e complexos e mt magia!

Reviewed in Brazil 🇧🇷 on March 16, 2020

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Com um tom mais adulto e uma linguagem sem restrições, Sarah J Maas cria mais uma mais maravilhosa fantasia, que, ao mesmo tempo em que se aproxima de suas outras obras, ante o nível de excelência da escrita e a intensa criatividade, se distingue totalmente delas, por se tratar de um mundo mais rico, complexo, com mais personagens fortes e inúmeras criaturas mágicas.
Em um universo dominado pelos Asteri, seres com poderes comparados aos de deuses, conhecemos Bryce Quinlan, uma universitária e autêntica “party girl”, metade humana e metade feérica, que vê sua vida se modificar drasticamente com o assassinato brutal de seus amigos mais próximos.
Dois anos após tentar seguir com sua vida, mas sem realmente conseguir, ela é convocada pelo governador de Crescent City para, junto à Hunt Athalar, um anjo escravizado por liderar a maior e mais conhecida rebelião da história contra a hierarquia instaurada em seu povo, investigar e desvendar os eventos que culminaram na morte prematura daqueles que tanto amou, já que o suposto assassino voltou a atacar.
Conforme a investigação se desenrola, segredos e mistérios são revelados, Bryce é obrigada a revisitar as lembranças dolorosas e os traumas deixados pelo acontecimento mais horripilante de sua vida e a antipatia inicial que sente em relação à Hunt dá lugar a um sentimento enorme de identificação e compreensão que passa pela amizade e paixão até chegar ao amor verdadeiro.
É um enredo cheio de suspense, aventura/ação, mistério e romance que se apresenta bem denso e difícil no início, em razão da complexidade e quantidade de criaturas e divisões políticas introduzidas, com uma personagem principal que não agrada muito a princípio, mas que cresce de forma exponencial e inesperada, surpreendendo a cada reviravolta inimaginável e culminando em um final arrebatador que não só te deixa ávido por mais como te conquista completamente.
Temos aqui aquele tipo de história que se inicia de forma despretensiosa e relativamente comum e se torna algo gigante ao longo dos capítulos. Excelente início de uma série que possui pleno potencial para se tornar a melhor escrita pela autora!

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Vicky Young

Well worth the wait

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

Since it was first announced, I’ve been waiting for this to be released. I loved ACOTAR and TOG etc., and generally love anything that Sarah J Maas does - this is no exception but it was nowhere near as good as her previous work.

Saying that, I adorned the journey that the main character, Bryce, goes on. The themes are more adult in nature but her journey through grief is universal and I love how it’s portrayed - even if it’s hard to read sometimes!

Bryce is a solid female character with a hatred of ‘alpha holes’ and a vulnerable yet independent streak that is so often missing from female character led stories. I really like her, for all her flaws more than anything else.

Overall, I did enjoy it - a lot - but it didn’t capture me as much as her previous work. For starters, it felt like it took a long time to get going - the first third of the book felt long and drawn out. Then, there’s a major plot twist (which I won’t spoil), that comes out of nowhere and it’s so frustrating because it’s a great twist and the remainder of the book becomes fast, punchy and addictive. The plot twist though has no real foreshadowing (and I’m not convinced it makes that much sense for those characters to be doing those things at that time due to injuries/the laws of time and physics), it just...it really threw me out of the story and I had to decide to ignore the fact that it makes no sense and instead just keep going - driven by my love for the characters and the typically addictive nature of the love story. (Lets be honest, Rhys and Feyre will always have the best love story)

Unlike her other series, I probably wouldn’t reread this one - I’m glad I read it but I have no burning need to go back to it (where as I couldn’t get enough of TOG and kept rereading it).

It feels like there’s going to be a sequel and now that all the clunky world building is done, the sequel is probably going to be amazing.

Overall, I would recommend but maybe don’t put it at the top of your list... but if you’re a massive Sarah J Maas fan...then what the ‘hel’ are you waiting for? Go read it!

34 people found this helpful

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