House of Flame and Shadow
Ratings239
Average rating3.9
I expect this will be an unpopular opinion, and for that I am sorry, but not sorry for my opinion in itself.
Honestly? I am disappointed.
Crescent City has always been my least favorite of Sarah J Maas’ series, but I still liked it. Books 1 and 2 were good; I liked the plot (aside from how often Danika came up), the characters, the world building, and the Bryce/Hunt relationship. However, House of Flame and Shadow almost felt like it was a completely different set of characters.
Tharion, no longer the snarky sexy confident guy – now the defeated moping depressed guy.
Bryce, kind of a b*tch? In general she was extremely unlikable for most of the story. I was not rooting for her, in fact it was quite the opposite. Uncaring for Hunt in a way that made their relationship seem toxic, and a selfish asshole for several other parts that would be considered a spoiler. Their interactions made me cringe at times, and I was underwhelmed by their spice, reunion, and supposed power couple nature. I hated how she acted with everyone else, and I didn’t like her issues with her ancestry and how it became almost her whole personality.
Several other characters were different as well, and it was just not my favorite.
This review is really hard to write because I want to air my grievances with it (and there’s quite the list) but I don’t want to spoil anything since it is still a new book. I’ll outline some high level things, and maybe do a spoiler heavy part 2 where I really get into it.
The plot: horrible. Things that were easy should have been harder by a long shot, The story line did not make sense to me, the teased out combo of worlds was not what I imagined it at all to be. There were so many bad plot points and things that were stupid or just did not make sense. If you’ve read it, you can probably think of several pretty quickly.
It felt like someone else entirely wrote this book and decided to throw a bunch of things that didn’t make sense at all. The giant teaser we got at the end of book 2 had my hopes up high for the combo section, but it fell so so so flat. In my personal opinion, it was pointless, useless, and could have not happened at all. I do not believe it added any value.
I am really disappointed because as far as SJM’s 3 FMC’s, it seems like Bryce now is the most powerful, but she also didn’t have to work to master her powers at all?? How does that make sense? There is no character building with her, she just magically can wield a ton of power and it makes her so much less relatable.
Overall I am super underwhelmed and honestly really sad and disappointed. I kept having to put it down and come back to it, which is something I never thought I would say about an SJM novel. I read that she threw away draft 1 and completely started over, and I wish I could read that instead. My guess is I would like it more than this. I think in general I just did not like the story. I wished it would have gone so many different ways and wished the characters would have acted differently.
To be honest, I am not sure if I would read the next one in the series. I am not interested in hearing more about Tharion or Ithan, and that is the only realistic next step I see?
*insert sad face here*
Originally posted at woarr.com.
For some reason I had deluded myself into thinking this book might be good. Given the track record of the crescent city novels, I should've known that I would be disappointed.
Anyway. Here we are. Another exceedingly disappointing addition to the series. Made even more disappointing burner fav that she squandered what cousins been an amazing crossover opportunity.
On top of that, SJM rehashes her old classic tropes (you'll know when you read the book). It's as if she's not learned anything new in the last few years and hasn't found anything new to write about.
I liked the first 20-25% only because we got to see some of my favourite characters from the ACOTAR novels. But that is all that this book has going for it. Maybe one more thing but that's a spoiler.
Disappointing.
I became deeply invested in the world and character building so I needed to read it. But the narrative became rushed and there were a lot of interesting plots that seemed to have their heads chopped off. I wondered afterwards of this was supposed to be more than one book, but needed to end here for some reason, or if a deadline crept up on the author. A fun read, but I wanted more than that from the well established universe.
Spoiler:
the connection to her other universes was well established and then in this book seems incredibly forced and doesn't benefit or build the ACOTAR lore at all, but just deus ex machinas it. I hope this is somehow redeemed in other books in either series but I don't feel it will be. They just used it as kind of a way to use artifacts from one series in another. I expected the connection to be way deeper than that. It also doesn't benefit either series to deepen the lore in both, connect them, and then never explain how it affects either universe. it feels like the corny thing they do in MCU post credit scenes l
Readers and the established worlds deserve so much more.
Damnit. I don't want it to be over. I found myself cycling through an emotional coaster - laughing, crying, cursing, screaming in surprise, and sitting in tense anticipation throughout the series and in particular throughout Book 3. The story is much too good to end...
Contains spoilers
The first half of the book was a bit slow, but I knew it would pick up eventually. And it did not disappoint! This series finale wasn't as spectacular as Kingdom of Ash, but it was still very well done. I liked the connection between Maas's different worlds, and I can see that another book in the ACOTAR series is indeed needed with all the loose ends.
some things SJM is gonna do every time:
- unleash an escalating set of MacGuffins that allow for everyone to try to be self-sacrificing but ultimately be saved by a newer MacGuffin
- reveal that the sexy villains aren't really villains they're just sexy and have tattoos and good morals
- pair everybody off by the end
- be horny (yet clearly uninterested in allowing queer characters to be on-page horny)
So we got all of that!
As-ever: TOO LONG yet DID READ? why does this woman compel me so.......
I enjoyed the crossover with ACOTAR but honestly wished for more!!!Also lol I love that the ending was basically SJM being like, "you know what? fuck you *un-urbans your urban fantasy*" She doesn't know how cell phones work therefore none of these people need them!!!!!
I absolutely loved this book! Emotionally devastating in the last section as per SJM style 😭
The ending of this book will have teary for a few days I think.
For me the entire Crescent City series is amazing (as are ACOTAR and TOG)
Omg I'm finally done this book was so LONG. I feel like honestly Ruhn & Lidia's storyline should've just been its own book because it felt rushed and unnatural and I feel like it could've been better on its own and then the book would've been sooo much shorter. The last 100 pages saved this from being 3 stars.
My hopes for this were very low for the first 350 pages, but I can forgive that (mostly) for the second half of this book.
9.86/10
Characters-10
The characters in this book are fantastic. There are a lot of them, and it gets to be a lot to follow while reading, but I enjoyed all the characters. I loved seeing the flaws in the characters and seeing the characters grow.
Atmosphere-10
Sarah J. Maas pulls the reader in with the atmosphere of her books. I loved exploring this world with these characters.
Writing-10
SJM proved again why she is one of my favorite authors in the fantasy genre, and in general. I loved the highs and lows of the characters in this book so much.
Plot-10
I can honestly say that I didn't know where this plot was going to go. I enjoyed the ride along with these characters. This book had such a great story, and I loved it!
Intrigue-9
Ok here's the thing, my intrigue was docked because there was os much switching between the characters. I found it hard to become interested in a storyline because it would switch to another pov mid-scene. This was still an interesting book, but the switching hindered my intrigue a bit.
Logic-10
I found this to be a logical story. I was glad the logic and choices were explained.
Enjoyment-10
I loved it. I laughed, I cried, The book hooked me, and I was brought into the world. I had many feelings and emotions while reading, but this was one of my favorite books of the year so far.
Originally posted at www.goodreads.com.
1st part of the book was CORNY! But the rest made up for it and then some, I'm a crescent city girly I'll say it!
My honest real rating of this book is a 3.5 but I chose to round up! This book felt more like a filler book than anything special. I'm really hoping that the book after this one blows me right out of the water because unfortunately this one did not. I compare reading this book to reading ACOWR didn't hate it but also didn't love it; ultimately drawn own for waaayyyy too long.
I liked this final book much more than I did the second one and I definitely say that parts of the ending made me emotional (Light it up
Well it was better than the first two in the series.
All in it was a good story, well written and paced. It jumped between characters a lot (I occasionally forgot that someone had been left on a cliff hanger because we'd had a few different jumps before getting back to them).
It didn't grip me in the same way ToG did, I felt relieved to have finished the book and not bereft that the series was over. I struggled to like Bryce and Hunt but I think it's because I'm comparing them to Nesta and Cassian. It was nice to see Nesta's story continue and it was all weaved together in a very interesting and clever way.
I didn't like ACOTAR much the first time I read it and I suspect if I were to read CC again I'd probably enjoy it more but given the sheer size of the series I probably won't do that. I will of course read CC4 though.
I found it a bit difficult to get into the story, since Bryce irritated me a lot in the beginning and also later on in the story. However, I do find the series enjoyable.
Contains spoilers
I really love acotar,tog & cc. I literally told everyone that waiting for this book is why I manage to get trough most days.
I considerd myself lucky to even get the book in my hands on the 26th of january.
But this book was such a huge disappointment.
The maasverse promise did not deliver in this book. No real stakes to lose and suddenly the FMC is a huge bitch? The tempo of the story also made no sens at all. Some plot point should have stopped at 3 chapters and others should have extended into another book.
I found the main character's behavior to be frustrating and disrespectful those that cared for her. This is the first MFC of SJM's that I actively dislike.
3★
this wasn't my favourite book of the series but it was a fun read and, as usual, i loved the adventure and all the tie-ins and plot twists. and i loved Ruhn. just everything about Ruhn
