House of Sky and Breath

THIS IS AN OLD REVIEW FROM WHEN I FIRST READ THIS BOOK. I accidentally deleted it.

My hold at the library came in for this book on Sunday, and I couldn't help but literally leap at the chance to read this. I had been EXTREMELY ANXIOUS picking House of Sky and Breath up, because I'd seen everyone else's reactions to the ending of this book. I was so, so sure that something awful happened to one of the main characters, that Maas had broken her usual MO and done something horrible. While bad stuff does happen, the ending isn't at ALL what I thought was going to happen.

Holy sh*t, guys.

That's all I'm going to say, but if you've read this and are looking for someone else to scream at, PLEASE COME FIND ME ON TWITTER.

ANYWAY, I fell into House of Sky and Breath much easier than I did the first book in the series, House of Earth and Blood. I had a harder time with that one, because it wasn't like anything by Maas I had ever read before, and the world-building was somewhat of a shock. Not so with House of Sky and Breath! It was like crawling home at night — I knew where we were, what was happening, I knew the characters, etc. I loved watching Hunt and Bryce circle each other, and I love that they finally just gave in. They are adorable (and extremely, steaming hot) together!!!

The plot itself was interesting, too. A rebel boy goes missing, and literally everyone under the sun is looking for him. I felt horrible for the kid, because no one cared about him, personally, only what he could do for the rebel cause. Bryce was the only one in the whole book who wanted him to be safe for who he was, not what he was. Sewn into that plot are more mysteries about Danika, which I'm torn on. Half of me thinks its super interesting to have books wrapped all up in a dead character, the other half of me thinks its sort of a cop out? Like because Danika is dead Maas can say all sorts of things about her, because we've never really seen her on page. I'll reserve my judgement until the end of the series, I think, because it worked pretty well on page in this book.

The reveal about the Asteri was...whoo boy. Something, huh? I can't wait to see where that plotline goes.

Overall, I'd say House of Sky and Breath is another five star read from Maas for me. I love how she weaves incredible storylines together, and I love how much romance she pours into all her books.