Happy Saturday everyone! I finished my reread of House of Earth and blood at like 3am Friday night, and since I never reviewed it the first time I read it, I thought I’d do it now.
So I was going to read a few chapters on my e-reader before I went to bed yesterday. I had a little less than 3 hours left of reading time, so I thought I would actually leave it at a couple of chapters. Haha, I was wrong. Three hours later and I had finished it. And I think I may have cried harder this time around than the first time… Let’s not pretend that this is going to be a critical review. This is a five star book for me, I loved it last year, love it even more today. So I guess you can say I liked everything about this.
House of Earth and Blood
By Sarah J. Maas
My Rating: ★★★★★Published 3 March 2020 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Urban fantasy | Romance | Adult
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’s 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 page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.
What I Liked
I literally can’t pick a favorite aspect of this book. I love the world, the characters, the story… everything! But for the sake of the quality of this review, let’s just talk about world for a bit. I love this world because it’s complex and we know there is more to it than just the location where the story takes place. It’s an actual world, and not just one city, or one castle, or one whatever. I also love the story of how Crescent City came to be. There is a lot of history in this world, and it makes me want to pay attention.
Let’s talk characters. It’s close, but I think Bryce and Hunt are my favorite Maas characters, and maybe also my favorite couple. I really don’t see how Maas could throw us a curveball in book 2, and so I hope it doesn’t happen, because I reallyreally want Bryce and Hunt to be endgame. All the other characters are amazing, too, even the bad ones. I can tell they’re well-written because I wanted to punch them through the book. Though I will not lie, a big part of why I’m dying for Crescent City 2 is because I want to know what Aidas’s game is. He has like five pages out of 800 dedicates to him, and yet he’s made an impression. Related to that, I also need to know more about Jesiba.
As for pacing, I think this book starts off rather slow. It’s a long book, and even when things start happening, it still takes some time for shit to get real. But I have decided I do not care. Even the slower parts are very entertaining. This book starts out like a murder mystery, and ends with pure fantasy, and I loved this combination.
What I Liked Less
✨ Nothing ✨
But I do have one observation. In previous reviews, I talk about the various ways in which world building is done. Upon reflection, I have realized that the world building method I like best is through dialogue. When I finished this book, I realized that Maas doesn’t do this. Her style of world building is through internal monologue. Which I don’t dislike, by the way, it’s just not my favorite. It definitely still beats pure description. But this does mean that when there’s dialogue, it will be interrupted by page long monologue-world-building. And I really just wanted to read the dialogue.
And that’s it! This review is literally a year late, but that’s fine. Maybe this review enticed some of you to pick it up in anticipation of Crescent City 2! House of Earth and Blood remains one of my favorite reads, even after this reread.
Find more reviews in my A-Z archive!
