#Breathe into the shadows review

[literatureaesthetic]

house of flame and shadow ; sarah j maas

this is floating somewhere between a high 3, low 4 stars for me. there was a lot to love and a LOT that could have been (and should have been) executed better. overall, i liked how everything wrapped up and how each character arc was completed. i've always said that 'house of earth and blood' is my favourite sjm novel, and this finale, although nowhere near a perfect conclusion, definitely didn't let the characters or the series down.

saying that, i have issues with the amount of plot conveniences in here. certain scenes felt so ridiculous and out of the bounds of logic that i had to laugh. it was difficult to suspend disbelief at times

nonetheless, i love these characters, and i love this world. this book was pure entertainment; i had so much fun reading and discussing with online friends. is it flawed? absolutely. but it was still a solid conclusion to a series i've been reading and loving for years now!!

[kenna-is-reading]

Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow Review

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Dear Readers,

I have, at long last, finished HOFAS!!! And I might just have more thoughts, questions, comments, and concerns than I did when I finished HOSAB. Strap in, cause we're in for a long post. I'd give a TLDR, but I think if you can get through 2,500 pages of Crescent City books, you can skim through this too :). I really enjoyed the book, but I feel like I want more time with these characters in order to really solidify them as a group. I am looking forward to the next book just to see how it all continues, especially given some of the connections that were made and the history that was revealed in this book. That said, let's wrap up the preamble and get into it.

Brannongate

I'm just gonna start with what was probably everyone's biggest takeaway from HOFAS, and that is Lidia being a confirmed relative of Aelin's. I was waiting for the TOG tie in, and I've had many different theories, but I knew as soon as we started getting into the deer shifter stuff, combined with Brann being Lidia's son's name, that it was coming soon. I definitely gasped out loud regardless when she said his full name, and I would very much like to get deeper into that history as soon as possible, because I miss TOG with every ounce of my soul and spirit. I love that Lidia is able to be so powerful with her fire, if only because I'm still mad that Aelin lost hers. I am not one of the genius Maasverse fans who have probably already figured out what everything means and how it will all happen going forward, but I am excited to be along for the ride to find out. Speaking of Lidia...

2. Lidia & Hypaxia

I would really love to see more of Lidia and Hypaxia as sisters and figure out what their dynamic will be. I feel like there could be a lot more to discover as far as the witches go, and I really like both characters. I really just want to see Lidia be able to love and trust and have a family. She has suffered a ridiculous amount and I want to see her happy. I think Hypaxia being the head of House of Flame and Shadow was a very interesting development, and I am interested in following that storyline further. I still feel like I don't know Hypaxia very well as a character, but that could also just be because we only really hear about her from other characters' perspectives. Her relationship with Lidia, if one is ever built, is definitely one of the aspects of the story that I am most excited to see develop.

3. Tharion or Sathia or Colin or Ariadne (to the tune of Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus)

These were the biggest questions I was left with at the end of HOFAS. Is Sathia okay? Did she get Colin out? What happened with the Viper Queen? What is Ariadne going to do? Why does Tharion consistently make such bad decisions? I knew that Tharion and Ithan, arguably the worst, most self-sabotaging decision makers in the series (if not the entire Massiverse), being the ones to transport the antidote was going to end...como se dice...badly. While I still love both of them down, I felt like Tharion definitely continued his streak of making me facepalm while reading to a very serious degree. His dedication to ruining his own life would be nearly admirable if it weren't so painfully stupid. That said, I don't think it was as bad as book 2. I liked his dynamic with Sathia, and I think he had good motives for marrying her. As I previously said, I do love Tharion. He's definitely one of my favorite characters in this series, but I want better for him. He and Ithan are so wracked by their own guilt that they only worsen things for themselves, but I'm really hoping it will get better for them as they all work as a group to establish a post-Asterian society. And speaking of Ithan...

4. Sunball McGee, Prime of the Valbaran Wolves

Some of y'all are about to be real mad at me. But it must be said.

Ithan Holstrom is one of my favorite SJM men.

Now, now, now- Let me finish- I have seen such a huge and, in my opinion, unwarranted amount of hate for Ithan as a result of his actions in this book. And while I 100% understand the frustration, (trust, I do!!!), I also understand Ithan. Think about it. This is a very young kid who is essentially a frat boy. His only personality trait, other than Make your brother proud, is sunball player. This is everyone's biggest complaint. Every time he is mentioned, he is reduced to sunball. And I know people find this redundant and annoying, but let's consider this for a moment. Walk with me. Sunball is all Ithan is reduced to, and I think that's the point. He thinks very lowly of himself. It is clear that he does not think he has anything else to offer aside from his sunball skills. In the whole quest to save Sigrid, (everyone's other complaint about him), he never once considers that he himself should lead. Again, this annoys people, but I think that is the point. His opinion of himself is so negative, and he lacks so much confidence, and he has lived so much in his brother's shadow that he seems like he had to cling to what he was good at in order to stand out and have something of his own. His identity as a wolf was somewhat overshadowed by Connor, his love for Bryce was overshadowed by Connor, and while he obviously loved his brother dearly and that's nothing against Connor, it would have made it very difficult for Ithan to develop his own sense of identity and sense of self outside of who he was related to and what he was good at. Now, am I reading too far into his character? Maybe. However, I am nevertheless appointing myself captain of the Ithan Holstrom Defense Squad, and I am trying to convince SJM Nation to join me. Signup sheet is by the door, grab a badge on the way out. I think becoming Prime is exactly what he needed to come into his own and figure out who he is, as a wolf, as a leader, and as his own individual. He has never been given permission to lead his own life, and now he must step up and take the reins of not only his own life, but the wolves' as well. All the deep psychoanalyzing stuff aside, I think him and Perry could be really cute. Don't know where y'all stand with that, but I was sensing some vibes between them that I wasn't mad at: "...Flynn and Dec across from him, the former eyeing Perry with an interest Ithan didn't entirely appreciate. Perry was blushing, and Ithan didn't appreciate that either...Perry laughed, and...okay, maybe Ithan liked the sound." (pg. 829). I really like Perry, despite seeing relatively little of her in the book. (I've only known Perry for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her, I would k!ll everyone in this room and then myself). I'm curious as to what will happen with her, given that her scent didn't change when she took the antidote, etc. And I'll be done with my Ithan rant, but don't think I didn't notice the whole ice magic thing. I clocked that tea faster than Bryce can teleport. I won't make any theories, but all I'm saying is SJM men w Elsa magic >>>.

5. Call me Sigrid the way my life keeps getting progressively worse

Now I know we're not really supposed to care about Sigrid whatsoever at this point, but I feel obligated to note that she is out somewhere wandering, and the gang does not know where she is. I make it my personal mission to keep tabs on the opps of my favorite characters. I think she could have been more complex than a throwaway-side-villain character. She hasn't had a lot of choice in the things that have happened to her thus far in her life, but I do think she has to be kept out of the way so that Ithan can be Prime, so I can't guess at what will happen there, but I'm glad the Astronomer is gone. He was ticking me off.

6. Reapers and Necromancers and Lion Shifters, Oh My

I feel obligated to discuss with my fellow readers- do we all think the Lion Shifter Reaper that talked to Ithan and Hypaxia was the same one Bryce banged in book 1, or am I tripping? Ithan does think, "Gods, Bryce would have a field day with this guy-- his long golden hair was very carefully mussed" (pg. 608). Just something to think about, something I noticed, not important to the plot. Carrying on!

7. Ember & Nesta & My Tears

Let's just take a moment to read some lines that made me (No. 1 Nesta Stan) tear up!

"But Ember continued, looking only at Nesta, 'I am glad of one thing: that I was able to meet you.' Nesta's lips pressed into a thin line, and she glanced down at their joined hands...'Your mother loves you,' Nesta said quietly, reading the exasperated expression on Bryce's face. 'Don't for one second take that for granted.' Bryce could only incline her head to Nesta. 'I'm lucky,' she admitted. 'I've always been lucky to have her as a mom.' Ember really looked like she might cry now, especially as she turned back to Nesta and said, 'This time with you was a gift, Nesta. It truly was.' With that, she pulled Nesta into a tight embrace, and Bryce could have sworn something like pain and longing crossed Nesta's expression. Like she hadn't experienced a mom-hug for a long, long time" (HOFAS 813-814).

I truly love Nesta so much, and this book set up a lot for her in the next ACOTAR novel, which I really hope will have her perspective in it. I love Nesta and Bryce's potential friendship, and I hope there is more crossover content coming. I know a lot of people thought there was too much info-dumping about Fae history in this book, but I loved learning about the lore, and I think with Nesta's eight-pointed star situation could lead to us learning even more, which I am excited about.

8. Wyrd - Urd

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Finally some insight into the whole Urd thing! I have so many thoughts and theories about the different powers and gods in each series, and I'm so interested in the ways that they are intersecting and connecting. We learned that Urd is the Cauldron - "A cauldron of life, brimming with the language of creation...Wyrd, we called her in the old world" (pg. 692). The symbols on the "bowl" the statue of Urd is holding in this scene are most definitely Wyrdmarks, but the way they are described as tattoos running onto the statue's arms reminded me of Feyre's tattoos, which I thought was kind of a cool image: "And those symbols running from the bowl onto her skin...they were like tattoos" (pg 690). I am very interested in learning about the origins of the Under-King, too, him having come from the shifters' world. Again, I need to look further into theories to see if anyone with more brain power than me has figured it out, but I am really enjoying putting the pieces of this gigantic puzzle together.

9. HELLO????? VIKTORIA??????

Finally, I have to at least mention the gang's complete and total neglect to retrieve Viktoria from the bottom of the ocean, yet again. I understand y'all had a lot going on the first couple books, but come on. You've now worked closely and allied with not one but two Blue Court water queens, and you've gallivanted all over Midgard via submarine, and you're telling me not ONE person had so much as the THOUGHT of "oh hey, we should try to find Vik's box"??? And now that Asterigate has been resolved, they have no excuse! I feel so bad for her that they just...forgot about it? Assumed she's beyond help? I don't know! Justice for Viktoria!

10. Jesiba.

I love Jesiba Roga so much and I am so sad about her sacrifice, but I should have seen it coming. I think I did, but I was living in a river in Egypt. Talk about characters who are always two steps ahead, her having Ithan packing those boxes knowing darn well what she was going to do...Absolute icon. I shall never forget her. I've heard people saying that not enough people died, but I feel like it was simply spread out through the series and done a little differently than other SJM endings. This series started out with like seven people who meant the world to our MC being brutally slaughtered, we lost Lehabah, we lost Viktoria and Justinian, we lost Cormac, we lost Sofie, we lost the Prime, which some might not consider a "real" loss but he was on the right side, and then Jesiba. I think our characters suffered plenty, considering some character or another spent like half the series in an Asteri dungeon being horrifically tortured.

In closing, I will say that I really do love this world and these characters. I am so intrigued as to how it will change and develop going forward, especially with such a drastic shift in power in so many areas. I don't really care if the only conflict in the next book is them figuring out the Firstlight problem, I just want to know what happens next. I can't wait to dive deeper into the whole multiverse situation and see what is next for all of our favorite characters, and the more time goes on, the more ready I am for a new ACOTAR. Now that I have caught up on Crescent City, I will be diving headlong into Summer Reads, so I am thinking about doing some summer themed posts the next couple weeks to get into the summer vibes! If you read this far, thank you so much for giving half a crap what I think, and let me know what you think is next for the Maasverse! I want to hear all the theories, or things I may not have caught, or things you guys have figured out! Until next time! :)

XOXO,

Kenna

[385bookreviews]

1.73.3 House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J Maas

SPOILERS for all of Crescent City and A Court of Thorns and Roses

Pages: 838

Time Read: 13 hours and 14 minutes

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ Storyline: ★★★☆☆ Dialogue: ★★★☆☆ Characters: ★★☆☆☆

Genre: Urban fantasy

TWs for the book: Torture, war, violence, death, s*xual content, gore, blood, murder, injury, confinement, vomit, misogyny/sexism, grief, fire, body horror, colonization, kidnapping, cursing, genocide, child death, gun violence, slavery, physical abuse, s*xual abuse, discussions of r*pe, toxic relationship, drug use, emotional abuse, classism, genocide, excrement, cannibalism, death of a parent, gaslighting, child abuse

POV: Third person

Time Period/Location: Begins immediately after the events of House of Sky and Breath; Crescent City, the Eternal City, Avallen, Nena, the Depth Charger; Prythian in the A Court of Thorns and Roses world; The Court of Nightmares, The Prison

First Line: The Hind knelt before her undying masters and contemplated how it would feel to tear out their throats.

At the end of House of Sky and Breath, Bryce opened a portal in an attempt to go to Hel but ended up in Prythian. Rhysand, Amren, and Azriel take her to a cell in the Court of Nightmares and ask her questions, most of which she refuses to answer and lies about the Horn and how she got there and her powers. When left alone, she winnows down through the grate where monsters are kept. Her starlight clears a path and she goes down a tunnel. Nesta finds her and threatens to bring her back but Bryce runs and the tunnel collapses so they keep going forward. They encounter a Middengard wyrm but keep pushing forward through the tunnels, and Azriel reveals that he was there the whole time. Bryce sets a trap for Nesta and Azriel using the wyrm, but then immediately regrets it and goes back to help. She discovers that Azriel and Nesta were fine and lured her back, and then Nesta uses the Mask from the Dread Trove to kill the wyrm. They continue onwards through the tunnels, and end up passing through a portal that takes them under the Prison. They are greeted by a holographic video of Silene, the second daughter of Queen Theia, and she explains what happened. The Asteri used to rule Prythian as the Daglan, but High King Fionn and Queen Theia, along with her general Pelias and with the help of the Starsword (Gwydion) and Truth-Teller, dispatched them. Fionn and Theia had Helena and Silene, and Theia ruled over the Dusk Court, now known as the Prison. Theia desired to conquer more worlds, but Fionn said no, so Theia and Pelias killed him and used the Mask and the Horn, the fourth part of the Dread Trove, to open a portal to Midgard. The Asteri were in different forms this time, and welcomed them with open arms, along with the fae shifters from another world. Under the guidance of the Asteri, the fae and the rest of the Vanir began to oppress the humans. But then the Asteri put a parasite into the water that would lessen magic and give the Vanir a human lifespan if they didn't make the Drop and give up part of their firstlight to the Asteri. The demons of Hel came to try and aid the Vanir in fighting back, and Aidas and Theia became lovers. Realizing they weren't going to win, Theia gave Silene and Helena each a third of her power, and then sent them with the Harp and the Horn to go back to Prythian. Helena pushed Silene through but stayed behind, and Pelias defeated Theia and forcefully wed Helena. Silene hid the third of her power her mother had given her deep beneath their old palace in the Dusk Court, and collected monsters to imprison there and turned the Prison into what it is. Then she married the High Lord of the Night Court, and keyed her DNA to the prison, and that is why Bryce and Rhysand can access it. Bryce takes the power she stored there, and when Nesta and Azriel try to take her back to the rest of the Court, she fights back and collapses part of the floor, where they discover an imprisoned Asteri named Vesperus. She was imprisoned by Silene, and reveals that the Illyrians were created by the Asteri/Daglan to be their warriors (the precursors for angels). Nesta and Bryce kill Vesperus, and Bryce steals Truth-Teller from Azriel and goes back to Midgard.

Meanwhile, Hunt, Ruhn, and Baxian are being tortured by Pollux back on Midgard while Lidia ponders on how to free them. Baxian chews off Ruhn's hand in an escape attempt but it fails. Back in Lunathion, Ithan has freed the Fendyr heir, Sigrid, from the Astronomer. Ithan, Sigrid, Flynn, Declan, Marc, and the sprites search the Meat Market for any clues on what happened to Bryce. While there, Sabine and the wolf packs detect their presence. They try to run but end up walking into a trap. Flynn and Declan shoot Sabine in the leg and face to slow her down, and the Viper Queen hides them. They discover Tharion and Ariadne, and fill Tharion in on what has been going on. Lidia then appears and tells them to get on the Ocean Queen's city ship and head to the Eternal City because she is going to free Ruhn, Baxian, and Hunt. They struggle trying to believe her but feel they don't have any other choice. The Viper Queen says she will only allow them to leave if Ithan fights someone of her choosing. He agrees. Tharion convinces Ariadne to not fight him, and the Viper Queen reveals that Ariadne has agreed to go and work for someone else. She demands that Ithan and Sigrid fight to the death, and Ithan kills Sigrid. The three sprites light the Meat Market on fire, and they all escape and head to the city ship. Ithan, however, backs out last minute and runs to the House of Flame and Shadow to talk to Jesiba and convince her to find a necromancer to raise Sigrid from the dead. Jesiba agrees, as long as Ithan does some work for her. She reveals she was a priestess in the library of Parthos 15,000 years ago, and that she was cursed by Apollion to live forever because she wouldn't tell him the magic in the books (there was none). Hypaxia appears and reveals that a coup overthrew her as queen of the Valbarran witches and that she was deciding to swear fealty to the House of Flame and Shadow. Ithan asks her to use her necromancer abilities to raise Sigrid and she agrees. She tries, but when Sigrid comes back, she decides to become a Reaper, and goes off to work with the Under King. Hypaxia says the only way to get Sigrid back would be using a thunderbirds' lightning, so they travel to Avallen in order to get Sofie Renast's body.

Bryce arrives from Prythian in her father's house, and she spends several days as prisoner there. She attempts to get answers from him regarding the Starsword and Truth-Teller, and he says anything of import would be on Avallen. She breaks free from the gorsian shackles and locks her father in his basement and winnows away.

In the Eternal City, Rigelus takes some of Hunt's lightning in order to resurrect the Harpy. Lidia frees Irithys, queen of the fire sprites. The Asteri demand to see Hunt, Baxian, and Ruhn, presumably to execute Ruhn. On the way, Lidia kills the guards and the Hawk, and they make an escape attempt. Irithys blows up part of the Crystal Palace, but the dreadwolves hunt them anyways. They drive towards the sea, and as they hit a dead end, she tells Hunt and Baxian to fly Ruhn to the ship, and she shifts into her deer form and runs. The three make it to the ship, but Ruhn begs Tharion to jump into the water to save Lidia when she reaches the end of the cliff and has to jump. Lidia is shot, but leaps into the water, and Tharion is able to bring her onboard the ship where the medics heal her. When she awakes on the Depth Charger, Lidia immediately runs to a school on board the ship and looks into a classroom with two teenage boys, Brann and Acteon, and claims that they are her sons. Hunt, Baxian, and Ruhn are asked to meet with the Ocean Queen, and the Ocean Queen is furious with Tharion for being there and bringing his friends aboard when the River Queen and the Viper Queen both want him dead. Bryce suddenly appears, and claims herself to be Queen of the Fae and that Tharion serves her. The Ocean Queen backs off, but says Tharion is confined to the ship, and the group reunites. Bryce says they are going to Avallen, to find out more information on the Starsword. When they arrive, Tharion leaps into the boat with them and defies the Ocean Queen. King Morven, the Stag King and Cormac's father, is less than welcoming. He presents Flynn's sister Sathia, saying that her parents sought refuge here and in his lands fae females need to be wed. He plans on marrying her to one of his cruel, telepathic twin sons, but Tharion steps forward and offers to marry Sathia. They get married, and the group splits up to look for clues; Bryce, Hunt, Baxian, Tharion, and Sathia going into the caves, and Ruhn, Lidia, Declan, and Flynn staying behind to search the archives. They travel through the caves, and Ruhn and Lidia grow closer, but don't notice that Flynn and Declan are missing. In the caves, they are confronted by the Stag King, the Autumn King, and the twins, with Flynn and Declan prisoners. Bryce collapses the cave and jumps into an underground river with the rest of them. Bryce and Hunt fight, but they continue onwards and find the crypt of Prince Pelias. Beneath it they find an entire room carved out of obsidian salt, and bowls to drink water laced with it. Bryce and Hunt drink the water and are mentally transported to Hel. Ruhn and Lidia realize Declan and Flynn are missing and go to the caves to search for them. When Hunt and Bryce arrive in Hel, they are greeted by Apollion, Thanatos, and Aidas. They reveal that they have been waiting for Bryce for a long time, and that they created the thunderbirds to be able to power her up if she was unable to find Silene and Helena's powers. The thunderbirds were killed by the Asteri for this, and that is when they decided to create Hunt. Apollion and Thanatos were both part of his creation, and his mother was a willing participant. Hunt's angel father was killed for communing with the demons. They tell Hunt that the halo of thorns tattoo was created to keep the creatures of Hel in check, but it didn't work as Apollion and Hunt's power, the lightning that they called Helfire, was able to break it. When Bryce and Hunt return from their trance, they find the Stag King and the Autumn King holding all of their friends hostage. They plan to kill them all but Bryce and Hunt fight back, and Ruhn and Lidia appear and Ruhn uses the Starsword to kill his father. Bryce then kills the Stag King, and accesses Helena's power that was hidden under there.

Avallen magically flourishes now that it doesn't have to hide Helena's power. Hypaxia and Ithan arrive and are updated on the situation. Bryce tells Hypaxia she needs her to find a cure for the parasite in the water so that way they can be more powerful when they fight the Asteri. Bryce says because the Stag King's castle was destroyed when the land came back, Sofie's body is gone, but Hunt gives them some of his lightning. Hypaxia and Ithan leave again, and Fury arrives with Juniper, Ember, Randall, and Cooper (Emile). Bryce sends Ruhn, Lidia, Flynn, and Declan back to Crescent City to try and recruit Isaiah and Naomi, Tharion and Sathia to the River Queen to convince her to open her city to refugees, and she, Hunt, and her parents plan to go to Nena to open the Northern Rift to let Hel's armies in. Cooper, Juniper, Fury, and Baxian stay in Avallen. Once in Nena, they get to the Rift, but instead of opening it to Hel, Bryce opens it to Nesta's room. She asks her for the Mask, and to take her parents as collateral. Nesta refuses, and says Rhysand is on his way to get her. Bryce begs Nesta to take her parents anyways so that way they are safe, and Nesta relents, taking her parents but also giving her the Mask. She closes the portal, and is about to open one to Hel but is stopped by Isaiah, Naomi, and Celestina. Hunt tries to kill Celestina for turning them over to the Asteri, and he melts his halo and Isaiah's. Bryce convinces him not to, and Celestina yields, saying she realized what she did wrong and is willing to rebel against the Asteri. They are then attacked by the Harpy, who has been reanimated by the Asteri using Hunt's lightning, but Bryce realizes she's just an animated corpse and no longer has a soul, so she uses the Mask to put her down. She then opens the gates to Hel, and Apollion, Thanatos, and Aidas come through with their armies.

Back in Lunathion, Hypaxia discovers the cure to the parasite. Ithan takes it, and is gifted powers of snow and ice, and his wolf form is much more powerful. They then go to see the Under-King, and Ithan meets with Connor. He is unable to speak but gives Ithan a bullet. Ithan is confused and begs the Under-King for more time, but he refuses. Ithan freezes him solid, and then Jesiba appears. She tells Hypaxia to kill him and she does, and becomes the leader of the House of Flame and Shadow. She gives Connor the ability to speak, and he tells Ithan that the bullet is filled with the secondlight of all of the souls in the Bone Quarter, and Bryce should use it to kill the Asteri. Connor also puts himself into the bullet. Ithan decides to go to the wolves and confess what happened to Sigrid and tell them about the cure to the parasite. Sabine appears with the Astronomer and Reaper Sigrid, and claims that Sigrid is now her heir. The Prime steps in and renounces Sigrid and Sabine, and makes Ithan his heir. But before Ithan can accept, Sabine kills the Prime and Sigrid sucks out his soul. Sigrid also kills the Astronomer, and Ithan kills Sabine. Sigrid escapes, and Amelie and Perry Ravenscroft swear loyalty to him as Prime. Tharion and Sathia manage to convince the River Queen to not kill Tharion and to shelter innocents in her city. They are confronted by the Viper Queen, and Sathia recognizes one of her childhood best friends as one of the Viper Queen's soldiers. The Viper Queen demands retribution from Tharion for the burning of the Meat Market caused by the sprites. Hypaxia and Ithan appear and demand that the Viper Queen leave them alone, but Sathia goes after her old friend, leaving Tharion alone.

Lidia learns that the Depth Charger has been attacked and her sons have been taken by Pollux. Everyone rushes to the Eternal City. Bryce and Hunt winnow into the throne room and Bryce uses the Mask to reanimate the souls of the Fallen and their wings hanging up on the throne room wall, and puts their souls into the mech suits that the Asteri have built. Rigelus appears and reveals that he has sent half of his army to march into the open portal and take over Hel, but Bryce and the demons planned for this and already left half of their army guarding the portal. The rest of the Asteri appear on the battlefield, and Bryce kills Polaris by combining the Starsword and Truth-Teller. This opens a mini black hole that sucks Polaris in and kills her. Ruhn and Lidia search the castle for her sons, but Ruhn shoots her in the leg so he can go on ahead to save them. Tharion finds Lidia, and Pollux traps Ruhn. Tharion and Lidia both take the cure to the parasite and Lidia faces off against Pollux. Ruhn reveals that Lidia is his mate. Lidia's power manifests as fire, and she burns Pollux to ash. Ruhn rushes Brann and Actaeon out of the city, and Lidia joins the fight. Hunt and Bryce arrive at the firstlight core beneath the palace, but Rigelus is guarding it. They both tire, and Bryce winnows them away. Ithan finds Bryce and gives her the bullet and the Godslayer rifle. She winnows back to Rigelus only to find the remaining four Asteri guarding it. She plans to use the bullet to blow up the firstlight core, but Rigelus tells her that destroying it is a kill switch, just like the Cauldron is in Prythian. If she destroys it, Midgard will also be destroyed. Bryce takes a chance and does it anyways. It creates a massive black hole that sucks her and the Asteri into it. She pulls the black hole through a portal into space, but as long as the portal is open, the rest of Midgard also continues to get pulled in. Hunt jumps into a mech suit, piloted by the soul of Shahar, and jumps through, putting on the Mask so he doesn't need to breathe. The portal begins to close but Apollion, Aidas, Thanatos, Ithan, Ruhn, and the rest of their friends hold it open while Hunt rescues Bryce and pulls her back through. Bryce, however, is dead. Hypaxia says she can bring her back if someone trades lives with her, and Jesiba appears and volunteers. She talks with Bryce in the afterlife, revealing that even what the Asteri was doing couldn't destroy the souls of the dead. She waves to Danika, Lehabah, and the Pack of Devils, and comes back to life. The demons all go back to Hel, and Bryce closes the Northern Rift. She then, being the Queen of the Avallen and Valbarran fae, demolishes the monarchy. Lidia's sons go back to their adoptive fathers. Hypaxia begins working on mass producing the cure. Tharion goes back to the Meat Market to find Sathia, and runs into Ariadne instead. Ithan takes on his duties as Prime.

The bonus chapters for this book included Ruhn and Lidia getting married, Hunt and Bryce spending Winter Solstice at her parents', the night Danika tricked Bryce into getting the Horn tattooed, Bryce, Azriel, and Nesta listening to music together off of Bryce's phone, and Ember and Randall in the Night Court and Ember bonding with Nesta.

Bryce Quinlan (Bryce Danaan/Queen of the Fae/Starborn): I always preferred Bryce over Hunt and wished she had been on her own or with someone else, mostly because I don't care for Hunt. But she really lost all respect from me in this book and was acting totally out of character. Her telling Hunt to just get over his trauma and picking fights with him all the time was so unnecessary and a horrible way to treat your partner. She made everything that happened to him about her, and she was also awful to Lidia near the end and didn't even apologize for calling her kids baggage. Bryce was trying to be Aelin but was falling way short. Her death at the end had no impact on me whatsoever because it was obvious she was about to pull a Rhysand and resurrect. Also her using her parents' as collateral, and then trying to send them through anyways to keep them safe was so selfish. They would have been safe in Avallen and if she didn't think they would be, she just forced them to leave their son there! I wish we could have seen Ember tearing Bryce up for that choice because she definitely deserved it. You would think after everything she would have had some growth, especially with her attitude towards the Fae, but then she just childishly dismantles their monarchy and basically tells them to figure it out. Giving the Fae a vote in how they run things while trying to push for change of thousands of years old belief systems was so not the way to do that. Ruhn killed Einar, and Bryce killed Morven, so they both should have been stepping up to take responsibility for the fate of their people.

Hunt Athalar (Orion Athalar/the Hunter/the Umbra Mortis/Son of Hel): Hunt has never been my favorite but I just felt bad for him this whole book. Bryce honestly did not deserve him by the end of it and the fact that none of her horribleness towards him got addressed and he mostly ended up apologizing was so out of character and honestly abusive. On a positive note, I really liked his backstory of being descended from demons, I think that was much better and made way more sense than the god Thurr theories, even though it was annoying for all of those references and comparisons to come to nothing.

Tharion Ketos (Captain Tharion Ketos): I liked Tharion in House of Earth and Blood. I liked him less in House of Sky and Breath. In this book, his entire purpose just seemed to be the village idiot. It was really boggling how badly he kept messing everything up, and anything from his POV was kind of infuriating. The only thing that ended up making anything about his story interesting was Sathia.

Ithan Holstrom (Prime of the Valbarran Wolves): I've heard a lot of people complaining about Ithan and his POV and storyline, but I honestly kind of enjoyed it. He made a lot of dumb decisions, but I liked the trope of "running from destiny but no matter what you do it happens anyways". I'm hoping in the next book we actually get to see him gain more confidence and wisdom and do things right.

Einar Danaan (The Autumn King/King of the Valbarran Fae): I was really disappointed with where his character went, I felt like he was being set up for a redemption arc the entire time, just for him to be like, "I'm totally evil and I'm going to kill you!" in very over the top classic villain fashion. I know the whole point is that he was manipulative, but that's not how it came across.

Lidia Cervos (Agent Daybright/the Hind): Lidia was the most interesting character in this book. I knew going into this that Throne of Glass was definitely not going to be getting the screen time some people thought it was, I thought this was a perfect way to incorporate easter eggs. I knew her powers were going to be fire but it didn't make the reveal any less awesome. And the ring she gave her sons and the fact that she named her son Brannon was just the icing on the cake. Other than that, she had the most interesting character development, backstory, dialogue, and POVs than anyone else in the book (especially Bryce).

Storyline: I loved the ACOTAR crossover in the beginning, I thought it wasn't too much or too little. The rest of the story was riddled with a lot of plot holes, for example the reveal that the mer had been on Midgard the whole time fell flat because Rigelus had told Bryce in House of Sky and Breath that the mer came from the shifter fae (which made less sense but she just changed something that had already been established for mild convenience). Other things include: What really is Fury and why were her and Baxian, two of their most powerful fighters, left out of the biggest fight ever? What is so different about Perry that Ithan keeps sensing? Are they mates? Is she actually an Alpha? Is she secretly super powerful? Why was Ariadne, a super powerful dragon, introduced just to not do anything ever? What was all the tension between her and Flynn for? Everything just magically fell into place, and while in Kingdom of Ash everything comes together because Aelin is a genius, a lot of things come together in this book thanks to Urd (fate). The ending fell really flat for me, no one major died, and it was a lot shorter of an ordeal than I thought it would be, with one of the Asteri even dying off page and no one mentions how they died or who killed them (although I guess we're left to assume it was Apollion). Hunt and Bryce's dynamic usually annoyed me, but their back and forth between fighting, fucking, and fine was giving me whiplash and honestly taking away from the story. What happened with Sigrid did anger me at the time, but ultimately I did enjoy Ithan's storyline, contrary to popular opinion. Also, why did we spend so much of the story in caves? I got really tired of that by the second time around.

Representation: Baxian, Celestina, Juniper, Fury, Hypaxia, Marc, Isaiah, Hunt, Bryce, etc. were all POC. Juniper and Fury, Marc and Declan, Hypaxia and Celestina, and Davit and Renki (Brann and Actaeon's fathers) were all gay and in relationships with each other.

Summary: While the crossover and easter eggs were really cool, and the overall tie together of how everything connected was well done, the characters, dialogue, and plot made this book fall a lot flatter for me than I was hoping it would. I honestly wish SJM had wrapped up everything in this book and then left it as a trilogy because honestly I don't feel any desire to revisit this world or these characters (unless it's Ruhn and Lidia).

[bookishwithathought]

The truth sets you free, but at what cost?

Is it worth the price?

The lives?

Is ignorance bliss after all?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The story of House of Earth and Blood continues to expand as greater and deeper truths are uncovered. The circumstances surrounding the murders in book 1 continue to unravel as we learn that history truly is written by the victors, and they’re not always honest in their account.

Bryce is a girl boss and I love that for her.

My love for Hunt only grows with each line, each page, each chapter. His past is riddled with trauma and his present abounds with triggers. And yet, he shows up for those he loves time and again. I’m an Athie girl for life 🖤

I love the side characters in all their flawed glory. Can’t wait to get more of them.

House of Sky and Breath is by far my favorite. The dynamic between the main characters is tense and unbalanced at times, but it only adds to the complexities of relationships, and it allows us to better understand the paths that have shaped them.

Images: Pinterest + Canva

Edited by Me

On the Playlist: Orion - Two Steps From Hell, Michal Cielecki

[lia-land]

House of Flame and Shadow

3.5/5 stars

*Spoilers for House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

Is SJM incapable of killing characters and having them stay dead??? She really cheapens her writing by choosing to not kill off characters, especially when she has so many main ones. Her other series suffer from this as well. This whole book felt exactly like her other two series. Main character who acquires a position of power and there is a war. Three series with this exact premise. I’m bored. Is there really not more to the YA fantasy/romance genre than this? SJM loves ending with a war, and for the third time, it was so underwhelming. She needs to let go of war plots because she’s not that good at writing them and it leaves a bad final impression. Her writing just feels incredibly formulaic in this book, just as it did in A Court of Silver Flames. So many phrases are repeated and I couldn’t help feeling like it was almost written by AI because of how much of a pattern there was. There’s a difference between having a writing style and whatever this was. I was surprised by the ghostwriter claims until I read this book and can sort of understand it now. Compare this to the first two books in ACOTAR, or the first 2 in TOG. What happened to that author?

My second issue with this book is that ACOTAR was used as a marketing tactic to get more readers for this series. I was hoping for more Rhys and Feyre. Any Feyre. There was such a good opportunity for SJM to make this the most amazing crossover and it wasn’t executed well. I understand that this is not an ACOTAR book, but if I hadn’t read ACOTAR, I would be so bored during most of the interactions between Nesta, Bryce, and Azriel. Actually, even having read and loved that series, I wasn’t that entertained. I want more, and not in the good way that derives from me enjoying it so much that I want more, but because there was so much potential here. Instead, it was just a ploy to get more money specifically for CC. I say this because all the crossover chapters seemed to only exist to attract ACOTAR readers to CC, but there was nothing in the writing that was there to attract CC readers to ACOTAR. Had I not read ACOTAR, I’d still have zero interest in the characters and their world after this book. This was written for a very specific audience. Publishing is a business, after all.

I did like seeing how the Night Court IC comes across to those outside the IC. Again, this is something that I only cared about because I’ve read the ACOTAR series. There’s also a bunch of big spoilers for ACOTAR, so I feel like SJM should have maybe specified that you should read the Crescent City series after, but as I said before, the aim of the crossover wasn’t to attract readers to ACOTAR. Just to CC.

I didn’t like Bryce in this book. She felt like a copy of Aelin from Throne of Glass and I’ve explained in reviews of that series why I dislike her. For a non-spoilery summary: she’s very annoying and has too many secret plans and SJM doesn’t know how to execute that well or when to realize that it’s repetitive. She does it in this series, too. Bryce in the cave in Avallen was so incredibly annoying. I loved that Sathia put her in her place. Even Hunt was annoying in Avallen. I almost wanted to DNF the book during those chapters. And why was Bryce suddenly queen of the fae… that was so random and out of character for her. Just very repetitive of SJM’s other books, as I mentioned above.

Tharion was probably the most consistent character throughout this series. He kind of felt like a copy of Thorne from the Lunar Chronicles. He was the only one who kept surprising me. I think, generally, the fandom seems to think he constantly makes bad choices, but I think that’s a very simplified view. He had to go to the Viper Queen or he would have been a prisoner underwater forever. He had to escape the Ocean Queen and follow the others to Avallen because it’s likely that the Ocean Queen would have given him to the other queens to maintain peace. His reasoning for marrying Sathia also made sense. I think the unspoken reasoning there was that he knew the others might have considered ditching him because they wouldn’t want the other queens on their trails and part of him might have thought that marrying Sathia would mean that they couldn’t cut him off. He felt the most realistic to me.

I still can’t find a reason to care about Ithan. The only real purpose he actually had in this book was so that we could learn more about Jesiba. I didn’t care about the wolves storyline at all and it was so underwhelming. Those chapters felt unnecessary and more like a set up for future series. Like what was the point of Ithan’s character?

I said this in my review of HOEAB and also in most of my TOG reviews: these last minute ‘plans’ and ‘reveals’ are unbearable. When Jesiba suddenly and conveniently explained the amulet thing and saving Bryce’s life, I had to roll my eyes. I won’t digress here, though, as I have said all I need to say on this in previous reviews.

My overall take is that I would have enjoyed SJM’s books a lot more if I hadn’t read all 16 back to back. I’ve just spent the past 3 and a half months reading three variations of the same story and characters. I loved the main three ACOTAR books and was chasing that feeling, but her other books didn’t match up. It seems to be an issue within publishing in general that authors seem to be rushing stories just to get them published. The first two ACOTAR books, especially, had me so hooked. I was hoping for stories of that quality. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare, but SJM pretty much set up the groundwork for that when she chose to use the Night Court crossover as a marketing tactic. I think this series could have stood on its own and would have been better off without the crossover.

In saying all this, I will most likely be reading any future SJM books because I’m invested in the worlds, but I hope we get back the same writing and story quality as the beginning of ACOTAR.

[henriquelage]

NEW VIDEO (at last)!

A review of my frustrations with “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, the future of the series, design by subtraction, immersive sims and why “more” never means “better”.

Share, like and leave a comment! (English subtitles).

[mad-rdr]

October reads

7 books this month!

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5): another iconic book in the world of SJM. Bryce and Hunt are my absolute favs and I love the shit they get up to with all their friends. Very curious to see how SJM finally wraps this series up with the crossover and all that...

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas (★ ★ ★ ★/5): hm. I feel like I need to process the fact that this 800+ page book not only took place over a week but that that was all the crossover entailed. I didn't hate it, I couldn't hate all these insane character arcs and plotlines, but I was a bit disappointed by this finale. I'll sit with it, but honestly I can't believe it's over

Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (★ ★ ★/5): another silly installation in this series. Evie and The Villain are so amusing and I need them get together already. I wish this series was a little more complex and longer but hey, didn't mean I enjoyed it any less

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson (★ ★/5): I really wanted to like this book but honestly, I couldn't get into it. It dragged on and the world building, which seemed great at first, fell flat

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland (★ ★ ★ ★/5): this was a fun one, a band of liars and thieves and killers, all with their own motives, brough together with the sole purpose of killing a tyrant king. I really was rooting for this book, and while it wasn't the worst, most the action happens in the last 50 pages. I feel like by trying to make the characters mysterious and complex, a lot of background info was just dropped- it's hard to form connections with characters you know nothing about. Three stars but the fourth star is solely for queen and badass motherfucker Sora.

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein (no rating): a long thought-out case for how capitalism inherently works against the environment and how the two can't coexist. I've been studying this topic for awhile so while it wasn't anything new, I still appreciated Klein's matter of fact way of putting things

Nightbane by Alex Aster (★ ★/5): I don't know why I thought the sequel would be any better than Lightlark (I blame the reviews). It was just as stupid and corny and as much bad writing as the first book. I don't understand why they're suddenly in a war and why Isla loves Oro when he's as interesting as flour. And the whole thing with Isla remembering her past with Grim was badly paced for the plot and the reveals at the end had me rolling my eyes. You know your book is bad when you have to force a cliff hanger to get people to care.

[acourtofpaperandink]

The Bookcave Podcast: Episode 1, We make the rules! (House of Flame and Shadow)

Episode 1 is live!! “It’s our podcast, we make the rules.” (House of Flame and Shadow) Join Anastasia, Catherine, Jennifer (new member) and Jessica as we recap our recent reads, discuss any events we went to or are looking forward to and talk about what we’re currently reading and any upcoming books we are looking forward to. The first half is guaranteed spoiler free. The second half however…

[jessryno]

The Bookcave Podcast: Episode 1, We make the rules! (House of Flame and Shadow)

Episode 1 is live!! “It’s our podcast, we make the rules.” (House of Flame and Shadow) Join Anastasia, Catherine, Jennifer (new member) and Jessica as we recap our recent reads, discuss any events we went to or are looking forward to and talk about what we’re currently reading and any upcoming books we are looking forward to. The first half is guaranteed spoiler free. The second half however…

[anwhitebooks]

The Thing About Tharion Ketos: A useless POV

March 12, 2024 Contains spoilers for the Crescent City series Click below for my reviews of each book in the series: House of Earth and Blood House of Sky and Breath House of Flame and Shadow We first meet Tharion Ketos as the somewhat douchey but still likable merman in House of Earth and Blood. He contributes a little to the plot and adds a gateway for some worldbuilding for the Mer, but…

[jane-asmo]

Here’s a quick review of the amazing opening of Arcane season 2:

Vi seems to be struggling with her identity / Loss of identity

Vi is wearing the tank top that I believe is the one she wears under her enforcer uniform. That’s the outfit she’s wearing throughout the opening.

Jinx, who was hiding behind, rises and steps into the light—maybe a way of showing that she’s grown symbolically, that she’s now 'bigger.'

Ekko with his shadow resembling a clock winding back time.

Caitlyn is shown in her turtleneck (also what she wears under her enforcer outfit ? ), With a curtain to suggest a stage, she takes a deep breath before stepping into the light with a fake smile. Honestly, if I analyze it, we can say without much risk that she's in inner conflict, that she has to step into the spotlight and is showing a different face from how she really feels.

There’s so much to say about the other scenes, but others will handle that perfectly; I have a special focus on CaitVi (😂). Here they are again in the same outfits—the turtleneck and tank top. It’s an interesting way to present them, and there’s a lot that could be said, which I won’t go into, but I wanted to point it out. Cait and Vi are more vulnerable in these outfits; it’s very intimate, as are all the shots with them in this opening. We’re really in deeply intimate territory.

The looks are very intense, filled with hatred or something else? (my poor babies).

At first, I thought they were kissing, but now I think they’re fighting. They could be kissing or strangling each other in that shot; it’s hard to tell. In both cases, it’s very interesting because this little backlit scene with its colors is very intense. And, as I read elsewhere, very lesbian flag.

And Caitlyn is still struggling, with her shadow looking like the Evil Queen, I think (lol 😆). And the effect on her hands gives the impression that she has blood on them.

And I really like this shot because that's my Caitlyn; she has the look of someone who’s realizing, who understands. And maybe she’s coming back to her senses? So, there you have it—just my initial thoughts. I was so awestruck by this new opening that I just had to watch it again and again.

[kenna-is-reading]

Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath Review

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Dear Readers,

I have so many thoughts, questions, comments, and concerns in regards to this book that it made me stop procrastinating and just start my blog, already. I finished CC2 in the wee hours of last night, having flown through the last 400 pages in a single day. What I had heard going into this book was that it was a "whole lot of nothing" and "kind of hard to get through," but that really wasn't the case for me. I have owned the first CC book since it came out, but just now finished it last month. I found the first half of that difficult to read through, not because it was bad or boring or had anything wrong with it, but simply because I have the IQ of a paper towel and could not bring myself to comprehend anything that was going on. However, when I hit the last 200 or so pages of HOEAB, something clicked. Something shifted in the earth's atmosphere and I was addicted. I snatched book 2 from the library first thing the very next morning, and the rest was history. I found that I absolutely love everything about this series, from the setting to the characters to the way everything worked together. I just found all the different types of people and how they related to one another and how they operated in a modern city setting to be so interesting. In listening to other people's reviews of this book, some didn't like the large cast of characters and found it hard to keep them all straight, but as a Throne of Glass enthusiast, I felt right at home. I loved the changing perspectives and getting to see what was going on inside the heads of characters like Ruhn, Tharion, and Ithan. The character dynamics worked really well, in my opinion, and I always love the way a big group of characters interacts and banters, especially in an SJM novel. A couple of things I wanted to note specifically about HOSAB:

The Rebel Plotline

I actually didn't mind the plotline with Ophion and the Renasts. It felt like a good additional conflict to pull on the loose threads that were left open at the end of Book 1 and ended up tying into the overarching plot in an interesting way. I was disappointed that Sofie actually didn't make it, because we spend a very large portion of this book discussing her powers and attempting to find Emile, and I wanted to see how her relationship with Cormac played out, because he was a very interesting character to me as well. I was definitely sad about his sacrifice, but it was made more impactful given his final interaction with Ruhn. While he had not been around long, he was a complex character, and I found myself wanting better for him and wanting for him to be able to become the person he wanted to be. However, I still want to know more about Sofie's thunderbird powers and how they play into everything.

2. Tharion

I have loved Tharion since he first appeared in Book 1, but I was so disappointed in him in this book. Some of his choices had me yelling at the page, but his complexity makes him such a good character. We know he is overall a good person, but he can be treacherous as he struggles to juggle his loyalty to his friends with his obligation to the River Queen. The biggest question that I had finishing this book was due to the fact that when Captain Sendes saves the crew from...well...everyone, there is a line insinuating that she expects that they not reveal the truth about their camouflaging ship technology. She basically tells them, you screw us, we'll screw you. Tharion immediately returns to the River Queen and sells them out, telling her all about the ship tech and even mentioning Captain Sendes by name. Knowing the River Queen, I expected her to retaliate against the Ocean Queen's crew, or at least for Sendes & co. to discover Tharion's betrayal and refuse to help them, but this issue is never brought up again, so I was confused about that, not to mention frustrated with Tharion for blabbing everyone's business to the River Queen of his own free will. The second, probably most obvious choice of Tharion's that I was frustrated by in this book was his decision to pledge himself to the Viper Queen. I understand why he did it, and I realize that he was, in a way, punishing himself, but I can't help but feel like he could have had other options that didn't involve selling himself into literal slavery. Regardless, I love him as a character and I cannot wait to see his arc. I hope he is able to create a better life for himself and have the development that Cormac was not able to.

3. Hunt

This seems like it might be controversial because I see a lot of Hunt slander that I believe is unwarranted, but Hunt Athalar is firmly within my list of top 5 SJM men. I love him. Plain and simple, I love him so much. Having to read the ending of this book when everything he has worked for goes down the drain as his halo is reapplied was absolutely grueling. I know there is also a lot of speculation that Bryce will have another love interest simply because this is an SJM book, and I'm just not sure why or how that would happen. I think that, at this point, that is what everyone is expecting to happen, so I'd be very surprised if Sarah went that route. But whatever the case, I love Hunt and I really hope nothing happens to him. He's been through the ringer for literal centuries and I just want him to be happy!!! I also have questions following this book about his lineage. I feel like there is a lot yet to be revealed about his parentage and his powers, so I am excited to read more in CC3 and see what comes of that...if he ever gets out of that stupid dungeon. (Which, btw, sidebar: all my homies HATE Pollux and I cannot wait until he gets the Cairn treatment, preferably from Lidia).

4. Connor

This book raised SO MANY QUESTIONS about Connor. It gave me hope that maybe we will see Connor again in some way because the book spent so much time on Ithan's quest to find out where he is. And even if we don't get to see Connor or talk to him again, I WANNA KNOW WHERE HE IS! The Holstrom Bros are #1 in my heart and I want nothing but love and light for them <3.

5. The Big Twist aka Infinity War (Sarah's Version)

Now team. I think a lot of us readers knew how this book was going to end, or at least knew The Big Thing that was going to happen at some point within it. And that makes me SO UPSET! The appearance of Rhysand and that whole situation had the potential to be one of the most breathtaking plot twist mindblowing earth-shattering life-changing moments in literary history. However, the way it was handled by both the reader community AND literally Bloomsbury themselves made it so that basically everybody and their cousin's neighbor's dog's goldfish's nephew knew that the crossover was happening. It didn't matter how dedicated you were to avoiding spoilers, somehow they ALWAYS found their way onto the screen! No amount of typing "NO SPOILERS SPOILER FREE NO SPOILERS" in on BookTok stopped the spoilers from coming! Me personally, I refused to look at anything SJM related for the entire release year to avoid spoilers, because I hadn't read any Crescent City yet, I had only read up to ACOSF. So I thought I was safe. I was wrong. It was an unseasonably bright and happy day on January 10th as I pulled out my phone at the library and clicked on the Instagram app to see what exciting new things had been posted, and imagine my surprise when the FIRST THING ON MY SCREEN was a single graphic, (not a carousel), posted by SJM and Bloomsbury that read, in big bright letters, "Bryce began running again, hurtling through the cave. Back toward Nesta and Azriel. And prayed there was SOMETHING LEFT FOR HER TO SAVE." I reacted in a manner akin to that stan Twitter reaction video of iCarly opening her apartment door and immediately being blinded. I nearly threw the offending phone across the public library. I prayed to unsee. But the damage was done. I had seen. I then went to my local Walmart 20 days later to acquire House of Flame and Shadow, and I was deeply alarmed when each copy of the brand new book was stamped with a big blue sticker that read something along the lines of "INCLUDES BONUS CHAPTER WITH BRYCE, NESTA, AND AZRIEL!" Right on the front of the cover for all to see. Now you may say, "Kenna dearest, CC1 had been out for nearly 4 years at that point. CC2 had been out for nearly 2 years. They shouldn't have to post spoiler warnings anymore." And to that I say, if it were any other author or series. YES! So true! However, House of Earth and Blood is indeed 799 pages in length. House of Sky and Breath is indeed 801 pages in length. I am but a full time student, part-time worker, volunteer, sister, daughter, and friend. My reading time had been quite limited at that point. Not to mention that Sarah J. Maas is arguably the most popular author within BookTube, BookTok, BookTwt, and Bookstagram COMBINED right now, and so many people are just now starting to read her books. However, I suppose if readers DO know that the ACOTAR characters show up in Crescent City, it will motivate fans of ACOTAR to continue on with Maas's books and purchase more of them, so really it's 10/10 marketing and I must applaud the reckless major-multi-series-spoiling amid my frustration.

Overall, I absolutely love the Crescent City series, and I loved HOSAB as a sequel, and I am diving immediately into book 3. This series continues to cement SJM as a master of her craft and portrays the way that she is just an expert at putting a story together and creating characters that feel real. I am now off to devour House of Flame and Shadow, and then probably reread ACOTAR and TOG to try to pick up on some of that big-brain tricky foreshadowing she always does. Until next time, and thank you for reading my emphatic literary ramblings.

XO,

Kenna

[385bookreviews]

1.73.2 House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas

SPOILERS

Pages: 801

Time Read: 14 hours and 31 minutes

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Storyline: ★★★★★ Dialogue: ★★★★☆ Characters: ★★★★☆

Genre: Adult urban fantasy

TWs for the book: S*xual content, violence, death, blood, war, murder, injury, slavery, cursing, torture, gore, grief, gun violence, alcohol, classism, colonization, drug use, genocide, fire/fire injury, confinement, misogyny/sexism, physical abuse, body horror, child abuse, s*xual assault/violence, mentions of r*pe, kidnapping, medical content, gaslighting, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, infidelity, panic attacks, trafficking, animal death, domestic abuse, mental illness, vomit, death of a parent, hate crime, discrimination, infertility, toxic friendship, homophobia, police brutality, arranged marriage, racism

POV: Third person

Time Period/Location: Crescent City (Lunathion) on the fictional continent of Valbara; the Eternal City on the fictional continent of Pangera; three months after the events of the first book

First Line: Sofie had survived in the Kavalla death camp for two weeks.

The story opens in the Kavalla death camp on Pangera, where the Vanir are keeping human rebels. Sofie, a rare type of Vanir called a thunderbird and an Ophion rebel, with the ability to harness and control all types of energy, frees her brother and a group of children from the camp. They are hunted by the dreadwolves, the wolf shifters that guard the camp, and the Hind, the deer shifter who serves as spy breaker and torturer in Sandriel's former triarii. Agent Silverbow, Sofie's lover, gets the children and her brother Emile to safety, but Sofie remains behind to distract the Hind and the dreadwolves. She is subsequently captured, and the Hind throws her, shackled, into the sea.

Meanwhile, in Crescent City, Bryce's parents are in town and they are seeing one of Juniper's performances. Afterwards, Bryce, Hunt, Juniper, and Fury go to Ruhn, Declan, and Flynn's house for a party. While there, Cormac, Prince of the Avallen Fae, appears and declares that the Autumn King has betrothed Bryce to him. When her and Hunt arrive home, they find Ithan bleeding on their floor. He defended Bryce against Sabine in an article and Sabine and Amelie beat him and kicked him out of the pack and the Aux. Bryce agrees to let him stay.

Tharion is on a mission from the River Queen to find Sofie's body. He goes to where she was dropped into the ocean but the chains are unlocked and the body is gone. The River Queen demands he keeps searching for her, as well as for her brother Emile, who everyone believes to be a thunderbird.

A new Archangel comes to lead the city named Celestina. An angel named Ephraim has been given control of Sandriel's old territory in Pangera, but because he has his own triarii and Celestina only has Hunt, Isaiah, and Naomi, the Asteri split up Sandriel's old triarii. They send Baxian, the Helhound, an angel with the rare ability to shapeshift into a dog, and Pollux, the Hammer, to Crescent City. Upon seeing Pollux, Hunt immediately attacks him and they both end up in cells. Bryce comes to free him upon Celestina's request.

Tharion finds an abandoned boat and believes Emile is running to the city with an Ophion commander named Pippa and her Lightfall squadron on his tail. He also finds emails between Sofie and Danika about things called Dusk's Truth, Project Thurr, and a safe hiding place in the city, and goes to ask Bryce if she knows anything. Hunt wants them all to stay out of it, but Bryce is insistent upon finding and helping Emile. Bryce meets with Fury who tells her that the only secret she knew about Danika was that she was a bloodhound, a rare ability among wolf shifters that allow them to sniff out secrets in a person's lineage. Bryce arrives home with Ruhn to find Ithan and Tharion on the couch with a white cat who reveals himself to be Aidas. He demands to know why Bryce hasn't been learning how to use her powers, and that her starlight doesn't come from Prince Pelias, but rather Queen Theia. He claims Pelias was an imposter who killed Theia, and demands that Ruhn's Starsword belongs to Bryce. He encourages her to aid the rebels and that the demons of Hel were actually fighting against the Asteri to free the people of Midgard. Cormac appears, and Aidas reveals him as the rebel Agent Silverbow before disappearing. He confesses he is also searching for Emile and that he ran away from Pippa because she wanted to use him as a weapon. He also wants to discover the war-changing secret that Sofie discovered about the Asteri before her disappearance, information she found at Danika's request. Cormac knew that Bryce knew Danika and it was the only reason he agreed to the betrothal. Bryce makes a deal with Cormac agreeing to keep the betrothal sham public if he helps her to learn her powers while they search for Emile with Tharion. Cormac also recruits Ruhn to help him by threatening to tell the Autumn King of Ruhn's mind-speaking gifts. Hunt tries to talk Bryce out of this plan, but she wants to find Emile on her own as she worries that Tharion, Cormac, and Pippa will just use the kid as a weapon. She also wants blackmail on the Asteri so that way they will leave her and Hunt alone.

Ruhn meets with Cormac who asks him to use his mind-speaking to contact Agent Daybright, a high-ranking Vanir close to the Asteri that they don't want to risk contacting any other way. Hunt has a dream where he speaks with Apollion, the Prince of the Pit and the demon that killed the seventh Asteri. He instructs Hunt to combine his powers with Bryce's and that they will be even more powerful. Ruhn manages to make contact with Agent Daybright, and she appears as a woman covered by flame. Ruhn passes along information to Cormac about a hit on the Spine, a train route where mech suits for Vanir will be transported. Pollux and Baxian get into a fight after Baxian stops Pollux from r*ping a girl. To keep media attention from focusing on their fight, the Asteri tell Celestina that she is to mate with Ephraim. Ruhn and Bryce head to the Aux training facility so that way Cormac can train her, when they are attacked by Reapers and Ruhn is dragged into the sewer. The Reapers tell Bryce that they were sent by Apollion, and that he wants to fight and kill her like he did with Prince Pelias, so she has to train her powers. They also hint that Emile is in the Bone Quarter. Bryce uses the Starsword to kill the Reapers, and Cormac teleports in to save Ruhn.

Bryce and Hunt decide that they are officially going to be together, and they decide that they are mates, even if they don't have the soul connection that Fae mates have. Hunt and Bryce travel to the Bone Quarter to interrogate the Under-King. He denies sending any Reapers after Bryce or that any are missing from his land. He also says Emile nor Sofie are there, and that neither is Lehabah, because Lowers are of no use. Then he explains that after a few centuries of the dead resting in the Bone Quarter, they are pushed through the Dead Gate and they become secondlight, and are used as a source of fuel and energy for the empire. He then has a demon, a large dog that can split into 3 dogs called the Shepherd, attack Bryce and Hunt. The Reapers and the Shepherd attempt to push Bryce and Hunt through the Dead Gate, but Bryce jumps in front of Hunt's lightning and flows through the Starsword and she begins killing them. Hunt manages to draw energy from the Dead Gate as well, very similar to a thunderbird, and they escape the Bone Quarter, aided by Tharion who takes them back to shore. Meanwhile, Ruhn, Ithan, and Cormac pass along rebel information about the Vanir mech suits so the rebels can attack the Spine. The rest of Sandriel's former triarii has arrived in the city along with Ephraim, and the commander of the dreadwolves, Mordoc, comes down the alley. Ithan tells Ruhn that he is a bloodhound, and Danika's father. Cormac teleports Ithan away, and then creates a distraction so Ruhn can run, but Mordoc catches his scent anyways. Cormac teleports Ithan and Ruhn to a bar across town so they have an alibi, and then vanishes right before the Hind and the Harpy enter. The Hind introduces herself to Ruhn as his fiancé's, Hypaxia the witch-queen's, half-sister.

Ithan wants to know if Connor's soul has been pushed through the Dead Gate so him, Bryce, and Tharion go to the Astronomer, a man that controls three mystics. Mystics are some rare Vanir born with the ability to essentially astral project all over the universe and into different dimensions, and their families usually sell them to people like the Astronomer. Ithan inquires about his brother, but the male mystic goes to Hel instead and encounters Thanatos, the Prince of the Ravine. He tells them that Connor is still safe in the Bone Quarter but he decides that he is going to eat the soul of the male mystic. All three mystics begin drowning, and Ithan frees them, much to the anger of the Astronomer who kicks them out. Ithan, still wanting answers about his brother, goes back to the Astronomer. He isn't there, but the female mystic is out of her tank, and he realizes that she is an Alpha wolf. She refuses to leave with him when he presses, and so he steals the Astronomer's rings.

Cormac discovers that Ophion has captured the Vanir mech suits and are keeping them on an island off the coast. Ruhn, Tharion, Bryce, Cormac, and Hunt go to the island. Cormac tries to convince Command to not let Pippa be in charge or start the war in Crescent City as she is insane, but he is overruled. Hunt reveals that the Vanir mech suits are meant to be able to draw firstlight from the ground and create massive bombs in an instant. He destroys the suits and the rebels shoot Cormac and they steal a boat and escape. However, the encounter Baxian, who warns them that the Hind is coming. A submarine blows up their boat and they are left floating in the water, but only the Hind approaches. She threatens them, but flees as a massive underwater ship comes to their rescue. It's a city ship from the Ocean Queen, and she claims that they were called there to rescue them. Hunt goes completely feral, lightning magic taking over upon seeing the Hind, and he is unable to calm down. Ruhn tells Bryce that her and Hunt are mates in the way that the Fae are mates. Bryce takes Hunt into a garden and they sleep together for the first time. When his magic flows into her, she teleports. After this, it is revealed that the city-ship went to go rescue Sofie, but she was dead by the time they got there and they have her body. Before she died though, Sofie carved a series of letters and numbers into her arm, and they presume it's the key to the information about the Asteri she was hiding.

Meanwhile, Ithan brings the rings he stole from the Astronomer back to Declan and Flynn. They break open the rings and reveal three fire sprite triplets. They break open the fourth ring though and reveal a dragon named Ariadne that was bound and contained within the ring.

When the rest of the group arrives back in the city, they are not confronted, so they assume that the Hind or Baxian hasn't told anyone of their involvement with Ophion. Baxian does come to them though and says he is a rebel sympathizer and wants to join them. Bryce lies and says that isn't what they were doing and rejects him. Hunt figures out that Bryce knows where Emile is. She takes him to the Meat Market and reveals that she had the Viper Queen find him and keep him safe, and in exchange Bryce owes her a favor one day. Emile reveals he isn't a thunderbird at all. Bryce has Fury take Emile to her parents' house, where they adopt him with forged paperwork. Hunt is angry at her for not telling him she found Emile and they fight and part ways.

Hypaxia comes to Ruhn' house and asks for him and Ithan to watch her back and for Ruhn to escort her to Celestina and Ephraim's mating celebration. Ithan agrees to guard her in exchange for her using her necromancer powers to get in contact with Connor.

The Autumn King comes to visit Bryce and tells her that he is having her name legally changed to Bryce Danaan, and that she is officially a princess of the Fae. After a falling out with Juniper and Fury being busy, Bryce contacts Hypaxia to talk. Ithan and Ariadne trail them, but two demons attack and rip out Ithan's throat. Hypaxia uses her healing magic to charge up Bryce so she can teleport and kill the demons. Hypaxia is able to heal Ithan, and it is revealed that Ariadne ran away.

Agent Daybright tells Ruhn that she will meet him at the mating ceremony for Celestina and Ephraim at midnight. The night of the party, Cormac escorts Bryce. When they arrive, Bryce heads straight to the Archangels and announces to them that her and Hunt have mated so he is now a prince of the Fae and she is no longer marrying Cormac. The Autumn King is humiliated but has no choice but to accept it because she had already gained the approval of two Archangels. Bryce and Hunt sneak away to have s*x and find Celestina and Hypaxia together. They swear to never speak about it to anyone. Ruhn goes to meet Day but the Harpy is there instead. He flees, and runs into the Hind as well on the way out, and then leaves the party altogether.

Apollion comes to speak to Bryce in her dream. He reveals that Aidas and Theia were lovers, and that Hel assisted Midgard in the last war. He denies sending the Reapers to threaten her and Ruhn, and asks her to open the gates to Hel so they can kill the Asteri. Bryce refuses, and he tells her to come find him once she has learned the truth. Ithan and Hypaxia try to summon Connor's spirit but instead summon the Under-King, and he traps them in the woods and sends hunting hounds after them. After a long night, Ithan and Hypaxia manage to make it to Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn, and the rest of them and she tells them that the Under-King demands they meet him at Urd's Temple or he'll shove Connor and the rest of the Pack of Devils through the Dead Gate. Only Bryce, Ruhn, Hunt, and Hypaxia go. The Under-King reveals that the Reapers who jumped them came from Eternal City, not the Bone Quarter. But the whole meeting was an ambush as Pippa and her Lightfall squadron attack the temple. Bryce teleports Ruhn and Hypaxia out, but doesn't have enough energy to get Hunt. The Lightfall Squadron is attacked by the dreadwolves and Pollux. Baxian pulls Bryce and Hunt through a secret passageway, but Bryce draws her gun and demands to know why he keeps helping them. He reveals a tattoo on his chest, "Through love, all is possible", in Danika's handwriting. He also reveals that he was Danika's mate. Bryce is heartbroken she kept this from her. Baxian reveals the numbers and letters on Sofie's arm are a room number in the Asteri Archives in Eternal City, and that he gave that number to Danika. Danika tasked Sofie with finding out what was in that room, and it took her three years but she finally did, and then ran to Kavalla to save her brother right after. They make plans to go to the Eternal City. Tharion tells the River Queen's daughter that he no longer wants to be engaged to her and she runs to tell her mother. In fear of having to live the rest of his life Beneath, he runs to the Viper Queen and swears allegiance to her as one of her fighters, stopping the River Queen from coming after him. Ithan goes to see the Prime and he tells him of the Alpha wolf mystic. Sabine gets angry at him, but the Prime pulls him aside in private to tell him that she is a Fendyr, and has the ability to replace Sabine as Prime Apparent. Ruhn meets with Day mentally and they kiss and sleep together telepathically. But at the end Day is pulled away and leaves him with a frantic warning. Ruhn goes into a panic thinking she has been discovered and captured and insists he is going to the Eternal City to save her. Hunt, Bryce, and Ruhn are the only three to go. Tharion and Cormac also travel to Pangera but blow up a laboratory as a distraction that they can blame on Pippa. Five of the Asteri show up to kill the rebels. Tharion flees but Cormac is killed.

In the castle, Bryce enters the room in the Asteri Archives. She finds a core of firstlight and pipes channeling it to the remaining six Asteri's thrones. She realizes that the Asteri are not the gods they make themselves out to be and that they are feeding on firstlight and secondlight. As she is about to leave, she encounters a room labelled Dusk. She goes in and discovers that the Asteri have done this to other planets for thousands upon thousands of years, killing and draining and feeding off entire planets around the cosmos. She finds notes on Midgard that say that the existing human population was not enough so they brought in the Vanir from other worlds. She also discovers that the Asteri tried to conquer Hel but were fought off, and Hel invaded Midgard to kill the Asteri and free the creatures there. As she tries to find the home world of the Asteri, she is caught by Rigelus. He reveals he lured her there so he could use her to reopen the Gates. Theia shut the gates to keep the Asteri from going back and conquering her home world. He reveals that Danika discovered that the shifters are all Fae, just a different kind than Bryce and from a different world. Rigelus says that they "bred out" the pointed ears. Bryce transports back to Hunt to find him captured by the Harpy and Ruhn is captured by Mordoc, who remembers his scent from the ally. They are all thrown into a cell and bound, and the Harpy begins to torture Ruhn, but Agent Daybright comes to the rescue, and it is revealed that she is Lidia, the Hind. Lidia kills the Harpy, but hears Pollux coming down the hall. She frees Bryce and Bryce beats her up and makes it look like she killed the Harpy. Pollux captures them all again and drags them before the Asteri, Lidia leaving Bryce's hands unbound. They stand before Rigelus, and Baxian and Mordoc enter. Rigelus reveals that he disguised himself as Aidas and sent the Reapers to manipulate Bryce. He says the eight pointed star on her chest is a mark of her home world, and that he wants to go back there and conquer that world as well. Bryce agrees to do so as long as he frees Ruhn and Hunt. He agrees, and she says goodbye to them. Hunt tells her to go to Hel and gather their armies, and Ruhn tells her she needs to live so she can be the Autumn Queen. She unlocks both of their chains while hugging them, and Ruhn and Hunt blast Rigelus while Bryce runs. Rigelus pursues her, and Baxian takes out Mordoc. Hunt sends a blast of power through the Horn and she opens a portal and disappears. Rigelus puts a slave halo back on Hunt.

Bryce lands in the grass in a city in front of a house. She thinks she is in Hel and is confused, but she has actually been transported to the ACOTAR universe. Azriel finds her, and she begs for him to take her to Prince Aidas, but they don't speak the same language, and he blindfolds her and takes her to the townhouse. Amren, Cassian, and Nesta enter, and Bryce mistakes Amren for Fury at first. She tries to speak to them in the Old Language of the Fae and Amren gasps and tells her that no one has spoken that language there in 15,000 years. She reveals the Starsword and Azriel pulls out Truthteller and they realize that the Starsword is Gwydion, the missing piece of Azriel's knife. Rhysand and Feyre enter, and Bryce mistakes Rhysand for Ruhn. They tell her she isn't in Hel, and Rhysand introduces himself.

Bryce Quinlan (Bryce Danaan/Starborn Princess): I love how Bryce continues to outsmart everyone, it's very entertaining to read and reminds of Aelin a lot. It's really heartbreaking to watch her continue to discover more and more about Danika's life that she didn't know about, and knowing more about her friend and honoring her legacy is a huge motivating factor for her. It annoys me a little bit that Bryce is super powerful and yet completely reliant on Hunt in order to use those powers. It would be bad writing for SJM to change who she is in a relationship with, but honestly I think Bryce should have stayed single or gotten a better mate.

Hunt Athalar (Orion Athalar/The Umbra Mortis): I'm really intrigued to see how Hunt's lineage comes into play in the story and the lore, but honestly I couldn't care less about him and Bryce's relationship. It doesn't have nearly the same impact Rowaelin or Feysand or Nessian. The dynamic almost feels forced in a way, especially with their conversation of "Well calling you my boyfriend feels weird so I guess we're mates after 3-5 months of knowing each other." I know that they actually are fated mates, but their relationship seems so s*x focused and surface level. The fact that their first time together was to calm Hunt down out of an overprotective male rage really rubbed me the wrong way and cheapened the whole thing for me, and a lot of his "sexy" dialogue made me either giggle or cringe. Their romance, and Hunt's character in general for me was more of a distraction from the plot (and this is coming from someone who lives for those spicy scenes).

Tharion Ketos: I love getting to see some of Tharion's POV in this as I feel like he is a fairly unique character and doesn't have a lot of the same loyalties and motivations as the other characters do. At the end of the day, while he does love his friends, he's a little bit of a selfish ass, willing to save his own skin at the expense of others (e.g. Emile, Sofie, Ariadne). While it isn't an admirable trait, it's good to see the variety from the other characters we see.

Ruhn Danaan (Starborn Prince): I was 100 times more invested in Ruhn and Lidia's love story than I was in Bryce and Hunt's. They had so much better chemistry and there was so much suspense behind it since they didn't know who the other one was. It definitely had way more forbidden romance vibes than Hunt and Bryce, and the reveal and Ruhn's turmoiled reaction to finding out that Agent Daybright was actually Lidia the whole time really makes me intrigued to see where their relationship goes.

Storyline: This book got five stars for the plot alone. There were some plot twists I could see coming (that the Asteri were evil, that Daybright was the Hind), but there were definitely a lot that I did not see coming even on my second read through (the female mystic being a Fendyr heir, Baxian being Danika's mate). The connections and revelations made about who the Asteri are and how Midgard is connected to the Throne of Glass world and the A Court of Thorns and Roses world were really well done and didn't feel forced. I love how SJM interweaves hints and easter eggs throughout her books, and how it's revealed that everything was important and nothing was mentioned carelessly.

Representation: Once again I think there were a decent amount of people of color in this book, and I'm glad SJM is expanding on the diversity of her characters. Baxian, Celestina, Hypaxia, Juniper, Fury, Hunt, Bryce, and Isaiah are all non-white characters. Juniper and Fury are gay and are in a relationship, and Declan gets a boyfriend named Marc. It isn't mentioned in this book but in the first book Isaiah is stated to be gay as well. Hypaxia and Celestina are together but must keep it hidden to continue their arranged marriages. I definitely wish there was more disability representation, as I think it would be really interesting to see modern magical creatures with modern yet magical assistive devices.

Summary: The second book was definitely better than the first in my opinion, and I really loved how well interconnected everything was. The cliffhanger was absolutely insane and I can't wait to read the final book when it comes out on January 30th. As I said earlier, I could really do without the Bryce/Hunt romance as much as it is, but it only detracts from the book a little bit in comparison to how many other compelling characters and plot lines are happening.

[bookishwithathought]

“Vengeance incarnate. Wrath’s bruised heart. She would bow for no one.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

House of Earth and Blood starts at a wild pace. There is a lot of information at once and it can feel overwhelming, but if you just hold on and ride out the thunderstorm that is the first couple of chapters, you are sure to be rewarded with a pretty fun and engaging plotline revolving around a murder mystery that, in the end, turns out to be only the tip of the iceberg of twists and turns. The ending will have you gasping and clutching those invisible pearls.

I love a good banter, and this book had banter in spades, especially between the main characters.

Although i’ve had the hardest time connecting with Bryce because we are so different in personality, I love how determined she is when it comes to standing in the gap for those who need it most, and how she is fiercely loyal even when that loyalty isn’t always reciprocated. A wonderful reminder to find connection in meaninful ways even when the differences are glaringly bright.

As for the MMC Hunt, he is a treasure and should be protected at all costs. I’m a sucker for Hard Shell Soft Center characters. He is certainly that and more.

Images: Pinterest

Edited by Me

On the Playlist: Light It Up! - Taylor Ash

[lia-land]

House of Sky and Breath

4.5/5 stars

*Spoilers by House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas.

I should mention that I’m obviously aware that these books are meant to be basically fairy porn with a plot and not analyzed as if it’s Shakespeare, but then this blog wouldn't exist. SJM has become one of my favourite authors and this book is one of my new favourites, but I also love analysing, so let's get into it.

Do Danika’s secrets ever end? This series feels like Pretty Little Liars at this point and Danika is Alison.

The prologue was very long and boring. I can see how it was relevant for the rest of the book, but while reading it, it just dragged on. Not a very strong start. It could have been shorter.

Ember seems like such a toxic parent. I’ve yet to enjoy a single interaction between her and Bryce. I understand that she is protective, but she’s outright rude and brings things up at the most inappropriate times. For example, at the ballet. I don’t think she was supposed to seem like this, but that’s how her character has come across so far.

My favorite line from this series so far is “Can we go back to how the Prince of the Chasm was sitting on my lap?” which is actually even funnier when it turned out to be Rigelus. He really just showed up, dropped a bunch of important info, caused some drama, and left. He seems a bit like a copy of a certain High Lord from A Court of Thorns and Roses, but I will not digress as to not spoil that series. My Aidas (I suppose Rigelus?) and Bryce ship continues to thrive. Him dropping the info about Cormac being a secret agent was gold. Although, somehow, Cormac got less interesting after that. SJM has a tendency of turning ‘evil’ characters into good ones and making them boring in the process. I miss the “see you at the altar” Cormac. He was more fun to read about than rebel Cormac. Just to add, I listened to parts of this book on audible and the narrator gave him a thick Scottish accent that I could not stand because it felt so out of place and I’ll probably never stop associating Cormac with it, so maybe I’m biased.

Strangely enough, the ending of this book reminded me of Divergent. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where the plot leads to the city/world being some sort of experiment or having some specific purpose. I didn’t expect this from SJM, but I’m really liking the direction so far. Hel actually being good was such a great twist. I think a lot of why I have enjoyed this series so far is because unlike ACOTAR and Throne of Glass, social media isn’t full of spoilers yet. I’m getting to experience most of the story with no idea of what will actually happen. I did know that Aidas was actually Rigelus, but it was still interesting to see how it would end up that way.

It was way too convenient that Ithan and Bryce found the college papers when they did. What if she’d found them a year ago? Or the year before that? Or never at all? Unless there’s some bigger force at play, this was far too specific and was lazy writing to drive the plot forward. Ithan just happened to want to have a little sword fight with himself and breaks that specific table? Conveniently when they’d hit a dead end on the emails? The ‘explanation’ is “Urd must have sent her back to the apartment just now. For this.” No, it wasn’t the Urd. It was just lazy writing. It could have made more sense if these papers were discovered in book 1 and Bryce just wouldn’t have thought anything about them until now. Unless later on it turns out that the Asteri or Gods or some bigger force has been guiding these characters into specific situations in order to advance a specific agenda, this was lazy. But I would consider using that as an excuse to also be lazy.

I also had to roll my eyes at the mystic being the Fendyr heir. That just felt like it was thrown in for the sake of being a plot twist and making Ithan’s character have somewhat of a storyline. I actually don’t see the point of Ithan’s character at all to be honest. We’ve had him in two books now, but for what reason other than his one liners? Shoutout to “that sounds medically dangerous!” I assume he will finally have some purpose in the final book, but so far, he’s been in two 800 page books and I have no idea why. Unless we count the very convenient breaking of the table so that Bryce could find those documents. In that case, thank god for Ithan! Where would the story be if he hadn’t talked to that journalist, pissed off Sabine, got kicked out of the pack, ended up at Bryce’s apartment, played with the sword on Bryce’s coffee table, and broken it to reveal the papers. Personally, I feel like this story could have been exactly where it is now without Ithan’s character.

I can’t decide if I like Tharion or not. He gives me the ick sometimes, like why are you putting your bare feet on someone else’s coffee table !!! Good thing the coffee table broke a few chapters later. I feel like I should dislike Tharion because he’s quite awful to Sathia and literally admitted to lying about agreeing to marry her just to sleep with her. He also ditched her at the mating ball to go and fuck some shifter in the gardens. Him kissing Bryce while she was teleporting was also weird. I actually think he’s the closest character to the men I tend to be attracted to and then look back and think what could I have possibly seen in him? The answer lives in that part of my brain that tries to justify the behavior by thinking that Tharion is a good guy deep down and is just misunderstood and had to stay in the engagement because the alternative was the wrath of the River Queen. Then I’m thinking he put himself in that situation and deserved it. And then I’m thinking maybe he didn’t deserve such harsh consequences. I go back and forth about how I feel about him. He’s exactly the type of guy you’d have a one night stand with and then fall for and try to change while you ignore his red flags because you think he’s the one and that his confidence is hot, only to realize later that you wasted your time and he’s actually just a massive ick. He pretty much just thinks with his dick, but I really enjoy reading about his character and I find him more interesting than Cormac and Hunt. There’s a lot of potential for him to grow as a character and I hope we see that in the next book.

I have to admit that I have no clue what Sunball is and I just assume it’s baseball. I didn’t pay attention to it in book 1 because I didn’t think it would come up as often as it does and now I’m too lazy to go back and find it’s description. This applies to a lot of my world building knowledge in this series. I’ve only recently noticed that CBD and CCB are not the same thing. No clue what the difference between Lunathion and Crescent City are. Confused about how the humans are still at war with the Asteri if they’re meant to be super powerful? Are the Asteri purposely letting it continue so that “the Vanir have something to rule over” or was this never explained? I don’t even really know who the humans are at war with to be fair. Is it even the Asteri? There was so much of an info dump at the start of book 1 that it all got muddled. SJM knows how to world build well so I don’t know why it was done differently in this series. I love the detail of this world and it’s general vibe, but it could have been introduced better. For example, has it been explained yet why Fury was at the Summit? What does Jesiba actually do? There are things that I don’t know if I forgot from the world building info dump or if we’re purposely not meant to know yet. The problem with this is that I can’t google it because it might be a spoiler until after I’ve finished the series, but it could also be something that I should know and just skimmed over, so it’s a cycle. I’d especially appreciate a map of the entire world, rather than just CC. Additionally, all three books have been released at the time of my reading, so I’m reading this series back to back, but I can’t imagine how I would have kept up if I had to wait at least a year between books because I definitely would have forgotten most of it. When Rigelus asked Bryce if she knows what the star on her chest is and she said “let’s assume I know nothing”… I felt seen.

I did know prior to starting this series that there was an ACOTAR crossover, but I wish I didn’t know that because that would have probably been the best cliffhanger ever. I don’t know how people waited so long for book 3 after reading that.

tldr; I love this book for what it is: an easy to read romantasy book with hot sex and a fast paced plot. It wasn’t written to be picked apart like I’ve done here, but I tend not to include the things that I liked in these reviews as much as what I thought could be improved. This was one of the most immersive books I’ve read and I’m actually enjoying it as much as I enjoyed ACOTAR, which is very high praise from me.

[dollerinna]

WOULD YOU LIKE AN ALMOND JOY .ᐣ

( black noir x gn!crime analyst reader )

summary: after a long day of work, you try to unwind by watching your comfort show, but your solitude is interrupted by yet another visit from noir, who seems to be finding more and more excuses to spend time with you… (includes a C.AI bot as part 2 below!)

wordcount: 2k

tags: brief mention of NSFW pop-up ads, nerdy n’ socially awkward reader, noir’s disdain for almond joys but he makes up for it at the end <3

It had been a long day at the crime analytics office in Vought. As the sun began to set, exhaustion crept over you after reviewing incident report after report. Your eyes strained from the blue glare of your computer screen. You knew you had promised your boss you would organize the ever-growing database, but the tiny voice of procrastination was pleading for rest before your overworked brain turned into a pile of mush.

Rather than more paperwork—you, being the slacker of all slackers in this department, decided a well-deserved break was in order. And what better way to recharge than turning off the noggin and filling it with good ol’ fashioned mindless entertainment?

With a few tired clicks of your mouse, you booted up your go-to streaming site, which was none other than 123movies. Scrolling through the options, your cursor hovered over the play button of your favorite trashy drama. The kind of cheesy, perfectly predictable melodrama spun from the worst of amateur YA plots. It was practically comfort food for your fatigued mind, just what you needed to loosen up after the mental marathon that was this long day.

As the opening credits began to roll, your computer began to whir and hiss like an overtaxed engine, emitting gusts of unusually hot air from the vents. Suddenly, its screen slowed to a sluggish crawl, cluttered with a barrage of not-so-savory pop-up ads. Barely a minute in, the pixels already scrambled to form images better to left unseen—half naked women in risqué yet tacky mermaid-like attire, claiming they were ‘just around the corner and ready for a good aquatic fuck.’

First of all, what the absolute living hell is an “aquatic fuck”??

Did you even want to know? And most importantly, what happened to the ad blocker you installed just the other day? Judging by the contents, you had a sneaking suspicion that slimy, sea-dwelling degenerate, The Deep, had tampered with your computer… yet again.

“For the love of-… what’s with all these pop-up ads?” you muttered under your breath as excessively explicit ads crowded out the episode. Your eyes darted furtively around the room to check for wandering glances, hoping against hope that none of your coworkers had noticed the unwanted filth invading your screen. Heart pounding, you squeezed your chair closer to your monitor into a makeshift barricade, shielding the display as best you could while hastily clicking away at the intrusive ads.

As you hurriedly closed the remaining windows, an ominous shadow fell across the screen. Dreading what—or who—might be behind you, you slowly swiveled your chair around to find Black Noir's stoic stare boring into your own.

You stifled a yelp as you instinctively clutched the armrests, catching yourself on the edge of your seat before an ungainly spill to the floor. Noir had a way of materializing without warning, and it never failed to unnerve.

“N-Noir!” you managed, inwardly cringing as your voice broke on his name. “Fancy seeing you in these parts. I was just taking a quick break and y’know- stretching ‘em brain cells.” You tried for a lighthearted chuckle, but it emerged as more of a strained squeak that faded into an anxious hum.

With a jerky flurry of clicks and the browser minimized from view, whatever dignity you still retained disappearing along with it. All that did remain was you praying to the heavens above that he hadn't noticed its questionable contents (even if he most definitely had and simply chose not to comment)

When Noir offered no response, you of course charmingly barreled ahead in your frazzled daze. “But anyways, s-sorry about that… how uh, can I help you today?” your words tumbled out in a breathless rush, punctuated by a shrill laugh you hoped disguised the mortification simmering beneath.

Noir cocked his head, observing you with that same silent intensity. You fidgeted, hands twisting in knotted discomfort, the heat in your ears now engulfing your entire face. Was it the invasive pop-ups that had you squirming in your seat? Or the fact he could snuff out your existence faster than you can say “workers’ comp”?

Either way, beneath the weight of his stare, you already felt as if you were some peculiar, freakish creature pinned for study, rather than some bumbling employee just trying to unwind and watch their comfort show.

And to him, you indeed were a fascinating, bizarre little human.

Mercifully, Noir chose to extend a folder toward you, putting an end to your somewhat pathetic withering. You accepted it with a wordless nod, nearly sagging in your chair as tension drained from your shoulders.

Whirling towards the familiar clutter of your desk once more, you pretended absorption in the folder’s material, hoping this signaled Noir’s leave. After all, has anyone seen the state of you? It certainly wasn’t a flattering one. Yet from the corner of your eye, you detected no movement, no receding footsteps—his shadowy form remained statuesquely in place.

Believe it or not, this has been becoming a thing, a growing habit of late—and a suspicious one at that. Lately his breaks had grown longer, minutes lengthening to quarters of an hour, all spent hovering at your desk as you worked. However, his focus was solely on watching and observing you. He never exhibited a hint of thought or motive for his reason there, only leaving you with questions that seemed to multiply by each and every visit.

Noir, on the other hand, was somehow utterly convinced that you and him were two peas in a tightly-knit pod. He swore you two were best of buds for life—even if "life" so far had only amounted to the past two weeks' worth of half-hour stretches where he silently observed your work from the corner.

Ironically, you didn’t have the slightest inkling of how he really felt. Instead, you always assumed that he, like most supes, regarded you as little more than a puny mortal—a fragile, near-useless sack of flesh and bones whose skull he was one misstep away from caving in with bare hands.

But nope, Noir was simply here to bless you, the nerdy but cute crime analyst, with his presence—his rather… unsettling presence.

The familiar hush settled as you reluctantly returned focus to the task at hand. Hocus-pocus-focus, you chanted mentally, peeling away the last shreds of stray thoughts to tap into the zone of productivity. Unfurling the dossier Noir provided, you began sifting through documents for insight on his purpose in approaching you. Meanwhile, a flick of movement in the edge of your vision revealed Noir's attention veer off course, the almond joy perched beside your keyboard capturing his notice.

You tensed, hocus-pocus-focus breaking, all too aware of past disappearances of snacks in these briefings. Sure enough, his hand drifted noiselessly toward the candy bar, no doubt spurred by ingrained impulse to dispose of it per his usual custom. But you'd grown wise to his methods by now.

Not again, you sighed inwardly, snatching the almond joy and cradling it protectively as if it were your dear, beloved child.

Noir made no move to withdraw, palm outstretched expectantly. You frowned, struggling to keep frustration at bay. "Please, come on- not this time!.. It's my last one for the day." Brows pinching, your tone threatened to rise before steadying with a slow and calm inhale. No use losing composure over candy, no matter the principle. So all you could do was peer beseechingly at Noir in silent appeal, legs jittering restlessly under your desk in building apprehension.

Unfortunately, you found no signs of leniency in his obscured face—only his hand beckoning relentlessly for the almond joy. You plea was once again met with stony resolve, as if he was internally distressed by the mere presence of it. What was he? Deathly allergic to almond joys or something?

With a resigned breath, you delivered the almond joy towards Noir's waiting glove, unable to hide the disappointment dimming your features. Your lips curled into a slight pout, gaze sinking heavy into your lap at being parted from the treat. Though Noir was never one for words, it really didn’t take a rocket scientist to see you felt bullied into submission by his demands. At the end of the day, what power did a measly analyst like yourself hold against one of the Seven? As your fingers uncurled, releasing the candy into Noir's grasp, you couldn't help but feel a bit put upon, even if that wasn’t his intention at all.

Noir was well aware of the upset feelings his request had caused, so in an attempt to remedy the situation, his arm was sent in a backwards reach for the notepad he often used to communicate. However, he found himself at a loss as words eluded him, his thoughts swirling in frustrating circles of “What should I even say?”—muddled and incoherent. For a moment he stared at you, mask betraying no emotion as he grappled to find the right words, despite the prick of guilt nibbling at his conscience. Then, lacking any better option, he simply tossed the offending candy into the trash, perhaps with more force than intended.

Clearly, socializing was not Noir’s strong suit.

With no further acknowledgment, Noir spun on his heel and marched away. You watched his retreating, rigid form with discomfort clenching your insides, eyes falling onto the lonely candy discarded in the trash, its colorful wrapper mocking your current disheartened state.

Wearily, you turned away from the almond joy, redirecting your attention toward the computer as a means to divert your now soured mood. Maximizing the browser, you hoped that your planned show may have had time to load during the interaction. But upon inspecting the screen, you found the video remained stubbornly stalled, stuck on buffering dots and refusing to roll despite the minutes passed.

Just. Peachy.

One (super)human encounter had sucked the very life source out of your dog-tired body, and now this. It was really shaping up to be one of those days.

Thoroughly worn out, you gently laid your head down onto the desk, pillowing it against the crook of your folded arms as eyelids slid shut. All you craved was to simply sleep away the remaining time until you could finally escape this wretched shift and retreat to the sanctuary of your home sweet home.

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As your shift wound down to its end, you were finally stirring from your slumber. Rubbing the sleep from your bleary eyes, your blurred vision sharpened to show your colleagues had long since departed while you were snoozing away.

Rising and squaring your shoulders, you began to gather your belongings in preparation to leave as well. Once you had collected everything and lifted to your feet, something in the far corner of your desk caught your eye. Approaching for a closer look in the dim lighting, the fuzzy outline gradually came into focus—a cluttered collection of Hershey's Kisses, their jumbled placement grouped to form the shape of a heart.

You blinked in bewilderment, rubbing your eyes once more to ensure you weren't imagining things. Stepping closer, you spotted a sticky note nestled within the heart of chocolates, scrawled upon in a crude, blocky hand. At first, you assumed it was some silly prank from one of your coworkers, but you knew you recognized the handwriting anywhere—it was Noir's.

Gingerly, you plucked the sticky note from the desk, lifting it to your line of sight to read the message. “Kisses taste better than almond joys…Sorry.” you read softly, your voice trailing off as confusion crept in.

Designed as a very apparent flirty gesture, the intent behind the note and chocolates still managed to whoosh straight over your head. As always seemed the case, even the most painfully obvious social cues could so easily evade your understanding—this proving no exception.

You slipped the sticky note into your pocket, then selected a foil-wrapped Kiss from the pile. Gently rolling the chocolate between your fingers, you unwrapped it and popped one into your mouth. You took time to savor its light cream filling beneath a smooth outer shell, face crinkling in thought and head tilting as you considered your verdict. “Eh… I’d beg to differ.” you mused with a shrug, slinging your bag over your shoulder as you took your leave from the office.

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Pssst- likes, comments, and reblogs are greatly appreciated in this household and keep me motivated! <3

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a C.AI bot as your very own part 2 where you thank Noir the following day:

a/n: saw somewhere that kisses don’t contain nuts but then I also saw someone else say they actually do??? So let’s just pretend the kisses Noir chose are completely nut-free for the sake of the plot 😭

also, the reader is very much based off Anika if it wasn’t obvious enough haha! She’s so y/n coded 😤💗

♡ divider credits: @/ianrkives