Book– House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City)
Author–Sarah J Maas
Previous Works– A court of thorns and roses, Throne of glass
Blurb-
Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. Every night is a party and Bryce is going to savor all the pleasures Lunathion – also known as Crescent City – has to offer. But then a brutal murder shakes the very foundations of the city and brings Bryce’s world crashing down.
Two years later, Bryce still haunts the city’s most notorious nightclubs – but seeking only oblivion now. Then the murderer attacks again. And when an infamous Fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, is assigned to watch her every footstep, Bryce knows she can’t forget any longer.
As Bryce and Hunt fight to unravel the mystery and their own dark pasts, the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city,
Review-
800 pages and I devoured every single bit of it.
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas, is a one-way ticket to the magical realms of the Vanir, where the witches, the wolves, the shifter, the angels all have their cunning games for the hunger for power.
Amongst the hunger and the chaos, stands Bryce, who has lost a lot and still has a lot to lose. The book is a journey on how a girl of half-human- half-fae origin, stands tall in front of all that possess immense power. How she outworths all of them and her, a girl with no power of her own saves a crumbling city.
I called this book a one-way ticket because it’s the first in its series, so once you are done with the book, there is no returning. You will crave for the likes of it and wonder what might be in store for the next in line.
This is Sarah J Maas’s first adult fantasy series as the author had ventured in the YA sections for long.
Also Read- Review Pen: The Feisty Rat and other stories By Nilesh Shankar
Her amazing work can be seen in her previous books like A Court of Thorns a Roses, which had given rise to the massive Rhysand fandom. For those who had not been enjoying the YA version, had been waiting for this.
In House of Earth and Blood, SJM doesn’t disappoint, you can expect her detailed work and the beautiful narration that reveals in the minds of the reader a river of imagination.
I’ll be honest, the book was long, but that’s what I felt about it when I was only 20% done with it, then the Danika twist surfaced and I didn’t know what to do with it. It was hard to accept, I had even frowned upon the idea of Hunt, dismissing him as a mere angel of the 33rd. Then as the plot unfolded before me, it was a blessing. The author doesn’t serve it all to you on a platter, she gives you whatt you to want to read, slowly, at the times when its right. Every twist and turn was smartly introduced at the places where a reader may get impatient, feeding the hungry eyes with a piece that would keep them flipping the pages.
Each revelation, each shock, has the potential to make the reader gasp, hopeful yet afraid of what might do wrong in the next pages. I could feel my priorities changing every single time. At first, I wanted Danika to magically reappear, then I wanted Bryce to just make the drop and get some magic from somewhere, then I wanted the things to be heated up(You can’t blame me, SJM never disappoints in those scenarios), then I wanted to see what would happen if the halo was removed, then again I wanted Danika to be back because its magic and I’m a believer(I can only hope).
It was rollercoaster, not only of the twists but of the reader’s emotions. The pain, the tears, the shock, the tension, the attraction, the grief, the relief, you feel them all. You marvel at the character Bryce is, corrupted yet pure, not giving a damn and yet giving all that damn. The story makes you value friendship, family, and loyalty.
Ratings- 4.5 stars out of 5
There were too many characters, too many names to remember, too many of them very much crucial for the plot to take a swing. I will admit, I did not give much importance to the names, right from the start because they were too many. I started observing only after the first death and eventually got used to it.
You need to be patient to be able to read such a big book. The author has tried her best to make it worth every single page, but still, you need to be patient.
This book was my first quarantine read and I’m hopeful about the ones I will read further. If the morning shows the day, I would say that my day might turn out to be awesome.
Reviewed by- Banaja Prakashini
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