House of Earth and Blood
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Published by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 803
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★1/2
Published by: Bloomsbury
Pages: 803
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★1/2
Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.
Bryce Quinlan used to light up Crescent City, partying all night in the clubs where the strict classes of angel, shifter, human and Fae merge into a sea of beautiful bodies.
And then a demon murdered her closest friends.
Two years later, when the supposed killer is behind bars but the crimes start up again, the city’s leaders command Bryce to help investigate. They assign an enslaved fallen angel Hunt Athalar, to make sure she does. But as Bryce fights to uncover the truth -and resist her attraction to the brooding angel who shadows her every step – she finds herself following a trail that leads deep into her own dark past.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.
Bryce Quinlan used to light up Crescent City, partying all night in the clubs where the strict classes of angel, shifter, human and Fae merge into a sea of beautiful bodies.
And then a demon murdered her closest friends.
Two years later, when the supposed killer is behind bars but the crimes start up again, the city’s leaders command Bryce to help investigate. They assign an enslaved fallen angel Hunt Athalar, to make sure she does. But as Bryce fights to uncover the truth -and resist her attraction to the brooding angel who shadows her every step – she finds herself following a trail that leads deep into her own dark past.
My thoughts:
Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. Every night is a party and Bryce is going to savour 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.
First of all, the world-building in this book is insane. I love when a book has strong, intricate world-building, but this was too much too soon. And extremely confusing. There was so much info-dump world-building that my head was spinning, and I found it quite hard to engage with the plot.
This is basically what you need to know: Bryce Quinlan lives in a world full of fae, werewolves, angels and demons...and in a world full of high-rise apartments, internet and cell phones. Crescent City is the one place where all forms of magic (and technology) intersect into one unforgettable town. But there's a dark side to this city too.
While I did mostly like the main characters, I wish the author had provided more backstory and information about Bryce and Danika. I found the minor characters more likeable and was much more interested when Bryce and Hunt interacted with anyone other than each other.
Maas left absolutely nothing up to the imagination. There was very little mystery or tension between the characters. There’d be a scene from Bryce’s point of view where Hunt was unusually quiet. Then, it would switch to Hunt's point of view where he would spend the first few paragraphs recapping the exact scene we just read with Bryce and he would explain every single thought he had while he was silent during that conversation.
There was absolutely no room for interpretation. There were also plenty of moments when reading this book felt just like watching a Scorsese movie. Did she really need to have so much swearing in the dialogue? It felt awkward, out of place and unnecessary to have Bryce saying ‘fuck’ in basically every sentence. I imagine this was due to Sarah J. Maas wanting to make it really clear that this was her first adult fantasy novel.
I might sound like a broken record, but boy, was this long. I tried not to let it bother me that much, but the fact that you have to sit through around 400 pages before any big revelations start to pop up was pretty exhausting. And for lots of readers I think this could definitely be the thing that makes you put the book down and not continue. Looking back on it I just feel like basically the first third of the book could have been condensed and it still pretty much would’ve read the same way.
Having said that, I’m glad I persevered. Once I’d stopped stressing about all the confusion of the book so far and gave up on trying to remember all of the minor details, I actually sped through the remaining chapters and was able to follow the plot more clearly. It surprised me how much I ended up caring about the characters and what would happen to them. The action builds and builds in the last part of the book, and those final scenes really had me on the edge of my seat.
House of Earth and Blood was an okay read, but it simply took too long to get going. I usually love a fun fantasy novel, but with this I found myself seriously lacking that familiar desire to read nonstop from beginning to end.
:
Overall reaction:
Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. Every night is a party and Bryce is going to savour 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.
First of all, the world-building in this book is insane. I love when a book has strong, intricate world-building, but this was too much too soon. And extremely confusing. There was so much info-dump world-building that my head was spinning, and I found it quite hard to engage with the plot.
This is basically what you need to know: Bryce Quinlan lives in a world full of fae, werewolves, angels and demons...and in a world full of high-rise apartments, internet and cell phones. Crescent City is the one place where all forms of magic (and technology) intersect into one unforgettable town. But there's a dark side to this city too.
While I did mostly like the main characters, I wish the author had provided more backstory and information about Bryce and Danika. I found the minor characters more likeable and was much more interested when Bryce and Hunt interacted with anyone other than each other.
Maas left absolutely nothing up to the imagination. There was very little mystery or tension between the characters. There’d be a scene from Bryce’s point of view where Hunt was unusually quiet. Then, it would switch to Hunt's point of view where he would spend the first few paragraphs recapping the exact scene we just read with Bryce and he would explain every single thought he had while he was silent during that conversation.
There was absolutely no room for interpretation. There were also plenty of moments when reading this book felt just like watching a Scorsese movie. Did she really need to have so much swearing in the dialogue? It felt awkward, out of place and unnecessary to have Bryce saying ‘fuck’ in basically every sentence. I imagine this was due to Sarah J. Maas wanting to make it really clear that this was her first adult fantasy novel.
I might sound like a broken record, but boy, was this long. I tried not to let it bother me that much, but the fact that you have to sit through around 400 pages before any big revelations start to pop up was pretty exhausting. And for lots of readers I think this could definitely be the thing that makes you put the book down and not continue. Looking back on it I just feel like basically the first third of the book could have been condensed and it still pretty much would’ve read the same way.
Having said that, I’m glad I persevered. Once I’d stopped stressing about all the confusion of the book so far and gave up on trying to remember all of the minor details, I actually sped through the remaining chapters and was able to follow the plot more clearly. It surprised me how much I ended up caring about the characters and what would happen to them. The action builds and builds in the last part of the book, and those final scenes really had me on the edge of my seat.
House of Earth and Blood was an okay read, but it simply took too long to get going. I usually love a fun fantasy novel, but with this I found myself seriously lacking that familiar desire to read nonstop from beginning to end.
:
Overall reaction: