Title: House of Earth and Blood
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Crescent City
Dates Read: 17 – 23/07/2024
Published Date: 03 March 2020
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 912
Pace: Medium
Content Warnings (May contain spoilers)
Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Violence, War.
Who is this for? Young Adults, Adults.
This book covers:
- Investigating a murder, and the possibility of a serial killer returning
- Loss of a close friend
- A slow burn enemies-to-lovers tale
- Discovering and exploring new abilities and powers
Format/Disclosure: Paperback, owned.
Rating: 4.5⭐
Review:
I have so many thoughts about this book… I bought this and the second book on a whim late 2022 (Or maybe in 2023? I can’t actually remember), and they’ve been sitting on my shelf for a WHILE. I’ve read the A Court of Thorns & Roses series (With mixed thoughts on each book), and overall enjoyed them all, so I figured I would also enjoy this book. Which is why I was so surprised that I did not enjoy the beginning. I think the main reason is because my go-to genre is thrillers/crime/mystery novels and they follow quite a formulaic plot, while fantasy is exactly that – fantasy. The beginning of the book was a lot of world-building (& a lot of it seemed to be written as though the people reading the book would know what certain words meant)(Spoiler alert: I am not one of those people and I still don’t know what a lot of those words mean, but hey, I still got through the book) and it was just a lot of information to consume in one go. But, because I had both books, I knew I had to give it a proper try, and oh boy am I glad I did. Once I was through the world building and we’re properly introduced to Bryce (& admittedly, once Danika is dead and we’re decently into the post- times), my enjoyment increased by a lot.
Watching the friendship blossom between Bryce and Hunt was genuinely really lovely to follow along with. I genuinely enjoyed their banter, and everything just felt so natural with them. I really enjoyed that there was these preconceptions about Bryce and who everyone thought she was, and as Hunt got to know her, he also found out how none of that was accurate and all the parts of herself that she was purposefully hiding from everyone else. I also really enjoyed reading about Hunt’s backstory (Even if the character names were all too similar and I couldn’t remember who was who) and learning about why he was the way he was and why he did what he had to do. It’s always lovely when there’s the designated Bad Boy, but behind closed doors, he’s actually a super lovely person (Or even a softie!) and it takes the main lead to reveal that side of him.
The ending took me by surprise – I wasn’t sure how it was going to end, and all of the doors and the this and the that definitely had me reeling. As a novice fantasy reader, it was hard to keep up with everything going on, but I still enjoyed it. Since the book came out so long ago (& is nearly triple the size of my usual reads), I did do some Googling early on in the book to find out certain things (& I’m sorry for those who hate people who do that, but I “spoil” 99% of the books I read! It makes me WANT to continue reading them!) and it meant I don’t have to worry about a second read for a long time, since I could view certain interactions with the knowledge of who had done what.
I’ve heard the second book isn’t as great as the first, so I’m going to take a break and read some lighter books before I tackle it. But, you best believe I went out and bought the third book after finishing this one, since I’ve heard that one goes back to being amazing.