I know it’s cool to hate on Sarah J. Maas books, but I am a huge fan of her work. Are they high literature? No, but A Court of Thorns and Roses got me back into reading after too long of an absence. A Court of Silver Flames helped get me out of bed after 6 pets died in 6 months and I was in a depressive fugue. She does character development like nobody else, and her books are unputdownable.
Book 1: House of Earth and Blood
Crescent City is Maas’s foray into Urban Fantasy, and it has everything. Cell phones, computers, guns, magic, hot shifters, hot faeries, hot vampires, hot mer-dudes, hot angels, and messenger otters (who are very cute, but not hot).The book starts out VERY slowly with a lot of world building and character introductions. I had to beg my friends to push through the first few chapters. However, once they got through Chapter 5 and some major SPOILERS happened, they were hooked.
Our female main character is Bryce Quinlan, a half-human and half-fae twenty-something party girl. Her best friend and roommate is Danika Fendir, a werewolf. A very high-ranking werewolf. Like third-highest on the continent. She is Alpha of The Pack of Devils, a werewolf pack who are basically the cops. Compared to the amount of responsibility that Danika has, Bryce is a bit of a fuck-up, and she likes it that way.
One night, after a disastrous date, Bryce DOES ALL THE DRUGS and goes dancing at a club. On the way home, she witnesses a Demon attack. SPOILERS HAPPEN and then there is a two year time jump. Bryce is asked to consult on a murder that closely resembles the attack she witnessed two years ago. She is partnered on the investigation with Hunt Athalar, an Angel who is enslaved by the government because he was part of an uprising a couple hundred years ago. Hunt thinks Bryce is still just a spoiled party girl, and Bryce thinks Hunt is a pain in her ass. I bet they won’t end up attracted to each other at all!
This book is incredibly dense, and long, and SO MUCH happens, but I loved the Hell out of it. Bryce is a smart-ass and intelligent and I just love her character so much. Hunt is a little damaged baby that I just want to protect. There are also a ton of interesting side characters, including Lehabah, a Fire Sprite, Syrinx, an adorable pet Chimera, Tharion Ketos, a cocky Merman who helps in the investigation, and Bryce’s half-brother, Ruhn Danon, Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae (that name is a meme, look it up). I could go on and on about this book for pages. This is one of my favorites of all of Maas’s work.
5 Stars
***MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD***
Book Two: House of Sky and Breath
A lot happened in Book 1, especially the last hundred pages (something Maas is so well-known for that it has become a meme). Bryce and Hunt are free and able to pursue their relationship and try to establish a normal life. However, they are still being watched by The Asteri, six supreme star-beings who run the entire world.
Where Bryce goes, trouble seems to follow, and she and Hunt quickly become involved in the search for a missing rebel who is also a powerful shifter. The Asteri want her eliminated, and several other parties want her for their own purposes. Those parties include The River Queen, who controls Tharion Ketos, and The Viper Queen who controls the black market. Will Bryce and Hunt be able to find the missing rebel before everyone else? Will Bryce be forced into a political marriage? More importantly, will Bryce and Hunt ever be able to have sex without being interrupted?!?!?!?
I read this book when it first came out, and it ends on the mother of all cliffhangers, so be prepared to read book three immediately afterward!
5 Stars
***EVEN MORE SPOILERS AHEAD***
Book Three: House of Flame and Shadow
At the end of Book Two, Bryce went through a portal and landed in Prythian (the world from A Court of Thorns and Roses) and Hunt and Ruhn were imprisoned by the Asteri. Things were BLEAK. Waiting almost 2 years to read this book was an exercise in patience. I read this book in a trance. I was determined not to be spoiled, so I marathon read this 800 page behemoth in 2 days. When I wasn’t reading it, I was listening to the audiobook. I barely slept, and when I did, I dreamed about it. It burned me out so bad, that I haven’t been able to sit still and read since then. I have only been able to listen to audiobooks!
Surprising no one, Hunt and Ruhn are rescued, but not before some grisly torture scenes, so this book is not for the faint of heart. Bryce runs around some caves in Prythian with Nesta and Azriel then returns to Midgard all powered up and ready to kick some Asteri ass. Therion and Ithan are also…there. Seriously, those boys made the most consistently stupid decisions in the history of literature. Dumber than Jane Eyre taking back Rochester. There are dramatic reunions, a couple of sexy times, and a bunch of action scenes that are banana-bonkers.
This book was stressful to read, but most of the main characters had a heavy layer of plot armor for protection. There are plot holes big enough to ride an elephant through, but I enjoyed the Hell out of it. The story felt completely wrapped up, but apparently Maas is going to write more stories set in this world. Probably about the two biggest idiots that ever idioted. But I’ll read them anyway because I’m an unashamed Maasaholic.
5 Stars