House of Flame and Shadow
By: Sarah J. Maas
Format: Kindle
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
**My review below may contain spoilers.**
Good Reads Summary
The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.
Positives:
Negatives:
- Referenced ACOTAR and TOG: Sarah J. Maas is one of my favorite authors and I love her other series, A Court of Thrones and Roses and Throne of Glass. Characters from ACOTAR are included in this story, and TOG is referenced in the ancestry of some of our Crescent City characters.
- Epic Battle Scenes: There are multiple, action-packed scenes in this book. They were descriptive and easy to visualize. We got to see all of our favorite Crescent City characters in action, tailoring to each of their strengths.
- Lidia and Ruhn: Lidia and Ruhn were my FAVORITE part of this book. Their relationships, her character arc was **chef’s kiss**.
- Slow Pace: Much of the first 2/3 of the book was description, conversation and planning. It felt like a lot of just recapping the situation and the plans over and over to the different characters. I found myself getting a little bored waiting for the action to start.
- Bryce and Hunt: Bryce and Hunt kept despairing over being separated during the first part of the book, longing to be with each other. When they finally reunited it was… lackluster. As was their relationship throughout the entirety of the book. The spice level was much lower than the previous two books, with only a couple of descriptive scenes.
- 3rd Person and Multiple POV’s: I personally am not a huge fan of 3rd person point of view. Throw in that we jump around between characters and I struggle to get invested. I just don’t connect as much with the characters when we don’t get as good of a picture of their internal dialogues.
Review Synopsis
This book was a really good wrap up for the other two Crescent City books. I was very happy with how each of the main characters ended up. I would have benefitted from rereading the other two books before reading this one. There are so many characters and plot points that I was confused at times because I couldn’t remember what happened in the other books. Bryce and Hunt’s relationship was a let down in this book. I had loved their banter, chemistry and spice in the previous two books and was left disappointed in this one. Ruhn and Lidia did make up for a lot of what Bryce and Hunt were lacking though. Overall, if you read the first two Crescent City books, this one is definitely worth the read!
Below is an affiliate link to Amazon if you are interested in reading House of Flame and Shadow, leave a comment to let me know what you think if you give it a try!
Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3RaSC5a