Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

35 reviews

itsme_bianca's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I honestly struggled with finishing this book and it pains me to give it such a low rating, especially considering how I thought this series was going to be my favorite Sarah J. Maas’s one. However, I felt like for the majority of the book the essence of the characters was lost or changed entirely - part 2 was in fact the most difficult section to get through as I felt so distant from characters I truly came to love. The final part of the book was able to tie all together and I am satisfied enough with this ending - if it even is a true ending since there are so many questions left unanswered…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Rape, Blood, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

pagesbycaroline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

950 pages is a lot. And I mean a lot. But it was so worth it. There were many elements to this book that I have much appreciation for. First and foremost, I liked the variety in narrators. We got to experience the story from at least six perspectives, many of whom were new to this book. We also got to see the choices of each character from at least one other's perspective. Next, the crossover was *chef's kiss*. I was a bit worried it would feel overpowering but Crescent City and its characters remained at the forefront. My little Maas-loving heart was overjoyed with confirmation that not one but BOTH series connected to CC. Thirdly, the worldbuilding of this series is just incredible and leaves me reeling each time I read it. Not only does it have my favorite elements of both ToG and ACOTAR, but it also had the blend of technology and magic AND the Ultra Powerful Bad Guys who seem like they can't be topped in SJM's series, but she somehow STILL does it. Each detail is crafted so well that nothing can be overlooked and always ends up being vital to the story. The details that this author crafts in each one of her books continue to astonish me. Next, I just adore these characters. It took some time for them to grow on me, but I would say now that Bryce is one of my favorite protagonists and Hunt is definitely my favorite mate. They both feel so real to me, in more ways than I can describe. I love Bryce's resilience, stubbornness, resourcefulness, and more than that her love for others. She cares so deeply about her world and the people in it, more so than I've seen in other characters. I can't exactly explain what it is that I love so much about her, but she is a character I hold dear.

Some of my favorite things from this one:
-Ithan. Just Ithan.
-Bryce and Nesta's pseudo-alliance
-the fact that AZRIEL is with them the whole time
-Danika mentions!
-And Baxian!! Danika's mate!!
-Hunt going through capital T Trauma with his friends and them being buddies after (don't get me wrong, the actual torture was not good and I HATE the Asteri for it, but I love that Hunt is just constantly reminded how good of friends he has now)
-The Asteri were IN Prythian??
-Silene's story and all the connections
-Rhysand and Bryce and Ruhn have the same bloodline!
-Bryce totally outsmarting the Autumn King
-Lidia POV!!
‐Lidia to the rescue
-Lidia has sons??
-Jesiba backstory
-Bryce outsmarting King Morven
-Ruhn to the rescue
-Lidia backstory 
-Hel to the rescue
-Isaiah and Naomi as allies
-Celestina as an ally
-Hypaxia doing Science
-Ithan is Prime!!
-Hypaxia is Head of HoFaS?
-The Fallen, coming back to fight with Hunt! Finishing what they started
-Bryce killed one of them!
-Everyone now has magic powers?! Yes, please
-Lidia! From Brannon's bloodline! With magic
-Shahar helping to rescue Hunt's mate
-Jesiba's sacrifice
-Paradise after death, and everyone is there! Danica included!
-Bryce leaving the Starsword with Nesta
-Everyone at peace, even if they have to build a new world 

I just loved this book, and this series. It took some time to adjust to them in the beginning, but now I am so sad to leave the world of Lunathion behind. However, I will happily return, whenever that may be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lorenmarie7's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

chanlo1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Minor: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

kbowles24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book was just OK. It did have some major issues and was definitely my least favorite of the three books in this series. I'm just glad to have a conclusion to the Asteri plotline, even if the final battle was underwhelming.

The book suffered from pacing problems. The first third of the book dragged on and on, with Bryce spending way too much time wandering through tunnels looking at art. Maybe it would have been a bit more interesting if we at least got some angst from Bryce, but it felt like she wasn't all that concerned about her mate and brother being in grave danger. There was no sense of urgency on her part to rescue them from being tortured and maybe eventually executed. Then, later in the book, we get to follow along as Bryce wanders through tunnels again. Not exactly riveting stuff. 

There were also too many POVs happening to allow enough time with the main characters. I really didn't care about Ithan's and Tharion's storylines and dreaded every time it switched back to their POVs. They were mostly just those two characters making stupid mistakes followed by a lot of self loathing. I hope they make Tharion much more interesting and likeable if he's going to feature prominently in the next book. I did like his marriage of convenience subplot and think there is interesting potential there.

Bryce and Hunt's relationship was a mess in this book, and I really didn't like Bryce much. She never communicates her plans with Hunt. Then even though Hunt is blindly following her into danger, she picks fights with him because he isn't enthusiastic about being there. How can he be 100% on board with her plans when he doesn't know what they are? She doesn't seem to care that this is only a couple days after he got back from spending several days being brutally tortured for allowing her to drag him into this mess. Or that the situation is reminiscent of how things went with Shahar and to say that ended tragically would be an understatement. Bryce was being so disrespectful towards Hunt and his trauma because she wanted to look like a badass with gotcha moments and zingers. Really, it feels like most of her plans were half-baked at best, and they only work out in her favor because of plot armor. It didn't feel like an equal partnership between the main couple. Bryce just does whatever she wants, doesn't tell Hunt, and leaves him to deal with the consequences. At least she does apologize to Hunt for being a dick at one point, but I'd prefer if she didn't spend most of the book acting like a dick to begin with.

Ruhn and Lidia were this book's saving grace. I kept wishing they were the main couple because they were great, and I wanted the story to spend more time with them. Lidia was such a badass, so clever and sneaky. I love sneaky characters who know how to play along with the game in order to achieve their goals and there aren't nearly enough leading women out there like this. I don't know that we got enough justification for why she joined the evil side to begin with though, and I feel like the explanation for why she changed sides was kind of flimsy. Ruhn is almost perfect in every way, with a major exception for

when he shot Lidia to try to save her. That was kind of a patriarchal bullshit move.

. I still love him so much. 

Other characters I really liked spending time with in this book were Nesta, Azriel, Hypaxia, and Aidas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Medical content, and Pregnancy

cheyannejeanette's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, and War

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Kidnapping

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Classism

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy