Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

135 reviews

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

Writing: 4⭐️/5 

The writing is solid throughout the novel. At points, the writing really shined through, but I found it very hard to parse the novel at the beginning. In fact, the first fifty pages (give or take ten to twenty) felt almost unedited. The grammar and spelling were fine, but the info dumps on every other page lent a sort of unpolished feeling to the opening.

Characters: 4⭐️/5

I felt the characters often had their own identities, even as I noticed a few similarities here or there with characters in her other novels. I found myself liking, agreeing with, and understanding their motives and perspectives. A couple of times, I did feel like they acted incredibly out of character, but it didn’t necessarily take away from the fun of the novel.  

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

The plot was fun – even with a couple of holes that I wish had been finessed further. I enjoyed reading about the mystery and the romance plot once I got into the novel. Again, the information dump that was the first portion of the novel did take away from this enjoyment.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Sarah J. Maas fans
• Fans of urban fantasy looking for a fun read with a hint of spice
• Readers who like romance-heavy novels that still have interesting plots

Content Warnings? 

• Sexual content, sexual harassment, death, injury, animal cruelty, drug use, alcohol use, death of a friend, murder, gore, blood, vomit, gun violence, sexism

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

I enjoyed it enough to say I’ll read the next one for sure! 

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Torture, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Misogyny, and Slavery

sooaery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Drug use, Slavery, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Torture, Confinement, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Hate crime, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Child abuse

marrocke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction and Torture

ewitsemma's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Mental illness, Murder, War, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Addiction, Blood, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Slavery

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Colonisation

phaedruus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Addiction

Minor: Suicide attempt

aimnorth's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I find the lore and the side characters far more interesting than the main character. I think the author missed a bit opportunity to name Bryce's addiction to help address why she's insufferable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Xenophobia and Racism

boba_n_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

SJM has gotten more in-depth with her world building and story telling throughout the years. This first installment in the Crescent City series is incredible. The diversity in magic and magical species that was lacking in her other books shines through in HOEAB. Though the characters may be somewhat annoying at times, they grow so much as the plot develops, and the world itself makes up for it tenfold. I can’t wait to read the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Sexism, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

Minor: Abandonment

anselm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Even if you're not a fan of Sarah J. Maas you will love this. The focus on friendship and grief was excellently done. And none of the plot twists will you guess but they work perfectly in the story. In the middle it did loose my interest for a bit, but it quickly captured it again. I know Sarah J. Maas is renowned for sexual content but as an ace I would say it was barely present and did not take away from the story at all. My only criticism is that every description seems to reference how good looking the character is even in random situations.

As much as I loved the ending I would love for Sarah J. Maas to attempt to write an underdog protagonist at some point because I think she could do it well and I'm tired of every protagonist being secretly powerful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Suicide attempt, War, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Torture, Addiction, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

imcourtneymarie's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

2024 re-read: i take back everything i said the first read. The CC books are so so good and HOEAB is most definitely NOT boring. Idk how I ever felt that way! 

Original review: 
Honestly i was bored for a good chunk. Not bored-bored but I kept having to encourage myself knowing that SJM likes to make her books bottom heavy. The last 200 pages or so were worth it, but man is it a slog. I feel like we could have shaved off 200-250 pages and still told the same story and built the same world.

Speaking of world building, it’s a neat contrast from the usual “medieval-like” fantasy worlds a lot of fantasy takes place in. The modern aspects matched with interesting, unique character traits do buoy this book and potentially the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Slavery, Alcohol, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and War