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hapalyn's review against another edition
- 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
Such a fast read, yet it felt like so long at the same time.
As for the ACOTAR crossover, I feel satisfied with how it was handled. There wasn't enough involvement there to make the series too intertwined. I almost feel like Crescent City is just the backstory for all of the lore in ACOTAR. I think it gives ACOTAR more depth, but readers who don't care to read all of CC can still read ACOTAR and be satisfied. Lots of Nesta, which was awesome because she's my favorite. I am excited to see where the ACOTAR series goes after reading this book.
Graphic: Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, War, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Moderate: Vomit, Genocide, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Gun violence, and Misogyny
Minor: Emotional abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Domestic abuse
beckyremillard's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Death, Violence, Murder, Blood, War, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Gun violence, and Sexual content
selena13's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Drug use, Genocide, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Grief, War, Cursing, Classism, Death, Sexism, Gun violence, Torture, Vomit, Misogyny, and Murder
skillyillian's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
(like for real i think this is the longest review i've ever written for a book.)
So idk what the fuck happened here but I have such mixed feelings about this book. I just. What happened here??? Let me clarify: it's not bad. It's really not. But there were a lot of letdowns for me here. And a bunch of really good moments, too. But I have some....concerns.
Bryce has a whole deal with the fae being misogynistic assholes, right? so she
sjm takes several big traditionally "feminist" stances, with bryce saying "fuck the patriarchy, we're more than incubators" and then
AND my biggest problem with the way sarah treats her female characters is that everyone is tiny. for fuckin what? I saw ONE character described as "full-bodied" and that was IT, through an entire 800+ page book. I will NEVER forgive her for how she did the ocean queen so dirty. the queen of the OCEAN, and she was described as a "tiny female." like sorry but hey what the fuck???? from my notes, and i quote, "the endless, 'depthless' OCEANS and she's tiny??? teeny tiny itty bitty little thing to represent the vast swells, deep rolling tides, and stunning, dangerous beauty of all the oceans of this world and you made her micro fucking scopic. ... the ocean queen should be big. make her plus size, make her fat, make her a TRUE representation of the beauty and intensity and power that comes with being the queen of an element that takes up more space than all the land on the planet combined. let her take up the space she deserves, the space she owns!!!!!" like why the FUCK was the OCEAN QUEEN not even past four feet tall, and when she got taller to intimidate them, she didn't even make herself taller than hunt. she was still smaller than the men in the room. NO, FUCK THAT. let her tower over them!!! let puny hunt athalar cower in fear of her!!! tell us about her fat rolls, her big tummy, the way her skin has stretch marks that are lighter than the rest of her skin, like the crests of waves!!!!
just... it feels like for every traditionally "feminist" statement she made, she negated it with weird little internalized misogyny digs at her other woman characters. it makes the rest of her feminist takes come off as performative and forced imho. making the ocean queen "tiny" is a major reason i'm docking points.
but moving on. bryce is a total asshole for most of this book. when she gets back from prythian, she just refuses to acknowledge hunt's trauma because it's making him hesitate on their mission. she says she needs "all of him" but won't give him the space to process the INSANE amount of trauma he went through.
honestly, ithan and tharion's plots were the "this could have been an email" part of this story. every time we'd be in the middle of something exciting, it would switch to one of their POVs, and i'd roll my eyes and just suffer through it. it broke the immersion SO MUCH to be in the middle of a lore dump, fight, etc., and then be like "anyway back to wolf boy and fish guy, who can't do a god damn thing right to save their lives, or anyone else's."
next, the crossover. good god. now, i am fully aware that the fandom caused a ton of hype for this and made it out to be the hugest thing to happen to fantasy since tolkien. but, that being said, sjm, her publisher, and marketing team all hyped the fuck out of this, too. all of the marketing for hofas was about the crossover, and she ended the second book with bryce meeting the whole inner circle. so why did she spend the entire crossover
and the finale.
also, i'm so tired of every single sjm character being painfully aware and yet unaware of their surroundings. please, it's in every fucking book, and you'd think after 15-16 books she would have moved beyond "could have sworn", and yet. this is probably me being a dick but the final count was 52 times (which, in an 800+ page book, isn't a ton, but it's in every single book she writes) where something happened, like for sure happened, and someone just "could have sworn" it happened. like please just say the damn thing happened instead of giving the impression that your characters are only half aware of their surroundings.
anyway moving on to greener pastures. ruhn and lidia carried the fuck out of this book. i like their romance better than anyone else's in all of CC. they're just so good despite their occasional dumb choices. i love them. plus
overall, i think this is one of sjm's weaker books for sure. it was entertaining and gripping enough, but mostly because i wanted to find all the lore connections and easter eggs, and my bestie and i read it together, which makes reading anything fun. fuck, she could make the bible fun. the plot was fine, if not drawn out in some places, but i wasn't ever, at any point, invested in ithan or tharion. the ending was a little rushed compared to the other 800 pages of the book, but i like that she acknowledged the consequences of destroying the ruling class and that there would be a power vacuum there.
also, hunt finding out about
anyway sjm is someone you read for the characters and worldbuilding, not necessarily for incredibly strong plots, prose, or descriptions.
But also, credit where credit is due, connecting three different series across nearly a dozen and a half books is an insane feat of storytelling. the easter eggs and lore connections were great. i feel like she laid a lot of groundwork for other connections. she ended cc3 as if it was the end of the series, and i think it should stay that way imho. as much as i'd love more ruhn and lidia, i have had enough bryce and hunt for probably forever. this book did a lot, and carried a lot of weight for the maasverse, but i think it ended up being kinda messy. i wish the crossover had been better and that the characters weren't so prone to poor life choices for the sake of conflict. AND THE OCEAN QUEEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN FAT.
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Torture, Child death, Genocide, Sexism, Body horror, Colonisation, Grief, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Medical trauma, War, Self harm, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexual violence, Excrement, Slavery, Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual assault
manaiaa's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: War and Slavery
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Murder
Minor: Kidnapping
infusionofviolets's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Rape, Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Misogyny
samellecooke's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Being used to the trauma that SJM serves, I was a bit surprised at how many characters seem to get peace and closure. Their new roles are by no means easy ones, but they do receive high honors and some just felt too easily earned. Hypaxia, dethroned, becomes first in command of HOFAS after swiftly offing the Under King. his death happened so freaking fast I almost missed it. For the part he played in managing the Bone Quarter and cultivating Secondlight, he didn't deserve such a quick death. Then we have Ithan. He bumbles along through both HOSAB and HOFAS, poor thing, making bad decision after bad decision. After all this Sabine AND Sigrid die. Before Sabine's grandfather dies, he forgoes the Fendyr line completely proclaiming Ithan as his heir and therefore Prime. Bryce rises as Queen of the Fae, as she should! But then renounces the monarchy altogether. Ruhn and Lidia ride off into the sunset working for the Aux. This one was the least offensive to me and made the most sense. They'd both been through it, fought the good fight, their enemies were all vanquished. I felt as though they both earned the peace they received.
Last, but not least, the destruction of the Asteri and Bryce dragging Rigelus off into the void, felt way too reminiscent of Harry talking to Dumbledore at the train station when he dies. Hunt takes a mech suit from Sahara's soul who helps him as he flies into the void to save Bryce, all while Jesiba is trading her life for Bryce's and then meets Bryce in the void to have their final pep talk and farewell. If not for the HP reference, I don't think it would have rankled me as much.
All this sounds hypercritical, because it is, only because my expectations for SJM are so, so high. All this to say, HOFAS was incredible. I love the world she built for us. I will absolutely return after I've had some more time to process everything. I love how she's set up the next ACOTAR book and cannot wait to find out what awaits there. My fingers are crossed that we also haven't seen the last of Aelin and the TOG world.
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Torture, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, War, and Murder
traceyanderson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Genocide, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Hate crime, Torture, Body horror, Misogyny, Slavery, Child death, Classism, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Vomit, and War
dani_reis's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
I wholeheartedly disagree with Bloomsbury giving out ARCs. The amount of people spoiling the story pre-release is unacceptable.
The ending was too focused on being a HEA and tried making a neat little packaged ending. Instead of cliffhanger POVs, I just felt like they were useless. Tharian headed back to Ariadne, and his wife going after another love. Then Ithan not telling literally anyone "don't drink the water after" because wtf are they supposed to drink? Sigrid just being a loose end. I think it's Perry, Amelie's sister, who isn't explained at all, and I'm not sure I care.
The crossover. Was it even necessary?? They spent the whole time in the caves. She leaves them wanting to kill her or slice off her back, and she's like "hey, you're all cool, take my fragile, human parents who I'd split worlds to save." But she never stepped out of the caves to experience fae culture to change her mind about fae.
Hel. Hel was not even needed because she could have just had a conversation with Aidas. They didn't even explore Hel, and sounds like they never will go back.
Hunt was pretty toxic in this book. I am anticipating that Hunt and Bryce have issues in future books (please be only one more).
As a whole, I really enjoyed it. It had lots of action. But let's just admit: Lydia carried this book, until the "I have secret children plot."
Bonus chapter from Walmart: liked it. Gave us insight to why she maybe gave up her parents to them.
Bonus from B&N: meh. I wanted to skim it. Near the end it was cute, but kind of mad I own the copy.
Bonus from indie: loved it. Thank fucking god. Approve of this one.
Still need to read the other bonus chapters.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Sexual content, Classism, Cursing, Slavery, Torture, Death, War, Genocide, Mental illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Medical content
Minor: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping
jcrawford31's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, War, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Child death, and Confinement