Reviews tagging 'Murder'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

123 reviews

jessicarenz's review against another edition

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

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

4.5

All of the cut scenes and POV switches were annoying (seriously, going from an action-packed scene with one character to a dull by comparison single paragraph of another scene about a different character, then to yet another character’s completely different scene was not fun). But the third Crescent City book wasn’t bad like I’ve heard some people say; it was a pretty good ending for the characters and overall story while leaving room for spinoffs or additional books down the line. And of course I loved the ACOTAR tie ins. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, War, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Classism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Excrement, and Confinement

brea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Toxic friendship, and Murder

louisepea's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring 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: War, Violence, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Gore and Sexual assault

caitcosentino's review

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Blood, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

elledanie's review against another edition

adventurous 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: Torture

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, and Confinement

maggies's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

Maybe it’s just because I didn’t really want to get to the end of story, but the third installment didn’t quite live up to the first two books. Pros are that I just love everyone in the main cast. There are no duds for me among Bryce and her group of friends and family. I also think the links between the books and the mysteries slowly unraveling are well done and enthralling. But after reading Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, and Crescent City, my biggest complaint about Maasworld is that the timelines make no sense.

This whole book takes place in the span of a week. Are their days longer than 24 hours? Is a week longer than 7 days? I’m confused. This is a similar issue in her other books, and it will always baffle me.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Torture, Death, Violence, and Murder

ahbee_p_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I am a SJM fan and love her work, including HOEAB and HOSAB, but this book came up a little short for me. 

While there were a lot of exciting elements to the story and I really enjoyed diving more into the history and legacies of the characters and the world... I felt that it was a bit messy and all over the place. In some places, I felt the story dragged.

The constantly changing POV and storylines was, at times, difficult for me to follow... the book has A LOT of plot!

I also didn't enjoy Bryce as much in this book, or her relationship with Hunt. I was hoping to see more from Ruhn and Lidia!

Overall, I enjoyed the book. But it didn't live up to my expectations. I still appreciate the world building and creativity that has gone into this book and think it was a fine conclusion to this part of the story...

and I enjoyed the final pages with the flying horses 😂

🖤
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Torture, and Murder

sabrinz's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Violence, Slavery, and Classism

800+ pages that went by in the blink of an eye. The tension was not as high as in Kingdom of Ash, but the "downtime" between tense moments were well paced and placed. We contine right where we left of in book 2 and switch among a view of the main characters. It took me about 100 pages to get used to the swift cuts between the individual characters but by that point the story had hooked me again and the swift change ensured that you always went back to the action quickly (in KoA the gaps between tense moment in a character's chapter were much longer; personally I did not mind that and it added to the tension and the feeling of "I can't put this down" while reading). As usual, these 800 pages pack a few surprises but also laughs and a great hose of characters.

fairytalefootnotes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Tropes: Chosen One, Fated Mates

3rd Act Breakup?: No

The Praise: I really love SJM’s writing style and how she develops her characters. She makes it so easy to love them, become attached, and really root for them.

The Critique: As usual for CC, just a bit too long. Also Tharion’s early chapters were pretty boring.

Final Thoughts: I liked this one more than the last 2 CC books.

I loved the ACOTAR cameos and the TOG references and how things all tied together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Medical content, Murder, Torture, and War

Moderate: Rape and Slavery

embelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

Going to need several days to process all that is House of Flame and Shadow. With the sheer amount of content that’s covered, it honestly felt like reading 3 books in one. Was it my favorite Sarah J Maas book ever? No. But were there parts that I really enjoyed and did I still speed through this book at the edge of my seat while losing my cool!? Undoubtedly yes! Sarah J Maas’s world building abilities are next level, and this now has me sooooo excited for ALL her future books (if you know, you know!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Classism, Death, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Gun violence, and War