Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - House of Flame and Shadow

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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shellind75's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

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elthechameleon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

This was messy. I really hope this isn’t the end of the stories from Midgard because all of this felt far too rushed. It would have made much more sense if this was the penultimate book because everything felt far too easy, almost like a character collecting all the awards before easily conquering a final boss in an OG platformer video game.

There were no stakes.

I loved the way the book ended and started, but a lot of plotlines didn’t need to exist or continue, and the characters made some choices throughout the journey that felt really at odds with who I thought they were. It feels like SJM wanted a clear exit from Lunathion and easily transition back to ACOTAR, which is sad because I had really started to love it.

Also, why have a crossover at all if it’s so small and doesn’t actually lead to them teaming up in any meaningful way?

I wanted and hoped for better with this book. I felt like I read 16 books in the Maasverse only to be let down by odd choices, fast pacing, weird focus on troubled characters (Ithan), and inappropriate flirting during fight scenes (Ruhn).

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jpoe_16's review against another edition

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I spent so long reading all the other SJM books only for this one to have me baffled at every turn. SJM switched POV’s so often with a “soap opera” type cliffhanger at the end of each POV. When it comes to the characters, it felt like we needed 2-3 more books of building relationships with them to really care about them. Do not get me started on the joy-sucking and utterly moronic character that is Tharion.
Maybe one day I will come back to this, but after the reveal of HOSAB, this was such a let down I couldn’t keep going for now.

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