Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

55 reviews

booksalacarte's review

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

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

4.25

First read- 4.25⭐️ 3🌶️

Adult High Fantasy

Multi POV

Fantasy Romance

Magic

Found family

Journey

Secrets

War

Rebellion

Tech/sci-fi elements

Tw: torture on page, language, 

This was a Crescent City book. It wasn’t an ACOTAR or TOG book. It was crescent city through and through with the quick POV shifts and 

This large cast of characters has always been the messiest. They are completely flawed and full of contradictions and harder to completely stand behind. There wasn’t a lot of self reflection for anyone in the cast. There were a lot of really brash decisions, even from seasoned warriors and politicians, that I rolled my eyes at. There just wasn’t the character growth that I had hoped to see… if anything, some of the characters, a main character even, seemed to get worse… some character growth and revelations that were foreshadowed in the other two books seemed to have been completely tossed out the window. 

The plot was A LOT… and all over the place. There were moments of world-building that was just gigantic info dumps. There were times where we went into sci-fi elements. Many things were concluded and tied up prettily. I’m having a hard time thinking of how this is going to be extended into any more books… 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

liss_reads's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

1.0

Don’t bother. SJM is really just collecting her check. 

The manuscript was clearly rushed out the door by the publisher - occasionally lacking appropriate punctuation or even finishing a sentence in one case. Could have used more revision. How could ALL of the events that took place in this way too long book have happened over the course of one week??

Bryce is a the antithesis of the character she was built out to be in the first two books, and the mimicked those she claimed to rally against. The other characters are fighting for air time somehow in such a long book. Lidia is best supporting actress. 

Two extra irritating things: 
- the entire book is written like a tv show- short scenes with constant location changes - but there are no visual indicators. Not even a chapter change to swap locations and characters. Just a double line break between paragraphs and we’re jumping one world to another. 
- the most irksome sentences in these books are “it was all he could do” WHAT WAS ALL HE COULD DO?? 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, and Colonisation

kristinallard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

courtneylmal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction and Colonisation

sha's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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!) 

---

Content Warnings

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

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-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

This book was so good. So much is happening but there’s a good mix between lore and action. Some of the characters make questionable decisions that have me screaming but it was a beautiful emotional rollercoaster. Occasionally the POV jumps were happening a bit too quickly and it felt like whiplash but it was nice to see what was happening in the different places all at once. I absolutely love Bryce and Hunt but Lidia stole the show for me. Her character development is absolutely amazing. This was a great read and still left more to be said.

It was nice to see that after the Asteri were defeated. It wasn’t just going back to normal and everything is okay. They are still facing challenges.

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

mspencer1998'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation