Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

39 reviews

michellemaas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

* Beware of minor spoilers

5 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

First Installment in the Crescent City series. This Adult Urban Fantasy novel features the "forced proximity", "forbidden love", "slow burn", and "hurt/comfort" tropes while dealing with themes of loss, elitism, and slavery.

It was amazing! Great variety of mythological creatures, relatable and lovable characters, and the story kept me intrigued up until the very end.

“That's the point of it, Bryce. Of life. To live, to love, knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.”

Bryce is breathing but she is not alive. Things have never been the same since the sudden death of her best friend and when another person turns up murdered the same way, Bryce is the only lead the police have. As a result, she is forced to partner up with the infamous Hunt Athlar in the hopes of finally solving the mystery surrounding her friend's death and bringing her killer to justice.

"With the strength of the most powerful force in the world. The most powerful force in any realm. What brings loyalty beyond death, undimming despite the years. What remains unwavering in the face of hopelessness . . . Through love, all is possible."

Phew, I have a LOT to say so buckle up for a hefty review. This book has exceeded every possible expectation I had of it. Its page count and the fact that it was Urban Fantasy instead of my usual High Fantasy made me weary at the beginning but it was AMAZING. The characters were well developed, the story had me at the edge of my seat, and despite being over 900 pages strong there wasn't a single paragraph I thought was unnecessary. 

First and foremost, there was some really good -and surprising- social commentary in this. Mainly the discussion about racism, classism, and politics, but also the discussions about how different people deal with grief and experiencing loss. Bryce working through her loss was a huge theme in this book and I thought it was really well done. It showed how different people dealt with it- Juniper threw herself into her dance. Fury disconnected from her friends. Bryce put on a carefree front because it was easier for her to have people assume the worst than to let them see how broken the loss of her friend left her. Her life was completely ruined by the loss of Danika and since it's not "normal" for her to have been this strongly affected considering they were not blood-related or romantically involved Bryce was always made to feel that she had to hide how not okay she was. As if, if others don't understand why you need to grieve, you're not entitled to it.

“The power shall always belong to those who give their lives to the city.”

Secondly was the good relationship development. Bryce and Hunt felt like such an authentic slow burn. They became friends, they showcased some of their best qualities and they proved their loyalty to one another all before the attraction and eventual love developed.   

Then the reveal was so beautifully done. I like that there wasn't a clean, perfect, and logical trail they followed to get the killer. They had to consider several possibilities (most of which were born of luck) and follow some dead ends before reaching their goal. Kudos to Sarah for designing such an intricate plot that kept me guessing up until the twist. Also a big old middle finger to Sarah for making me have an absolute mental breakdown at 1 in the morning after reading the reveal and not being able to sleep or continuing on functioning as a normal human being the next day. But actually though, the power of words on a piece of paper . . . This woman is truly brilliant. Still hate her for breaking my heart beyond repair though but the good kind of hate. The positive kind of hate. I don't react to books very dramatically. I never cry or want to throw books in anger or any of that. And it's not because I don't care, I feel deeply for these characters, I'm just not wired that way. I don't really react in a particularly dramatic fashion to real-life occurrences either but this book elicited SUCH a reaction from me. I actually cried over a book for the first time after 7 years of avid reading. Say what you will about her plots or questionable romances, but if there is one thing no one can take away from Sarah it is what a talented writer she is. She has a way with words that can bring out every single emotion in you, and just really feel for the characters.

“Bryce was a ghost for a long while, Hunt. She pretended she wasn’t, but she was. . . You brought her back to life.”

And on that note, I love that all our characters were so complex and so utterly and beautifully flawed. They all felt so rich and well developed from Viktoria to the Autumn King and of course our main people. Each character had flaws and redeeming qualities, there was no one character I went: that's the morally sound, perfect, and incorruptible character. They were all plagued by some sort of shortcoming even if they were "good characters". That made them feel so REAL and relatable. I don't want characters who are so high and mighty above everyone else, then judgemental when someone can't live up to their own level of perfectness. I want to dimension. I want realistic. And I got it. Not only did that make these characters more relatable but it made them so much better to read about. A hero can be flawed and a villain can be someone with good intentions despite their bad ones. I'll admit that having read 2 ACOTAR books and the first TOG book I didn't really get all the Sarah hype.  . . Like yeah the books were good and I liked them. They were entertaining reads with some hard-hitting moments and good romances but I couldn't discern why she- above a lot of other authors who write very similarly- was so popular. This book though . . . I get it now. 

Furthermore, I like that this was very distinctly adult with the topics it discussed but there wasn't a huge focus on sex. In fact, our main love interests didn't even have sex with each other (though they did with other people). I feel a lot of authors think "adult (insert genre here)" and go: cool, we'll take a YA story and just add a bunch of sex and innuendos and call it a day. That was not the case at all. The matters discussed were very adult and this book felt challenging in a way I would not have expected from a fantasy novel.

"You’re my friend. Who watches trashy TV with me and puts up with my sh*t. You’re the person I don’t need to explain myself to—not when it matters. You see everything I am, and you don’t run away from it.”
 

Finally, I liked the inclusion of whatever the hell the opposite of toxic masculinity is. Toxic femininity? I consider myself a feminist when the end goal is equality. A lot of feminists believe in lifting up women by degrading men and that's just not the point. Regardless if you're addressing racism, sexism, or any other -ism it's important to realize that it's not about taking turns. It's not: oh well that group of people have been in power and favored for the past few centuries, so now it's our turn and after centuries we can go back . . . No. Women should be lifted up until we have equal rights . . . Not more rights. I love that that was addressed since I've never seen it talked about and also it didn't feel degrading either. Sarah handled it perfectly so that it wasn't offensive just an enlightening moment. For example, Bruce was super big on being an independent woman who didn't need help from anyone. And she was super cautious about accepting help or advice from men because her mother had been caught in a possessive and toxic relationship. However, Hunt talked about wanting the best for her well-being because he cared about her, not because it gave him a power trip to control her. Another time Bryce was on the brink of death and her friend told her not to give up because she had Hunt waiting for her on the other end, and Bryce replied "you're convincing me to live because of a guy" essentially which some might have seen as anti-woman, but her friend replied with "there's nothing wrong with caring enough about someone to want to live out your life with them- regardless of gender". There was such a thing about women being portrayed as weak in earlier years, then it tipped over to the other extreme of them not needing anyone at all but Sarah proved we can have both. Bryce is undoubtedly one of the most badass female characters ever, amplified by the fact that she had no power to rely on- only her own hard work, training, wit, and brains. That's what I think made this particular subplot not be offensive because Bryce could have stayed independent but there is no prize for it just like there's no prize for accepting love. Bryce was able to enter a relationship and rely on someone without that taking away from her skills or abilities. She doesn't need Hunt in a physical sense, but there's no shame in it if she did. 

“And why is it a somehow a mark against your strength to admit that there is someone, who happens to be male, worth returning to? Someone who I know made you feel like things are far from f*cked.”

If I had to nitpick, I'd say the world was a little difficult to get used to. I'm a seasoned fantasy reader and even I was struggling with all the different creatures. I was also a little confused throughout different periods in the book (but that was very intentional on the author's part since she is going to do a bunch of big reveals in the sequels).

“Memento Mori. Remember that you will die, and enjoy each pleasure the world has to offer.”

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this to every human ever. It was beautiful, it was heartbreaking, and it was just so damn good.  I cannot wait to read the sequel, even if I know that it will likely break me even more than this first installment. 

* Please note that this is an Adult novel that deals with very serious and potentially triggering themes, therefore not suitable for minors or sensitive readers. Be sure to check trigger warnings on the author's website before reading. Your enjoyment is not worth risking your mental health for!

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christas_catalog's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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kellicat94's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25


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_alyssar_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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courtneylr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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brookey8888's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

Where to even start? So I really loved Bryce she is a new favorite character. I loved her complicated relationships especially with Ruhn. As for the story it did take a while to get into it but when I did I was obsessed. I literally cried like 5 times. As for Hunt like I liked him but he was kind of boring low key( I like I just liked Conner better and I’m still bitter). I loved her friendship with Danika like ugh my heart. To be honest I don’t know where this series is going to go because there was like no cliffhanger so I’m excited to see where this goes. As for the smut there was none?!? Like wtf this is her first adult novel and there’s no smut but her young adult (now classified as new adult) had more. So I’m a tad bit mad about that. 

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whispertales's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5


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emmas_shelf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I thought the world building of SLM new book House of Earth and Blood, whilst being an information dump at the beginning of the book, was really refreshing. No longer are we sent back thousands of years or on an unrecognisable terrain. This world by SJM has modern technology, phones, the internet and there are scenes which - minus the magical characters - felt like could easily occur in our own reality. I loved the humour, anxieties and benefits the modern tech added to a mythical world. I think the subtheme of surveillance culture was very subtly covered. 

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plantbasedbride's review against another edition

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

1.0

 This is going to be a rant review. If you liked this book I’m happy for you, I truly am. But if you chose to read this review knowing I hated it that’s on you.

Ok.

I have... questions.

Number one.

Miss Maas, I’d just like to know, in what way was this adult fantasy? Forcing your characters to utter a swear word with a smirk or a growl every other time anyone speaks and describing everyone like a satirical r/menwritingwomen meme does not an adult novel make. This read like a hormonal teenager’s fan fic of about 14 different fantasy worlds cobbled together with their new favourite four letter words. No adult in the history of this godforsaken planet has used the word “alphahole” unironically. Or ever. Please make it end.

Two.

This book was WAY TOO LONG. Why was it so long??? When I’m being told to hold out past PAGE 500 to get to the good part we have a problem, Houston. I’ve read 100-page novellas with more substance than this entire tome. Also, while the ending was arguably much better than the beginning or middle, it was not nearly good enough to make up for the cringe-fest that was the first several hundred pages of slow brain-numbing torture.

Three.

I know I already brought this up, but the r/menwritingwomen vibes are STRONG with this one. What the actual f*ck, Maas?? I don’t need to know how perfectly formed our protagonist’s ass is every time she’s in a scene. I don’t care that Hunt’s muscles muscle muscle-y every time he does literally anything. Why am I forced to endure this.

Here’s a quote as an example:

“But she didn’t give a shit about his dental hygiene when he looked like THAT. Muscles upon muscles upon muscles...”

Seriously. What?? I promise, humans reading this, people do, in fact, care about dental hygiene no matter how many muscles you may or may not have.

Four.

What does SJM have against using the word smile? If I read “their mouth curved upward” one more f*cking time I swear to the old gods and the new there’s gonna be blood.

Five.

What was this world? This is some of the most drawn-out info-dumpy world building I’ve read and yet we still know next to nothing about how this it all functions. There are so many species to keep up with and there’s very little to distinguish them. Angels, shapeshifters, mermaids, demons, fire sprites, vampires, werewolves, fauns, weird underwater creepy murdery things... it’s just too much. Oh. They also have cell phones and “audio mail” (‘cause I guess voicemail sounded too contemporary to belong in this oh so fantastical world??). The entire story takes place in a single city with vague occasional references to one other place. And that’s it. We learn nothing about the rest of the world we’re in. Cool cool cool.

Six.

Why does this book hate women so much? This book is full to the brim with slut-shaming, ageism, and objectification. The slut-shaming is portrayed as unfair, but only in our MC’s case. The slut-shaming of sex workers is fine, though. Make it make sense.

Seven.

Is SJM capable of writing a protagonist who isn’t a Mary-Sue-Chosen-One-Hottest-Woman-Alive-Most-Powerful-of-All-Beings TM?

Eight.

Why did SJM kill off the only likable character? I won’t spoil it, but if you suffered through this book you already know. Love to see the only redeemable one sacrifice themselves to save our insufferable MC.


...I could go on, really I could, but I'm just so damn tired. The token representation of POCs and LGBTQIA+ characters (check out own voices reviews for more details), the awful dialogue, the atrocious pacing, the objectification of everything that breathes, the clunky incorporation of technology, the unsettling framing of the oppressors as the heroes and the oppressed as terrorists... this was a MESS.

I'm not sure there's a figure you could pay me to make another foray into Maas' mind.


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