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

I have never been so disappointed by an SJM book and it’s RUINING me. If it was any other author, I probably would have DNF’d this book. So many words for so little to happen, the end left me shaking my head, and don’t even get me started on the lack of character consistency!
As one of my friends put it, “it feels like she flew too close to the sun” and I wouldn’t be sad to see this book dropped into the ocean forever.

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natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

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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

4.0

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yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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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.

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winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

This book had me ugly crying so hard I couldn't read anymore.

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kittykels's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

"The friends they made were what mattered in the end." Bro, I know she did not just write this into the end of the book. 🤣🤣🤣

The stakes aren't high if they're fake, that's all I'll say about that.

This book was mostly boring, which is such a shame given how complex the story idea is. The good stuff is drowning in a sea of info-dumping and word vomit, a lot of it repetitive.

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midnightrose_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

House of Flame and Shadow is the third book in the Crescent City series. It was fun diving back into this urban-fantasy setting and seeing so many beloved characters. It’s action packed and thrilling watching Bryce, Hunt and their friends battle against the Asteri.

My biggest critique of the book though, is its length. I feel the book could have been just as effective between 600 or 700 pages. Perhaps it being multi-POV, contributed to it being 800+ pages. But I think that the plot would have been a lot more propulsive overall (like I felt the first two books were) with a bit of its length trimmed by the editor.

I’m also very much wondering if this is going to be a trilogy or a quartet. The way the book ended (wrapped up but also with a couple of plot threads dangling loose) makes it seem it could go either way.

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angelofthetardis's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

So I didn't want to buy this in hardback as it won't fit on my bookshelf, and I have no idea when I'd be able to get it from the library (the reserve queue is huge), so I made use of my Audible subscription and bought the audiobook instead. Cheaper than the physical copy, and means I save more money to spend next year!

Thus far I haven't been as drawn into the world of Crescent City as I have with Sarah J Maas' other realms, but I was nevertheless very excited to read this one as soon as it came out as it starts to draw the worlds closer together. With Hunt, Ruhn and Baxian stuck in the dungeons of the Asteri and facing torture, and Bryce no-where to be found on Midgard or in Hel, everything is set up for this to be a gripping, bloody, thrilling ride toward the ultimate showdown.

I was hoping for an epic crossover event, a really impactful tale that would serve as an episode in both of her incomplete series and a temporary yet meaningful blending of the Night Court and Lunathion... but I was left feeling a bit cheated. I will be fair, although the ending of CC2 had been spoiled for me some time ago, I only read the book a few weeks ago so I haven't had the same length of time to have this building in my head. But if I had, I suspect I would have hurled the book across the room. Ultimately, there's a lot of wandering through tunnels, a little bit of friendly interrogation and a bitch-off between Nesta and Bryce and... that's about it. I did like the fact that little hints from both CC and ACOTAR were pulled into the narrative here, but overall the crossover element felt more like it was there to please the fans than to actually move the plot along. There is one moment which is gorgeous and brilliant and sort of illustrates Nesta's character development in a nutshell though...

This series is probably the most complex of the three in terms of worldbuilding, and generally speaking you can see that a LOT of thought has gone into it, but it almost feels like too much. There are just so many elements to keep track of, so many character threads to follow and so much lore to remember that a lot of bits and pieces get lost in the noise. And this book only adds to the worldbuilding, expanding on the origins of the people of Midgard, the history of the Asteri and so on. Unfortunately, while I can imagine the scenes where this is set out playing well on a TV or movie screen, when listening or reading it does feel like a never-ending info dump during these moments. And there are more than one of them, which really deadens the pace and had me zoning out a little. Similarly, I'd say that a lot of snippets could have been edited out so that the focus remained on the main story.

I'm ashamed to say that I can't ever really tell you who my favourite character is. I just can't connect with anyone in here. Their relationships with each other are well drawn and every one of the main characters and supporting cast is really well fleshed out, but there's just nothing binding my soul to one of them. If I had to choose, I'd probably go with Hunt, but even that doesn't sit quite right. And in terms of their character arcs throughout this book, I wouldn't day there are any major surprises - everyone basically acts exactly as you'd expect them to.

Likewise, most of the major plot points are fairly predictable; however, there are a couple of moments that make you sit up and take notice, and those are worth tuning in for. There are a couple ofmloose threads that I guess could be picked up in another book or two, but I suspect any future instalments might suffer from too thin a plot and too much magical politics.

The whole series has a bit more of a sci-fi edge to it, but that's definitely expanded in this book - why am I imagining Stargates dotted a over Crescent City and at the Northern Rift? I do like it because it's not what I was expecting, but equally I think I'm more of a straight fantasy type of girl.

I'm not disappointed with the book, but nor am I particularly worried about picking it up again. A shame for such an anticipated release!

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katvou's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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