Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

51 reviews

karapillar's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

booksalacarte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.5

8/2022 First read- 5⭐️

Bound by blood. Tempted by desire. Unleashed by Destiny.

This is a dark high fantasy novel with elements of modern technology. Think Fae, angles, and vampires with cellphones and security cameras.

The world building took a long time to get into. The characters and trope of the Chosen One with powers like no other are very familiar for Sarah J Maas, and she doesn’t disappoint.

When it comes to world building, I’m telling you, Maas is one of the best. This book had be in a chokehold. I read it in 24 hours (until 4am 😬) because I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to start the next book!

Reread- 4.75⭐️ 2.75🌶️

Urban Romantic Fantasy

Adult Fantasy

Fae

Mythical creatures

Modern technology

Found family

Murder mystery

Secret history

Bodyguard romance

Forced proximity

Explicit Language

Drug use

Suicide attempt mentioned

The dark, gritty, messiness of this series is starkly different from Maas’ other series. This wasn’t a fairytale, but more real… all while remaining a high fantasy romance. The world building was almost too intense at times, with info dumps all over the place. I found myself not as desperate to read the book the second time. Because I knew that the random side plots would be all pulled together and monologued in the end. It turned my first read in 24 hours into 6 days. 

Reading this a second time made me realize how much I wove book 1 & 2 together. Now that I’m in the other side, I think emotionally, the book was just as good. But looking at it, plot-wise, this book was a little all over the place. The last 1/3 of the book was action packed, thank goodness. But it was plot points hitting, one after the other. 

The characters are wonderfully flawed and live their flaws out loud. Something that is refreshing and messy at the same time. It’s harder to take off the rose colored glasses when it comes to fantasy main characters. I think the character building did a great job. 

It’s hard also because the ending wasn’t a cliffhanger, so it almost felt like a series coming to an end because of how long it is

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Colonisation, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Body horror, Gaslighting, Blood, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Bullying, Death, Medical content, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, and Gun violence

tanvi45's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use and Torture

Minor: War, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

jen1804's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Okay so firstly I read this book through use of both audible and the pages directly and I’m not sure whether continuously switching between the two has inevitably had an impact or not. I would have preferred to have read it from the page only because I definitely would have been more absorbed and more focused, but needs must and audible is a great tool when life gets too busy but you still wanna get your valuable book time in.
So I’ve given this book a 3.75. It’s a good book, especially the last 30%, I LOVED the last 30%. It drops marks because I think it’s quite slow paced and thus I found the book a bit unnecessarily long? I prefer faster paced stories with more happening a lot more quickly (but not too quickly haha, need to get that balance right). Also this world building set up is COMPLICATED, and I needed assistance from my friend and the details of a Crescent City guide she’d found to help me get my head around it. But once you, it is easy enough to understand.
This book is well written and I absolutely adore the urban modern fantasy sci fi type world building, which is something new from SJM.
Ultimately this book explores friendship and grief and classism and is at times incredibly emotional, the kind of emotional with big fat tears. The book deals with important themes and is occasionally pretty grim with me audibly gasping or saying ‘urgh’.
I enjoyed the characters, I loved the quick witted Bryce, I loved her complex relationship with Ruhn. I loved Dec and Flynn. I loved the slow burn enemies to lovers with Bryce and Hunt and adored their bickering, but if I’m honest I’m not knee deep yet with this ‘ship romantically.
The massacre of Danika and the pack of devils had me in denial for a while and my heart was not okay. 
I’m really looking forward to seeing where we go with this series and excited for the second book. I’m hoping we get to see Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn and friends, take down the bullshit hierarchy of the Asteri and Archangels. I love an all powerful teamwork moment. I’m also hoping we get more development of Bryce and Hunt because I need a bit more before I’m fully behind it.
Satisfactory ending? For sure.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Blood, Classism, Death, Drug use, Gore, Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, and War

Minor: Addiction and Vomit

nirellis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Oh my god this book. The length slightly intimidated me at first but after starting it it just felt like hanging out with the characters which I really liked

The last few chapters had me BAWLING

Amazing book the slow-burn was so worth it and the time we’re given to be with the characters just made it hit that much harder <3

LIGHT IT UP!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Slavery, War, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual content, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

siennakt30's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Death, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Violence, Drug use, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Trafficking, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Blood

mrose44's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Blood, Classism, Sexual content, and Slavery

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, War, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

forgetbeenot's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Concept is 5 stars, characters are 4 stars, execution is 2 stars. Someone should have edited the first 500 pages down to around half that for all they hold - if the first half had been anything like the last, it would’ve been at least a 4.5 star read. Also…why was the word “fuck” mentioned ten times per page? People don’t talk like that in real life 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Torture, Cursing, Body shaming, War, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Classism, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

begentile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Murder, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Gore, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, and Vomit

jonezzzing's review against another edition

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Grief, Vomit, Blood, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Cursing, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Alcohol, and Confinement

Minor: Fire/Fire injury