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britwalsh16's review against another edition
adventurous
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
I barely have any words! I am a very emotional person, & all the grief & loss in this book just tore me apart. BUT I loved every minute of it! I flew through this book, I could not put it down!
Based on Sarah J Maas’ other books I kept expecting Hunt to flip a switch & become another Tamlin; but I am so glad that never happened! I love Bryce! & I love Hunt! I love Ruhn! & I loved Danika! And though I didn’t know him much, I loved Conner, & whenever Bryce talked about him, I always started tearing up! I teared up with Danika too. But something about the not knowing what could have been with Conner makes me super sad! Atleast with Danika she knew what they had, what they were. Conner never had that chance & it just kills me!
This book hit me in the feels sooo much, & I’m not fully healed from the last book I read either, so together, I’m just falling off a cliff! Thanks Romantasy books!
This book hit me in the feels sooo much, & I’m not fully healed from the last book I read either, so together, I’m just falling off a cliff! Thanks Romantasy books!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Genocide, and Hate crime
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
4apricity'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, and Grief
selena13's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-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
5.0
I didn’t understand why people liked this book until I read it! I’ve read all of ToG and ACOTAR before starting this book and loved it more for it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Classism
ahbee_p_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Torture
goodjollymissmolly's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
ld_reads_things's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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: Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, and War
savage_book_review's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
The third of Sarah J Maas' fantasy series, Crescent City brings the world of Fae, angels, witches, werewolves and a host of other magical creatures into a modern setting. We follow Bryce Quinlan, a half-Fae twenty something who parties hard with her friends, hates her boss and is living a some what ordinary life, until a horrific murder changes her life forever.
My first reaction was that it was an odd juxtaposition; people with various magical abilities driving cars, using mobile phones and enjoying Saturday night sport, and while the author of course makes it work, I wasn't as easily able to immerse myself in the world; the intrusion of the familiar made it harder to suspend my disbelief. Imagining an avenging angel slobbing out on the couch wearing a baseball cap and football jersey, wings and all, is brilliant, funny and certainly more relatable than a lot of the other males in Maas' writing (even if he does share the usual trait of the ultimate ripped body), but that's precisely the issue. I like my fantasy characters to be precisely that - fantasies.
I enjoyed the characterisations of both the individuals and the different beings very much; there are a lot more shades of grey in here, which definitely makes the reading more interesting. However, there are a LOT of creatures to get to know, and at times I found it hard to keep track of everything. There's not much of an 'on ramp' with this world; you're dropped almost straight into the middle of it and left to fend for yourself, picking things up as you go. And where in her other series there have been some similarities that allow you to grasp basic concepts, again this setting is so different it's a lot harder to establish the ground rules.
Similarly, understanding the structure and hierarchy of the world isn't exactly straightforward. I do like the Roman-inspired feel of the city as a whole, but it took me a while to get to grips with the angelic legions, the Aux and so on. It's just a lot to wrap your head around.
I would say that this story doesn't flow quite as well as her other works either. The story has certainly been well mapped out in the author's head, but the writing somehow just feels a bit clunky - the development of the relationship between Bryce and Hunt, while clearly inevitable, just seems to happen in the blink of an eye, rather than via the slow build which Maas is so good at. And some of the twists aren't so much shocking as head-scratchingly confusing.
I'm thinking this one might be a 'soaker' - it just needs to marinade in my head for a while before I 'get' it in the same was as TOG and ACOTAR. Also wondering if the graphic audio version might help. I do want to see where the series goes and how we end up at the spoilers I've heard about the end of book 2, but I am hoping for better next time around...
My first reaction was that it was an odd juxtaposition; people with various magical abilities driving cars, using mobile phones and enjoying Saturday night sport, and while the author of course makes it work, I wasn't as easily able to immerse myself in the world; the intrusion of the familiar made it harder to suspend my disbelief. Imagining an avenging angel slobbing out on the couch wearing a baseball cap and football jersey, wings and all, is brilliant, funny and certainly more relatable than a lot of the other males in Maas' writing (even if he does share the usual trait of the ultimate ripped body), but that's precisely the issue. I like my fantasy characters to be precisely that - fantasies.
I enjoyed the characterisations of both the individuals and the different beings very much; there are a lot more shades of grey in here, which definitely makes the reading more interesting. However, there are a LOT of creatures to get to know, and at times I found it hard to keep track of everything. There's not much of an 'on ramp' with this world; you're dropped almost straight into the middle of it and left to fend for yourself, picking things up as you go. And where in her other series there have been some similarities that allow you to grasp basic concepts, again this setting is so different it's a lot harder to establish the ground rules.
Similarly, understanding the structure and hierarchy of the world isn't exactly straightforward. I do like the Roman-inspired feel of the city as a whole, but it took me a while to get to grips with the angelic legions, the Aux and so on. It's just a lot to wrap your head around.
I would say that this story doesn't flow quite as well as her other works either. The story has certainly been well mapped out in the author's head, but the writing somehow just feels a bit clunky - the development of the relationship between Bryce and Hunt, while clearly inevitable, just seems to happen in the blink of an eye, rather than via the slow build which Maas is so good at. And some of the twists aren't so much shocking as head-scratchingly confusing.
I'm thinking this one might be a 'soaker' - it just needs to marinade in my head for a while before I 'get' it in the same was as TOG and ACOTAR. Also wondering if the graphic audio version might help. I do want to see where the series goes and how we end up at the spoilers I've heard about the end of book 2, but I am hoping for better next time around...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Vomit, and Car accident
chapters_and_pages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Sarah J. Maas is without a doubt one of my all time favourite authors, and I have been rereading all of her books this year and I loved this book even more the second time around!
Bryce is happy with her life - working hard all day, partying even harder all night - but everything changes when a demon murders her closest friends. Hunt is a fallen angel, enslaved to the Archangels he tried to overthrow. With an unknown demon wreaking havoc in the city, leaving bodies in its wake, Bryce and Hunt must team up to figure out what is really going on in Crescent City.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again, Sarah J. Maas writes the best characters! Bryce is without a doubt one of my favourite main characters of all time, and her and Hunt’s relationship is one of my favourites. I wish we’d had more time with Danika because she was a loyal badass. Ruhn was a rebellious and arrogant male, but I honestly loved him.
The relationships in this book were top tier. The relationship between Bryce and Danika was honestly one of the best things about this book, it was just heartbreaking. I loved the dynamic between Bryce, who is sassy and fun, and Hunt, who is serious and reserved, paired perfectly. Ruhn and Bryce’s sibling relationship was really enjoyable and Bryce’s relationship with her mum and stepdad was so good.
I really liked that the setting of this book is very different to Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses, both of which are what I’d consider high fantasy, whereas this series feels more like an urban fantasy.
Overall, I really enjoyed rereading this book and I can’t wait to rereading the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
biancatgomez11's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.75
Just stick through Part 1. It's a renowned slog, but Part 2 is insanely good, and Part 3 is flawless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
rasha_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
WOW!!! OMG! OMG! OMG!
Sarah J Maas has delivered another fantastic book with this first instalment of the CC series. I will admit that, like ACOTAR, it took about a third of HoEaB for the pace to pick up but once you get past that point, you realise your time has not been wasted as you are drawn into a whole new world that is equally strange and yet eerily familiar. I thought she had peaked with ACOTAR since I am still reading her TOG series but have only gotten through two of them so far. Good they might be but HoEaB is, so far, phenomenal keeping me up till all hours and unable to put it down.
World building: check
Interesting Characters: check
Emotional depth: check
Mystery & suspense: check
Storyline with a twist: check
Romance: check
Sexual heat: check
It kills me that I have to put aside reading the second instalment for a couple of days since I have to actually work (bummer) and take care of other things as well as read something else for one of my book clubs but am energised with anticipation for the 2nd book and the 3rd when it comes out at the end of the month.
Walk don’t run to get your copy. Could barely bear to put it down. Simply amazing.
Warning: keep a box of tissues handy…
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail