Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

42 reviews

amateur_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

My summary: After everything goes terribly wrong in their stand against the Asteri, Hunt, Ruhn and Baxian are now being tortured in the Asteri dungeon and Bryce is—gone. Bryce has found her way to another world and is now desperate to return to Midgard in her quest to save it. Tharion has returned to Lunathion and is fighting for the Viper Queen in her ring, as he promised before everything went sideways with the Asteri and Ophion. Ithan, Flynn, and Declan are trying to get any intel of what’s happening to Bryce, Ruhn and Hunt. When help comes from unexpected places to break Hunt, Ruhn, and Baxian from the clutches of the Asteri, Bryce and Hunt must continue fighting to save their world, but with impossible odds stacked against them. 

My thoughts: I loved it. I love the entire Crescent City series. I love ACOTAR too and the blending of the two worlds was the cherry on top. I’m not going to lie, this one took me awhile to get through. There is just SO MUCH packed in here. I loved all of the main characters and the way Sarah J. Maas wove their stories together and switched between the character’s points of view. True to every other book Sarah J. Maas writes, all hell breaks loose in the last hundred or so pages. I know there is supposed to be at least one more Crescent City book, but I’m content with the ending of this one. I feel like the series *could* end here, even though I am excited for the eventual continuation of the series, and for the foreshadowing of what is to come in the ACOTAR series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, War, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Slavery

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

dulcyj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, and Blood

Minor: Grief, Sexual content, and Child death

tinkerbelle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

i dont like that people are mad about this book, i think it wraps up the trilogy perfectly and i was glad to find that it wasnt all about bryce this time.

really excited to see what else sjm has to offer!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, Torture, War, and Genocide

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, Death of parent, and Death

i literally started crying when when bryce was "dead" but like purely bc it broke my heart to think of hunt going through that pain 😭😭

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

This was the best in the Crescent City series! I highly recommend to those who have already read ACOTAR. This book truly made everything come together and so much makes more sense. It ties up loose ends but also makes room for some new storylines. Was different than I thought it would be but also somehow better? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Vomit, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Torture, Body horror, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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Content Warnings

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

emcdonald's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

Literally so good I would die for these characters ten times over

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent and Sexual violence

psydneigh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The battle was too easy for me. Wish we had been in Bryce’s head a little more in Part 1 because I still dont get why she did some things. 
There are 5 bonus chapters (you can find them all on Reddit)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Torture, War, and Confinement

elledanie'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? It's complicated

5.0

✨🪽🩶🦌👨‍🎤🖤

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, and Confinement

sam_gartley91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? No

3.75

Loved it! And really anything SJM does. But it was really whiplashy with multiple pov in the same chapter. And that Bryce seemed to be doing some of the work off page at times so she knew things the audience didn’t. She did that last book too and it wasn’t my fav. It wasn’t like that the audience was learning with her. It bugged me a bit. The fantasy meets sci-fi was interesting and I don’t think I’ve seen that before. There are still some characters that I would love to learn more about. Like what is fury?!! So I’m curious where if anywhere SjM is going next with this series world. The cross over wasn’t exactly what I expected good at times and a little let down at others. I really just wanted them all to be friends!! Which maybe in the future they will/could get there. But overall SjM did seem to tie everything up in a bow. Now it’s for the world to reset itself up. Overall loved it but wish it was difffernt at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Grief, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Gun violence, Classism, and War

Moderate: Police brutality, Cursing, Misogyny, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Excrement and Abandonment

ahbee_p_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I am a SJM fan and love her work, including HOEAB and HOSAB, but this book came up a little short for me. 

While there were a lot of exciting elements to the story and I really enjoyed diving more into the history and legacies of the characters and the world... I felt that it was a bit messy and all over the place. In some places, I felt the story dragged.

The constantly changing POV and storylines was, at times, difficult for me to follow... the book has A LOT of plot!

I also didn't enjoy Bryce as much in this book, or her relationship with Hunt. I was hoping to see more from Ruhn and Lidia!

Overall, I enjoyed the book. But it didn't live up to my expectations. I still appreciate the world building and creativity that has gone into this book and think it was a fine conclusion to this part of the story...

and I enjoyed the final pages with the flying horses 😂

🖤
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Torture, and Murder