Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

32 reviews

sierrabowers's review

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

browneyesblue84's review

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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

 am so happy that I had a chance to read this book. I waited patiently for its release. I cleared my reading schedule just so that I would have enough time to truly immerse myself back into Bryce Quinlan‘s world. Not only did I pre-order is digital copy but I also ordered a physical copy. Yes, I am that much of a fan of this series. 

I would be lying if I said that I was not nervous about reading this third Crescent City book. I truly like each and every character in this book whether they are a protagonist or an antagonist. However, I was worried about Hypaxia Enadore in the most. She’s my favorite character in the series. I was a little disappointed regarding the change in her storyline regarding Ruhn and well as the relationship with Celestina. I was afraid that she would end up sidelined, or become an irrelevant character and be killed off. However, Sarah J Maas not only introduced Hypaxia is an awesome way but gave her a very cool storyline.  

I wasn’t a big fan of Ruhn and Lidia as mates but I think their relationship grew on me after reading HOFAS. I changed my mind about Lidia after a secret about her was revealed. Not once did I fathom that The Hind could be someone’s mom. It was cool that Tharion and Ithan played a bigger part in this story along with Declan and Flynn. The decision made to include some characters for a short time was cool as well. Despite the fact that I haven’t read the ACOTAR series yet I really like those characters as well. 

Bryce Quinlan has changed so much since the first book. The same can be said about Hunt as well. I love their bond. The way that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for their friends and each other is beautiful. Beautiful. My favorite part of their story arc was each time they reconnected. So much happened in HOFAS and I am really looking forward to reading another book in this series. The only thing that I did not like about the story is that I’m going to have to wait another two years for another book. That doesn’t mean that I won’t be waiting patiently for the next release. 

I rated Sarah J Maas’ House of Flame and Shadow five stars out of five . It was so good that I didn’t want it to end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Cursing

Minor: Grief, Confinement, Abandonment, and Genocide

Hunt, Baxian and Ruhn ‘s torture scene is graphic. There’s a fight scene when Ithan kills Sabine. Tharion is on drugs and is coerced into sex by the viper queen , Bryce and Ruhn kill their father and uncle. and Tharion’s fight scenes in general are rough to read and visualize.

annabithebook's review against another edition

adventurous informative tense fast-paced

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

1.75

The thought that kept coming to me throughout was “how did this get past alpha/beta readers??” Followed quickly by “I cannot believe that if I hadn’t just invested my soul into 17 previous books to get to this point, I would have DNF’d it.” 😳

I am so disappointed in how many things I disliked in the series. Let’s make a spoiler-free list in no particular order: 

1. Open plot points from HOSAB were just effectively dismissed and no actual meaningful resolution occurred.
2. Where the fuck was Fury and why was she not a bigger part of this? 
3. 75 perspective changes inside of a single chapter with no indicator (especially bad in the audiobook format) this made an already 30 hour book take literal HOURS of extra time rewinding and listening again to try and figure out who did what and when it changed. 
4. Dumbass characters making reckless stupid decisions. 
      Sub point here: it really felt like in the early stages of TOG where people are young and reckless and immature but instead of them having the time and lived experiences over 8 books to grow and mature into the better version of themselves (which was 👌🏻) the entire “arc” occurs crammed into one book and feels thin/baseless/disingenuous.  
5.  I never thought I’d say an 800+ page book should have spread things out more but it should have been two separate books (á la Eos & ToD). There were just too many ambitious plot lines/characters/stories competing for page time and so instead of trimming some to fully flesh out the ones you keep or splitting into two books, they’re all sort of chaotic and rushed which makes the story feel disjointed and inauthentic.
6. Kind of related to 5, but SJM is famous for her character growth and well balanced storylines with beautiful relationships, but she just didn’t give herself the space to do that with this novel or really CC as a whole. 
7. The crossover infodump. 
8. SJMs famous “why didn’t you just tell her that in the first place.” 
9. SO MUCH HEAD ST@BB1NG 
10. Hunt/Bryce seem like a couple who should really just break up…. 😬
11. Bryce in general (weakest SJM FMC in terms of how well they’re written as leads). 
12. Other main cast characters who aren’t even in this book. 
13. Characters who only appear when SJM needs them for a plot function so they feel like tools and not people. 
14. Questionable science “oh yeah, let’s just hold the _____ ____ open!” 😒
15. The rumbly in Baxian’s tummy that only hands can satisfy. 

Now. A much shorter but MAY CONTAIN VAGUE SPOILERS list of what I loved: 

1. Ruhn/Lidia - they got snubbed like Lorcan/Elide from more page time
2. Jessiba 
3. The sprites 
4. The message of unity
5. Patricide
6. ……it’s not a good sign that I ran out at 5 things?

Honestly, my thumbs are tired but if you want a more comprehensive and, frankly, hilarious review that is literally all the thoughts in my head too, here is another amazing GR reviewer’s thoughts: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4553540457

TLDR; didn’t DNF because I was stubborn but it tried to be too many things at once and so instead it was successful at nearly nothing. Very disappointed 😢 1.75⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Torture, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Addiction, Abandonment, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Murder, War, Violence, and Medical trauma

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, War, Murder, Torture, Cursing, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Police brutality

Minor: Alcohol, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

katharina90's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Enjoyable read overall but Bryce was really unlikeable in this book (too much like Aelin), the relationship between Bryce and Hunt felt off, and the ending was too easy/neat and anticlimactic. 

I liked the multiple POVs but switching them up in the middle of the chapter disrupted my flow. 

The ACOTAR crossover and little tie-ins to TOG were fun but didn't add a whole lot to the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Death, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, War, and Grief

Minor: Slavery

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Violence, Cannibalism, Genocide, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Murder, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child death, Dysphoria, Medical content, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Torture, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and War

mspencer1998's review

adventurous emotional tense 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Drug use, Grief, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, and Torture

midnightrose_reads's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Blood, Death, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol

mads_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.5

I loved a lot of pieces of this book, but as a whole it’s got to be one of my least favorite SJM books. It’s messy and chaotic and there’s just a lot of things that didn’t add anything to the story. I was disappointed by it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Confinement, Body horror, Gore, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Colonisation, Classism, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

boba_n_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

Spice Rating: 🌶️ 🌶️

This book was unexpected in so many ways, and I loved it. 

Searching for clues that tied this world to Maas’ other worlds was the best scavenger hunt. Though I do believe that people should go into this expecting, and knowing, that it is a Crescent City book. 

A lot of people seem disappointed with the lack of ACOTAR characters, but I loved the tie-in. Would I have taken more? Of course! Am I mad about what we got? Not at all. I enjoyed seeing Nesta and Bryce interact, and I can’t wait to see how the events of this book tie into the next ACOTAR book.

It had all my favorite characters and then some. I enjoyed seeing so many different points of view and following multiple side characters, though I do think some POVs were stronger than others. 

The ending blew me away and makes me think the next book(s) will focus on characters other than Bryce and Hunt. I love how well Maas tied this up and am excited to see what happens next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, and War

Moderate: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug use