Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

33 reviews

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

thenextbookdilemma's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Torture

Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

indusnm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The first half of the book was five stars for me, but the second half was three, so it averages out to a four. This was my favorite of the three and probably one of my favorite of this author. I liked a lot of it.

PROS
I liked a lot of the final pairings. I'm not sure how a few will work out, but I look forward to finding out. I also liked the way the final battle is shown from so many points of view and how everyone had a role. I appreciate the way the universes combine and the smut to plot ratio felt right. No love scenes came out of left field and they seemed to take into account the exhaustion and pain characters felt.

CONS
While everyone had a role, it felt like by the end most of the roles could be distilled to delivery person and distraction. I mean yes, they saved each other, but honestly it felt like Bryce could have done this on her own with her battery dude and then none of them would have been in danger. To use a Harry Potter reference (I know, canceled, but like it or not everyone reading this will get the reference) it's as if Bryce was Harry, Hermione, Dumbledore, and Neville all at once. She's even Ron as comic relief, except his one-liners were mostly funny and she gets a little annoying. All in all, it feels like lazy writing to have one person able to do everything better than everyone else.

She's also terrible and manipulative with a lot of people. Her character arc is in many ways the least traumatic- she grows up with loving parents, her biological father is much more horrible to her sibling, and in a lot of ways she escapes the most horrific moments and leaving people she loves to endure those moments doesn't seem to give her much pause. This might be why she shows no sympathy to those who need time to deal with it. Being called a misogynistic slur isn't akin to being physically tortured day in and day out for years.

So 4 stars, and I very much enjoyed reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Xenophobia, Gun violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction and Drug use

Also after this book, [I'm even more confused by what she did with "Cooper." First of all, why would she leave him with the Viper Queen? I wouldn't leave a virtual pet with that woman let alone an actual child. What kind of adult leaves a child with a woman who has no issues preying on barely legal young people and controls them with drugs ( I'm not sure how potent those drugs are given that Therion ditches them easily but still!)? And then how are we supposed to buy that she thinks of him as a brother when Bryce ditches him, a child who has escaped years of captivity and the death of his entire family, alone at a refugee camp on an island? Not that her parents seem too worried about that either. Poor kid. And then all the love for Lidia and the way she gets mad at Ruhn for his judgment. I have a hard time getting over the fact that she tortured and killed people for a long time. Who do romantasy authors act like it's okay to forgive war crimes just because you love the person? I think it's because theyre too privileged to actually identify with the victims

britwalsh16's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

Omg!!! Soooo many thoughts!!! This book blew my mind!!! It was soooo good!!! I love every single one of the characters!!! I can’t wait to hopefully dive more into certain characters in future books & see how everything is after the war! 
I love all the parallels & Easter eggs to Sarah’s other worlds, & ofcourse Nesta, Azriel, & everyone from Acotar who had small parts in the story line! 
The twists & turns this book took! This series takes! It’s unbelievable, there is so much I didn’t see coming, & I love books that shock me!! 
I’m just so sad that it’s over, & for the moment I don’t have anymore new Sarah J Maas books to read!! 
Cauldron blessed us all with Sarah & her amazing writing! I can’t wait for more of her books! If she writes it, I will read it. No questions asked. 

“Wanna hear a joke?.. Two Angels and a Fae Prince walk into a dungeon..” 🤣🤣🤣

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexism, Genocide, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Slavery, War, Child death, Sexual harassment, Torture, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, Gun violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Cursing, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death, Colonisation, Addiction, Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape

memreads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

If you made it to book 3 of the series and had a good time, I have a hard time feeling like you won't enjoy this one! 

Less sex than prior books, which I appreciated as the story remained more plot and character focused. 

It was fun reeling through the different characters and their progression through the story. 

I found myself giggling, cheering, tearing up, and even hugging the physical book toward the end of the story. 

Elizabeth Evans delivered another delightful performance of SJMs work. I cannot wait to see what spin off stories of side characters arise next from Midgard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Torture

Minor: Drug use, Excrement, and Addiction

hapalyn's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

Everything about this was what I wanted!!! I was hoping for more Bryce x Hunt dynamics but with so many side characters there was no time to cover that. I'm hoping that some day in the future, Sarah J. Maas will write some awesome novellas or future books detailing some of the side characters more. 

Such a fast read, yet it felt like so long at the same time. 

As for the ACOTAR crossover, I feel satisfied with how it was handled. There wasn't enough involvement there to make the series too intertwined. I almost feel like Crescent City is just the backstory for all of the lore in ACOTAR. I think it gives ACOTAR more depth, but readers who don't care to read all of CC can still read ACOTAR and be satisfied. Lots of Nesta, which was awesome because she's my favorite. I am excited to see where the ACOTAR series goes after reading this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, War, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Genocide, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Emotional abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Domestic abuse

selena13's review

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Slavery, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Drug use, Genocide, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Grief, War, Cursing, Classism, Death, Sexism, Gun violence, Torture, Vomit, Misogyny, and Murder

gemma_clare's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Slightly underwhelming but still a good read. This book somehow simultaneously moves too fast and too slow and was a bit of a slog to get through. It also lacked so much of the emotional depth of characters and relationships we’ve come to know and love from SJM. It’s also inconsistent with previous books imo - previously unkillable, god-like characters get taken down like some run of the mill villain and so many things just seem to happen way to conveniently to be fully believable. Overall felt rushed. A fine read, but not what I expected for CC3. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Torture, Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual content, War, Vomit, Gore, Death, Excrement, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Grief, Gun violence, Classism, Confinement, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, and Sexism

imzadi755's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Torture

justinahonz's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

4.0

spoiler free review: this was totally the book i didn’t know i needed to come next. check your expectations at the door and enjoy the ride. incredibly easy to read, very fast paced with all the sass and edgy characters we have come to love. 

spoiler review:

perfect amount of crossover content and potential new plot lines/easter eggs. the next steps in prythian are open now that they have uncovered some new information about the prison and have gwydion in possession. looking forward to seeing bits of this story from their perspectives. lidia’s ties to brannon the heir of fire?? i suspected but was so happy to see. the urd/wyrd remark from the underking. it was all just enough while still letting the focus of the book be the crescent city plot. maybe it was too easy to defeat the asteri, but i also felt like it was too easy to get rid of the gods in throne of glass sooooooo perhaps we will find out that the “unknown” isn’t so empty after all at some point?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

spoiler review:

perfect amount of crossover content and potential new plot lines/easter eggs. the next steps in prythian are open now that they have uncovered some new information about the prison and have gwydion in possession. looking forward to seeing bits of this story from their perspectives. lidia’s ties to brannon the heir of fire?? i suspected but was so happy to see. the urd/wyrd remark from the underking. it was all just enough while still letting the focus of the book be the crescent city plot. maybe it was too easy to defeat the asteri, but i also felt like it was too easy to get rid of the gods in throne of glass sooooooo perhaps we will find out that the “unknown” isn’t so empty after all at some point?