Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

26 reviews

daphnemarie's review

i don’t even know what the bloody title is let alone what the hell was going on

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Fatphobia, Drug use, Body horror, Alcoholism, Murder, Body shaming, Blood, Gore, Sexual content, Classism, Death, and Cursing

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Xenophobia

Minor: Rape

kyahs's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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

Absolutely loved this book and cannot wait for the next one. Sarah J Maas keeps me up at night again! BUT the blurb would have ruined a lot of it for me if I read blurbs, don't read it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Violence, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, War, Gore, Addiction, Blood, Death, Animal cruelty, Torture, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Slavery

kylarenea_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Cursing, Classism, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty

ciarramist's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and War

jshroy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Abandonment, Grief, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, War, Slavery, Blood, Gun violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Torture, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual harassment

gabi_w21's review

This was my second SJM book (the first being yet another self-insert fantasy, Throne of Glass) and I doubt I'll actually ever attempt another book by her. This book was bloated with unnecessary info dumps at inappropriate moments, characters constantly being objectified (a MOC being a slave? In 2022? Really?), mind-melting illogical logic, and a cast of infuriating characters that made me want to bash my head in. Oh, and way to tell on yourself, Sarah, by saying that the oppressed class are awful people for not wanting to be oppressed anymore. 

Bryce is your stereotypical party girl who whines about being half-Fae and being discriminated against (even though we never see it; it seemed to me the only real discrimination she faced was whatever self-hate bullshit she spewed) who refuses therapy and whines about her best friend being dead. She seems to be living the high life, as far as I can tell. I think she actually refused therapy so she can pull the “wah, my best friend is dead!” card. She also is supposedly super smart even though we don't see it. She's one of the most infuriating characters I've ever read. She claims she doesn't like “alphaholes” like her dad but that's the only type of guy she even remotely entertains. Oh, and she's a hypocrite—when her ex-boyfriend Reed (Reid?) is on his phone it's an issue but she can be on her phone. 

Hunt is an angel enslaved due to his part of a revolt. He's constantly sexualizing Bryce (every instance of them together, he makes a mental comment about her figure) and is SJM's generic brooding, tortured, racially ambigious love interest who treats the FMC like shit. He growls, glowers, threatens people, grins threateningly, and mopes around about his dead girlfriend's twin sister showing up. He's pushy, bossy, and obsessed with seeing Bryce as a sexual object. 

Everyone in this book sucks. Nobody is likeable except maybe the Sphyx cat thing and Lehaborah (I think?) There's gratuitous swearing, drug use, blood, and alcohol, like that's what makes adult fiction adult. God, if I could burn this book from my memory, I wouldn't even hesitate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexism, and Violence

Minor: Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, and Suicidal thoughts

aimnorth's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I find the lore and the side characters far more interesting than the main character. I think the author missed a bit opportunity to name Bryce's addiction to help address why she's insufferable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Xenophobia and Racism

katbsc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

80% of the book is 5 stars. Small deduction because the exposition is very slow so it was hard for me to get past that to where it started moving.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual content, Violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Gore, and Suicide

kingrosereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

I did very much love this book. I ended up staying up all night to finish it before falling asleep 250 short of the end. It is longer than it needs to be but at the same time I like that the investigation is hard and confusion with a lot of dead ends. Like a real investigation.

I always knew Micah was shady and his death was HILARIOUS. I was completely shocked at Hunt’s betrayal. I always knew he’d rebel when he got the chance, but not like this.

This book puts you through the emotional ringer. I like Bryce a lot. I think she’s funny and a straight badass. I’ve seen other people says she’s a classic “I’m not like other girls”, but I don’t see that at all. I see a normal, young woman that likes to party. I don’t use drugs but I know lots of young people use it recreationally and it made Bryce more real to me.

There’s also the obvious consequences of her using drugs the night Danika dies. The revelations of Danika’s death and synth and the Horn were all over the place, but I think that’s the point.

The swearing was also like ridiculously on point. My friend and I swear just like this and just as much, so that was very relatable. This book made me laugh, made me cry, and made me happy. 
I think that Bryce’s grief and depression were also extremely relatable and written well. And it took a whole book for her to get to a better place. I also LOVE that she uses other people’s preconceived notions about her to her advantage. She’s also pretty sex positive, even though it’s clear she does use sex sometimes as a form of self-medication for her grief and as a way to combat the underlying feelings she has about being seen as a “lesser” being. Bryce is badass. She can fight, shoot, and wear all the girly girl stuff women get bashed about on the daily. I like her attitude and am excited to see where the story goes from here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Slavery, Gun violence, Gore, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide attempt, War, Death, Police brutality, Self harm, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment

forgetbeenot's review

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 

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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