Reviews with content warning for Torture - House of Sky and Breath

I didn’t love the second book as much as the first one, but this was still a 5 star read. The story was a bit slow for this book, and I want to say this was more of a filler book (sets the story up perfectly for the next book though). There was a lot of character growth and you get to know some new characters as well. It’s a long book so come prepared (took me a week which is pretty slow for me). The ending was definitely worth it though! I need the third book now please!!!

Just a side note, if you haven’t read A Court of Thorns and Roses, I highly recommend reading that series before this book to better understand Sarah’s writing style as well as certain themes/nuances. I would say it’s not 100% necessary but it’s the best way to familiarize yourself with certain aspects present in her worlds (overall it makes the breakdown of this series much more interesting).

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xta_07's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.75

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wackly93's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

3.5

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katbsc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

SARAH, WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US.

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anastashamarie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

4.25/5. I feel like everyone is rating this purely on the last pre-epilogue chapter if I'm being honest, but I'm trying to be objective here. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet because I feel like anything more would be spoiler central...

First 1/2 to 2/3 of the book is a 3/5. The pacing was slow. The plot was unnecessarily convoluted, with tons of dead ends that didn't really move the story forward imho. I honestly put the book down multiple times to read other things because it just wasn't keeping my interest that well. But we got lots of Bryce and Hunt and lots of friendship moments (both of which I love) so I'm not too mad at it.

Last 30-40% of the book is solidly 4.5 stars, however. After the first half drug on, the pacing was cranked up to 1000, and I felt like I couldn't put it down in the way I've felt about other SJM books. The last 300 or so pages were very intense, to the point that, as I neared the climax of the story, my husband asked "why I was so jimoy and breathing heavily."

And yes, that ending has me VERY intrigued and VERY excited to see what comes next. But I don't think that it's fair to call this 5 stars just because I like where SJM is taking her storyline.

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