Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

210 reviews

kayanoelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

Interesting.

I liked the premise of the story, the writing style and the characters. Bryce is one fierce lady!!

This book was too loooong. The only good thing about that was that the relationship between Bryce and Hunt had time to blossom, they’re so lovely.

The plot was too predictable but maybe that’s just a me problem💀 I feel like when you read a lot of books, you get very good at predicting where the storyline is headed because there’s only so many plot devices you can use, so it’s understandable.

Another thing I tend not to like about fantasy books (including this one) is that everything works out too well.

Yes, there are high stakes and yes we fear for the characters safety and such but we always know that the protagonists are going to survive the first book. I know for sure that if I were part of this world I would’ve been attacked by one of the demons and it would’ve been over for me.

But this is fantasy and our protagonists are special so it’s okay✨✨

The epilogue left us with a lot to chew on so I am excited for the next book!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cursing, Classism, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Death, Alcohol, Animal death, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

bowedbookshelves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Alcohol, Grief, Physical abuse, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing

jdromsky's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

Sarah J Maas outdoes herself yet again with fantastic world building! And while

Hunt and Bryce’s relationship

is crucial to the story, I loved that Bryce and Danika’s friendship was the crux.  Their literally undying friendship

saved not only the city, but most importantly Bryce’s life

. It is very VERY rare I think to find a “romantasy” book where the focal “romance” is between platonic friends. We need more of this in not only the fantasy genre, but in life in general, and I’m 110% here for it!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, War, Death, and Drug use

rchulin1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, War, Medical content, Physical abuse, Addiction, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Alcohol, Cursing, Mental illness, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Gore, Classism, Death, Hate crime, and Murder

amateur_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

Genre: Fantasy, romantasy, fiction 

My summary: Bryce Quinlan is a half-fae half-human party girl living in Crescent City. Her roommate and best friend since college is Danika Fendyr, a powerful wolf shifter that will someday lead her pack. The two are inseparable, as well as with Danika’s pack, until gruesome murders occur that rock Bryce’s world to her core. Two years later, when another similar murder occurs, Bryce finds herself pulled into the investigation to try to find the killer and avenge the deaths of those closest to her. Bryce is saddled with Hunt Athalar, the Shadow of Death, a fallen angel and a slave to the Archangels, in the investigation. In a world ruled by the Asteri and governed by the Archangels, the constant war between the Vanir and the humans set a backdrop of Bryce and Hunt trying to save Crescent City in their quest for vengeance. 

My thoughts: Wow. Just….. wow. I really don’t know why I waited so long to read this one. I absolutely loved Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series. But then I really didn’t enjoy her Throne of Glass series so I just put off starting Crescent City, figuring I’d wait until closer to the third book coming out in January 2024. I was worried the hype around this series was too much, but, no, no, so far the first book is as fantastic as everyone said it was. This is some serious fantasy. I’m generally not too much of a fantasy reader and the world building in this is A LOT. I knew on page 20 (out of 799 pages) that I would definitely have to re-read this again to even begin to really understand all of it, which feels really daunting at that point of a book this long. I had literally no idea what was happening through the first third of the book. If you find yourself in the same boat, just keep pushing through and it is so, so worth it. The last of the book is so intense and I literally cannot wait to start on the next one in the series to keep going with it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Slavery, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Cursing, Death, and Murder

Moderate: War, Alcohol, Trafficking, Sexual content, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Confinement

miss_mariel_99's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

The pace starts slow, but picks up in the second half of the book. Similarly the likability of the characters changes throughout the book, some of their actions are unexpected and even downright stupid. But overall I definitely fell in love with them. The plot twist and it's resolution were (at least to me) really surprising and made me cry and feel with the characters. 
Overall a pretty good read which left me excited for the next part. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, and Classism

Moderate: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Genocide, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Physical abuse

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

I really enjoyed this one! The characters were so easy to love and root for! I thought the magical realism was explained well. Sometimes I got a bit lost in the world building but it wasn’t too bad. I love the way this book handled grief. It really showed how differently it can manifest. The writing was good. Every time I thought I had it figured it the plot twisted the other way and I was surprised.

Bryce’s goodbyes had me crying and I absolutely loved her relationship with Hunt.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Slavery, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual content, Gore, Suicide attempt, Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Bullying, Dysphoria, Body horror, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

vendy_kha's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

5.0

My heart is shattered. 
Light it up, light it up, light it up!!!
Nothing's what it seems, you'll be surprised by the things that will get you to your knees. I laughed, cried, broke down, was brought back to life... Play "did you know that there's a tunnel under ocean blvd - Lana del Rey" for full effect once you reach chapter 91 (on repeat) to really set the mood. Fun times. 

I absolutely enjoyed the characters in this book. Love the whole Maasiverse and this one's really a true part of it all ❤️‍🔥

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Physical abuse, Self harm, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Bullying, Drug abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Addiction, Confinement, War, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Gore, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Slavery, and Violence

ljtalbot's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Medical content, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Drug use, Cursing, Classism, Slavery, Murder, Death, Torture, Blood, Alcohol, and Sexual content

Moderate: Medical content, Confinement, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: War and Vomit

readcaffinedaydreamrepeat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Bullying, Medical trauma, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Alcohol, Body shaming, Cursing, Deadnaming, Gore, Drug use, Alcoholism, Grief, Racism, Blood, Classism, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Violence

Moderate: War and Genocide