Reviews tagging 'Torture'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

223 reviews

avialaeleigh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

Honestly at first I wasn't sure how to feel about this book. Especially with it being fantasy but in a modernish setting with technology and modern weapons, but I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the story. 

I definitely wasn't expecting a lot of the plot twists and surprise endings. Bryce is one of my favorite female characters in a fantasy novel. She is objectively the epitome of a dumb party girl but she is also a fucking badass and I can't even begin to explain how happy that combination makes me for some reason. 

Also he relationship with Ruhn and Hunt and the sass between them all is just amazing. And the enemies to lovers between Bryce and Hunt is *chefs kiss* one of my favorite tropes. And they do it so well. Plus we have the whole golden retriever black cat relationship as well as two broken people healing each other which is also one of my favorites. 

Also fuck the whole slave thing, that's ridiculous, people shouldn't be able to own other people that are able to make their own decisions and think for themselves. Otherwise I liked that this was different enough from SJMs other series but also similar enough to not be a weird read. Cannot wait to start the next book in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Racism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Body horror, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexism, Slavery, Mental illness, and Torture

bee12345's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Slavery, Violence, War, Death, Medical trauma, Cursing, Physical abuse, Torture, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Confinement, and Suicidal thoughts

jackiepreston'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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, Blood, Drug use, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: War, Torture, and Violence

suenoyume's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Murder, Grief, and Slavery

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.75

I absolutely loved this book. It’s so different from previous SJM novels and I loved she tried the mystery genre out while still having that fantasy element. 

The single reason I’m giving it a 4.75 is because I felt like there was a lot of romance between the two protagonists but it was such a slow burn for the whole book until the end when the climax hit. I wish there’d been just a little more before that point. 

The ending had me sobbing uncontrollably. Danika and Bryce’s friendship during the drop was so special and I loved how at the end there’s closure with the rest of the pack. My biggest sob fest was for LeLe sacrificing herself.

Overall I loved the book and am excited to start the second to see where it goes from there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Drug use, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Body shaming, Sexism, Death, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Grief, and Drug abuse

larajgriff1's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

I enjoyed this book a lot.  It reminded me of the Anita Blake books by Laurell K Hamilton and I loved those in high school.  However I am giving this book 4 stars cause I just really hate how LONG Maas's books are.  I do not need to be reading something that could double as a bludgeoning weapon!  Also just the nonchalant comments of looking at someone's boobs, ass, pecs... someone might enjoy it, I do not, so it knocked it down for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Torture, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Classism, Animal cruelty, Grief, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Murder, Suicide attempt, Addiction, and Gun violence

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!!

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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

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Content Warnings

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

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. 

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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

kelceyreads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

I don’t read a lot of fantasy and I found the world building for the first 100 or so pages to be pretty difficult to get through. HOWEVER… it was worth it. I very much enjoyed the rest of the book. I loved the crime solving, the friendships, the building romance, the internal struggles of the main character, the hot angels (!). There were lots of twists and turns I did not see coming. I also don’t tend to like split POVs (controversial I know) but this one flipped between the two main characters quickly and I actually really enjoyed the pacing and mixed view points. Very excited to read the next books now that I’m fully immersed in the world. Gave less stars since I felt that the fantasy aspects and parts of the world could have been made less confusing and provided a better opening to the series (I almost did not make it past the beginning of the book) but this may not be a problem for avid fantasy reads/fans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Torture, Gun violence, War, Sexual content, and Violence