Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - House of Earth and Blood

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

54 reviews

essie__reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I screamed. I cried. I gasped. I fell in love with these characters and their relationships with one another. If there's one thing SJM can do it is portray loyal, loving friendships. This book had some heavy topics surrounding grief and loss (see CWs) but they were handled so well. The world building took me a bit to get into but then I was hooked after the first 100 pages haha. This might be one of my favorite SJM books now (having read all but CC2 at this point). It wasn't as romance heavy as the ACOTAR series but the flirting, banter and the beginning of relationships was all present (hopefully some of these will continue in CC2). There was still some smut present and this is definitely not a YA book. I thought the pacing of this book flowed smoother than ACOTAR or TOG making it easier to digest. The plot is basically a murder mystery and I didn't find any of the major plot points to be predictable. I highly recommend this book!!

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princessrory's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

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cdoubet's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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anselm's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

Even if you're not a fan of Sarah J. Maas you will love this. The focus on friendship and grief was excellently done. And none of the plot twists will you guess but they work perfectly in the story. In the middle it did loose my interest for a bit, but it quickly captured it again. I know Sarah J. Maas is renowned for sexual content but as an ace I would say it was barely present and did not take away from the story at all. My only criticism is that every description seems to reference how good looking the character is even in random situations.

As much as I loved the ending I would love for Sarah J. Maas to attempt to write an underdog protagonist at some point because I think she could do it well and I'm tired of every protagonist being secretly powerful.

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karapillar's review against another edition

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challenging 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

4.75

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jen1804's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Okay so firstly I read this book through use of both audible and the pages directly and I’m not sure whether continuously switching between the two has inevitably had an impact or not. I would have preferred to have read it from the page only because I definitely would have been more absorbed and more focused, but needs must and audible is a great tool when life gets too busy but you still wanna get your valuable book time in.
So I’ve given this book a 3.75. It’s a good book, especially the last 30%, I LOVED the last 30%. It drops marks because I think it’s quite slow paced and thus I found the book a bit unnecessarily long? I prefer faster paced stories with more happening a lot more quickly (but not too quickly haha, need to get that balance right). Also this world building set up is COMPLICATED, and I needed assistance from my friend and the details of a Crescent City guide she’d found to help me get my head around it. But once you, it is easy enough to understand.
This book is well written and I absolutely adore the urban modern fantasy sci fi type world building, which is something new from SJM.
Ultimately this book explores friendship and grief and classism and is at times incredibly emotional, the kind of emotional with big fat tears. The book deals with important themes and is occasionally pretty grim with me audibly gasping or saying ‘urgh’.
I enjoyed the characters, I loved the quick witted Bryce, I loved her complex relationship with Ruhn. I loved Dec and Flynn. I loved the slow burn enemies to lovers with Bryce and Hunt and adored their bickering, but if I’m honest I’m not knee deep yet with this ‘ship romantically.
The massacre of Danika and the pack of devils had me in denial for a while and my heart was not okay.
I’m really looking forward to seeing where we go with this series and excited for the second book. I’m hoping we get to see Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn and friends, take down the bullshit hierarchy of the Asteri and Archangels. I love an all powerful teamwork moment. I’m also hoping we get more development of Bryce and Hunt because I need a bit more before I’m fully behind it.
Satisfactory ending? For sure.

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