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A review by dontwritedown
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
3.25
I have very mixed thoughts about this book and a lot of it probably has to do with the build up to the book and about which fan theories came out to be true Lidia being related to Aelin and which ones were not true Basically any theory centered around spending more than the first third of the book in Pyrithian .
There were three major info dumps that each took up about 15 pages each time, and it makes me wonder if Maas shot herself in the foot with being solid that CC was only supposed to be 3 books long. I feel like we got Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash level of info dumps rolled into one book and that at times made it hard to read. It also doesn't help that now that all three universes are colliding that we have to keep almost an excel spreadsheet open or read super slowly in order to understand what is happening in these info dumps.
I also have worries about the author and the Maasverse as a whole. She's starting to draw a lot of comparisons with J.K. Rowling and that's not a good thing. Both have holes in their worldbuilding but they both throw so much shit at you all at once that it seems masterful, but the characters at least have more depth with Maas. Both have inspired or reinspired whole generations to read, but both make weird posts that have some marginalized members questioning if they are accepted by the authors, let alone the fandom. Also the fans themselves seem to be driving the fandom more than the actual author with it taking a form on its own. It's one of those I'm keeping my eye on. Time will only tell if Maas has learned from the mistakes of authors past and can listen to fans at the right time. I have hope, otherwise I would not continue with the series out of my own pocket(I know I read Rowling recently but its more because I didn't log them as a child, I'm reading her in a way that does not put profits in her pockets).
I am hopeful for the next ACOTAR but hopefully it will get here sooner than we are expecting.
There were three major info dumps that each took up about 15 pages each time, and it makes me wonder if Maas shot herself in the foot with being solid that CC was only supposed to be 3 books long. I feel like we got Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn and Kingdom of Ash level of info dumps rolled into one book and that at times made it hard to read. It also doesn't help that now that
I also have worries about the author and the Maasverse as a whole. She's starting to draw a lot of comparisons with J.K. Rowling and that's not a good thing. Both have holes in their worldbuilding but they both throw so much shit at you all at once that it seems masterful, but the characters at least have more depth with Maas. Both have inspired or reinspired whole generations to read, but both make weird posts that have some marginalized members questioning if they are accepted by the authors, let alone the fandom. Also the fans themselves seem to be driving the fandom more than the actual author with it taking a form on its own. It's one of those I'm keeping my eye on. Time will only tell if Maas has learned from the mistakes of authors past and can listen to fans at the right time. I have hope, otherwise I would not continue with the series out of my own pocket
I am hopeful for the next ACOTAR but hopefully it will get here sooner than we are expecting.