A review by shaylatrumpower
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I was immensely disappointed by this book. I've struggled with Maas for a bit after learning about a lot of her behaviors but wanted to finish out this series as House of Earth and Blood was a catalyst for re-igniting my love for reading. However Mass fully destroyed what made the first installment of this series interesting. 
Bryce's character development was completed assassinated. She went from my favorite character to someone I could barely stand. She become vapid, selfish, and completely obsessed with her own specialness. Her treatment of Hunt was appalling. 

The "spicy" scenes felt like she only wrote them because that's what she's become known for. They were generic and had no emotional depth. 

The climax felt like I was just reading ACOWAR again and I knew that Bryce would "almost die" only to be saved by some deus ex machina. 
I will not be reading any further money grabbing installments to this series or really anything else of Maas' at this point.
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