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A review by hellsbellsbeepbeep
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I’m SO disappointed honestly. I expected so much from the third book in this series. How can this long of a book feel so rushed??? I was literally in LOVE with this series until reading this book. I think SJM does amazing portraying emotions and making you feel exactly how the character(s) feel. But in this book there was so much going on you couldn’t sit with the gravity of each huge plot twist because another kept coming. It’s definitely epic as hell and I still love Crescent City but I am so sad this one flopped.
It was cool to see the universes collide but boy oh BOy was Bryce not trusting Nesta & Azriel and vice versa so fucking annoying. Imagine if they all tried to communicate and the whole first chunk of the book could’ve been removed. But it’s the Fae I guess lol.
There are some small things that I do love having answers on, in both histories of the Fae and the current characters backgrounds.Especially when the Pegasus' return is mentioned.
Extremely loved having more time between Lydia and Ruhn but I’m dying inside because their traumatic lead up to their eventual mating was, again, TOO RUSHED. Also, Hel was a much shorter interaction that expected after allll that build up and ALSO felt rushed. ALSO why can’t SJM just let people die sometimes??? It’s crazy how long she can keep a mf character in these books
while I have really enjoyed most of the maasverse - I’m ultimately really annoyed that in the end of this book, Bryce is very similar to both Feyre and Aelin. I’m kind of tired of them all being the same type of person and overall personality. I had originally loved the Bryce the most because she stood out to me as such but by the end of this one I can’t care as much as I did before.
Ultimately, I still like this series and want to know what will happen next but I’m not nearly as excited for the next book if it’s going to feel like this one.
There are some small things that I do love having answers on, in both histories of the Fae and the current characters backgrounds.
Extremely loved having more time between Lydia and Ruhn but I’m dying inside because their traumatic lead up to their eventual mating was, again, TOO RUSHED. Also, Hel was a much shorter interaction that expected after allll that build up and ALSO felt rushed. ALSO why can’t SJM just let people die sometimes??? It’s crazy how long she can keep a mf character in these books
while I have really enjoyed most of the maasverse - I’m ultimately really annoyed that in the end of this book, Bryce is very similar to both Feyre and Aelin. I’m kind of tired of them all being the same type of person and overall personality. I had originally loved the Bryce the most because she stood out to me as such but by the end of this one I can’t care as much as I did before.
Ultimately, I still like this series and want to know what will happen next but I’m not nearly as excited for the next book if it’s going to feel like this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Sexual harassment