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A review by frantically
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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? No
4.0
guys i thought this was about fairy sex u lied to me ππ
Fully convinced that Sarah keeps making these books >800pgs so that by the time we get to the end, we've all forgotten the messy things in the first half. Not with me, Sarah, not with me!! π€π€
But still, be aware that it took me 20 days to read this (because i was sick and fantasy is hard) and I have probably forgotten all of it.
The beginning had suuuch weird pacing. Bryce spends a solid 200pgs...going through caves?? While her friends are trying to save her and themselves and oh, also the world and she's just acting like me when I go to a museum being like "omg look at that carving!!" "if i were to analyse this..." "well, as an ancient fae historian..." which was extremely relatable to me (as the annoying history student in museums) but I'm not sure if we really needed all of that.
While loads of storylines were satisfyingly ended in this final part, especially in the beginning, there were so many started storylines that just seemed so unnecessary and had no consequences whatsoever for the story.
I'll be the first person to say it β this shit too sci-fi for me. There. The urban fantasy thingy was cute in the first and second book but girl why are we talking about black holes ππ literally read like they were NASA agents at the end iykyk
ACOTAR my love <3 sorry sarah u can't expect to open the multiverse and bring me back to the messy beautiful high fantasy of my heart and then go back to Crescent City. I'd take Azriel's ass over phones any day
wait i forgot about the exposition omg
yall remember that scene in city of bones where clary asks luke what happened with valentine and it just turns into this whole chapter where nothing happens for 20 pages except for luke telling clary what's up?? yeah clary and bryce can bond over that now!
thank god we always have trusty fae ancestors to tell us what went on 15000 years ago ππ»ππ» now available in holographic form!
Now, onto Bryce herself...Bryce, baby, I'm so sorry but you will never be Aelin Galathynius, no matter how hard you try!! Let's just say it like this β Bryce is a great main character, she knows what she wants and how to get it but that also makes her unlikeable at times especially in how she dealt with Hunt and his trauma. He's so understandably scared of going against the Asteri again, he's especially scared of losing her just like he lost Shahar and she basically just tells him to "get through it" π I wish we could've had more sweet scenes of them, I miss my babies!
Plot-wise (aside from weird physics at the end lol), I really enjoyed this! We've got most of the main cast working together and we get loads of Lydia and Ruhn kinda stepping in and leading everyone when Hunt and Bryce are gone. Goddd, that relationship!! Kill me!!! I love them so much π Lydia has some secrets revealed and she becomes an even more fascinating character and her story has suchhh a good conclusion.
As was already teased at the ending of the last book, the Maasverse has been opened! π Things...have happened and while this isn't ACOTAR 6 (sorry to disappoint), there are loads of new things we learn about Prythian! Can't say I was the biggest fan of that, idk I'm kinda an ACOTAR purist lmao, don't touch my OG trilogy!! but it was still so sweet to return to Prythian <3
There were also some TOG easter eggs and while I already knew, we were gonna have some ACOTAR stuff, I really didn't expect that haha, so that was what had me really screaming.
While I find there are loads of similarities between CC and TOG (esp when looking at Aelin/Rowan/Aedion and Bryce/Hunt/Ruhn, PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one), I feel that Sarah still managed to make this a series that stands apart from her other books. Her writing style, the world building and her plots have just gotten better and better and while I'm still not the biggest fan of urban fantasy, I can still appreciate that!
As I said above, I felt that some new storylines here were unnecessary but at least all old ones were finished. I found myself thinking "hmm haven't heard about [character] in some time, maybe they'll show up again, too?" and it seems like Sarah was listening because EVERYONE appears again β good job, Sarah. I promise, there are still several surprises to be had!
So in conclusion: this was long (too long, some people would say (it's me, I'm people)) but it was a solid ending to the trilogy. We met Bryce as this traumatised young woman and ended with her as someone determined enough to stand against the Asteri and everything that would entail. Without giving anything away about Hunt and Bryce's ending, we also got a relationship arc spanning a whole series!! Woop woop. Sarah truly showed us all that she's capable of writing, pulling together all the fantasy creatures she could think of and I'm so excited to see where she leads us to next π«Άπ»
Fully convinced that Sarah keeps making these books >800pgs so that by the time we get to the end, we've all forgotten the messy things in the first half. Not with me, Sarah, not with me!! π€π€
But still, be aware that it took me 20 days to read this (because i was sick and fantasy is hard) and I have probably forgotten all of it.
The beginning had suuuch weird pacing. Bryce spends a solid 200pgs...going through caves?? While her friends are trying to save her and themselves and oh, also the world and she's just acting like me when I go to a museum being like "omg look at that carving!!" "if i were to analyse this..." "well, as an ancient fae historian..." which was extremely relatable to me (as the annoying history student in museums) but I'm not sure if we really needed all of that.
While loads of storylines were satisfyingly ended in this final part, especially in the beginning, there were so many started storylines that just seemed so unnecessary and had no consequences whatsoever for the story.
I'll be the first person to say it β this shit too sci-fi for me. There. The urban fantasy thingy was cute in the first and second book but girl why are we talking about black holes ππ literally read like they were NASA agents at the end iykyk
ACOTAR my love <3 sorry sarah u can't expect to open the multiverse and bring me back to the messy beautiful high fantasy of my heart and then go back to Crescent City. I'd take Azriel's ass over phones any day
wait i forgot about the exposition omg
yall remember that scene in city of bones where clary asks luke what happened with valentine and it just turns into this whole chapter where nothing happens for 20 pages except for luke telling clary what's up?? yeah clary and bryce can bond over that now!
thank god we always have trusty fae ancestors to tell us what went on 15000 years ago ππ»ππ» now available in holographic form!
Now, onto Bryce herself...Bryce, baby, I'm so sorry but you will never be Aelin Galathynius, no matter how hard you try!! Let's just say it like this β Bryce is a great main character, she knows what she wants and how to get it but that also makes her unlikeable at times especially in how she dealt with Hunt and his trauma. He's so understandably scared of going against the Asteri again, he's especially scared of losing her just like he lost Shahar and she basically just tells him to "get through it" π I wish we could've had more sweet scenes of them, I miss my babies!
Plot-wise (aside from weird physics at the end lol), I really enjoyed this! We've got most of the main cast working together and we get loads of Lydia and Ruhn kinda stepping in and leading everyone when Hunt and Bryce are gone. Goddd, that relationship!! Kill me!!! I love them so much π Lydia has some secrets revealed and she becomes an even more fascinating character and her story has suchhh a good conclusion.
As was already teased at the ending of the last book, the Maasverse has been opened! π Things...have happened and while this isn't ACOTAR 6 (sorry to disappoint), there are loads of new things we learn about Prythian! Can't say I was the biggest fan of that, idk I'm kinda an ACOTAR purist lmao, don't touch my OG trilogy!! but it was still so sweet to return to Prythian <3
There were also some TOG easter eggs and while I already knew, we were gonna have some ACOTAR stuff, I really didn't expect that haha, so that was what had me really screaming.
While I find there are loads of similarities between CC and TOG (esp when looking at Aelin/Rowan/Aedion and Bryce/Hunt/Ruhn, PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one), I feel that Sarah still managed to make this a series that stands apart from her other books. Her writing style, the world building and her plots have just gotten better and better and while I'm still not the biggest fan of urban fantasy, I can still appreciate that!
As I said above, I felt that some new storylines here were unnecessary but at least all old ones were finished. I found myself thinking "hmm haven't heard about [character] in some time, maybe they'll show up again, too?" and it seems like Sarah was listening because EVERYONE appears again β good job, Sarah. I promise, there are still several surprises to be had!
So in conclusion: this was long (too long, some people would say (it's me, I'm people)) but it was a solid ending to the trilogy. We met Bryce as this traumatised young woman and ended with her as someone determined enough to stand against the Asteri and everything that would entail. Without giving anything away about Hunt and Bryce's ending, we also got a relationship arc spanning a whole series!! Woop woop. Sarah truly showed us all that she's capable of writing, pulling together all the fantasy creatures she could think of and I'm so excited to see where she leads us to next π«Άπ»
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Child death, Medical content, and Sexual harassment