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sabbox97 's review for:
House of Flame and Shadow
by Sarah J. Maas
4.7/5
This was a great end to the Crescent City trilogy – SJM's ability to consistently think ten steps ahead when it comes to the narrative's bigger picture was once again demonstrated in how the storyline artfully built into its crescendo across the series before coming to a more-than-satisfying conclusion. After reading both her ACoTaR and ToG series, I loved seeing the progression of her writing and storytelling technique as she matured over the years, and it became clear that these most recent books were a reflection of that. But going back to this book in particular:
Plot & Narrative
Personally, I love the style of world building SJM communicates in her writing. It's done in a way that gives the reader the foundation they need to set the scene while still keeping their attention, without overloading them with a tangle of information. Her affinity for constantly switching between POVs not only gives MANY of the characters a near-equal amount of depth, but keeps the story fresh and allows all these different threads to be woven together towards a single, unified conclusion.
As with all her books, I remain impressed with how she manages to reveal plot twists at every turn – many of which I never see coming. It's what keeps me unable to put the book down and promising myself to read "just one more chapter". It's complete with all the elements you'd need for a perfectly chaotic fantasy world – Fae, magical beings, demons, angels, curses, power struggles, and so on – and often surprised me at just how often one thing reveals itself to something entirely different. Of course, I have to mention the crossover with ACoTaR series, specifically the final Silver Flames novel: I LOVE a good crossover, and seeing how their worlds collided threw me right back into that first set of SJM characters that I began this personal reading "journey" with.
Character Development
I love a good FMC, especially one that doesn't fall into the old-fashioned trope of being the damsel in distress or the more modern pitfall of someone who simply abhors all things feminine. The female protagonists across all three "universes" always managed to have their characters be rooted in inner strength and underwent personal journeys that were genuine and often fairly complex – Crescent City was no different with Bryce. I think I even resonated with her more than Feyre or Celaena – not just because of the hybrid-modern setting, but her personality included a fair amount of dark humor and sarcasm that I could easily relate to. I think her personal struggle with identity and fitting into a world that was not necessarily made to accommodate her (or at least not in the way she might think) is also something that a lot of people can resonate with.
A common theme in her writing that I also admire (part of which goes hand-in-hand with avoiding the "damsel in distress" ideology) is giving depth to the MC's love interest(s), allowing them to pursue their own development in a way that doesn't hinder on the strength of the female lead or imply that she constantly needs to be saved. Hunt's backstory is given the same attention to detail, as is his healing journey from past traumas that helps to fuel his character arc in the present time, and is given the same level of freedom as Bryce to convey more emotions than the typical stoicism or wall of sheer masculinity.
In fact, SJM's penchant for constantly switching between POVs allows her to give the same depth to many of the other main and supporting characters as the narrative unfolds. I think the only area where this may have fallen short is with Tharion and Ithan. I don't know whether it was intentional, but I think Tharion failed to reach a similar level of growth as many of the other supporting characters and I found myself frustrated at his immaturity at times. I was appreciative of Ithan's role in the storyline, but, similar to Tharion, often found him to be adrift in a sea of self-pity time and time again – and, for the love of the gods, I was begging SJM to stop constantly alluding to his former sunball glory every time he had the smallest internal dilemma!!!
Overall, I think the second House of Sky and Breath book was my favorite in the trilogy – it was already had the world building from the first book to readily dive into the action and had the hallmarks of a true Adult fantasy/romance novel (as opposed to YA), with a level of spice that rivaled anything in ACoTaR. Things were CONSTANTLY happening, and I enjoyed being in the thick of it as the story unfolded. But, that being said, the Crescent City series is a great read and the final book is no exception.
This was a great end to the Crescent City trilogy – SJM's ability to consistently think ten steps ahead when it comes to the narrative's bigger picture was once again demonstrated in how the storyline artfully built into its crescendo across the series before coming to a more-than-satisfying conclusion. After reading both her ACoTaR and ToG series, I loved seeing the progression of her writing and storytelling technique as she matured over the years, and it became clear that these most recent books were a reflection of that. But going back to this book in particular:
Plot & Narrative
Personally, I love the style of world building SJM communicates in her writing. It's done in a way that gives the reader the foundation they need to set the scene while still keeping their attention, without overloading them with a tangle of information. Her affinity for constantly switching between POVs not only gives MANY of the characters a near-equal amount of depth, but keeps the story fresh and allows all these different threads to be woven together towards a single, unified conclusion.
As with all her books, I remain impressed with how she manages to reveal plot twists at every turn – many of which I never see coming. It's what keeps me unable to put the book down and promising myself to read "just one more chapter". It's complete with all the elements you'd need for a perfectly chaotic fantasy world – Fae, magical beings, demons, angels, curses, power struggles, and so on – and often surprised me at just how often one thing reveals itself to something entirely different. Of course, I have to mention the crossover with ACoTaR series, specifically the final Silver Flames novel: I LOVE a good crossover, and seeing how their worlds collided threw me right back into that first set of SJM characters that I began this personal reading "journey" with.
Character Development
I love a good FMC, especially one that doesn't fall into the old-fashioned trope of being the damsel in distress or the more modern pitfall of someone who simply abhors all things feminine. The female protagonists across all three "universes" always managed to have their characters be rooted in inner strength and underwent personal journeys that were genuine and often fairly complex – Crescent City was no different with Bryce. I think I even resonated with her more than Feyre or Celaena – not just because of the hybrid-modern setting, but her personality included a fair amount of dark humor and sarcasm that I could easily relate to. I think her personal struggle with identity and fitting into a world that was not necessarily made to accommodate her (or at least not in the way she might think) is also something that a lot of people can resonate with.
A common theme in her writing that I also admire (part of which goes hand-in-hand with avoiding the "damsel in distress" ideology) is giving depth to the MC's love interest(s), allowing them to pursue their own development in a way that doesn't hinder on the strength of the female lead or imply that she constantly needs to be saved. Hunt's backstory is given the same attention to detail, as is his healing journey from past traumas that helps to fuel his character arc in the present time, and is given the same level of freedom as Bryce to convey more emotions than the typical stoicism or wall of sheer masculinity.
In fact, SJM's penchant for constantly switching between POVs allows her to give the same depth to many of the other main and supporting characters as the narrative unfolds. I think the only area where this may have fallen short is with Tharion and Ithan. I don't know whether it was intentional, but I think Tharion failed to reach a similar level of growth as many of the other supporting characters and I found myself frustrated at his immaturity at times. I was appreciative of Ithan's role in the storyline, but, similar to Tharion, often found him to be adrift in a sea of self-pity time and time again – and, for the love of the gods, I was begging SJM to stop constantly alluding to his former sunball glory every time he had the smallest internal dilemma!!!
Overall, I think the second House of Sky and Breath book was my favorite in the trilogy – it was already had the world building from the first book to readily dive into the action and had the hallmarks of a true Adult fantasy/romance novel (as opposed to YA), with a level of spice that rivaled anything in ACoTaR. Things were CONSTANTLY happening, and I enjoyed being in the thick of it as the story unfolded. But, that being said, the Crescent City series is a great read and the final book is no exception.