Scan barcode
A review by nebul_em
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Slavery
Minor: Cursing
I’m finding it difficult to rate this book, as like most of SJM’s work, I find it incredibly tropey and predictable but I really enjoy reading.
It feels like half of the book is spent in caves, and even then the caves repeat themselves, so we already know what’s coming.
Hunt/Ruhn/Baxian’s torture feels like a pause on plot advancement, because SJM doesn’t know what they’d be doing without Bryce to lead them.
On top of this, the stakes for the torture are completely irrelevant, we know Ruhn will stay alive because of unresolved romantic subplot, and Hunt won’t die because he and Bryce quite literally would not be able to live without each other. Baxian is a decent character, but isn’t really interesting enough to care about for more than a few pages (when SJM remembers he exists).
I did enjoy the Prythian crossover (who didn’t) and I especially liked Nesta being a main point of contact.
However, most of Bryce’s time in Prythian was spent in caves, so most potential interest was lost.
I especially would have enjoyed seeing Bryce getting the treatment of Ember and Randall, and actually getting to learn about the world.
The dungeon rescue was interesting, as the pacing sped up massively, and seeing Lidia’s planning effectively work was satisfying.
SJM’s desire for cheap drama shoehorns Lidia being shot into the story, when practically, it has no effect other than making Ruhn conflicted.
The depth charger was possibly the dullest deus ex-machina in the story, its ability to turn up where the plot requires might as well be explained as teleportation.
Bryce’s ability to waltz into a situation and start sassing anyone without consequences is very similar to Aelin from ToG, but gets infuriating to the point that I was seriously hoping she’d go too far and get punished for it at least once.
I enjoyed learning about Lidia’s sons, despite the obvious drama bait of ‘they might be Pollux’s’.
Avallens caves are just as dull as Prythians, and drag even more with Hunt and Bryce’s forced squabbling that could be resolved easily if they had a civil conversation for more than 5 minutes.
I appreciated Sathia as a breath of fresh air, but she gets so little focus that SJM forgets she exists by the end of the book.
Hunts father reveal was a little underwhelming to me, but that might just be because it had little effect on anything other than Hunts feelings, for a page.
The Jesiba reveal was satisfying, but it made little sense for her to keep it a secret from Bryce (and the readers).
Ithan spends the entire book feeling guilty, and being jerked around by circumstances. Despite his obvious flags to become Prime (or at least an Alpha) he does nothing - and it gets very annoying.
From page 1 Sigrid was obviously not the answer to the Prime problem, and Ithans belief in her makes him even more infuriating.
Hypaxia’s discovery of an antidote is extremely quick, yet another deus ex-machina that SJM drops into the plot.
The scene where they gain the second light bullet is heartfelt, put then looses impact for me when the under king is killed by a smack over the head.
Hypaxia was almost a non entity in the plot, and her loss of queendom to become head of F&S felt very token.
I liked the scene where Bryce gets the mask from Nesta, however the interaction between Hunt and Celestina is dull because it’s a forgone conclusion.
The last 200 odd pages pick up the pace as with every other book by SJM, however because the final battle happens so quickly it looses all impact and makes the Asteri feel a lot less powerful than they are described as.
Lidia’s hidden firepower is extremely obvious to the reader, and makes the scene with Pollux and her children much less dramatic and more ‘when will she use it already’.
Bryce’s death is obviously fixed within a few pages, because all of SJMs main characters are so co-dependant that they cannot handle grief.
So:
Bryce - has no character development and keeps pulling new powers out of her ass (basically). SJM attempts to give her a character arc of hating all fae, but it just seems pointless character corruption.
Hunt - sad boi who follows Bryce around and gets angry occasionally.
Ruhn - spends most of his time trying to decide if he is more horrified by Lidia’s actions or more attracted by her *smell*.
Lidia - for the most part has an actual likeable character.
Tharion - very meh in this book, gets tossed around by the plot and occasionally makes a decision.
Ithan - uughhh just do something already.
Hypaxia - barely exists.
Other characters that barely exist - Baxian, Fury (what is she!) and Juniper, Ariadne, Celestina.
All in all, a very fun book to read, but very little immersion from all of the tropes, deus ex-machinas and randomly gaining powers.