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

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Rating: 5/5 stars 
 
This is the third book in the Crescent City series and I literally can’t say anything more about the plot than that without spoilers. 
 
Let me start by saying that as a newer member of the SJM fandom, this was my first time getting to live through the release of a new SJM novel in real time/on release day, and honestly I think participating in the hype and staying up until ridiculous hours to read absolutely added to the experience. I stayed up until 5am on release day just to finish this, and even though my sleep schedule still hasn’t recovered a week later, I don’t regret it in the slightest. 
 
On to the actual book—I don’t want to post any spoilers so this will be a pretty generic review, but I LOVED this one. It’s absolutely my favorite in the Crescent City series so far, and it solidified certain characters as all-time favorites for me. It also made me more emotional than any book I’ve ever read before, and I sobbed (real, gasping, ugly cry, fill-up-the-sea kind of sobs) for roughly an hour straight through the final 200 pages or so. 
 
If you’re not already reading SJM books, you should fix that! 
 
CW: Lots of violence/war/death/blood/injury/torture; sexual violence
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