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A review by obliviousdream
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
3.0
Update February 21st 2024:
*takes a deep breath* I think I am ready.
I must preface this by saying I hadn't read a CC book until January 2024. When I realised HOFAS was releasing soon, I decided to wait and just binge the whole series in one go. This means I don't have 2 years of theory crafting behind my review, I didn't read any theories, etc.
I cannot believe this book (and the whole series, truth be told) is written by the same author as Throne of Glass. Even ACOTAR, for all its flaws, is an overall better series so far than CC. She can always ruin it, I suppose, but she hasn't yet.
Let's start with the obvious - the cliffhanger we were left on in the end of House of Sky and Breath. The crossover. While I definitely did not expect a full-blown crossover with all of ACOTARs cast, what I expected was, well, more. Using a "magical bean" to resolve the obvious language barrier problem felt cheap. 27 GODDAMN CHAPTERS of Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel walking around some goddamn caves for INFODUMP #1 was torture. Yes, it was nice to get a glimpse of Nesta and Azriel's dynamic but the whole Part 1 of the book was ridiculously drawn out for the resolution of it to simply be a goddamn infodump. Maybe, MAYBE it could've worked if it was the only one, but that's pretty much how the whole book works.
After the long and rather pointless walking around is resolved, Bryce collects Pokemon, no, scratch that, power #1 and magical item #1, she yeets back to Midgard. And it does not pick up from there.
She is basically handed on a single platter every poke-POWER she collects, she is LITERALLY gifted a bunch of magical items, there is NO RETRIBUTION whatsoever when she uses *that one* IYKYK, which is simply ridiculous.
Hunt's backstory is another bullshit info dump.
Ithan's whole character arc could've been thrown in the bin and rewritten. We did not need a "lost Fendyr heir" for her to be utterly pointless and simply used to create a moral dilemma for Ithan when we already had established characters like Amelie and the little Omega I bet is gonna be his love interest in CC4.
Ariadne was p-o-i-n-t-l-e-s-s. Probably being set up for CC4, but pointless nonetheless.
Tharion's character? In the bin. His choices? Nonsensical. His loyalties shifting every 5 fucking seconds? Annoying.
The baddies being built up as some force to be reckoned with just to die in half a page? Moronic.
Her version of COVID being cured in no time when others have been trying for ages? Another easy resolution with no repercussions whatsoever. And don't get me started on Hypaxia's character as a whole. She could've been great but she was used as a goddamn deus ex machina in convenient times to progress the plot.
Lidia was probably the saving grace of this book - the only character that remotely made sense. And even then - how did Pollux find *them* if he didn't know about them 2 seconds ago?
This book could've been great. Not only in the crossover, but with the way SJM connected all three series. Instead we got a badly edited, bloated book that dragged on for too long, convenient info dump after convenient info dump, nonsensical choices from the characters, no stakes whatsoever - there were no repercussions for Bryce or anyone, really, no blow backs on any choice. Nada. 0.
There's a ton more grievances I had I'm surely missing right now, but the review is getting long as it is.
I don't remember the last time I've been this furious with a book and it's potential.
It could have been the best book in 2024 by far.
But it wasn't.
And I'll forever be mad about it.
P.s. Why did SJM, and by extension everyone, forget about poor little Victoria in her little jar at the bottom of the ocean?
----
Update February 1st 2024:
These three stars are for ME! For enduring this mess of a book, for not DNFing as soon as I wanted to, for surviving the insane writing and over 800 pages of bloat.
Also for Mother Lidia and Jesiba. And the few moments that made me actually care about what I was reading, I guess.
This is SJM's weakest book by far in terms of writing and this is the hill I am choosing to die on.
It could've been great. It could've been the MCU Phase 3 in book format. It could've been so much more than it is, and for that I will forever be mad, sad and disappointed at SJM. For squandering that potential.
I'll probably be able to form coherent sentences eventually to write a proper review, but for now - I'm screaming, crying and throwing up... and not in a good way.
----------
Welp. With the way Crescent City has been getting worse and worse overall with each excruciatingly long book, and all of the reviews that have been pouring in from people that got their HOFAS copies early, I am scared, guys.
I am scared that it's going to suck and under deliver and then I'll have to pray to the fanfic gods for a decent rewrite of the story.
Is this were we are headed?
*takes a deep breath* I think I am ready.
I must preface this by saying I hadn't read a CC book until January 2024. When I realised HOFAS was releasing soon, I decided to wait and just binge the whole series in one go. This means I don't have 2 years of theory crafting behind my review, I didn't read any theories, etc.
I cannot believe this book (and the whole series, truth be told) is written by the same author as Throne of Glass. Even ACOTAR, for all its flaws, is an overall better series so far than CC. She can always ruin it, I suppose, but she hasn't yet.
Let's start with the obvious - the cliffhanger we were left on in the end of House of Sky and Breath. The crossover. While I definitely did not expect a full-blown crossover with all of ACOTARs cast, what I expected was, well, more. Using a "magical bean" to resolve the obvious language barrier problem felt cheap. 27 GODDAMN CHAPTERS of Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel walking around some goddamn caves for INFODUMP #1 was torture. Yes, it was nice to get a glimpse of Nesta and Azriel's dynamic but the whole Part 1 of the book was ridiculously drawn out for the resolution of it to simply be a goddamn infodump. Maybe, MAYBE it could've worked if it was the only one, but that's pretty much how the whole book works.
After the long and rather pointless walking around is resolved, Bryce collects Pokemon, no, scratch that, power #1 and magical item #1, she yeets back to Midgard. And it does not pick up from there.
She is basically handed on a single platter every poke-POWER she collects, she is LITERALLY gifted a bunch of magical items, there is NO RETRIBUTION whatsoever when she uses *that one* IYKYK, which is simply ridiculous.
Hunt's backstory is another bullshit info dump.
Ithan's whole character arc could've been thrown in the bin and rewritten. We did not need a "lost Fendyr heir" for her to be utterly pointless and simply used to create a moral dilemma for Ithan when we already had established characters like Amelie and the little Omega I bet is gonna be his love interest in CC4.
Ariadne was p-o-i-n-t-l-e-s-s. Probably being set up for CC4, but pointless nonetheless.
Tharion's character? In the bin. His choices? Nonsensical. His loyalties shifting every 5 fucking seconds? Annoying.
The baddies being built up as some force to be reckoned with just to die in half a page? Moronic.
Her version of COVID being cured in no time when others have been trying for ages? Another easy resolution with no repercussions whatsoever. And don't get me started on Hypaxia's character as a whole. She could've been great but she was used as a goddamn deus ex machina in convenient times to progress the plot.
Lidia was probably the saving grace of this book - the only character that remotely made sense. And even then - how did Pollux find *them* if he didn't know about them 2 seconds ago?
This book could've been great. Not only in the crossover, but with the way SJM connected all three series. Instead we got a badly edited, bloated book that dragged on for too long, convenient info dump after convenient info dump, nonsensical choices from the characters, no stakes whatsoever - there were no repercussions for Bryce or anyone, really, no blow backs on any choice. Nada. 0.
There's a ton more grievances I had I'm surely missing right now, but the review is getting long as it is.
I don't remember the last time I've been this furious with a book and it's potential.
It could have been the best book in 2024 by far.
But it wasn't.
And I'll forever be mad about it.
P.s. Why did SJM, and by extension everyone, forget about poor little Victoria in her little jar at the bottom of the ocean?
----
Update February 1st 2024:
These three stars are for ME! For enduring this mess of a book, for not DNFing as soon as I wanted to, for surviving the insane writing and over 800 pages of bloat.
Also for Mother Lidia and Jesiba. And the few moments that made me actually care about what I was reading, I guess.
This is SJM's weakest book by far in terms of writing and this is the hill I am choosing to die on.
It could've been great. It could've been the MCU Phase 3 in book format. It could've been so much more than it is, and for that I will forever be mad, sad and disappointed at SJM. For squandering that potential.
I'll probably be able to form coherent sentences eventually to write a proper review, but for now - I'm screaming, crying and throwing up... and not in a good way.
----------
Welp. With the way Crescent City has been getting worse and worse overall with each excruciatingly long book, and all of the reviews that have been pouring in from people that got their HOFAS copies early, I am scared, guys.
I am scared that it's going to suck and under deliver and then I'll have to pray to the fanfic gods for a decent rewrite of the story.
Is this were we are headed?