A review by miricles
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Did not finish book. Stopped at 39%.

It was too slow and full of exposition that felt messily placed. I greatly prefer gradual exposition instead of information being dumped on me in one go before the next large info dump. The writing also wasn’t to my preference because while I don’t mind cursing, it felt very forced in this book, especially given that it’s told in third person. The characters were unbearable, especially Bryce and Hunt both. Bryce felt like the snarky edgelord while Hunt was clearly someone with anger issues who took it out on other people, and I couldn’t understand the implied sexual tension in their dynamic (maybe it’s because I’m gay, I have no idea). However, what swayed me the most was the “both sides” storytelling. I’m not a fan of “these people are oppressed, but they’re so violent uwu not like we’d give them rights anyways why can’t they just accept ‘peace’!!” narratives since it’s cliché, tone deaf, and undeniably propaganda whether the author is aware of it or not.