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A review by jenessalikes
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
challenging
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ok I needed time to process but here we go.
First, let me state by saying I believe SJM to be a brilliant author. I love the way her mind works, I love how she weaves lore and romance and action together in her storytelling. And I absolute love how she foreshadows and gives us crumbs to then form theories of our own on.
I thought the time spent with the crossover was perfect. There was no way this was going to be an ACOTAR heavy thing. It doesn't make sense. It would be fan service-y to do so. All that being said, this book, while exhilarating at times, was anticlimactic as a whole to me. Let me explain-spoilers ahead.
First, let's dive into characters:
-Nesta. Listen, I'm not a Nesta stan. I appreciate her journey, I recognize that SJM appears to not be done with her story arc and that she clearly wants this character to reach a certain point that she hasn't yet. That's fine. But the Nesta in HOFAS? That is not the Nesta we've gotten to know over the ACOTAR series. This cool, calm, collected warrior who is kind and level-headed and wants to befriend a stranger that has literally dropped into their world... no. No. Nesta is not that. She felt so out of character to me that it almost became cringey. And giving Bryce the mask? After what Bryce did in the Prison? I'm sorry there is no freaking way Nesta does that. And in the bonus chapter? Making Rhys look like some a**hole and Nesta *cowering* as he sneers at her? They both felt SO hot and cold. Nesta felt at times like Feyre, and I'm genuinely confused by that. Speaking of, where was Feyre? You know, the only character that actually GLOWS like Bryce? That has starlight (literally SJM has called it starlight)? And Ember and Nesta immediately taking to each other? Again-cringe. There is no way Nesta does that. And I know you're probably saying "well SJM wrote it, therefore she does do that" and yes, but also she's written Nesta a certain way up until HOFAS and then suddenly, she's changed her. Why?
Azriel-I really enjoyed him in this book! I liked seeing his little friendship with Nesta. I thought he was softened a bit, especially again towards a complete stranger, but it didn't bother me because overall, even though this is the most time we've spent with him, he still felt like the Az we've seen in the ACOTAR series.
Bryce-While not my favorite SJM girlie, I did really like Bryce. I loved her sass and the way she loves hard and stands up for people. I love that she seemed like a super relatable character. But in this book, Bryce becomes a weird shell of herself. She's downright insufferable at parts, especially when it comes to Hunt and his trauma. She ends part one not really trusting Nesta and Az but then suddenly, the thought of Nesta makes her believe all fae can change and then she trusts them to watch her parents? Idk, I just was so disappointed in how her character was portrayed.
Hunt- SJM had the opportunity to really dig deep into his character. We have been building up his parentage, building up who he is and the power he possesses and it all fell very flat. Though he's never been like Rowan or Rhys, I would have loved to see him shine and come into his own. But he was relegated to being "Bryce's mate". By the end of the book there was no personality to him. He was just a blob with some lightning or should I say helfire.
Ithan-His storyline seemed so chaotic, so hot and cold, back and forth. I'm assuming the whole reaper alpha thing is setting up something in CC4. I'm fine with that (same with Ariadne disappearing). There's another book coming that will probably tie in those things. But we dedicated SO MUCH of his character to that, when in the end in THIS BOOK, it didn't matter...it left a bad taste in my mouth. I like that he's become a reluctant leader. That his brother is his motivation. But his povs slowed the story down immensely when Hypaxia and Jesiba weren't around. Sabine's death was satisfying enough.
Tharion-Gods poor guy. Making terrible decision after terrible decision. Again, I think his story will continue in CC4 so I'm not really upset with where we ended off for him. Other than the frustration of watching him continually fuck up and make poor choices this entire series, his pov's didn't bother me. They also didn't really add to the story.
Ruhn-I loved him in this book. He felt real and raw, and it seemed like of all the characters SJM was writing about in this book, Ruhn and Lidia were the ones she was most passionate about.
Lidia-My favorite character in the entire book. Which wasn't the case before HOFAS but man was her story brilliant. I loved the surprise of her sons. I freaking screamed at the confirmation of her being a descendant of our fire breathing bitch queen. She was the most well rounded well written character. Chefs kiss to our girl.
Baxian-Add him to the Ruhn/Lidia category honestly. I loved him. Loved that he was the first one to tell Bryce that she could be the type of leader to unite everyone if she just got out of her freaking head (more or less). My heart aches that he still loves and cares about his mate despite the fact that she is gone. Ugh.
Princes of Hel-Loved them. Needed more. Really hope they show up in CC4 and ACOTAR.
Everyone else-Meh.
Moving onto the plot:
Plot pacing suffered in this book. Things happened a little too conveniently. And a lot of it felt very repetitive. I'm curious about what the book looked like before she rewrote it. It felt like there was just stuff happening for the sake of happening at times (not all the times, but enough that it stood out). I might be in the minority here, but I loved the info dump from Seline. I got answers to things I was theorizing over for a year plus. So I didn't give a shit that it was a hologram speaking like she was reading a speech. Because the lore was so good.
But then it was basically repeated with the caves in Avallen. Not the hologram part but was there truly no other way to convey information than to have these two sisters simultaneously carve out the story in the caves? To have them both have secret meanings that follow the same trajectory? Like I said above it just felt...too convenient. And Bryce knew all, figured it all out so quickly.
And Hunt and Bryce's reunion? WTH was that. I reread Rowan and Aelin's reunion in the alley. I reread Feyre and Rhys' reunion after she's in the spring court. Both of those had more emotion than Bryce and Hunt's reunion. It was just... such a letdown.
The romance in this book was a sub plot to the fantasy and sci-fi elements. And that would have been fine if all the romance was portrayed like Ruhn and Lidia's. They reminded me so much of Feyre and Rhys and I loved that. But Hunt and Bryce... if it wasn't repeatedly said to us that they are mates, I honestly just would of thought they were fuck buddies with zero attachment at points. IN BOOK THREE OF THEIR STORY. Even their spicy scenes were so lackluster.
Final thoughts:
I'm still an SJM stan, I still have faith in the stories she is going to tell. At least, until the next ACOTAR book comes out. But this book felt very much like an author who was rushed into a story and didn't quite have the details yet of how she wanted to do it. It felt very much like making characters say and act and do things a certain way to move the plot, and not because it was actually in character for them to do those things. It just felt like an SJM-light kind of book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶🌶/5
First, let me state by saying I believe SJM to be a brilliant author. I love the way her mind works, I love how she weaves lore and romance and action together in her storytelling. And I absolute love how she foreshadows and gives us crumbs to then form theories of our own on.
I thought the time spent with the crossover was perfect. There was no way this was going to be an ACOTAR heavy thing. It doesn't make sense. It would be fan service-y to do so. All that being said, this book, while exhilarating at times, was anticlimactic as a whole to me. Let me explain-spoilers ahead.
First, let's dive into characters:
-Nesta. Listen, I'm not a Nesta stan. I appreciate her journey, I recognize that SJM appears to not be done with her story arc and that she clearly wants this character to reach a certain point that she hasn't yet. That's fine. But the Nesta in HOFAS? That is not the Nesta we've gotten to know over the ACOTAR series. This cool, calm, collected warrior who is kind and level-headed and wants to befriend a stranger that has literally dropped into their world... no. No. Nesta is not that. She felt so out of character to me that it almost became cringey. And giving Bryce the mask? After what Bryce did in the Prison? I'm sorry there is no freaking way Nesta does that. And in the bonus chapter? Making Rhys look like some a**hole and Nesta *cowering* as he sneers at her? They both felt SO hot and cold. Nesta felt at times like Feyre, and I'm genuinely confused by that. Speaking of, where was Feyre? You know, the only character that actually GLOWS like Bryce? That has starlight (literally SJM has called it starlight)? And Ember and Nesta immediately taking to each other? Again-cringe. There is no way Nesta does that. And I know you're probably saying "well SJM wrote it, therefore she does do that" and yes, but also she's written Nesta a certain way up until HOFAS and then suddenly, she's changed her. Why?
Azriel-I really enjoyed him in this book! I liked seeing his little friendship with Nesta. I thought he was softened a bit, especially again towards a complete stranger, but it didn't bother me because overall, even though this is the most time we've spent with him, he still felt like the Az we've seen in the ACOTAR series.
Bryce-While not my favorite SJM girlie, I did really like Bryce. I loved her sass and the way she loves hard and stands up for people. I love that she seemed like a super relatable character. But in this book, Bryce becomes a weird shell of herself. She's downright insufferable at parts, especially when it comes to Hunt and his trauma. She ends part one not really trusting Nesta and Az but then suddenly, the thought of Nesta makes her believe all fae can change and then she trusts them to watch her parents? Idk, I just was so disappointed in how her character was portrayed.
Hunt- SJM had the opportunity to really dig deep into his character. We have been building up his parentage, building up who he is and the power he possesses and it all fell very flat. Though he's never been like Rowan or Rhys, I would have loved to see him shine and come into his own. But he was relegated to being "Bryce's mate". By the end of the book there was no personality to him. He was just a blob with some lightning or should I say helfire.
Ithan-His storyline seemed so chaotic, so hot and cold, back and forth. I'm assuming the whole reaper alpha thing is setting up something in CC4. I'm fine with that (same with Ariadne disappearing). There's another book coming that will probably tie in those things. But we dedicated SO MUCH of his character to that, when in the end in THIS BOOK, it didn't matter...it left a bad taste in my mouth. I like that he's become a reluctant leader. That his brother is his motivation. But his povs slowed the story down immensely when Hypaxia and Jesiba weren't around. Sabine's death was satisfying enough.
Tharion-Gods poor guy. Making terrible decision after terrible decision. Again, I think his story will continue in CC4 so I'm not really upset with where we ended off for him. Other than the frustration of watching him continually fuck up and make poor choices this entire series, his pov's didn't bother me. They also didn't really add to the story.
Ruhn-I loved him in this book. He felt real and raw, and it seemed like of all the characters SJM was writing about in this book, Ruhn and Lidia were the ones she was most passionate about.
Lidia-My favorite character in the entire book. Which wasn't the case before HOFAS but man was her story brilliant. I loved the surprise of her sons. I freaking screamed at the confirmation of her being a descendant of our fire breathing bitch queen. She was the most well rounded well written character. Chefs kiss to our girl.
Baxian-Add him to the Ruhn/Lidia category honestly. I loved him. Loved that he was the first one to tell Bryce that she could be the type of leader to unite everyone if she just got out of her freaking head (more or less). My heart aches that he still loves and cares about his mate despite the fact that she is gone. Ugh.
Princes of Hel-Loved them. Needed more. Really hope they show up in CC4 and ACOTAR.
Everyone else-Meh.
Moving onto the plot:
Plot pacing suffered in this book. Things happened a little too conveniently. And a lot of it felt very repetitive. I'm curious about what the book looked like before she rewrote it. It felt like there was just stuff happening for the sake of happening at times (not all the times, but enough that it stood out). I might be in the minority here, but I loved the info dump from Seline. I got answers to things I was theorizing over for a year plus. So I didn't give a shit that it was a hologram speaking like she was reading a speech. Because the lore was so good.
But then it was basically repeated with the caves in Avallen. Not the hologram part but was there truly no other way to convey information than to have these two sisters simultaneously carve out the story in the caves? To have them both have secret meanings that follow the same trajectory? Like I said above it just felt...too convenient. And Bryce knew all, figured it all out so quickly.
And Hunt and Bryce's reunion? WTH was that. I reread Rowan and Aelin's reunion in the alley. I reread Feyre and Rhys' reunion after she's in the spring court. Both of those had more emotion than Bryce and Hunt's reunion. It was just... such a letdown.
The romance in this book was a sub plot to the fantasy and sci-fi elements. And that would have been fine if all the romance was portrayed like Ruhn and Lidia's. They reminded me so much of Feyre and Rhys and I loved that. But Hunt and Bryce... if it wasn't repeatedly said to us that they are mates, I honestly just would of thought they were fuck buddies with zero attachment at points. IN BOOK THREE OF THEIR STORY. Even their spicy scenes were so lackluster.
Final thoughts:
I'm still an SJM stan, I still have faith in the stories she is going to tell. At least, until the next ACOTAR book comes out. But this book felt very much like an author who was rushed into a story and didn't quite have the details yet of how she wanted to do it. It felt very much like making characters say and act and do things a certain way to move the plot, and not because it was actually in character for them to do those things. It just felt like an SJM-light kind of book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶🌶/5