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A review by ritareadstrash
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
slow-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? It's complicated
2.0
This is going to be shocking (heh), but this review is going to upset some people.
Please tread with caution, not only for extremely light spoilers, but also SA trigger warning. This is super edited for the word limit.
I’ll be up front, I didn’t have high hopes going in. I desperately felt the first book needed an editor, and this wrist breaker could’ve been halved. However, I don’t read these books expecting them to alter my life. I am a raccoon, and this is my trash horde.
Right out the gate, we get this prologue that made me uncomfortable, at best. It reads as WWII, historical fiction, set in a concentration camp, but made fae. It took me about 100-200 pages to realize the prologue is set in the current story timeline and relevant, in some way.
My issue is the rape that occurs and is brushed off with zero CW. In the scene, we get from a man’s perspective, through a type of telepathy. The woman is violently grabbed, hurt, scared, and forced to have sex with her partner. He believes she is being attacked and raped. When he finally reconnects with her she says she’s fine, she was just startled and said yes.
I brought this up in multiple conversations, and everyone brushed it off with “well she wrote that she said yes.” My issue isn’t with the clarification but the lack of acknowledgment that spousal/partner rape occurs. If you want to stick to this terrible WWII allegory SJM has in place, then this is like the many families forced to take in Nazis and “offer” their wives and daughters to have sex with them, or those same women die.
The consensus by readers to not acknowledge this book needs a massive TW/CW to protect real life victims, is a massive slap in the face. This is not a victimless crime. The character says yes to save her life, like women do in real life. there's never any real choice.
There were a lot of other issues for me throughout the book, like why is Bryce constantly in a thong and why do we need to know every time she is, and I’m wide open to discuss it in the comments or DMs to avoid spoilers.
Please tread with caution, not only for extremely light spoilers, but also SA trigger warning. This is super edited for the word limit.
I’ll be up front, I didn’t have high hopes going in. I desperately felt the first book needed an editor, and this wrist breaker could’ve been halved. However, I don’t read these books expecting them to alter my life. I am a raccoon, and this is my trash horde.
Right out the gate, we get this prologue that made me uncomfortable, at best. It reads as WWII, historical fiction, set in a concentration camp, but made fae. It took me about 100-200 pages to realize the prologue is set in the current story timeline and relevant, in some way.
My issue is the rape that occurs and is brushed off with zero CW. In the scene, we get from a man’s perspective, through a type of telepathy. The woman is violently grabbed, hurt, scared, and forced to have sex with her partner. He believes she is being attacked and raped. When he finally reconnects with her she says she’s fine, she was just startled and said yes.
I brought this up in multiple conversations, and everyone brushed it off with “well she wrote that she said yes.” My issue isn’t with the clarification but the lack of acknowledgment that spousal/partner rape occurs. If you want to stick to this terrible WWII allegory SJM has in place, then this is like the many families forced to take in Nazis and “offer” their wives and daughters to have sex with them, or those same women die.
The consensus by readers to not acknowledge this book needs a massive TW/CW to protect real life victims, is a massive slap in the face. This is not a victimless crime. The character says yes to save her life, like women do in real life. there's never any real choice.
There were a lot of other issues for me throughout the book, like why is Bryce constantly in a thong and why do we need to know every time she is, and I’m wide open to discuss it in the comments or DMs to avoid spoilers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Slavery
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, and Grief