Review by pbraue13 - House of Earth and Blood

pbraue13 's review for:

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is an ambitious dive into urban fantasy, mixing angels, fae, demons, shifters, and more into a sprawling, modern city setting. At its heart, though, the story follows Bryce Quinlan, a half-fae party girl whose world is shattered after a brutal murder. Years later, she’s thrown into an investigation that could unravel the city itself, and she’s paired with Hunt Athalar, a brooding fallen angel who has as many secrets as he does scars. Together, they face conspiracies, monsters, and the darker truths of their world.

I’ll admit I got a little "lost in the sauce" with this one. The sheer density of worldbuilding, politics, and mythologies left me still not quite sure how the outer world functions. Despite that, I found myself enjoying the ride, the mix of gritty crime procedural and high fantasy drama is unique, and Bryce’s emotional journey kept me invested.

Hunt, on the other hand, tested my patience. His brooding and sometimes frustrating behavior dragged down parts of the story for me. And compared to "ACOTAR" and "Throne of Glass", the mash-up of so many mythologies in this urban setting was a bit jarring and it took me a while to adjust to Maas’s shift in style and scope.

Still, even with its chaos, "Crescent City" has heart. It’s a story about grief, friendship, resilience, and finding strength in unexpected places. While not as immediately sweeping as Maas’s other series, it offers a bold new corner of her imagination that, for all its messiness, kept me turning the pages.

Content Warnings