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

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.5

8/2022 First read- 5⭐️


Bound by blood. Tempted by desire. Unleashed by Destiny.

This is a dark high fantasy novel with elements of modern technology. Think Fae, angles, and vampires with cellphones and security cameras.

The world building took a long time to get into. The characters and trope of the Chosen One with powers like no other are very familiar for Sarah J Maas, and she doesn’t disappoint.

When it comes to world building, I’m telling you, Maas is one of the best. This book had be in a chokehold. I read it in 24 hours (until 4am 😬) because I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to start the next book!

Reread- 4.75⭐️ 2.75🌶️

Urban Romantic Fantasy
Adult Fantasy
Fae
Mythical creatures
Modern technology
Found family
Murder mystery
Secret history
Bodyguard romance
Forced proximity
Explicit Language
Drug use
Suicide attempt mentioned


The dark, gritty, messiness of this series is starkly different from Maas’ other series. This wasn’t a fairytale, but more real… all while remaining a high fantasy romance. The world building was almost too intense at times, with info dumps all over the place. I found myself not as desperate to read the book the second time. Because I knew that the random side plots would be all pulled together and monologued in the end. It turned my first read in 24 hours into 6 days. 

Reading this a second time made me realize how much I wove book 1 & 2 together. Now that I’m in the other side, I think emotionally, the book was just as good. But looking at it, plot-wise, this book was a little all over the place. The last 1/3 of the book was action packed, thank goodness. But it was plot points hitting, one after the other. 

The characters are wonderfully flawed and live their flaws out loud. Something that is refreshing and messy at the same time. It’s harder to take off the rose colored glasses when it comes to fantasy main characters. I think the character building did a great job. 

It’s hard also because the ending wasn’t a cliffhanger, so it almost felt like a series coming to an end because of how long it is
Expand filter menu Content Warnings