Review by bookwisp - House of Earth and Blood

bookwisp 's review for:

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

3.5

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Re-read. I first read this in lockdown and it was one of the few books I finished back in 2020.

Fans of Maas will mostly likely enjoy this; readers who already know they’re not a fan of her writing style, her usual tropes and her characterisation won’t get much out of this. It’s what I’d characterise as a blockbuster novel – kind of like a Marvel film. The overall quality is so-so, but if you go in for that sort of thing and/or you’re just here for a good time, you’ll have fun.

However, at some 800 pages (about 200 pages overlong at least, in my opinion) it’s a slog. Possibly controversial opinion, I don’t think Hunt’s POV added much to the narrative beyond giving readers a lens through which to view Bryce. (I’m not Team Hunt, can you tell?)

I adore urban fantasy – it’s not even a guilty pleasure at this point, it’s just a straight up joy of mine – so I thought I’d enjoy this more than I did. I think a large part of the problem for me was that, even on a second read, the worldbuilding is confusing. People talk about the info dump of HoEaB and while this is sort of true, the problem is that the info dumped is broad and not detailed enough to stick.

I’ll read the sequel because the blockbuster vibe I’ve mentioned does appeal, but I wasn’t blown away. (The wild ride of the ending has pulled this rating up for me.) Newcomers to Maas, I wouldn’t start here.

Content Warnings