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awaiting_lobotomy 's review for:
House of Earth and Blood
by Sarah J. Maas
3.5 stars out of 5 stars
It's been a MINUTE since I've read an 800+ page book. Along with that, I think if this book had been any shorter, I wouldn't have liked it as much. A lot happened in this first book of the series. I've read SJ Maas books in the past (my first one being Throne of Glass when I was in middle school) and was really excited to read Crescent City because it's her first adult fantasy novel.
That being said: it's very clear that this is her first adult novel. It took me about 100 pages just to get into the story, and part of that was because I found the characters and the dialogue to be weird. I was expecting the convoluted story building that takes place at the beginning of every fantasy novel (especially SJM books) -- this book was especially hard to keep track of; I barely even got a taste for the story before wild names, historical background, and current climate of that world drown me as a reader.
But I was expecting more maturity from a 20-something main character and other prominent characters that are between 50-200+ years old (just immortal things lol). For a long time, it seemed to me that SJM thought writing her first adult novel meant she had to lean heavily on swearing, drug use, partying, and innuendos. I had to put down the book a few times because I thought she was overdoing it to the point of being dramatic.
I found the main character to be generally unlikable. I thought it was very convenient that she was seen as attractive to pretty much every "male" (this book used that word instead of man, possibly because a lot of the characters are human men but still, it weirded me out). There was a lot of talk about her body shape (mostly the size of her boobs/butt) for, what seemed to me, literally no reason at all. Another thing was the lack of representation until we found out in the last chapters that two female characters have secretly been dating the whole time, thank you SJM for that crumb of representation. We're so lucky. Also: SJM is very good at making characters racially ambiguous by describing them as "tan" or "golden" or [insert adjective for not pale white but also not dark brown skin either]. Only one or two characters can I say that have definitively brown skin, and even then I'm not 100% sure because it's not really talked about often.
On the other hand, this book was a good quarantine read. It was overall fun and interesting. The action and murder-mystery element kept my attention. The last 200 pages had me on the edge of my seat! And it's been a while since a book has done that.
I'll probably be reading the next book in the series when it comes out. I'm hoping the immaturity of some of the characters will lead to a good arc throughout the series because I can't handle another 800 pages if the main character is gonna call every annoying man an "alphahole."
It's been a MINUTE since I've read an 800+ page book. Along with that, I think if this book had been any shorter, I wouldn't have liked it as much. A lot happened in this first book of the series. I've read SJ Maas books in the past (my first one being Throne of Glass when I was in middle school) and was really excited to read Crescent City because it's her first adult fantasy novel.
That being said: it's very clear that this is her first adult novel. It took me about 100 pages just to get into the story, and part of that was because I found the characters and the dialogue to be weird. I was expecting the convoluted story building that takes place at the beginning of every fantasy novel (especially SJM books) -- this book was especially hard to keep track of; I barely even got a taste for the story before wild names, historical background, and current climate of that world drown me as a reader.
But I was expecting more maturity from a 20-something main character and other prominent characters that are between 50-200+ years old (just immortal things lol). For a long time, it seemed to me that SJM thought writing her first adult novel meant she had to lean heavily on swearing, drug use, partying, and innuendos. I had to put down the book a few times because I thought she was overdoing it to the point of being dramatic.
I found the main character to be generally unlikable. I thought it was very convenient that she was seen as attractive to pretty much every "male" (this book used that word instead of man, possibly because a lot of the characters are human men but still, it weirded me out). There was a lot of talk about her body shape (mostly the size of her boobs/butt) for, what seemed to me, literally no reason at all. Another thing was the lack of representation until we found out in the last chapters that two female characters have secretly been dating the whole time, thank you SJM for that crumb of representation. We're so lucky. Also: SJM is very good at making characters racially ambiguous by describing them as "tan" or "golden" or [insert adjective for not pale white but also not dark brown skin either]. Only one or two characters can I say that have definitively brown skin, and even then I'm not 100% sure because it's not really talked about often.
On the other hand, this book was a good quarantine read. It was overall fun and interesting. The action and murder-mystery element kept my attention. The last 200 pages had me on the edge of my seat! And it's been a while since a book has done that.
I'll probably be reading the next book in the series when it comes out. I'm hoping the immaturity of some of the characters will lead to a good arc throughout the series because I can't handle another 800 pages if the main character is gonna call every annoying man an "alphahole."