A review by overflowingshelf
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Spoiler-Free Review
CW: Torture; war; violence; death; slavery; confinement; murder; colonization; classism; body horror; gore; physical abuse; misogyny; fire/fire injury; kidnapping

After being incredibly disappointed by House of Sky and Breath, I went into House of Flame and Shadow with low expectations. On the plus side, I enjoyed this more than House of Sky and Breath, but it fails to live up to House of Earth and Blood, one of my favorite Sarah J. Maas books. It’s just missing the magic of the first book of the series. 

If you’re a hard-core Sarah J. Maas fan and have enjoyed the previous books in the Crescent City series, I think you’ll love this. But if you’ve struggled with some of the books in this series, I think you’ll also struggle with this one.

One of the biggest issues for me was the length. There is no need for this book to be nearly 850 pages. Reading this was a slog, as there are so many characters and storylines to keep track of. And somehow, we got even more new characters introduced as well! 

I still am not sure why Tharion gets his own point of view – Maas hasn’t done enough to make me care about this character, nor has he contributed to the overarching plot in any of the books. Every time the narrative shifted to focus on him, I asked, “Why are you here?” Maas introduced Ithan as a character in House of Sky and Breath, and I am still on the fence about why his POV is included as well. I do like him more as a character, and he at least contributed to the plot, but whenever the action shifted over to him, it dramatically disrupted the flow of the rest of the story. 

The other big issue for me was the need for more emotional development of the characters. What made House of Earth and Blood so amazing was Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn’s journey. I had such an emotional connection to the characters and their struggles that I felt like I went on that journey with them. I cried when they cried, I laughed when they laughed, and I grieved when they grieved. However, the emotional development of these characters has fallen by the wayside in the last two books in favor of pushing a highly complex plot forward. 

And,  I have to be honest, I’m not loving any of these characters anymore. I adored Bryce in House of Earth and Blood, but I did not like her in this. I felt like she was very dismissive of what Hunt and others went through, prioritizing her own feelings and goals over everything else. Her sarcasm and sass also kept coming out at weird times, which made her seem callous and cruel. I don’t know, but something just rubbed me the wrong way with her in parts of this book. And then we have Hunt, who I feel has lost much of his emotional depth and personality. There is so much potential to explore Hunt’s emotional state in this book, but instead, he feels relegated to sidekick, and his character’s complexity seems to have disappeared. Ruhn also suffered a bit of the same fate, which was such a disappointment. 

I think the lack of emotional development of the characters also played into my losing interest in the romances in this series. I seriously didn’t care about any of the romance between any of the characters in this anymore. With Hunt and Bryce, it felt like Maas was introducing fake conflict to cause tension in their relationship, but it made no sense and didn’t create any tension. With Ruhn, I wanted a lot more than we got, as it felt like there was no actual development or conversations related to the romantic relationship. To top it off, none of these characters felt like they had any chemistry anymore. The romantic scenes felt very cringe, and I tried to get through them as fast as possible.

This book was incredibly plot-heavy, which is why I think the character development fell by the wayside. I was shocked at how much information dumping was in this book, considering we’re three books into the series. Granted, there are many things the characters and the readers need to know for Maas to advance the plot where it needs to go. But while I enjoyed seeing all the pieces come together, some of the information dumping ended up being very repetitive, adding to the book’s length. 

I also expected more from the implications of the ending of House of Sky and Breath. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the scenes tied to the ending, as I was not a fan of how House of Sky and Breath ended. While I enjoyed the scenes that tied to the ending, I was shocked at just how few scenes we got, especially given how hyped up it was. 

Where this book excels is in the action scenes. Maas knows how to write epic battles and big conflicts. While I had some issues with how she resolved some things, I still really enjoyed the story’s last act and felt that it was the strongest part of the entire novel. I was flying through those pages as they were non-stop action. It was also fun to see all the pieces come together, as I will say, Maas plotted the key points and reveals incredibly well.

Despite really enjoying the last act of the novel, I was still left a bit unsatisfied at the end of the book. After reading nearly 850 pages, the book didn’t deliver the emotional impact I hoped for. Some things ended up a bit too predictable for me, or felt like they came out of left field. Other things felt anti-climatic or were never resolved. By the end, I honestly was left feeling like this could have been half its length and been just as good, if not better.

After not loving two books in a row in the Crescent City series, I’m unsure if I even want to continue with the series. And that’s wild to me as House of Earth and Blood is one of my favorite Maas books and the one I’ve reread the most! But I’ve been so disappointed in the last two books that I do not know if I want to invest my time and energy into future books in the Crescent City series anymore.

I hope we get a little break from this series before the next book, as I know I definitely need it.


Expand filter menu Content Warnings