Reviews with content warning for Death - House of Flame and Shadow

Let me start out by saying that I did in fact love this book and it was a five-star read for me despite some of my feelings. Why? Because it was still fun, it was still a good plot, the characters were still amazing. the romance was still romancing for me. It was still an incredible SJM book for me. Is it my favorite? No. but it was still good.

I LOVED THE BOOK... but I was super underwhelmed at the end. This was not the High Stakes, emotionally damaging book I was expecting. (HOSAB&HOFAS Spoiler) <Spoiler>And this has nothing to do with the crossover, even though that felt super underwhelming too, but I also wasn't expecting a crazy crossover since this is a Crescent City book, not an ACOTAR book. It wouldn't make much sense to put a ton of info in that would need to be explained in the next ACOTAR book for it to make sense.</Spoiler> I don't think enough people died. with how the Asteri were written be this huge bad multi-planet villain it just wasn't <i>enough.</i> I expected to be in a full blown reading slump and that did not happen.

Despite that, I am very much looking forward to her next book because despite this being the ending to Bryce and Hunt. I do not think this will be the last Crescent City Book. I mean, we still need a House of Many Waters book.

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hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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iloponis's review

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3.0

i have many thoughts

i cannot believe that the woman who wrote this book also wrote throne of glass. a staggering difference in quality. it just tries so hard to be edgy and rugged that its distracting. this is true for the cc series as a whole, but it really peaked in this book.

also someone needs to take the phrase "he/she could have sworn" out of sarah j maas's vocabulary, preferably her editor but i'll take anyone at this point

as an acotar fan, i ADORED the crossover. but i have some gripes with it being so fanservice-y.

i do not care for the "oh no the main character is dead haha just kidding" shit. i hated it in acotar and i hate it in this too. either grow a pair and kill off ur characters permanently or dont bother

while lidia carried this book, and her and ruhn's relationship was my fav, the development of their relationship was not as satisfying as it could have been and im mad about it

basically, this book felt like the culmination of the author biting off more than she could chew. half of the characters were great and had interesting stories and the other half i did not care for.

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applejuiceinabox's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

predictable. frustrating in its reductive “feminism” and sloppy world building and inconsistent characters. points for being easy to read and binge-able. really missed the points it couldve made about colonialism.

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ksilvio's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.0

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tiiiger35's review

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adventurous dark tense 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

5.0

I really loved this entire trilogy & the final instalment was a perfect conclusion.

I’m not always content with how authors wrap up their characters stories but Sarah J. Mass took her time giving everyone a purposeful conclusion. All 3 books were large, so I was impressed there were no loose ends.

I was so pleased to have a small crossover with ACOTR, it blended perfectly, showing just how amazing Sarah J. Mass is at world building

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mariefoxprice's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

This is a good book but I didn't enjoy it as much as its predecessors, or A Court of Thorns and Roses. The world building and characters are great, and the stakes were frequently high, but I think there should have been a higher cost for the heroes now and then.

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lisa_m's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I have waited for this book for so long and it did not disappoint. I saw a lot of people being disappointed by this book but I really enjoyed it. Yes there were a few things that annoyed me but all in all I think it was a super fun read and I loved all the backstory we got for the world and the characters.

This book pretty much finished the arc of this series and since I know that there will be a fourth book I'm curious to see what story she will tell there. I will definitely be reading it but I also did like the ending to this one and I could be satisfied with this just being a trilogy.

Now on to my spoilery thoughts:

1. I enjoyed Bryce being in the ACOTAR universe but I was kind of missing a second POV from over there. I really hope we get to know what happened on their side in the next ACOTAR book. I would be really disappointed if they just ignored this ever happening over there. Also I love the Ember & Nesta bonding!! And Randall bonding with Rhys over being overprotective fathers?? I love them! But I also was annoyed by Bryce. I get that she doesn't trust them and it makes sense, especially after she finds out they have been manipulating her but to just open that coffin??? She knows better than anyone how dangerous the Asteri are and still she just let one free on the off chance that she will answer her questions?? She is so so lucky that Nesta managed to kill her otherwise she would have doomed that whole planet!

2. Bryce treated Hunt quite badly for a while. I really like them both but their fights made me mad at them for not properly communicating. I can ignore it because I understand the pressure they were under but I think especially Bryce was really unnecessarily harsh towards him and didn't even try to understand what it was like for him and what he went through. She was so focused on her own goals and kind of made fun of him for feeling like it was his fault they were in this shitty situation. He was constantly trying not to make her angry and trying to show her support and I feel like she didn't give him the grace he deserved.

3. I LOVE Ruhn and Lidia. They absolutely have my heart. But still they annoyed me a bit especially in the beginning. Lidia gave EVERYTHING for him. She risked everything and he wouldn't even talk to her?? And then once she manages to save them all by almost giving her own life (!!!) She just immidiately shuts him out and tells him he's not worth knowing what happened to her.
They clearly are obsessed with each other though. But I also didn't like that they were so distracted by each other that they literally didn't realise their friends got kidnapped? The whole "you make me feel alive" thing almost makes up for it though.

4. Tharion had a TALENT for making people mad at him and defecting. It's almost comical at this point. He swears to marry the River Queens daughter but decides not to. Defects from the River Queen. Defects from the Viper Queen. Defects from the Ocean Queen. Then MARRIES A TOTAL STRANGER! And then offers to divorce her in order to go back to the River Queens daughter and marry her!!?? I mean this man's journey is absolutely insane. He fucked up so many times and even though it did annoy me a bit it also made him interesting somehow and I'm curious to see if he manages to not fuck up in the next book.

5. All in all we got so may unhinged things happening.
- Ithan and Hypaxia freezing the Under King and then destroying the ice statue? And then Hypaxia becoming Leader of Flame and Shadow?
- Rhys taking literally AGES to get to the House of Wind!? That man can literally winnow and fly! How is it possible that they just stand there having full conversations and big goodbyes all the while saying "oops be careful Rhys will be here soon! You can already see his shadows! They are are coming..." Why is he suddenly so slow it doesn't make sense.
- Lidia having sons? And literally racing to them after being resurrected(!!!) not caring about her own health. Where is that cool and calm Hind?
- Ithan killing Sigrid. Resurrecting her as a Reaper. Watching Sabine kill the Prime and Sigrid eat his Soul. And then killing Sabine and becoming Prime himself??
- Hunt being a Son of Hell??
- The whole Parasite thing?
- Bryce opening a Portal to a Black Hole in order for it to eat another Black Hole that was a Kill Switch for Midgard?
- The Soul of Shahar helping hunt to save Bryce?
- Tharion randomly being forced to marry Sathia?
- The Winged Horses being back?
- Lidias Flame magic?
- I could go on and on truly but also I'm obsessed and I love it

6. I wish we got more Fury and Juniper content. They were some of my favourites and Bryces closest friends and I hate that they kind of just got replaced by all the men. I LOVE all those men, don't get me wrong. But I really wanted to see more of them. I love that we got more from Lidia and Hypaxia whom I both ADORE! And I was happy to see Jesiba again. Still it almost felt like these two got irrelevant and I hate to see that.

7. I also LOVE multiple POVs and I think SJM does them so well! But in this book there were sometimes shifts of the POV within one chapter which confused me sometimes. Especially when we're still with the same group of people just a different person.

8. I still have SO MANY QUESTIONS and I really hope they get answered in the next book. My main one is what is Fury really? Where did she come from? What is her power? Also WHY is no one trying to save Vik? Have they all forgotten about her? She was Hunts friend and pretty powerful too? They do everything to save their friends and somehow they cannot manage one quick trip down the ocean to save her? We KNOW that she's still alive and suffering. If shes truly gone insane just get her and kill her so she's not suffering anymore!! And I'm also really curious about Sigrid. Is she going to be an enemy? Is she going to challenge Ithan? I hope she will become more than a plotdevice to make Ithan realise that he has to step up because no-one else will. Also what will happen to the witches? Will Morganthia fight against the new hierarchies? What will they do to replace the firstlight? Also what is going on with Ariadne? Who was she "bought" by? Why is she with the Viper Queen again? I thought that perhaps the Hind had bought her and she would help them with the escape (which ultimately turned out to be what Irithys did) but we just didn't hear from her again? That was kind of disappointing and I hope we get more about her in the next book. I also hope we get more from Celestina and Hypaxia. What even did Celestina do to make Ephraim not go help the Asteri? Is she mad at Hunt for almost killing her?
There is definitely a lot still to be explored in this universe and I'm excited for the next book.

Other things that I didn't like:
- Why did Danika just know EVERYTHING and not tell anyone? It's starting to feel like a plot convenience that everytime someone knows something without any reason it's just that Danika told them or wrote it down or something like that. Everything always ties back to her somehow.
- The whole parasite thing was strange. At first it was explained like it was just the reason people had to make the drop or die. And then it was something that hindered their full potential? But I thought the Parasite "ate" that magic so how can they just so easily bring it back? Also it was kind of weird how quickly Hypaxia managed to make an antidote.
- I don't like that we didn't get more about the motivations from Hel. They just showed up, helped and then left again saying "bye bye you don't ever have to see us again and you don't owe us anything we just wanted to help"?? I'm glad that they were real allies and didn't betray them but it didn't make sense to me that they didn't have an ulterior motive.
- And also I was kind of hoping to see a big confrontation between Hel and the Asteri. Especially Appolion. The one Asteri who was (presumably) killed by the Princes of Hell just died without us even getting to see it or it being properly mentioned. The time slowed and they went "oh wow guess another Asteri died" but I wish for how much they hyped them up we got to see some conflict between the Asteri and the Princes. Maybe some banter, some "this is for Theia" or something like that. Or at least show me what happens when they fight. The whole fight just went really quickly. Also why on Earth are we literally doing everything in this entire book to find out what the two blades can do and how to kill the Asteri when Bryce in the end just makes a portal? She doesn't even use the blades after the first kill??

Okay now on to what I liked:
It was basically everything else.
And honestly even the things I'm criticising did not bother me that much. I really wanted to keep reading and I think this book even pulled me out of my reading slump. It was so so FUN to read about and I had a great time. But im my opinion it was not only fun but GOOD. The worldbuilding and hierarchies and connections between different worlds and the overlaps etc were done so well! And they were genuinely interesting. Were there some small flaws and plotholes and some things only there for convenience? Sure. It's also quite unrealistic that almost all of our main characters survived this huge war but I don't care. I like happy endings and I think they all deserve to survive and be happy now. I also just really like the humour in this book, especially from Bryce. She might be a clique powerful protagonist now and somehow every single man is into her? but she's also so fun to read about and I love her! I wish we got to see more of her friendship with Nesta. And more of her with the other women in general. But all in all I'm happy with this book. I enjoyed reading it and I can't wait for the fourth book in this series!

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