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kbowles24's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Death, War, Gun violence, Gore, Cursing, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Slavery, Gaslighting, Classism, Violence, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Suicide, Drug use, Addiction, Pregnancy, Car accident, Abandonment, and Drug abuse
hellsbellsbeepbeep's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I’m SO disappointed honestly. I expected so much from the third book in this series. How can this long of a book feel so rushed??? I was literally in LOVE with this series until reading this book. I think SJM does amazing portraying emotions and making you feel exactly how the character(s) feel. But in this book there was so much going on you couldn’t sit with the gravity of each huge plot twist because another kept coming. It’s definitely epic as hell and I still love Crescent City but I am so sad this one flopped.
It was cool to see the universes collide but boy oh BOy was Bryce not trusting Nesta & Azriel and vice versa so fucking annoying. Imagine if they all tried to communicate and the whole first chunk of the book could’ve been removed. But it’s the Fae I guess lol.
There are some small things that I do love having answers on, in both histories of the Fae and the current characters backgrounds.Especially when the Pegasus' return is mentioned.
Extremely loved having more time between Lydia and Ruhn but I’m dying inside because their traumatic lead up to their eventual mating was, again, TOO RUSHED. Also, Hel was a much shorter interaction that expected after allll that build up and ALSO felt rushed. ALSO why can’t SJM just let people die sometimes??? It’s crazy how long she can keep a mf character in these books
while I have really enjoyed most of the maasverse - I’m ultimately really annoyed that in the end of this book, Bryce is very similar to both Feyre and Aelin. I’m kind of tired of them all being the same type of person and overall personality. I had originally loved the Bryce the most because she stood out to me as such but by the end of this one I can’t care as much as I did before.
Ultimately, I still like this series and want to know what will happen next but I’m not nearly as excited for the next book if it’s going to feel like this one.
There are some small things that I do love having answers on, in both histories of the Fae and the current characters backgrounds.
Extremely loved having more time between Lydia and Ruhn but I’m dying inside because their traumatic lead up to their eventual mating was, again, TOO RUSHED. Also, Hel was a much shorter interaction that expected after allll that build up and ALSO felt rushed. ALSO why can’t SJM just let people die sometimes??? It’s crazy how long she can keep a mf character in these books
while I have really enjoyed most of the maasverse - I’m ultimately really annoyed that in the end of this book, Bryce is very similar to both Feyre and Aelin. I’m kind of tired of them all being the same type of person and overall personality. I had originally loved the Bryce the most because she stood out to me as such but by the end of this one I can’t care as much as I did before.
Ultimately, I still like this series and want to know what will happen next but I’m not nearly as excited for the next book if it’s going to feel like this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Sexual harassment
amy_in_the_city's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This book was just OK. It did have some major issues and was definitely my least favorite of the three books in this series. I'm just glad to have a conclusion to the Asteri plotline, even if the final battle was underwhelming.
The book suffered from pacing problems. The first third of the book dragged on and on, with Bryce spending way too much time wandering through tunnels looking at art. Maybe it would have been a bit more interesting if we at least got some angst from Bryce, but it felt like she wasn't all that concerned about her mate and brother being in grave danger. There was no sense of urgency on her part to rescue them from being tortured and maybe eventually executed. Then, later in the book, we get to follow along as Bryce wanders through tunnels again. Not exactly riveting stuff.
There were also too many POVs happening to allow enough time with the main characters. I really didn't care about Ithan's and Tharion's storylines and dreaded every time it switched back to their POVs. They were mostly just those two characters making stupid mistakes followed by a lot of self loathing. I hope they make Tharion much more interesting and likeable if he's going to feature prominently in the next book. I did like his marriage of convenience subplot and think there is interesting potential there.
Bryce and Hunt's relationship was a mess in this book, and I really didn't like Bryce much. She never communicates her plans with Hunt. Then even though Hunt is blindly following her into danger, she picks fights with him because he isn't enthusiastic about being there. How can he be 100% on board with her plans when he doesn't know what they are? She doesn't seem to care that this is only a couple days after he got back from spending several days being brutally tortured for allowing her to drag him into this mess. Or that the situation is reminiscent of how things went with Shahar and to say that ended tragically would be an understatement. Bryce was being so disrespectful towards Hunt and his trauma because she wanted to look like a badass with gotcha moments and zingers. Really, it feels like most of her plans were half-baked at best, and they only work out in her favor because of plot armor. It didn't feel like an equal partnership between the main couple. Bryce just does whatever she wants, doesn't tell Hunt, and leaves him to deal with the consequences. At least she does apologize to Hunt for being a dick at one point, but I'd prefer if she didn't spend most of the book acting like a dick to begin with.
Ruhn and Lidia were this book's saving grace. I kept wishing they were the main couple because they were great, and I wanted the story to spend more time with them. Lidia was such a badass, so clever and sneaky. I love sneaky characters who know how to play along with the game in order to achieve their goals and there aren't nearly enough leading women out there like this. I don't know that we got enough justification for why she joined the evil side to begin with though, and I feel like the explanation for why she changed sides was kind of flimsy. Ruhn is almost perfect in every way, with a major exception forwhen he shot Lidia to try to save her. That was kind of a patriarchal bullshit move. . I still love him so much.
Other characters I really liked spending time with in this book were Nesta, Azriel, Hypaxia, and Aidas.
The book suffered from pacing problems. The first third of the book dragged on and on, with Bryce spending way too much time wandering through tunnels looking at art. Maybe it would have been a bit more interesting if we at least got some angst from Bryce, but it felt like she wasn't all that concerned about her mate and brother being in grave danger. There was no sense of urgency on her part to rescue them from being tortured and maybe eventually executed. Then, later in the book, we get to follow along as Bryce wanders through tunnels again. Not exactly riveting stuff.
There were also too many POVs happening to allow enough time with the main characters. I really didn't care about Ithan's and Tharion's storylines and dreaded every time it switched back to their POVs. They were mostly just those two characters making stupid mistakes followed by a lot of self loathing. I hope they make Tharion much more interesting and likeable if he's going to feature prominently in the next book. I did like his marriage of convenience subplot and think there is interesting potential there.
Bryce and Hunt's relationship was a mess in this book, and I really didn't like Bryce much. She never communicates her plans with Hunt. Then even though Hunt is blindly following her into danger, she picks fights with him because he isn't enthusiastic about being there. How can he be 100% on board with her plans when he doesn't know what they are? She doesn't seem to care that this is only a couple days after he got back from spending several days being brutally tortured for allowing her to drag him into this mess. Or that the situation is reminiscent of how things went with Shahar and to say that ended tragically would be an understatement. Bryce was being so disrespectful towards Hunt and his trauma because she wanted to look like a badass with gotcha moments and zingers. Really, it feels like most of her plans were half-baked at best, and they only work out in her favor because of plot armor. It didn't feel like an equal partnership between the main couple. Bryce just does whatever she wants, doesn't tell Hunt, and leaves him to deal with the consequences. At least she does apologize to Hunt for being a dick at one point, but I'd prefer if she didn't spend most of the book acting like a dick to begin with.
Ruhn and Lidia were this book's saving grace. I kept wishing they were the main couple because they were great, and I wanted the story to spend more time with them. Lidia was such a badass, so clever and sneaky. I love sneaky characters who know how to play along with the game in order to achieve their goals and there aren't nearly enough leading women out there like this. I don't know that we got enough justification for why she joined the evil side to begin with though, and I feel like the explanation for why she changed sides was kind of flimsy. Ruhn is almost perfect in every way, with a major exception for
Other characters I really liked spending time with in this book were Nesta, Azriel, Hypaxia, and Aidas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Confinement, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Gore, Slavery, Torture, War, and Death
Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, Classism, Drug use, and Sexual violence
Minor: Domestic abuse, Vomit, Child death, Medical content, and Pregnancy
_meganrose's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
This teetered between 3 and 5 stars for me throughout the book. Settling on 4 stars. This was by far my favorite book in the Crescent City series. The series is my least favorite in the 16 book SJM universe, but I loved how many dots were connected in this one. Had me on my toes! The varying POV/storylines within a chapter drove me crazy though - please, for goodness sake, just start a new chapter if you’re changing POV/storylines! Or consolidate them! It annoyed me so much. Bryce also annoyed me a lot, but I feel like that’s just how her character is. We learned so much in this book! Ahh! Excited to see which book she releases next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Grief, and Death
frantically's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
guys i thought this was about fairy sex u lied to me 😭😭
Fully convinced that Sarah keeps making these books >800pgs so that by the time we get to the end, we've all forgotten the messy things in the first half. Not with me, Sarah, not with me!! 😤😤
But still, be aware that it took me 20 days to read this (because i was sick and fantasy is hard) and I have probably forgotten all of it.
The beginning had suuuch weird pacing. Bryce spends a solid 200pgs...going through caves?? While her friends are trying to save her and themselves and oh, also the world and she's just acting like me when I go to a museum being like "omg look at that carving!!" "if i were to analyse this..." "well, as an ancient fae historian..." which was extremely relatable to me (as the annoying history student in museums) but I'm not sure if we really needed all of that.
While loads of storylines were satisfyingly ended in this final part, especially in the beginning, there were so many started storylines that just seemed so unnecessary and had no consequences whatsoever for the story.
I'll be the first person to say it – this shit too sci-fi for me. There. The urban fantasy thingy was cute in the first and second book but girl why are we talking about black holes 😭😭 literally read like they were NASA agents at the end iykyk
ACOTAR my love <3 sorry sarah u can't expect to open the multiverse and bring me back to the messy beautiful high fantasy of my heart and then go back to Crescent City. I'd take Azriel's ass over phones any day
wait i forgot about the exposition omg
yall remember that scene in city of bones where clary asks luke what happened with valentine and it just turns into this whole chapter where nothing happens for 20 pages except for luke telling clary what's up?? yeah clary and bryce can bond over that now!
thank god we always have trusty fae ancestors to tell us what went on 15000 years ago 🙏🏻🙏🏻 now available in holographic form!
Now, onto Bryce herself...Bryce, baby, I'm so sorry but you will never be Aelin Galathynius, no matter how hard you try!! Let's just say it like this – Bryce is a great main character, she knows what she wants and how to get it but that also makes her unlikeable at times especially in how she dealt with Hunt and his trauma. He's so understandably scared of going against the Asteri again, he's especially scared of losing her just like he lost Shahar and she basically just tells him to "get through it" 🙃 I wish we could've had more sweet scenes of them, I miss my babies!
Plot-wise (aside from weird physics at the end lol), I really enjoyed this! We've got most of the main cast working together and we get loads of Lydia and Ruhn kinda stepping in and leading everyone when Hunt and Bryce are gone. Goddd, that relationship!! Kill me!!! I love them so much 😭 Lydia has some secrets revealed and she becomes an even more fascinating character and her story has suchhh a good conclusion.
As was already teased at the ending of the last book, the Maasverse has been opened! 👀 Things...have happened and while this isn't ACOTAR 6 (sorry to disappoint), there are loads of new things we learn about Prythian! Can't say I was the biggest fan of that, idk I'm kinda an ACOTAR purist lmao, don't touch my OG trilogy!! but it was still so sweet to return to Prythian <3
There were also some TOG easter eggs and while I already knew, we were gonna have some ACOTAR stuff, I really didn't expect that haha, so that was what had me really screaming.
While I find there are loads of similarities between CC and TOG (esp when looking at Aelin/Rowan/Aedion and Bryce/Hunt/Ruhn, PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one), I feel that Sarah still managed to make this a series that stands apart from her other books. Her writing style, the world building and her plots have just gotten better and better and while I'm still not the biggest fan of urban fantasy, I can still appreciate that!
As I said above, I felt that some new storylines here were unnecessary but at least all old ones were finished. I found myself thinking "hmm haven't heard about [character] in some time, maybe they'll show up again, too?" and it seems like Sarah was listening because EVERYONE appears again – good job, Sarah. I promise, there are still several surprises to be had!
So in conclusion: this was long (too long, some people would say (it's me, I'm people)) but it was a solid ending to the trilogy. We met Bryce as this traumatised young woman and ended with her as someone determined enough to stand against the Asteri and everything that would entail. Without giving anything away about Hunt and Bryce's ending, we also got a relationship arc spanning a whole series!! Woop woop. Sarah truly showed us all that she's capable of writing, pulling together all the fantasy creatures she could think of and I'm so excited to see where she leads us to next 🫶🏻
Fully convinced that Sarah keeps making these books >800pgs so that by the time we get to the end, we've all forgotten the messy things in the first half. Not with me, Sarah, not with me!! 😤😤
But still, be aware that it took me 20 days to read this (because i was sick and fantasy is hard) and I have probably forgotten all of it.
The beginning had suuuch weird pacing. Bryce spends a solid 200pgs...going through caves?? While her friends are trying to save her and themselves and oh, also the world and she's just acting like me when I go to a museum being like "omg look at that carving!!" "if i were to analyse this..." "well, as an ancient fae historian..." which was extremely relatable to me (as the annoying history student in museums) but I'm not sure if we really needed all of that.
While loads of storylines were satisfyingly ended in this final part, especially in the beginning, there were so many started storylines that just seemed so unnecessary and had no consequences whatsoever for the story.
I'll be the first person to say it – this shit too sci-fi for me. There. The urban fantasy thingy was cute in the first and second book but girl why are we talking about black holes 😭😭 literally read like they were NASA agents at the end iykyk
ACOTAR my love <3 sorry sarah u can't expect to open the multiverse and bring me back to the messy beautiful high fantasy of my heart and then go back to Crescent City. I'd take Azriel's ass over phones any day
wait i forgot about the exposition omg
yall remember that scene in city of bones where clary asks luke what happened with valentine and it just turns into this whole chapter where nothing happens for 20 pages except for luke telling clary what's up?? yeah clary and bryce can bond over that now!
thank god we always have trusty fae ancestors to tell us what went on 15000 years ago 🙏🏻🙏🏻 now available in holographic form!
Now, onto Bryce herself...Bryce, baby, I'm so sorry but you will never be Aelin Galathynius, no matter how hard you try!! Let's just say it like this – Bryce is a great main character, she knows what she wants and how to get it but that also makes her unlikeable at times especially in how she dealt with Hunt and his trauma. He's so understandably scared of going against the Asteri again, he's especially scared of losing her just like he lost Shahar and she basically just tells him to "get through it" 🙃 I wish we could've had more sweet scenes of them, I miss my babies!
Plot-wise (aside from weird physics at the end lol), I really enjoyed this! We've got most of the main cast working together and we get loads of Lydia and Ruhn kinda stepping in and leading everyone when Hunt and Bryce are gone. Goddd, that relationship!! Kill me!!! I love them so much 😭 Lydia has some secrets revealed and she becomes an even more fascinating character and her story has suchhh a good conclusion.
As was already teased at the ending of the last book, the Maasverse has been opened! 👀 Things...have happened and while this isn't ACOTAR 6 (sorry to disappoint), there are loads of new things we learn about Prythian! Can't say I was the biggest fan of that, idk I'm kinda an ACOTAR purist lmao, don't touch my OG trilogy!! but it was still so sweet to return to Prythian <3
There were also some TOG easter eggs and while I already knew, we were gonna have some ACOTAR stuff, I really didn't expect that haha, so that was what had me really screaming.
While I find there are loads of similarities between CC and TOG (esp when looking at Aelin/Rowan/Aedion and Bryce/Hunt/Ruhn, PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one), I feel that Sarah still managed to make this a series that stands apart from her other books. Her writing style, the world building and her plots have just gotten better and better and while I'm still not the biggest fan of urban fantasy, I can still appreciate that!
As I said above, I felt that some new storylines here were unnecessary but at least all old ones were finished. I found myself thinking "hmm haven't heard about [character] in some time, maybe they'll show up again, too?" and it seems like Sarah was listening because EVERYONE appears again – good job, Sarah. I promise, there are still several surprises to be had!
So in conclusion: this was long (too long, some people would say (it's me, I'm people)) but it was a solid ending to the trilogy. We met Bryce as this traumatised young woman and ended with her as someone determined enough to stand against the Asteri and everything that would entail. Without giving anything away about Hunt and Bryce's ending, we also got a relationship arc spanning a whole series!! Woop woop. Sarah truly showed us all that she's capable of writing, pulling together all the fantasy creatures she could think of and I'm so excited to see where she leads us to next 🫶🏻
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Blood, War, Sexual content, Violence, Confinement, and Murder
Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Medical content, Child death, and Sexual harassment
julietsdemise's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Sexual harassment
winterwoodbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
This book had me ugly crying so hard I couldn't read anymore.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Violence, Cannibalism, Genocide, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Murder, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual assault, Child death, Dysphoria, Medical content, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Body horror, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Torture, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and War
briochebun's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
୨୧ House of Flame and Shadow ୨୧
╰┈➤ [4 out of 5 ☆’s.]
❝𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝—𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.❞
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
HOFAS was a book that I had been anticipating for quite some time. I added it to my TBR back in 2020 — around the time that HOEAB was released — so you could say that this book has been a long time coming for me! With that being said, I do think that it’s unfair to rate this book based off of whether or not one’s theories came true, so I did not rate with that in mind. However, I will be discussing some theory-adjacent things in my review (these are things that I think were set up in previous novels, but were not touched upon in HOFAS).
I believe that HOFAS was a semi-satisfying conclusion to SJM’s Crescent City series! The big villains were defeated and some of the main cast have found their forever partners, but it is apparent that there are more stories left to tell in this world. There were a lot of things that were left open — much to my dismay, but I understand the reasoning behind doing so — and I do wish that there was an insert of some sort included at the end of the book that indicated that there were more books to come.
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
When I finished HOSAB I was so excited to see the IC interact with Bryce, but the chapters that we spent in Prythian in HOFAS ended up being my least favorite chapters to read.
I was not a fan of the way that Bryce was conducting herself in the beginning of this book. I understand that she was struggling emotionally — being forced to leave your loved ones and your world behind has to be terrifying and I acknowledge and empathize with that — but her actions and decisions were frustrating for me to read.
I understand that Bryce needed to find out how to defeat the Asteri in order to free her loved ones from their clutches, but freeing Vesperus in order to get those answers? Why would Vesperus offer up information about how to end her fellow Asteri?
I also wasn’t a fan of the way that Bryce treated Hunt in this book. I understand her need to have her partner on the same page as her (it’s important to have that support during stressful times) but there were moments where Bryce would act as though the time that she spent in Prythian was comparable to Hunt + Ruhn + Baxian’s time in the dungeons — and while I don’t want to minimize what she went through — that just wasn’t the case in my opinion. I understand that she was never sure of the ACOTAR characters’ intentions / what they would do to her, but a good chunk of the things that happened to her in Prythian were the result of her own actions.
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
Sarah mentioned in an interview that she ended up rewriting HOFAS & I do think that one of the things that she changed when rewriting this book was the way that the ACOTAR characters interacted with Bryce.
In an old interview for HOSAB Sarah mentioned that Nyx would “definitely feature” in HOFAS and that we would see the IC being “very protective” over him. However, with the way that things ended up going in the published version of HOFAS, I cannot see Bryce and Nyx even being in the same vicinity.
I wholeheartedly respect Sarah’s choices as an author (this is her story and she should be able to tell it the way that she wants to) but there is a part of me that is curious about what the first version of the book was like and whether or not the IC and Bryce were more friendly with one another in those initial HOFAS drafts.
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
I know that this might be an unpopular opinion, but Ithan and Tharion’s chapters were my absolute favorites to read in this book!
Ithan has been one of my favorite characters since HOEAB, so seeing his progression throughout the series has been incredible to witness. I am so proud of the person that he’s become and I can’t wait to (hopefully) see more of his story in the future!
Tharion’s chapters were serving ✨internal angst✨ and I ate them up! I admittedly could have gone without the arranged marriage to Sathia trope though (considering his past with that sort of thing 😅).
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
I admit that I was expecting the Gods / Goddesses to play more of a role in HOFAS — since they seemed to be built up a bit in HOSAB — so I was disappointed when we didn’t get an explanation as to why Hunt seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Thurr? Perhaps this is something that will be explored more in a potential Twilight of the Gods series (fingers crossed)?
Sigrid’s death was also something that shocked me. I expected her to have a much larger role in this book, so I was at a loss for words when she died. I was also surprised that Sofie wasn’t the one that was reanimated (since I thought that was the direction that Sarah was setting up in HOSAB).
I do think that I might have found HOFAS to be a more satisfying conclusion to Hunt + Bryce’s main storyline if it would have been split into two books instead of one.
There was soo much going on that it felt as though the Asteri almost took a backseat and weren’t really fighting back at all, even though they’re the main villains of the series, so their ending wasn’t that satisfying for me to read about.
I also wish that some of the more heinous characters like Pollux suffered some more before they died. His death was too clean / fast for my taste (considering everything that he put the other characters through throughout the course of the series).
I was also not a fan of the Celestina redemption arc. The attack on the Meadows was the last straw for her? Not any of the other horrendous acts that the Asteri committed throughout this series? Not them torturing Hunt (someone that she supposedly cared so much for since she was Shahar’s friend)? I’m not a fan. I adore Hypaxia & I do think that she deserves someone much better than Celestina.
I am also disappointed that the Ophion rebels were all supposedly wiped off of the map by the Asteri. I thought that their characters were complex. They were fighting for the right cause, but some of them (the lightfall unit) implemented horrible methods to ensure that their goals were met. Not being able to dive deeper into their stories / see more of the rebels that weren’t a part of lightfall was a bit disheartening.
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
Regarding aspects of HOFAS that I did enjoy (I did give this book a four star rating after all) I quite liked the overall writing style of the book. It felt a bit reminiscent to TOG in some ways (which I loved)! Ithan + Tharion + Hypaxia were also bright spots in this book for me! I adore those three. <3
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
Here are some questions that I still have upon finishing HOFAS that I hope are answered in future CC novels:
• What is Fury? What house is she a part of? Who did she primarily work for?
• What happened to the 1,000 Mystics underneath the Asteri’s palace? Are all of them dead since the Eternal Palace sort of exploded?
• Is there no larger significance of Cthona’s Embrace?
• Will Syrinx’s powers be explored more in the future?
• Why is the Viper Queen so untouchable? How did she come into power?
• What will become of Sigrid?
• Who were the heads of the Ophion operation? Were they just not significant enough to mention / play a part in this story?
• What happened to the other two Mystics?
I am excited to see if we will get answers to any of those questions in the future! :)
╰┈➤ [4 out of 5 ☆’s.]
❝𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝—𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.❞
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
HOFAS was a book that I had been anticipating for quite some time. I added it to my TBR back in 2020 — around the time that HOEAB was released — so you could say that this book has been a long time coming for me! With that being said, I do think that it’s unfair to rate this book based off of whether or not one’s theories came true, so I did not rate with that in mind. However, I will be discussing some theory-adjacent things in my review (these are things that I think were set up in previous novels, but were not touched upon in HOFAS).
I believe that HOFAS was a semi-satisfying conclusion to SJM’s Crescent City series! The big villains were defeated and some of the main cast have found their forever partners, but it is apparent that there are more stories left to tell in this world. There were a lot of things that were left open — much to my dismay, but I understand the reasoning behind doing so — and I do wish that there was an insert of some sort included at the end of the book that indicated that there were more books to come.
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When I finished HOSAB I was so excited to see the IC interact with Bryce, but the chapters that we spent in Prythian in HOFAS ended up being my least favorite chapters to read.
I was not a fan of the way that Bryce was conducting herself in the beginning of this book. I understand that she was struggling emotionally — being forced to leave your loved ones and your world behind has to be terrifying and I acknowledge and empathize with that — but her actions and decisions were frustrating for me to read.
I understand that Bryce needed to find out how to defeat the Asteri in order to free her loved ones from their clutches, but freeing Vesperus in order to get those answers? Why would Vesperus offer up information about how to end her fellow Asteri?
I also wasn’t a fan of the way that Bryce treated Hunt in this book. I understand her need to have her partner on the same page as her (it’s important to have that support during stressful times) but there were moments where Bryce would act as though the time that she spent in Prythian was comparable to Hunt + Ruhn + Baxian’s time in the dungeons — and while I don’t want to minimize what she went through — that just wasn’t the case in my opinion. I understand that she was never sure of the ACOTAR characters’ intentions / what they would do to her, but a good chunk of the things that happened to her in Prythian were the result of her own actions.
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Sarah mentioned in an interview that she ended up rewriting HOFAS & I do think that one of the things that she changed when rewriting this book was the way that the ACOTAR characters interacted with Bryce.
In an old interview for HOSAB Sarah mentioned that Nyx would “definitely feature” in HOFAS and that we would see the IC being “very protective” over him. However, with the way that things ended up going in the published version of HOFAS, I cannot see Bryce and Nyx even being in the same vicinity.
I wholeheartedly respect Sarah’s choices as an author (this is her story and she should be able to tell it the way that she wants to) but there is a part of me that is curious about what the first version of the book was like and whether or not the IC and Bryce were more friendly with one another in those initial HOFAS drafts.
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I know that this might be an unpopular opinion, but Ithan and Tharion’s chapters were my absolute favorites to read in this book!
Ithan has been one of my favorite characters since HOEAB, so seeing his progression throughout the series has been incredible to witness. I am so proud of the person that he’s become and I can’t wait to (hopefully) see more of his story in the future!
Tharion’s chapters were serving ✨internal angst✨ and I ate them up! I admittedly could have gone without the arranged marriage to Sathia trope though (considering his past with that sort of thing 😅).
ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝
I admit that I was expecting the Gods / Goddesses to play more of a role in HOFAS — since they seemed to be built up a bit in HOSAB — so I was disappointed when we didn’t get an explanation as to why Hunt seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Thurr? Perhaps this is something that will be explored more in a potential Twilight of the Gods series (fingers crossed)?
Sigrid’s death was also something that shocked me. I expected her to have a much larger role in this book, so I was at a loss for words when she died. I was also surprised that Sofie wasn’t the one that was reanimated (since I thought that was the direction that Sarah was setting up in HOSAB).
I do think that I might have found HOFAS to be a more satisfying conclusion to Hunt + Bryce’s main storyline if it would have been split into two books instead of one.
There was soo much going on that it felt as though the Asteri almost took a backseat and weren’t really fighting back at all, even though they’re the main villains of the series, so their ending wasn’t that satisfying for me to read about.
I also wish that some of the more heinous characters like Pollux suffered some more before they died. His death was too clean / fast for my taste (considering everything that he put the other characters through throughout the course of the series).
I was also not a fan of the Celestina redemption arc. The attack on the Meadows was the last straw for her? Not any of the other horrendous acts that the Asteri committed throughout this series? Not them torturing Hunt (someone that she supposedly cared so much for since she was Shahar’s friend)? I’m not a fan. I adore Hypaxia & I do think that she deserves someone much better than Celestina.
I am also disappointed that the Ophion rebels were all supposedly wiped off of the map by the Asteri. I thought that their characters were complex. They were fighting for the right cause, but some of them (the lightfall unit) implemented horrible methods to ensure that their goals were met. Not being able to dive deeper into their stories / see more of the rebels that weren’t a part of lightfall was a bit disheartening.
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Regarding aspects of HOFAS that I did enjoy (I did give this book a four star rating after all) I quite liked the overall writing style of the book. It felt a bit reminiscent to TOG in some ways (which I loved)! Ithan + Tharion + Hypaxia were also bright spots in this book for me! I adore those three. <3
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Here are some questions that I still have upon finishing HOFAS that I hope are answered in future CC novels:
• What is Fury? What house is she a part of? Who did she primarily work for?
• What happened to the 1,000 Mystics underneath the Asteri’s palace? Are all of them dead since the Eternal Palace sort of exploded?
• Is there no larger significance of Cthona’s Embrace?
• Will Syrinx’s powers be explored more in the future?
• Why is the Viper Queen so untouchable? How did she come into power?
• What will become of Sigrid?
• Who were the heads of the Ophion operation? Were they just not significant enough to mention / play a part in this story?
• What happened to the other two Mystics?
I am excited to see if we will get answers to any of those questions in the future! :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, War, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Slavery, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
britwalsh16's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? No
5.0
Omg!!! Soooo many thoughts!!! This book blew my mind!!! It was soooo good!!! I love every single one of the characters!!! I can’t wait to hopefully dive more into certain characters in future books & see how everything is after the war!
I love all the parallels & Easter eggs to Sarah’s other worlds, & ofcourse Nesta, Azriel, & everyone from Acotar who had small parts in the story line!
The twists & turns this book took! This series takes! It’s unbelievable, there is so much I didn’t see coming, & I love books that shock me!!
I’m just so sad that it’s over, & for the moment I don’t have anymore new Sarah J Maas books to read!!
Cauldron blessed us all with Sarah & her amazing writing! I can’t wait for more of her books! If she writes it, I will read it. No questions asked.
“Wanna hear a joke?.. Two Angels and a Fae Prince walk into a dungeon..” 🤣🤣🤣
I love all the parallels & Easter eggs to Sarah’s other worlds, & ofcourse Nesta, Azriel, & everyone from Acotar who had small parts in the story line!
The twists & turns this book took! This series takes! It’s unbelievable, there is so much I didn’t see coming, & I love books that shock me!!
I’m just so sad that it’s over, & for the moment I don’t have anymore new Sarah J Maas books to read!!
Cauldron blessed us all with Sarah & her amazing writing! I can’t wait for more of her books! If she writes it, I will read it. No questions asked.
“Wanna hear a joke?.. Two Angels and a Fae Prince walk into a dungeon..” 🤣🤣🤣
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexism, Genocide, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Slavery, War, Child death, Sexual harassment, Torture, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual content, Confinement, Gun violence, and Hate crime
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Cursing, and Drug use
Minor: Animal death, Colonisation, Addiction, Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape
hapalyn's review against another edition
dark
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
Everything about this was what I wanted!!! I was hoping for more Bryce x Hunt dynamics but with so many side characters there was no time to cover that. I'm hoping that some day in the future, Sarah J. Maas will write some awesome novellas or future books detailing some of the side characters more.
Such a fast read, yet it felt like so long at the same time.
As for the ACOTAR crossover, I feel satisfied with how it was handled. There wasn't enough involvement there to make the series too intertwined. I almost feel like Crescent City is just the backstory for all of the lore in ACOTAR. I think it gives ACOTAR more depth, but readers who don't care to read all of CC can still read ACOTAR and be satisfied. Lots of Nesta, which was awesome because she's my favorite. I am excited to see where the ACOTAR series goes after reading this book.
Such a fast read, yet it felt like so long at the same time.
As for the ACOTAR crossover, I feel satisfied with how it was handled. There wasn't enough involvement there to make the series too intertwined. I almost feel like Crescent City is just the backstory for all of the lore in ACOTAR. I think it gives ACOTAR more depth, but readers who don't care to read all of CC can still read ACOTAR and be satisfied. Lots of Nesta, which was awesome because she's my favorite. I am excited to see where the ACOTAR series goes after reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, War, Medical content, Violence, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture
Moderate: Vomit, Genocide, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Gun violence, and Misogyny
Minor: Emotional abuse, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Domestic abuse