Reviews

Mild spoilers ahead. Probably. Nothing is explicitly stated, but major events are referenced vaguely.

Let's play a game called "Throne of Glass or House of Earth and Blood." Which book am I talking about?

Spoiler

Snarky heroine with fae lineage and a beloved pet that came into their life after its previous owner made threats against it. She also lives life pretty much as an average human, only to end up with god-tier level powers...and is descended from someone of colossal power who once helped stop an inter-dimensional war.

Guy who is interested in the heroine and who gets done dirty to pave the way for an even hotter love interest.

Tattooed male lead/love interest who spent many years being enslaved and ill-treated by bitchy, evil Female-in-Charge.

Evil female-in-charge who happens to have a sadistic fuck who gets off on torture as her second-in command.

Female BFF whose death serves as the kickoff point for the heroine's journey.

Group of warriors who serve an overhearing asshole ruler, and whose clique has a catchy nickname.

Prince with daddy issues.

So....which book am I talking about?

All of which is to say, I spent a lot of time reading this book feeling like I have already read this book before.

This books i maddening, and aside from the use of "fuck" on every page, pretty much nothing distinguishes it from Maas' wildly popular YA fare. In fact, ToG might be more adult in nature than this book, just for that ridiculous Aelin/Rowan "turn all the sand on the beach into glass because their sex is so hot" scene that went on for like, what, 5 pages? (Full disclosure, I quit A Court of A Thing and Another Thing after the first book because I could already see where it was going, so I have no idea if all of the above apply to darling Feyre as well. I also just COULD NOT read a book about a lady who turns into a fey who happens to be named FEYre. It's the Moon Moon of literature FFS.)

I'm not sure what I expected coming into House of Earth and Blood, but it was something...different. I spent most of the novel being infuriated by Bryce and her hard-headedness, by the "everyone is unnaturally hot" cliche, and by That Fucking Ridiculous Plot Twist Involving That One Thing That One Guy Does on the Boat (Seriously...what the ever-loving actual fuck was all that about. We would have been fine without it). Oh, and the fact that

Spoiler

the villain spent at least 20 minutes of the audiobook monologuing his evil plan so he would be unmasked to all

was infuriating. Was there REALLY no other way to do this? Holy faceplanting into the depths of the worst cliches, Batman.

But, dammit, Maas knows how to stick a landing. 10/10 full marks, not even gonna pretend otherwise. Pretty much everything that happened after the That One Guy Got Locked in the Bathroom was top-notch writing that wrenched my emotions in ways that a novel I was so damned frustrated by on every other aspect has no right to be able to. From That One Thing Lehaba Does (and everyone's reaction to it) to Pretty Much Everything Bryce Does After That, Maas pulled me in big time and had me rooting for everyone to Figure This Shit Out. I cheered. I got a bit weepy. I needed everything to work out on some level for all the major players involved.

All of which is to say that, despite what was easily a 1-star book for 90% of the narrative, yeah, I'll be around for the next installment. Dammit.

mahovina's review against another edition

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5.0

yeah.

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