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A review by bresbookclub
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
medium-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? Yes
3.5
After some reflection, this is gonna be a 3/5 for me & I hate to do it because I LOVE SJM but I’m sorry I have to 🫣 Too much of the plot & some of the characters were NOT IT for me 😩
Ruhn & Lidia - no notes. Ate the house down. No crumbs. They are perfect, I love them, they can do no wrong. GO READ THEIR BONUS CONTENT 🥺🥹❤️🔥
RDCPOTVF forever, Day & Night forever ☀️🌙🌌✨
Tharion - my sweet summer child, he’s messy as hell. I am SO GLAD he finally got his life turned around, Sathia was such a random pairing but I think she’s so good for him. If she doesn’t come back to him, I’ll fight.
Ithan - FLOPtina of a storyline which sucks bc I really liked him. Cool that he’s Prime now but the events leading up to it was so weird WHAT WAS THE REASON?! Him & Jesiba teaming up was random as hell but I loved it.
Jesiba’s character was interesting, & I wish we got more from her. Her sacrifice was touching, but low-key I don’t think I would have cared if Bryce lived or died.
I love Dec & Flynn. The frat pack & the fire sprites are one of my favorite parts of this series. I love their group dynamic so much and I WISH WE GOT MORE OF THEM
Bryce & Hunt PISSED ME AWFFFF. Bryce is my least favorite of the SJM FMCs, and this book was my final straw with her.
The way Bryce treats Hunt & disregards his feelings AFTER BEING LITERALLY TORTURED is very irritating. She’s allowed to kill her enemies with no questions asked but if he does the same she takes the moral high ground & talks him out of it. Anytime he questions her half baked plans that will inevitably lead to a shit show, & tries to talk some sense into her, she gets upset that he’s “not all in.” 🙄🙄 she can be a badass at times, but for the most part her schemes are made on the fly & she’s hoping for a miracle.
Also there’s not much to Hunt’s character other than just being Bryce’s overprotective guard dog.
For being the main characters of this series, they’re consistently overshadowed by the secondary characters. I was quickly bored with them after book 1, their initial banter & tension was great but after that they don’t do it for me 🥱
Bryce does not deserve to be Queen of the Valbaran AND Avallen fae. She’s shown no ability to be a leader.
The plot was interesting, especially the backstory of Silene/Theia, the Asteri, the home world of the Fae It was great to see some theories come to life, and to finally get answers to burning questions.
The plot was very thick but it was definitely easier to understand compared to HOEAB & HOSAB.
I was hoping for more when it came to the crossover. I wish we could see more of the ACOTAR characters interact with the CC characters. Ember & Nesta’s interaction at the end warmed my heart 🥺
Nesta, Azriel & Bryce was certainly an interesting trio but that was the start of Bryce getting on my nerves.
It was great to see Nesta & Bryce go toe to toe but Nesta is gonna come out on top, always. Also we BARELY got any of the acotar characters. Like wtf GIVE US DRUNK BRYCE & CASSIAN IN THE CLUB. GIVE US RUHN & RHYS DOING THE SPIDER-MAN FINGER POINT MEME!!
3/5 stars 🙃 The plot was giving but some parts were messy as hell and Bryce & Hunt were PISSING ME AWF
Ruhn & Lidia - no notes. Ate the house down. No crumbs. They are perfect, I love them, they can do no wrong. GO READ THEIR BONUS CONTENT 🥺🥹❤️🔥
RDCPOTVF forever, Day & Night forever ☀️🌙🌌✨
Tharion - my sweet summer child, he’s messy as hell. I am SO GLAD he finally got his life turned around, Sathia was such a random pairing but I think she’s so good for him. If she doesn’t come back to him, I’ll fight.
Ithan - FLOPtina of a storyline which sucks bc I really liked him. Cool that he’s Prime now but the events leading up to it was so weird WHAT WAS THE REASON?! Him & Jesiba teaming up was random as hell but I loved it.
Jesiba’s character was interesting, & I wish we got more from her. Her sacrifice was touching, but low-key I don’t think I would have cared if Bryce lived or died.
I love Dec & Flynn. The frat pack & the fire sprites are one of my favorite parts of this series. I love their group dynamic so much and I WISH WE GOT MORE OF THEM
Bryce & Hunt PISSED ME AWFFFF. Bryce is my least favorite of the SJM FMCs, and this book was my final straw with her.
The way Bryce treats Hunt & disregards his feelings AFTER BEING LITERALLY TORTURED is very irritating. She’s allowed to kill her enemies with no questions asked but if he does the same she takes the moral high ground & talks him out of it. Anytime he questions her half baked plans that will inevitably lead to a shit show, & tries to talk some sense into her, she gets upset that he’s “not all in.” 🙄🙄 she can be a badass at times, but for the most part her schemes are made on the fly & she’s hoping for a miracle.
Also there’s not much to Hunt’s character other than just being Bryce’s overprotective guard dog.
For being the main characters of this series, they’re consistently overshadowed by the secondary characters. I was quickly bored with them after book 1, their initial banter & tension was great but after that they don’t do it for me 🥱
Bryce does not deserve to be Queen of the Valbaran AND Avallen fae. She’s shown no ability to be a leader.
The plot was interesting, especially the backstory of Silene/Theia, the Asteri, the home world of the Fae It was great to see some theories come to life, and to finally get answers to burning questions.
The plot was very thick but it was definitely easier to understand compared to HOEAB & HOSAB.
I was hoping for more when it came to the crossover. I wish we could see more of the ACOTAR characters interact with the CC characters. Ember & Nesta’s interaction at the end warmed my heart 🥺
Nesta, Azriel & Bryce was certainly an interesting trio but that was the start of Bryce getting on my nerves.
It was great to see Nesta & Bryce go toe to toe but Nesta is gonna come out on top, always. Also we BARELY got any of the acotar characters. Like wtf GIVE US DRUNK BRYCE & CASSIAN IN THE CLUB. GIVE US RUHN & RHYS DOING THE SPIDER-MAN FINGER POINT MEME!!
3/5 stars 🙃 The plot was giving but some parts were messy as hell and Bryce & Hunt were PISSING ME AWF