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A review by areadinggem
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
"Through love, all is possible."
When I heard [a:Sarah J Maas|20057969|Sarah J Maas|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was publishing another book, I was beyond excited. It took me a while to grab my own copy of it but I decided to start my year with [b:House of Earth and Blood|44778083|House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559142847l/44778083._SY75_.jpg|46924772].
The book started off slow, a lot of details and world building, which was quite expected for a fantasy book but sometimes quite unnecessary. Bryce and Hunt's constant bickering made up for that though. The beginning of the book mostly introduces us to the characters: Danika, the Pack of Devils, Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn... along with some other side characters. We get glimpses into the characters' lives, Danika and Bryce's friendship, the world they are living in and so on. Then the murder happens and Bryce gets assigned to investigate it along with Hunt. The first few chapters after the murder mostly include a lot of bickering between Hunt and Bryce and searching for clues and suspects, until everything slowly starts to fit together.
Honestly, it took 60 chapters for Hel to finally break loose. My heart shattered a thousand times in the last 70% of the book. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, debating whether I'll make it out alive or not. Plot twist after plot twist, shock after shock, heartbreak after heartbreak. I don't know how I did make it, to be honest. I laughed and cried. I screamed at the book and tossed it across the room. It was a whole journey of emotions I was barely able to handle. But the ending was all worth it.
I gave this book 5 stars because it made me happy in the first half and then gave me all the feels in the second. I like books that can move me or just make me feel something, anything. And this book did just that, regardless of the slow pace it started out with, regardless of the similarities between it and Sarah's other books, regardless of the not so diverse characters. I still enjoyed it a lot. I'm also quite glad it did not end on a major cliffhanger because I don't think I will be able to wait another year or so for the second book.
As for the characters, I always enjoy strong female leads, even though Bryce had a lot of bad qualities (drugs, sleeping around, partying...) but she was still fierce and did not easily back down from a challenge. Hunt was a broken soul that hid it well as the Shadow of Death, but I enjoyed seeing how that mask slowly fell off his face, revealing who he really was deep inside. Danika was a badass character with such a good heart, always there for her friend no matter what. Ruhn is a favorite of mine, especially with how protective and caring he was all along. I also really liked Flynn and Declan. I wish we got to see more of all three Fae men because they were such an epic trio. Fury was a very mysterious character, almost like Amren from ACOTAR, but I also love her and wish we had more glimpses into her life. Juniper was a very sweet friend that I'm glad stuck around for Bryce. Lehabah had to be my favorite, how she cared for Bryce even when the latter would snap at her several times; that was true friendship. There are so many other side characters that added to the plot in more ways than one (Tharion, Amelie, Isaiah, Jesiba...)
So, to finally sum up, this book left me at a loss for words. I loved it even with all its flaws that I briefly mentioned above. I just hope book 2 lives up to our expectations since I really don't know what to expect from it. All in all, yes, the book could have been shorter than 800 pages but I still enjoyed every second of it and would re-read it all over again someday.
When I heard [a:Sarah J Maas|20057969|Sarah J Maas|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was publishing another book, I was beyond excited. It took me a while to grab my own copy of it but I decided to start my year with [b:House of Earth and Blood|44778083|House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559142847l/44778083._SY75_.jpg|46924772].
The book started off slow, a lot of details and world building, which was quite expected for a fantasy book but sometimes quite unnecessary. Bryce and Hunt's constant bickering made up for that though. The beginning of the book mostly introduces us to the characters: Danika, the Pack of Devils, Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn... along with some other side characters. We get glimpses into the characters' lives, Danika and Bryce's friendship, the world they are living in and so on. Then the murder happens and Bryce gets assigned to investigate it along with Hunt. The first few chapters after the murder mostly include a lot of bickering between Hunt and Bryce and searching for clues and suspects, until everything slowly starts to fit together.
Honestly, it took 60 chapters for Hel to finally break loose. My heart shattered a thousand times in the last 70% of the book. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, debating whether I'll make it out alive or not. Plot twist after plot twist, shock after shock, heartbreak after heartbreak. I don't know how I did make it, to be honest. I laughed and cried. I screamed at the book and tossed it across the room. It was a whole journey of emotions I was barely able to handle. But the ending was all worth it.
I gave this book 5 stars because it made me happy in the first half and then gave me all the feels in the second. I like books that can move me or just make me feel something, anything. And this book did just that, regardless of the slow pace it started out with, regardless of the similarities between it and Sarah's other books, regardless of the not so diverse characters. I still enjoyed it a lot. I'm also quite glad it did not end on a major cliffhanger because I don't think I will be able to wait another year or so for the second book.
As for the characters, I always enjoy strong female leads, even though Bryce had a lot of bad qualities (drugs, sleeping around, partying...) but she was still fierce and did not easily back down from a challenge. Hunt was a broken soul that hid it well as the Shadow of Death, but I enjoyed seeing how that mask slowly fell off his face, revealing who he really was deep inside. Danika was a badass character with such a good heart, always there for her friend no matter what. Ruhn is a favorite of mine, especially with how protective and caring he was all along. I also really liked Flynn and Declan. I wish we got to see more of all three Fae men because they were such an epic trio. Fury was a very mysterious character, almost like Amren from ACOTAR, but I also love her and wish we had more glimpses into her life. Juniper was a very sweet friend that I'm glad stuck around for Bryce. Lehabah had to be my favorite, how she cared for Bryce even when the latter would snap at her several times; that was true friendship. There are so many other side characters that added to the plot in more ways than one (Tharion, Amelie, Isaiah, Jesiba...)
So, to finally sum up, this book left me at a loss for words. I loved it even with all its flaws that I briefly mentioned above. I just hope book 2 lives up to our expectations since I really don't know what to expect from it. All in all, yes, the book could have been shorter than 800 pages but I still enjoyed every second of it and would re-read it all over again someday.