Book Review | House of Flame and Shadow

Unfortunately, this mess of a book gave us many of the answers we had such a good time over the last few years theorizing about. It’s a fun read—kind of, if you’ve been drinking generously of the Sarah J. Maas cool-aid, which don’t get me wrong, is a tasty, sugary drink, but it’s starting to feel less and less nutritious.

This review is mostly spoiler-free. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to get into it. However, it might make more sense if you’ve read the first two Crescent City novels first. You can also read my reviews of House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath first.

The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.

THE ROMANCE

“I just…I see how good you are, Ruhn. You wear your emotions of your face because you feel in a way that [others] do not.“

He slowly faced her, those beautiful blue eyes wary, yet tender. “I think that’s a compliment?”

Anyone who’s made the brave and frankly dedicated decision to read this book will tell you that Ruhn and Lidia carry this book on their backs. Together they’re Atlas holding up the weight of *checks notes* three different worlds. I have always said that Sarah J. Maas’ greatest strength, and why romantasy fans love her so much, is the way she writes romance. And this is the only worthwhile romance in House of Flame and Shadow. And it’s amazing. And I wish we had more of it, and less of:

“I should have tried harder. None of us would be in this situation—”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” she said hotly, laying her palms on his chest. “Do I regret the pain and suffering you all went through? Solas, yes…But do I regret that we took a stand, that we are taking a stand? No. Never. And you couldn’t have stopped me from starting that fight.” She frowned. “I thought we were on the same page about doing what needs to be done.”

His expression shuttered. “We were—are.”

“You don’t sound too sure of that.”

“You didn’t have to see your friends carved apart.”

I never thought I’d call an SJM romance insufferable, but these vibes are just SO off. WHY OH WHY—and I’m sorry, I’m going to argue that this isn’t a spoiler because we all knew this was going to happen—are Bryce and Hunt fighting the second they’re reunited—no hug, no cute lil smooch, nothing??

Honestly, I don’t blame Bryce, I really don’t. She channels SJM’s best characters in this book—that is, Aelin and Rhysand. The issue, precisely, is Hunt. The man’s got no personality—his entire personality, in fact, is pining, and being a pain in Bryce’s ass because he’s a big baby who doesn’t seem to actually care about the stakes everyone else is so invested in. And while it could be interesting if he ran with the whole I’m not into the stakes I’m into her she’s my guiding light, he isn’t THAT either, he’s just a wet blanket and frankly kind of a hater for someone of his very cool lineage. Basically, he should be more like Rowan—dedicated, obsessed, chill, endlessly loyal Rowan (this is Throne of Glass for all those who haven’t read)—because he doesn’t have the pizzazz to ever be anywhere near a bat boy.

Not only is Hunt bland and annoying, but we’ve been seeing SJM rely on oddly heavy-handed, misplaced matchmaking strategies with this couple. First, in book two, we have them on an inexplicable sex ban—and may I emphasize inexplicable because none of their reasons made any sense to me. Now we get this:

As soon as she held Hunt, she wasn’t letting go. Ever. But they had so much shit to do right now that giving in wasn’t an option, holding him and loving him weren’t options.

Allow me to shout for a second: Bryce, you’ve just seen your mate who you thought might be dead and you haven’t seen in forever—you can give him a hug!! This doesn’t make any sense!! Important context here is that she did, in fact have the time for this. There wasn’t some urgent ticking clock in the moment.

Anyway, that’s basically all the romance we get the whole book, so you can see why I felt like a starving person just waiting for my morsels of Ruhn and Lidia so I could milk them for all they were worth.

THE PLOT

…for this is most certainly a plot-heavy, modern fantasy book. I’ve never been a huge fan of SJM’s plot-heavy fantasy acumen—I have others I prefer to read for that, and I am so sorry to admit that I’m a Throne of Glass hater, for exclusively poorly-edited, overly indulgent battle scenes and generally mind-numbing filler scene reasons. And boy, does this follow in those footsteps. This tome is peppered with long long info-dumps, and rarely is the reader allowed to actually discover things in a way that makes sense or feels satisfying.

Between info-dumps, we’re either walking in caves or hanging out with one of the Boring Boys.

First of all, Ithan and Tharion continue to have the most boring chapters I think I’ve ever read, and that’s only a little bit of a hyperbole. Not once was I interested in what Ithan was doing, and starting from about a quarter of the way through the book, I knew exactly where Ithan’s storyline was going anyway.

Tharion was only marginally more interesting, since at least he seems to learn a) what consequences are and b) that he was kind of a piece of sh*t in previous books. Nothing like a little self-loathing to make me interested and invested in a character again—just ask Nesta.

Okay, I’ve said all I can without spoilers—Disney MCU crossover discussion time. See the rest of you once you’ve read! (Or decided not to read, and stayed here for the slander)

Maasverse! Spoilers!

Okay, it was kind of cool to see Nesta again—the fully realized, totally awesome, very kick-ass Nesta. (Oh, and Azriel, who absolutely carried the section of the story).

Beyond that, I really have very little to say. I was very okay with the fact that there wasn’t much Prythian and only breadcrumbs of Terrasen—keep that goodness for those books. Because these books, I now feel, have been slightly an underwhelming mess. Still fun, still SJM’s writing, but—I don’t know, not edited? Not quite as fun anymore? There’s an issue when everyone I know who loves SJM grumbles their way through 90% of every new book that comes out.

Okay, back to the spoilers. Black holes are a silly way to kill beings, but it was the only thing SJM had left after making the Asteri so powerful. Hel is one of this universe’s coolest concepts and I now so look forward to reading more about it—because yes, I will still be reading every SJM book that comes my way. Cool-aid, and all that.