Reviews

House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig

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shinararose's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Spoiler

I really should have expected the twists in this book from when I read House of Salt and Sorrows but wow. I did not see most of this book coming. From Gerard's wrong doings to Dauphines complicity. Verity's first trip out in to the world was fraught with misleading truths and the nightmare of seeing what's underneath the surface. The "rule" of threes definitely should have sparked my curiosity about Alex not having siblings but I was so focused on Gerards infidelity and Verity rediscovering her abilities. I feel pity for Dauphine because in the end, she was just trying to do right by all of the children, by protecting Alexander and not allowing the experiments to be born. Poor Constance was just caught in the middle. The final twist was Grandmere being in on it. I honestly thought she was vehemently against it because of her hatred of Verity's family history. Turns out that hatred came from a place of pain, with losing her daughter and then basically losing two grandsons with the third being crippled.

Content Warnings

samlynneyikes's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

nsmith2020's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

amschem's review

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

eviemayhem's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I wanted to like this book as much as I liked the first one. I suppose part of my issue is that I didn't read the synopsis and just assumed it would pick up where it left off with the same narrator. The book starts off well, and up until the last 100 pages, I was really enjoying the book.

The climax- Amazing.

Everything is downhill from there. It felt much too fast and then somehow the true villain (objectively) of the story is no longer the villain and it all resolves too quickly. It is intense and overwhelming and messy. The writer is amazing, but the pacing on this one was just too fast at the end to be satisfying.

Content Warnings

swarley's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

shallyne's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sadly only three stars after the first one was an immediate 5 stars.
It was mostly boring but I fought through the pages because I knew it was all building up to an amazing, mindblowing plot twist
...only that the plot twist wasn't as amazing and mindblowing as it was
I will forever recommend the first book to anyone who asks but sadly not this one.
I already rold my friend while reading that if the first book was Barbie in the 12 dancing princesses in dark then this one would be Barbie as the island princess

I guess it's my disappoint is my own fault because I really, really had high hopes for this one
ALSO if you read thsi review before reading the book and have hopes to meet Annaleigh and Cassius again, I'm sorry to destroy your hopes, I was sad, too. They were only mentioned once or twice