Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - House of Sky and Breath

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House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas

64 reviews

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

It's slow to read for the first 2/3 of the book, it starts twisting and turning after that and the end leaves the reader a bit bewildered and anxious about the next book. Not her best, good. Hoping that the rest of the series improves. Still excessive use of the word F--- which is fine but it's like a word just discovered by a child and is somehow used at least once a page.

Severe lack of diversity.

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libertyreads789's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Oh, boy. I’ll admit I’m nervous to post my review for this one. I do NOT need the backlash. But since I discuss books here I will go ahead and review this one. House of Sky and Breath is the second book in the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas. In book one we meet Bryce and Hunt who must uncover the truth of who murdered her best friend and her best friend’s werewolf pack. In book two both the world and the political intrigue are expanded as we continue to follow the lives of the Fae, Werewolves, Shifters, and Angels from book one.

I found three things about this book to be particularly annoying: 1) it was unnecessarily dense, 2) it was unnecessarily long, and 3) it had unnecessary sex scenes. Though, being the asexual that I am, I find almost all sex scenes to be unnecessary. The frequency of these sex scenes is what annoyed me more than anything. In the first 250 pages we got one, and then it kept speeding up from there. A hundred pages later, then fifty pages later, then in back to back chapters. I get it, you’re mated and this is the best sex ever or whatever. But...can we get back to the rebellion here??? I truly think Maas’s publishers just let her write whatever she wants at this point. Not only in content but also length of the novel. This whole book could have happened in 500 or 600 pages. Easy. But other things that I’ve seen mentioned that also bothered me to a lesser degree were: WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? We get one female perspective and a bunch of male perspectives. Which is annoying. But the female characters we do get aren’t as well fleshed out or are barely seen on the page. I get that Bryce is supposed to be beloved by all the men she meets, but can that not happen with another main female character in the picture? Also the pacing is pretty off. I felt like the last 125 pages had all of the action while the first 672 were all meandering. I know we had to work up to the action scenes at the end, but the pace was so lopsided.

But, after giving all the Maas Stans a heart attack, let’s discuss the things I enjoyed in this one. I still enjoy Bryce and Hunt as a couple for the most part. I wish things didn’t go from “Hello” to sex in the blink of an eye, but I still like them together and I still believe in their romance. I also still love this world and this magic system for the most part. (Bryce basically being a magical battery not withstanding.) I also loved the direction this one went in terms of the politics and the stakes really being raised for our heroes. I’m on the fence about continuing the series. I’ve heard it could be a trilogy so that might be okay. But I’m also really doubting that given where this book left off. I don’t know if there’s a way to wrap up this series in one book. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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hapalyn's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense slow-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

4.75

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literaryintersections's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Hot Take: 50 pages of good story and a wild ending doesn’t make the other 750 pages worth it.

Other Hot Take: Bryce and Hunt are the literal worst and this book was saved by Ruhn.

This is a Ruhn stan account and I want more of Ruhn and Day. Forget Bryce and Hunt.

Last Hot Take: SJM still hasn’t learned how to incorporate diversity successfully into a storyline. SJM, need a beta sensitivity reader? 🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️

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kerttuli's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I'm sure this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but... this book wasn't good. Same elements as all her other books. I’m so cranky. I think I have to read the next one because of the ending. I have read all of her published novels to date and I keep asking myself why I keep reading... maybe it's because I keep hoping it wont dissolve into garbage. I liked the first one, so I picked this up and was ready to give it a try.

I still struggle with SJM's reliance on the "copy/paste" style of writing (the reliance on the same archetypes, tropes, and phrases, iykyk). I got really far in and nothing major had happened. The events didn’t have weight. It lacked any drive forward. There was so much that could have been cut from this book. No reason it needed to be around 800 pages. The last 150 pages were slightly more interesting. I kept wishing something would get better because I liked the first book in each of her series. But they all seem to devolve into copy/paste fae "porn" with a bit of a plot line. Same story, different font. Also, the "mate" crap is beyond old and SO repetitive 🤮.

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annie_m_12's review against another edition

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Boring

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ac02's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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jessgreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

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

1.5

Rating: ⭐⭐⬜⬜⬜

Title: House of Sky and Breath

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy

Setting: Midgard

Month Read: March 2022

Book Type: Hardcover

Publication:2022

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 805

TRIGGER WARNING-

War / Death / Sexual Content / Violence /

"Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again, I promise."

No Spoiler Summary:

At the beginning of the novel you find Bryce and Hunt recovering from the ending of the last book, and wanting desperately to enter a normal routine, and finally get a chance to live normal lives. A chance to relax, a chance to figure out what's next. The Asteri have not bothered our duo, but the rebels have also not gone away, and it's a matter of time before our leads need to choose a side. Will they stay silent during the obvious oppression happening, or do they fight for what they belive in above all else? This book is a sequel to House of Earth and Blood.

Review:

I'm a huge fan of Sarah J Maas, and the ACOTAR series is one of my favorites, but MY GOD WAS THIS BOOK HORRIBLE. I spent 805 pages alternating between wishing I was reading something else, and wondering why Bloomsbury won't get Sarah an editor that will make her cut 400 pages of absolute uselessness. The amount of walking around, saying the same things, and not advancing the plot at all was insane to me. I had fully decided that I was not going to finish the series, and I'd stop after this novel, and then the end of the book happens and now I feel like I am being held hostage in a world I dislike, characters I dislike, and a plot that is just absolutely awful. I honestly didn't know after slogging through the worldbuilding in book 1 that I'd still have to slog through the SAME WORLDBUILDING in book 2.

If you want Sarah's sexy sex scenes in this book, look somewhere else. The sex was badly written, almost boring, and definitely cheese. If I hear the word 'Alpha-hole' one more time I was going to set my book on fire and throw it out the window. I advise reading maybe the first hundred pages, skipping to about 600, and finishing there. You won't miss very much and you can gather what happens in-between. Mostly thinking about Danika, trying to find a missing rebel, some mind sex between secret agents, and a forced marriage ploy.

In other news, I did like the addition of some new characters, and I did like that we got a lot more supporting cast in this book than in the last one. None of them have the same chemistry as the team in ACOTAR, but maybe in another 3-800 page books we can get there.

I hate writing reviews for books that don't praise them. I've never written a book, and I don't think I'd be very good at it- but I really need a better editor on these books because I felt so similarly with A Court of Silver Flames. Write a good 400-500 page book, I don't need bad 800+ page books. They're so insanely mediocre and I know Sarah can do better because I've read every book she's written to date. Quality over Quantity seems to come in to play a lot with her books lately, and I just wish someone would talk to her. I'm unsure if I'll pick up another book in this series, or if I'll sparknotes it. I do hate that I feel like I will need to because of a twist. It's infuriating.

See more reviews at: https://jessgreads.wixsite.com

"What she wanted was a true heart to love her, to run wild with her through the forest."

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tea_rea's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

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georgiaisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow I enjoyed this so much - learning more about their world and getting to know more about so many characters!

AND THE ENDING OMG I CANNOT WAIT AHH WORLDS COLLIDE

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