Reviews tagging 'War'

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

263 reviews

toriibrooke33's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

🥂⚔️🔫🪽🐺

As most can agree, this was ALOT of world building and some plot. But I think the clunkiness of the world building did struggle with getting through to about 70% when the plot thicken (literally). But I really did enjoy the ending and the twist. There is definitely slow burn romance but I think this more about the love left behind and following grief and the true bonds of friendship. 

Tropes: slow burn, friends to lovers, angels and demons, fantasy, shifters, found family. 

Trigger warnings: grief, death of friend, suicide, gore, death, war, injury 

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed the Throne of Glass series and ACOTAR and wanted more. The size of this book scared me mainly because it was a new series, and Sarah usually likes you to get settled before throwing at 700-900 pages book like in ACOTAR and Throne of Glass and this was the first book in the series and over 700 pages. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  

This book is based on Bryce Quinlan, and she loves her life. Every night is a party, and Bryce is going to savour all the pleasures Lunathion – also known as Crescent City – has to offer. But when a brutal murder shakes the very foundations of the city, Bryce’s world comes crashing down. Two years later, Bryce still haunts the city’s most notorious nightclubs – but seeking only oblivion now. Then the murderer attacks again. And when an infamous Fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, is assigned to watch her every footstep, Bryce knows she can’t forget any longer. As Bryce and Hunt fight to unravel the mystery and their own dark pasts, the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents and down to the deepest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir.  

I love Bryce – she has now joined the group of kick-ass women who could hit me, and I would say thank you. I think she is so amazing and strong, and I just wanted to hug her throughout the whole book. I enjoyed reading the book from multiple POV, I feel like it makes the book so much better. I loved seeing Bryce comes from a broken person who was ready to give up on life to a strong powerful woman who is not afraid to kick ass. My favourite chapter was when Bryce figured out who the murderer was and how to get the answer out of him. The book left you with enough drama that it didn’t feel rushed but also left you wanting you more.  

This book seemed to have more adult themes than her previous book and yet some of these people were acting like children – Amelie, I'm looking at you. I hate the fact that they also killed one of the major side chapters like don’t do that, I wanted them to be together. Kill someone who would have a bit of impact but not those characters. I was shook. I also felt like Bryce’s dad got off the hooked way too much. I am hoping that Bryce is going to kick his ass in the next book.  

I am wondering what the hell is going to happen now and how the hell she has wrote two more books that are over 700 pages.  

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kyrstenkufel's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

LOTS of world building, but understandable for the beginning of a fantasy series. I liked the murder mystery angle and it kept me guessing most of the way through. At the end, it really picked up speed and I'm interested to see how it progresses into the other books.

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nmjezebel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

This is my favorite book so far by Sarah J Maas and I’ve read her 3 most famous series. It is difficult and brutal and honest and surprising. She makes you feel scornful of the main characters but then deeply redeems them as complicated people. I don’t think the second book lives up to this one, which is a shock to the system having just finished Throne of Glass.  

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venomtancitaro's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.25

Fun and original story with very lovable characters! There were many details about magic, artifacts, society that were hard to keep track of but it didn’t detract from the story overall and many pieces sort of fell into place. The mysteries, twists, and how the characters and their relationships were written really carried the book. Not a huge fan of the writing style in general- odd terms were used sometimes, sentences felt unfinished/unclear, and there were some corny moments, but it didn’t take away from the plot. 

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lizgom's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

So prior to CC, I've only read ACOTAR by SJM and honestly the difference in the start of these two series is crazy. You're basically just thrown into this book with little to no explanation & the world building comes in strong. Once I got a foothold on the work¡ld and the characters, this was hard to put down. To me, Bryce wasn't very likable probably until the end of the book. reading 60-70% of the book just to like her felt like a chore. I really liked the character development towards the end of the book. The relationship building between Hunt and Bryce was something I liked a lot. I love how they didn't act on their feelings right away, I think that just made their "relationship" raw & real. I did love the friendship Bryce and Danika had.
I loved how Bryce continued to grieve through the book. Made her far more a relatable character than most main characters I've read about, especially in fantasy.

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lakinglaze's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought it would originally. It was wonderful. I loved all the characters! Bryce is by far my favourite Maas female character so far. The world and the magic are all wonderful. I thought it was really fun to have a book based on the ancient Roman Empire with some other influences sprinkled in. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book! 

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kristanjenkins's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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amesgeliebter's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

My Catholic upbringing means I never thought about an angel having sex. This book changed that for me, and now there’s no going back. Thanks, SJM. 

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storyoflife's review against another edition

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

2.5

The book pushes the narrative that the FL is fierce and independent of „alphamales“ to the point where she seems immature and childish. Furthermore, the portrayal of her actions and the actions of the other characters is very unbalanced? Especially her reactions to the perceived wrongdoing of other characters seem very dramatic, when one reflects on her own choices of actions (even worse are the PoVs of the characters that haven't warranted such reactions; they themselves are unaware and think in the same one-dimensional patterns).

I got very frustrated with her and the storyline because of that and wanted to stop reading multiple times. 

I did finish the book tho, because I adore every other character, especially the ML, her dead bestie and her older brother carried me through the story.

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