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A review by thebookmeg
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
1.0
OK I've had 24 hours to sit and simmer with this, and I have some revisions.
I stand by my 1 star rating and my original statement: This book is honestly garbage, and as someone who has read and loved almost all of of her books, it is without a doubt SJMs worst writing.
I'm going to try and keep this spoiler free and vague, while also giving some pros and cons.
Cons:
-Bryce. In the first book I really liked her, I admittedly had issues with how she was described by every other character, and how obsessed SJM was with her underwear, but I loved the "I'll let everyone think I'm a party girl when actually I'm a bad ass" vibe. That's non-existent in this book, she gets zero character development, her powers turn out to be pretty disappointing and her motivations are all over the place - and the issues I had with how she was described/viewed are even worse. (Side note: wrong body type for dancing YEAH OK your ballerina star friend has literal hooves, lets move on from this weird hang up please.)
-Hunt. What a giant pile of red flags and contradictions. One of my least favorite SJM men. Which made the spicy scenes really not fun (also secret foot fetish?).
-Danika. Otherwise known as the scapegoat for every random plot twist possible.
-The "plot" if we can call it that. There are so many subplots that end up meaning absolutely nothing, the first half of the book is pointless and confusing. There are about 18 chapters where they just have repeated variations of the same conversations, about a subplot that ultimately does not matter and also leaves me feeling really upset at the characters I'm supposed to be rooting for. Nothing about the world is explained despite it being largely just conversations, and yes you can pick up some from context but I believe SJM doesn't explain anything because she wants to be able to PLOTTWIST and change the rules whenever the mood strikes her. Or alternatively, she hasn't fleshed this world out and it doesn't get explained/make sense because she doesn't even understand it.
-Further on that, there are real problems in this fantasy world that could have made for really interesting conversations, character development and plot points, but they are ignored. Why? I'm supposed to be impressed that Bryce cares about humans (see end of book 1), but... she doesn't? Her actions in this book to not match up.
-The POV changes were really.... not good, I was annoyed. She writes every scene like its a mini-cliffhanger, so you end up with many abrupt changes in POVs per chapter. Its very... amature, and not what I would expect from SJM. Why does she feel like she needs these little cliffhangers to keep us interested?
-Mate mate mate mate mate mate mate mate mate. Had to make up for all the times she didn't say it in the first book I guess.
Pros:
-Ruhns storyline is actually really good - its the backbone of the book for me. I feel like there was actually a lot of thought put into it, the twist was well eluded to during the entire book, it all made sense... More of these storylines please.
-Cormac. Wildly underrated.
-The Demon Princes... I would read a book just about these dudes. They are sassy and great, and I want to know so much more about this backstory.
-The Hind/Harpy/Helhound/Hammer, again would read a book just about these people.
-The big ending twist. The book relies ENTIRELY on this twist for people to like it. However I'm still putting this in the pros column, because it is a good twist. Maybe its a bit of a marketing ploy, but whatever - its a good twist anyways.
I am however wildly upset that this twist happened in a book that I hated so much. What a waste.
Overall... this might be the book that makes me stop reading SJM. This isn't the worst book I've ever read (I read a lot of trash) but I have never been so absolutely disappointed by a book.
Here's hoping this is just a one-off, and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled magic with the next book.
I stand by my 1 star rating and my original statement: This book is honestly garbage, and as someone who has read and loved almost all of of her books, it is without a doubt SJMs worst writing.
I'm going to try and keep this spoiler free and vague, while also giving some pros and cons.
Cons:
-Bryce. In the first book I really liked her, I admittedly had issues with how she was described by every other character, and how obsessed SJM was with her underwear, but I loved the "I'll let everyone think I'm a party girl when actually I'm a bad ass" vibe. That's non-existent in this book, she gets zero character development, her powers turn out to be pretty disappointing and her motivations are all over the place - and the issues I had with how she was described/viewed are even worse. (Side note: wrong body type for dancing YEAH OK your ballerina star friend has literal hooves, lets move on from this weird hang up please.)
-Hunt. What a giant pile of red flags and contradictions. One of my least favorite SJM men. Which made the spicy scenes really not fun (also secret foot fetish?).
-Danika. Otherwise known as the scapegoat for every random plot twist possible.
-The "plot" if we can call it that. There are so many subplots that end up meaning absolutely nothing, the first half of the book is pointless and confusing. There are about 18 chapters where they just have repeated variations of the same conversations, about a subplot that ultimately does not matter and also leaves me feeling really upset at the characters I'm supposed to be rooting for. Nothing about the world is explained despite it being largely just conversations, and yes you can pick up some from context but I believe SJM doesn't explain anything because she wants to be able to PLOTTWIST and change the rules whenever the mood strikes her. Or alternatively, she hasn't fleshed this world out and it doesn't get explained/make sense because she doesn't even understand it.
-Further on that, there are real problems in this fantasy world that could have made for really interesting conversations, character development and plot points, but they are ignored. Why? I'm supposed to be impressed that Bryce cares about humans (see end of book 1), but... she doesn't? Her actions in this book to not match up.
-The POV changes were really.... not good, I was annoyed. She writes every scene like its a mini-cliffhanger, so you end up with many abrupt changes in POVs per chapter. Its very... amature, and not what I would expect from SJM. Why does she feel like she needs these little cliffhangers to keep us interested?
-Mate mate mate mate mate mate mate mate mate. Had to make up for all the times she didn't say it in the first book I guess.
Pros:
-Ruhns storyline is actually really good - its the backbone of the book for me. I feel like there was actually a lot of thought put into it, the twist was well eluded to during the entire book, it all made sense... More of these storylines please.
-Cormac. Wildly underrated.
-The Demon Princes... I would read a book just about these dudes. They are sassy and great, and I want to know so much more about this backstory.
-The Hind/Harpy/Helhound/Hammer, again would read a book just about these people.
-The big ending twist. The book relies ENTIRELY on this twist for people to like it. However I'm still putting this in the pros column, because it is a good twist. Maybe its a bit of a marketing ploy, but whatever - its a good twist anyways.
I am however wildly upset that this twist happened in a book that I hated so much. What a waste.
Overall... this might be the book that makes me stop reading SJM. This isn't the worst book I've ever read (I read a lot of trash) but I have never been so absolutely disappointed by a book.
Here's hoping this is just a one-off, and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled magic with the next book.