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A review by marney
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i cannot for the life of me decide if i love it or hate it
like all sjm books, this is chaos but it was fun, just dont take it too seriously
enjoyed this book way more than the other two, written in a far more tolerable and believable way in comparison.
i firmly believe, and have done since book 2 that tharion and ithan did not need POVs. for one i just could not get into their individual stories for the first half of the book (and because its sjm thats 400 pages T_T), they were infuriating and i was actively skimming and lowkey skipping their parts so i could get back to bryce and hunt. you could take out their POVs and very little actually changes. I came to enjoy Ithan's story more later on but i think that was more because of Jesiba (one of my favourites tbh carrying every scene she's in) and hypaxia. Sathia was the only reason i remotely enjoyed thrion's story and even that didnt amount to much in the end. we could've spent so much more time with bryce after the INSANE book 2 ending but instead i had to hear about those two brooding endlessly T_T.
speaking of bryce. what. I feel like she lost some of her characterisation by the end in lieu of just being a powerful starpower vessel. I adore how powerful and incredible she is but it did just start feeling like just could just do all the things that sarah needed her to do for the plot and her character wasnt developed as much after she reunited with everyone.
I was also kind of disappointed by the crossover, i enjoyed the azreil - nesta antics but like where was everyone else? especially rhysand? SJM definetly seeded the next ACOTAR book at the end but it felt like the equivalent of a disney channel crossover, where she could only get in like two of the characters and the main people that everyone really wanted to see (feysand) were to expensive to get and got a two second cameo. I just feel like this cross over could have been so much more than it was but it ultimately amounted to a big lore dump for bryce. I appreciate nesta's interaction at the end but why did bryce's parents get a more meaningful interaction than bryce or the readers did :/ sad.
but THIS BOOK. how does sarah every single time make the last like 1/5 of the story so captivating, so intense and gripping that you refuse to move from the contorted reading position your in until you finish the bloody story?
also the end of the war?that ending is almost idential to that of ACOWAR lmao. I'd be lying if i said it didnt make me very emotional hunt screaming over bryce at the end but its literally the same. if it werent a soft moment between bryce and jesiba too id maybe have more of a problem.
if nothing else i loved the relationships in this book, especially day and night. day nuzzling night in her deer form after saving him and running away is proably my favourite moment in the whole book.
Lidia Cervos has my heart and CARRIED.
was worried her character may have been reduced to a mother like a lot of strong women characters are when they have surprise children but SJM did well acknowledging this and i think her character stayed strong to the end ish though i think she equally lost some of her strong hind-impenetrable- ness by the end but i guess maybe that was the point.
The end made me tear up.
Jesiba roga is everything i aspire to be
tldr i hate that i enjoyed it but i concede that i did nonetheless.
like all sjm books, this is chaos but it was fun, just dont take it too seriously
enjoyed this book way more than the other two, written in a far more tolerable and believable way in comparison.
i firmly believe, and have done since book 2 that tharion and ithan did not need POVs. for one i just could not get into their individual stories for the first half of the book (and because its sjm thats 400 pages T_T), they were infuriating and i was actively skimming and lowkey skipping their parts so i could get back to bryce and hunt. you could take out their POVs and very little actually changes. I came to enjoy Ithan's story more later on but i think that was more because of Jesiba (one of my favourites tbh carrying every scene she's in) and hypaxia. Sathia was the only reason i remotely enjoyed thrion's story and even that didnt amount to much in the end. we could've spent so much more time with bryce after the INSANE book 2 ending but instead i had to hear about those two brooding endlessly T_T.
speaking of bryce. what. I feel like she lost some of her characterisation by the end in lieu of just being a powerful starpower vessel. I adore how powerful and incredible she is but it did just start feeling like just could just do all the things that sarah needed her to do for the plot and her character wasnt developed as much after she reunited with everyone.
but THIS BOOK. how does sarah every single time make the last like 1/5 of the story so captivating, so intense and gripping that you refuse to move from the contorted reading position your in until you finish the bloody story?
also the end of the war?
if nothing else i loved the relationships in this book, especially day and night. day nuzzling night in her deer form after saving him and running away is proably my favourite moment in the whole book.
Lidia Cervos has my heart and CARRIED.
The end made me tear up.
Jesiba roga is everything i aspire to be
tldr i hate that i enjoyed it but i concede that i did nonetheless.