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A review by _artemis
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
hopeful
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? No
2.75
I need to collect my thoughts about this one to properly review, but 3.5 actually feels incredibly generous for how much I think this book... failed. But I love these worlds and still gobbled the book up... a book we've waited two years for. But it's not hyperbolic to say I felt like this book was endless (sometimes torturous) infodumps stitched together with a couple reactions. It was honestly bizarre and out of character for SJM who really, really shines in her character work. Characters were without a doubt secondary to plot in this book and said plot needs to be heard and then repeated to like 50 other people which we have to sit through for some reason. If you took out all the insane reptition... this book would be at least 300 pages shorter.
Sad, but still excited for the future. Just a bummer place to wrap up Bryce + Hunt's CC.
Also, for those who love SJM's spice... yeah i'm sorry.
02/27/24 Update:
Once the mourning period ended... I was just left with like true, deep disappointment (there may have been an anger phase) regarding this book. Like the more time I sat with it, the lower my opinion of this book became.
This book has no stakes. Finishing the book had me thinking, not "ok wow we got through it all unscathed," but "literally what was the point of wasting my time for 900 pages like that?"
I absolutely inhale books that I think are garbage all the time, but they never forget one critical ingredient: they're fun. This book was boring and not fun. Like, one thing SJM always delivers is FUN FUN FUN! This was the least fun book she ever wrote.
Why did we need to switch POVs like we're being held at gunpoint? Why did we (already) have too many characters and then add even more? It's no wonder I didn't give a crap about anyone - we never stayed anywhere or had enough personality for it to even matter. I literally GROANED at pov shifts (particularly to Ithan... my god that was torturous). Characters had personality transplants. Chemistry was nowhere to be found. People who'd been set up for books/even this book on end babysat entire islands. Villains become one dimensional to the point of tedium.
The abysmal writing from SJM felt so out of character, but it's because this felt like a messy first draft where she tried to squeeze all the set ups she had built into this weird malformed shape and was like "whew, ok, look it fits!" *hits print* This entire book is exposition. And that's objectively bad writing. You don't need even one brain cell really to read this........ but that being said you'll be reading your 80th "ok let me explain the whole story via in-flight cave video" and think... hm... no I hear you but what you're saying is absolute nonsense actually. And if you were like me, you didn't even have the heart to care anymore when that did inevitably happen.
I cannot believe the woman who wrote TOG wrote this. And if there's one thing I can thank SJM for here, it's waking me from the spell of hers that I've been under. I have no desire to pick up her work for a long time and have no anxiety re: when ACOTAR will be released. In fact, take even longer than you think, girl. You need it.
Sad, but still excited for the future. Just a bummer place to wrap up Bryce + Hunt's CC.
Also, for those who love SJM's spice... yeah i'm sorry.
02/27/24 Update:
Once the mourning period ended... I was just left with like true, deep disappointment (there may have been an anger phase) regarding this book. Like the more time I sat with it, the lower my opinion of this book became.
This book has no stakes. Finishing the book had me thinking, not "ok wow we got through it all unscathed," but "literally what was the point of wasting my time for 900 pages like that?"
I absolutely inhale books that I think are garbage all the time, but they never forget one critical ingredient: they're fun. This book was boring and not fun. Like, one thing SJM always delivers is FUN FUN FUN! This was the least fun book she ever wrote.
Why did we need to switch POVs like we're being held at gunpoint? Why did we (already) have too many characters and then add even more? It's no wonder I didn't give a crap about anyone - we never stayed anywhere or had enough personality for it to even matter. I literally GROANED at pov shifts (particularly to Ithan... my god that was torturous). Characters had personality transplants. Chemistry was nowhere to be found. People who'd been set up for books/even this book on end babysat entire islands. Villains become one dimensional to the point of tedium.
The abysmal writing from SJM felt so out of character, but it's because this felt like a messy first draft where she tried to squeeze all the set ups she had built into this weird malformed shape and was like "whew, ok, look it fits!" *hits print* This entire book is exposition. And that's objectively bad writing. You don't need even one brain cell really to read this........ but that being said you'll be reading your 80th "ok let me explain the whole story via in-flight cave video" and think... hm... no I hear you but what you're saying is absolute nonsense actually. And if you were like me, you didn't even have the heart to care anymore when that did inevitably happen.
I cannot believe the woman who wrote TOG wrote this. And if there's one thing I can thank SJM for here, it's waking me from the spell of hers that I've been under. I have no desire to pick up her work for a long time and have no anxiety re: when ACOTAR will be released. In fact, take even longer than you think, girl. You need it.