A review by jayvdw
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

This book is a mixed bag for me. First, what I don't like about the book is that it really feels like the second book in a trilogy (which it is), but that doesn't mean it has to feel like that. What I mean is that the book sets up a lot of things for the last installment of the series while trying to further develop the first book's characters. Secondly, the mysteries in the book are not that exciting. The first book really felt like trying to solve mysteries, whilst in this book the mysteries are less exciting or the answer is quite easy to figure out, leaving little surprise at the revelation. Thirdly, I really didn't enjoy the way Sarah J. Maas wrote the sex scenes, it felt very fake and overly detailed just to be overly detailed. 

Now what I did enjoy. I really liked the addition of Ithran in the story, I just like his character. I also enjoyed the world-building a lot, the world Sarah J. Maas built is very interesting with all the magic and various races. Lastly, I really enjoyed the ending. 
Spoiler I loved to read about the different worlds and inclusion of the Astari basically being space leaches. However, I am not that certain about the final ending with the inclusion of the world for Sarah J. Maas's other series. It really depends on how she implements this in the final installment. If you have to read all her other works or not.
 

Overall I enjoyed the book. I liked the writing, I enjoyed the story and really liked the ending. It really feels like "it's the second book" for me, which is not bad but it could have been more. For that reason I give it 4 stars, it's a nice book but the first one is much better.
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