Title: House of Earth and Blood
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: March 3rd
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Summary
Life was going pretty well for Bryce Quinlan; a steady job, a close group of friends, and opportunities to party every night and every weekend. But suddenly, tragedy strikes: a demon murders all her closest friends. When the murders start up again, with the accused behind bars, it’s Bryce’s time to get revenge.
Hunt Athalar is a fallen angel now enslaved to the Archangels that rule the city, which means he’s required to assassinate their enemies. As an incentive to catch the demon, he’s offered a deal: find the one responsible and earn his freedom.
Bryce and Hunt are now on the trail of a killer. But what they find might chance the course of power for all of Crescent City.
Review: House of Earth and Blood
We got an ARC copy of this at work and I was so excited! This is one of my most anticipated books of the year. And it lived up to the hype! It might be my favorite SJ Maas book to-date. Maas is the queen of world-building, but she’s also the queen of wonderfully rounded characters. I absolutely couldn’t put this book down.
Positives
Like Maas’s other books, the world-building in this book was phenomenal. Instead of info-dumping all the information at the beginning, we get small details throughout that help orient us to this new world. And what an expansive world it is! I will say a list of characters will be so helpful when the final book is published. There were none in the ARC, and I kept wishing I could go back and look at a list.
Bryce and Hunt are probably my favorite Maas couple. Throughout the book, Bryce pokes fun at Hunt for being kind of a jerk, and Hunt gives it right back. Bryce isn’t perfectly flawless; she acknowledges her flaws and works through them. It’s not love at first sight for both of them, either. Since this is classified as adult, I thought this would be steamier than her other books, but it wasn’t! There were some moments, but it wasn’t overpowering.
Maas included more diversity in this book, too. Her other books significantly lacked diversity, but she’s moving in the right direction. I finished this book so quickly, and I can’t wait to read more about this world.
Negatives
Despite everything I loved about this book, I do think it could have been shorter. It clocks in at about 800 pages, which isn’t surprising for an SJ Maas book. A lot of the events are important to the overall story, but there were moments that could have been cut. Especially if this is going to be a series. What more could possibly happen?? I know the answer is yes, there’s just a lot that went down in this book.
Anyway, that was my main complaint, outside of the excessive use of “male.” Which made sense in the context of the world, but it was still kind of annoying.
Trigger warnings: drug/alcohol abuse, violence, torture, suicidal thoughts, slut shaming, attempted sexual assault, family issues, loss of a friend
Verdict: An emotionally satisfying opening to a wholly creative fantasy world, worthy of the already existing SJ Maas canon.