House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (w/ Spoilers)

Adult, Urban Fantasy

The highly anticipated adult fantasy debut of the bestselling author, Sarah J. Maas, is here! Follow her new badass heroine, Bryce Quinlan, in the glittering metropolis, Crescent City, filled with humans angels, witches, shapeshifters, ghosts and demons.

Non-Spoiler Review

(Crescent City #1)

Bound by blood. Tempted by desire. Unleashed by destiny.

Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood is set in a world similar to Earth but ruled by the supernatural. Bryce Quinlan, half-Fae half-human, is a wild party girl in the streets of Crescent City enjoying everything the city can offer, that is, until the night of her best friends’ bloody murders. Two years later, similar murders spring up again despite having the suspected murderer behind bars. With a dangerous threat rampant on the streets of Crescent City, the Governor tasks Bryce with helping uncover the murderer together with a dark Fallen angel, Hunt Athalar. Bryce needs all the strength she can muster to look into her grief-stricken past and avoid the attraction she feels for her partner because nothing good can come from that. 

"Through love, all is possible."

World-Building:

The beginning of the book gave me serious Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo vibes with the murders of Bryce's closest friends, the overarching mystery plot and the pacing of the world-building. SJM drops you into the deep end of this world and it was quite jarring and confusing, to say the least. Not to mention, that the world was quite different from her other series.

This book was set in the thriving metropolis, Crescent City, where numerous supernatural and mythical creatures reside. There were shapeshifters, werewolves, Fae, angels, witches, demons, ghosts and, of course, humans. A select number of these fantastical beings and creatures, the Vanir, could transition to immortality by making the Drop, a process of fully diving into one's own power. The Drop was a dangerous process that could potentially kill the one making it as by diving into one's power, their bodies go into some sort of shock and so there was a limit to when the person had to make it back. Because of this, an Anchor was needed as support to ensure the other's survival, resulting in the release of raw magic that was utilised to power the city. Crescent City, like many of the different regions in this world, Midgard, were ruled by Archangels which possess incredible powers. The world itself was ruled by the Asteri, god-like beings gifted with the powers of the stars and were the creators of the Malakim (angels). Since this world had an abundance of magically gifted, superior creatures, the humans were left powerless, resulting in them either living in the poorest sectors of the city or rebelling against the Malakim. There was so much lore packed into this book that this is only a small segment on the overall world-building. 

If you started reading this book expecting a high fantasy world, let me tell you that isn't true. The world-building lends itself to the urban fantasy side, featuring similar technology found in the modern world. The difference was that the technology utilised magic to function, which, to be honest, was quite a lazy way to integrate technology and magic. There were moments when I wanted the technology to be replaced with the typical fantasy weapons and tools to transform the world into a high fantasy setting rather than an urban fantasy one. The world itself was probably what ultimately lowered my rating because the initial world-building wasn’t seamless, the magical technology descriptions were a bit juvenile, and its use momentarily took me out of certain scenes. There were action scenes that highlighted classic fantastical elements and had me sucked right into the story, but then in the middle of it someone pulled out a phone and I had to scramble to remember that this was urban fantasy. That is not to say that I do not like urban fantasy stories, but more so when I initially picked up the book, I wasn't prepared for the urban fantasy nature of the story. My expectations were set to something resembling SJM's other worlds, given the correlation between the worlds of Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

Moreover, given the scope of the world-building introduced, additional maps would have made the reading experience much easier as I could visualise the world more completely in my head. When characters were discussing all these places outside of Crescent City but I had no idea on the scale of the world and the relative locations of the places being mentioned. I don’t mind intricately big worlds, in fact, I love expansive worlds, but at the very least provide sufficient maps to help with pinpointing the different locations within this world.

Characters:

Art by Ellie @kynerie

What I did absolutely love about this book were the characters. Some might argue that they were similar to her other characters, however, she has so many characters that you couldn't help but compare them. I loved trying to pinpoint which characters remind me of this character. So in that sense, I’m going to use characters to describe characters for all my SJM lovers. Bryce reminded me more of Celaena and Feyre. She had the swagger, sass and confidence that she parades to everyone and she didn't let others see her vulnerabilities. She held her chin up despite all the slurs thrown her way and didn't back down despite everyone’s belittlement of her. She didn’t let anyone get to her because most of the crap thrown her way are people’s shallow perspective of her, and her true self is someone resilient, loyal and caring to the ones she loves. She was strong, courageous, a bit impulsive and a badass with guns. Also, the ending made me emotional and I was waiting for SJM to deliver that tear-inducing scene and I was so glad she did (even when I had tears rolling down my cheeks). I loved seeing her character blossom and shine, and I know that she will continue to develop later in the series. Not to mention, I cannot wait to see how her powers will evolve and what her destiny will be since the ending had so much promise to her character arc. 

Art by Ellie @kynerie

Now onto our tall, muscled, dark, brooding love interest, Hunt Athalar. I’m not gonna deny that SJM has a type when it comes to her male love interests so it was no surprise that Hunt embodied elements of her other male leads. And to be fair, Hunt was a combination of all of them in an angel form (at least he wasn't Fae). But we did have his unique lightning powers to spice up his character aside from the SJM classic: initial brooding, mysterious aura, dark past, unflinching loyalty and "male alphahole" (liken this to the territorial-Fae bastard) attitude In terms of the actual story, Hunt was a slave to Micah working as the archangel's personal assassin to win back his freedom that he lost when the Vanir rebellion lost years and years ago. Hence, the dark and troubled past. And let's not forget he lost his previous lover during the rebellion and was still in mourning over her demise (they weren't mates, FYI). Were most of these traits done before? Yes. But was I upset by this? Definitely not. Was I trash for it? Absolutely. So it’s no surprise that I stan Hunt Athalar (though he is still below Rhysand and Rowan).

In terms of their relationship, the build-up was slow and torturous. Don't get me wrong, I love a good slow-burn, but this romance was slow to begin, feelings/affection caught real fast, but the actual advance was slow. In one point of the book when Hunt said, “For fuck’s sake, just kiss me, Quinlan,” I was nodding my head in agreement because it was literally what everyone was thinking. I did not mind the slow build-up of their romance given the personal conflicts each of them were dealing with, however, I will criticise the lack of sexual tension and steaminess in the built-up of their relationship. I was happy with the level of banter between them, but the lack of that tension detracted on what would have been a stellar romantic development. Also, let’s talk about the surprising lack of smut in this book. This was her adult series and I swear her "young adult" had way more sexual tension and steaminess. I was mentally prepared for those scenes so it's no surprise that I was disappointed (and confused) about the lack of smut.  However, we did have this scene:

Art by Gabriella Bujdoso

The romance was not the only relationship featured in this story. I go as fas as to say that Bryce and Danika's friendship (heck, count the whole Pack of Devils into this) had equivalent page time, despite what happened in the beginning. I fell in love with their friend group despite the little page time we had of them, and it made the catalytic event all the more heartbreaking to read about. And one of the pack, Connor, was honestly another Sam from Throne of Glass, and I was devastated and gutted with his fate. Throughout the story, it was obvious that Bryce was suffering that traumatising event and it was her love for her friends that motivated her to solve the mystery in order to avenge them. I know the whole “Through love, all is possible” was a bit (a lot) cliché but in terms of this context, it was powerful in that the ending had me tearing up. And props, to SJM for featuring a rock-solid friendship at the beginning of her series because this was the first instance this happened.

Art by @sncinderart

Speaking of which, it was great to have a developing sibling relationship between Ruhn and Bryce. Their relationship was initially non-existent and relatively given the difference in their status with Ruhn being the heir to the throne of the Fae and Bryce being the alienated bastard child of the Fae king. I appreciated that despite the drastic difference in their status, Ruhn strived to make amends for his past mistakes and win back her sister. I loved seeing them come together by the end and learned to open up to each other to fix their relationship as brother and sister (albeit triggered by an end-of-the-world scenario). Honestly, I love how there are so much more different types of relationships featured in the first book of her series other than the central romance and I can’t wait to see how it develops. In this regard, I would say that I saw improvement in SJM character relationships because her past did not have well-developed relationships until the later books in the series. 

Art by @jemlincreations

And I can't forget about Bryce's sidekicks, namely Syrinx because who doesn’t love an adorable pet chimaera who only wanted food and your attention (relatable), and Lehabah a fiesty fire spirit  shameless flirts with the Vanir males. These two provided those comedic and light-hearted moments to break up the tension from the investigation and the death happening all around the main cast. These two never failed to put a smile on my face.

Art by @ArtJake

There were so many other characters I wanted to discuss but I feel like we haven't had enough information on them to elicit strong emotional attachments from me though I am intrigued to see how their character will develop and what their future roles would be in the later books. Some of them were Fury, Jesiba, Aidas, the Oracle, the Asteri and so many more. Though, I'll be discussing some scenes involving them in the spoiler section.

Plot/Story:

The overarching plot of this story revolved around solving the murders of Danika and the Pack of Devils and finding Luna's Horn, an ancient artefact with immense power wielded by the Starborn Fae. Aside from solving these mysteries some interesting secrets were unearthed along the way. In terms of the mystery, it was intriguing at the start but given the hunky page count of this book, it dragged in the middle part and picked up the pace significantly in the last 200 pages or so. I liked how certain elements built-up to the climax, but some of the elements in the final reveal were quite predictable. However, there were some of the elements surprised me in both good and bad ways. Some of the reveals were truly surprising while others left me scratching my head as they came from left field (or it could be that I just couldn't understand those scenes since I stayed up way later than I should to finish the book). However, what I will say it that those last 200 pages were explosive and action-packed so at least I was high entertained and (finally) fully immersed into the story.

What I did enjoy about the plot was the whole Oracle business. Like what was that about? I'm pleased that, in the end, the overarching story arc was able to keep my interest. And the things revealed at the end made me so excited for the next book because I'm incredibly intrigued with the prophecies and their hinted connection to the past events. This is reminding of what what SJM did with the story thread in Throne of Glass and I'm highly anticipating whatever is in store for this series.

Overall Thoughts:

Overall, this wasn't my favourite of her books, and quite frankly, it reads more YA than her YA titles, most likely because of the surprising lack of smut. (I can't believe this is the threshold I've set for myself for SJM books but it is and I will not be judged.) I had fun, highly entertaining reading experience and I'm anticipating what's in store for this series and how SJM will expand the lore and history of this world. I’m hoping that we will get more maps in future books so that I can finally have a full picture of this world. I just can’t wait to see what's next for this series and how the characters will develop and grow.

Spoilers!

For the size of this book, there's not much spoilers I want to get into. I mainly want to focus on Danika and the Pack of Devil's murder, Bryce's powers, and the prophecies so let's get into them.

Art by @jemlincreations

First off, Danika and the Pack of Devils were murdered by Danika herself with the influence of Micah. The fact that it was the archangel who orchestrated the whole ordeal was unsurprising because, throughout the middle portion of this book, he was giving off "danger" and "do not trust" vibes. As to how he managed to make Danika murder her pack and herself, well that was when the drugs came into play. A drug, called synth, can give the user incredible strength and essentially transform them into murder machine, however, the downside was that they lost all inhibition and control in favour of the bloodlust that the drug promoted. And so the result was a tragic and bloody demise. The built-up to that conclusion, though, was surprising and filled with twist and turns that had my 1-am-brain working overtime to comprehend. When Bryce and Hunt were investigating into synth, the situation made it seem that Bryce knew more than Hunt when in reality Hunt knew about the drug way before her and was tempted to use it to fight for his freedom along with two other of his allies, however, all the secrets were revealed, resulting in either death and excruciating enslavement, which was the worse of than death. And, of course, Hunt was returned to his former "owner," the archangel Sandriel, who was the twin sister of his former lover, Shahar. Let's just say she just loved torture so she wasn't someone you wanted to cross. Sandriel's portrayal was incredibly antagonistic that when Hunt finally killed her, it was so satisfying. 

Art by @talia.nobel

This is a good segue into introducing one of my favourite characters, Hypaxia, the Queen of the Witches. I just loved her character as she was independent, wise and truly wanted to make a difference. She was a powerful healer and it was revolutionary that not only was she able to develop a cure for synth, but she also managed to free Hunt from his enslavement by dispelling his slave tattoo that hindered the full might of his powers. And let's not forget, that she was betrothed to Ruhn, and though she showed little to no inclination in the match. I'm expecting that there would be some sort of development between them though that remains to be seen and I'm still on the fence as to whether I ship it or not. Nevertheless, they are two characters I want to see grow and I cannot wait to see what SJM has in store for them.   

Speaking of badass female characters, can we all just appreciate Bryce's strength and resilience one more time. I mean that girl was not afraid to get her hands dirty when the world was about to go into complete, utter chaos. In the climax of the book, two highly important things were revealed. First, Luna's Horn was tattooed onto Bryce's back by none other than Danika as a means to protect her best friend and keep it hidden from Micah. The second was that Bryce was the heir to the Starborn Fae and her magic was starlight, and could it get any more special than that. 

Art by Melanie T Illustration 

The revelation that Bryce was Luna's Horn was an action-packed and fast-paced moment that kept me turning the pages. It was that scene that Micah revealed his true colours to the world (since the whole confrontation was live for the congregation to witness) as he proceeded to forcefully use Bryce as the Horn, which was severely not okay and could I hate a guy any more than I did Micah at that moment. He literally threw Bryce like a rag doll and forced her (and the Horn) to do his bidding. And we all know how that turned out. By trying to channel his power through the Horn, he unwittingly opened several portals into Hell and essentially (and quite literally) brought Hell onto Crescent City. What I did love about the confrontation was how badass and resilient Bryce was as she fought back, did her absolute best protecting Syrinx and Lehabah, and killed that blasted archangel to avenge her friends. I was devastated when Lehabah sacrificed herself to buy Bryce enough time to kill the archangel and I wished she didn't have to die. The way Bryce ended Micah was such an iconic moment when she shot him in the head and sliced him in half. Honestly, that bastard deserved that ending, and the scene just highlighted that you don't need the might of a god to kill a god. 

The second big bombshell was the revelation that Bryce was the heir to the Starborn Fae with her blinding starlight magic. Her power was not like the Asteri as her light was just light. However, that did not deter from the fact that she was Starborn, a title that was highly revered among the Fae as her brother was celebrated as being Starborn with the measly light he could summon. However, her powers were kept secret from the Fae as to protect her and because past events proved that her father, the Autumn King, could not be trusted with knowledge as Ember, Bryce's human mother put it, "you left her on the curb like garbage," which proved that the Autumn King was garbage and Ember was an absolute queen for leaving him. My favourite moment was definitely when Bryce announced for the whole world to witness:

"I am Bryce Quinlan... Heir to the Starborn Fae."

Art by @Lauregal 

It was such an iconic moment and I absolutely devoured the scene as we also got the full flashback to when she revealed her powers to Danika which was another iconic moment in itself. It was a classic desert scene where Danika and Bryce were cornered by the criminals they were hunting down and when Danika was about to be shot that Bryce unleashed her light and saved them both. The moment proved to be the final key to solidify their friendship forever. Similarly to that flashback, Bryce unleashed her light and channelled it through the Horn to close one of the portals. As to the remaining portals she made the Drop, with Danika's ghost as her Anchor, to release raw magic which ultimately saved and restored the city. The price of making the Drop using one of the Gates was that her threshold was dramatically increased and was larger than even the Autumn King which was an incredible feat in it of itself. Though, this meant that it was near impossible for her to make it back to her body in time and the fact that Danika's ghost should not have been enough to help her return at all. Luckily, the phrase cam in handy as "through love, all is possible" Danika exerted her remaining connection to the world to help propel Bryce back into life and into Hunt's waiting arms.

Art by @talia.nobel

Now, in terms of the sequel, my assumption would that it would revolve around the prophecies told by the Oracle and the greater conflict in the world. The prophecies mentioned were regarding Ruhn and Bryce. Ruhn's prophecy was that he would be the last descendent of his lineage, which foreshadows something terrible in the future for his character. This has me extremely worried about him and dreading his fate in subsequent books. Bryce, on the other hand, had no concrete prophecy as the Oracle was blinded by her light. Though Aidas, the Prince of the Chasm and one of the seven princes of Hell, mentioned at the ending that Bryce's light was the same as Theia, a Fae queen with Starborn powers who was part of the first crossing into Midgard. This tidbit of information has me intrigued on the direction of the overarching plot and expansion of the Fae lore in this world and the role Aidas, along with the other princes will play in the greater story. In terms of the greater conflict, Rigelus, the leader of the Asteri, gave Bryce and Hunt a warning to remain silent regarding the glaring issue that the Asteri attempted to destroy Crescent City to solve the gateways-to-Hell matter (which blowing things up should never be even thought of as a solution to problems). It will be interesting to see if there will be another rebellion/revolution in the future because that would be such an epic landscape.

These revelations have me greatly anticipating the next instalments in this series. I need more world-building, character interactions and answers to the questions presented at the ending. The waiting game will be a long and torturous process. But, at least, I have an amazing book to look forward to each year for the foreseeable future that will hopefully make the waiting more bearable (or not). All I know is that I'm definitely seeing the series to the end and I cannot wait to see what happens next.