House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, 1)

Being the fan of an author's work is both a blessing and a curse. You count down the days until their next—usually hyped up—release is to be published. You talk about it more and more the closer that said release day approaches. You try to enter any possible pre-order special is available, in the hope of getting a lovely exclusive pin, or a poster, or a print.And then the book releases...I don't know about you, but once that book hits shelves, I am violently torn between a crazed eagerness to read it, and a nearly crippling fear that I am going to hate the book no matter how much I have loved this author's stories in the past. Which, let's face it, is one of the worst things to happen in a reader's life.Thank you, Maas, for delivering the goods once again.House of Earth and Blood is not a perfect novel. I'm not even sure that such a thing is possible, to be frank, because our love of books is a very personal thing. But, this novel is a punch to the heart, in the best possible way. I absolutely fell in love with the story, with the characters, with the world that was created. And it is definitely a complex and intricate world of which we get a glimpse, but that is sure to open up to us even more, and I cannot wait to continue exploring it as the series progresses.I'm a huge fan of badass female leads in novels. What can I say, I live vicariously through them. Ironically, I usually don't like so-called “badass” female leads in novels, because most of the time what we're given are annoying females that try too hard. I initially read the sample for HoEaB that NetGalley provided, and I was a bit unsure about Bryce. She came off a tad strong for me, and I was instantly worried that this meant negativity throughout the rest of the novel. Maybe my mindset was not in its proper place then, but I am so glad that I decided to read the full novel from the first chapter again, because my opinion of Bryce completely changed.I love this woman.Despite the fact that we are reading a fantasy, despite the fact that Bryce is half-Fae, she is very human in her actions and emotions. She makes her mistakes, she suffers through them, she learns, she picks herself back up, puts on a new pair of teal-colored panties, and she keeps going. She's believable and realistic in who she is, and it's very easy to become connected to her.This is actually true of the rest of the characters. They don't always connect right away—I was unsure of Hunt at first, of Ruhn, of Jesiba even—but once they do, they stick and you root for these people. You suffer with them, you are excited alongside them, you want them to kick ass and come out winning on the other side.Hunt—or as I like to think of him in my head, Orion...such a gorgeous name—had one of the best evolutions. I can see that Maas wanted to make him this dark, introverted being at the beginning, and I saw hints of it, but I couldn't quite see him that way full-force. I think that's one of the things that made me question him for those first few chapters of his appearance in-story. I see what you want me to see, because you're telling me what to see, but that's not really who he is, and that's coming out more so than the facade he's portraying. Athie is a deep, tortured, sweet and loving male who slowly opens up to the reader, and he swept me right off my feet.That's probably why the sudden twist at the end of the novel's third part was such a slap to the face, and the biggest problem that I had with this book.We're navigating a story that's centered around the death of Bryce's best friend, Danika, and her pack of shape-shifting wolves—one of the most heartbreaking moments of the book, by the way, even if the synopsis warns us about it (the writing in this piece, at the start, was wonderfully done and it tore through me). Eventually, we know that Danika's death, and that of the pack, is surrounded by the use of a drug called synth, which makes people—both human and non—have strength and violence to such a degree that they can tear others apart. And the culmination of that is that Hunt is involved in this so that he, and those with him, can use this drug to help themselves be freed from those who have enslaved them.It did not fit with his character.Hunt, who strives to keep others safe, who works and does the horrible things that his handler, Micah, tells him to do so that he can keeps streets safe? Hunt, who deals in killing demons that come through rifts? Yes, he has been suffering for over two hundred years, and he has been tortured within an inch of his life, and the love of his life was killed in the midst of this. But to make him be a buyer, when he comes to know the consequences of the usage of synth, did not fit in with who he is. As the last part of the novel progressed, things were smoothed out a bit and it sort of fit in. But this nagged at me so much that I was not able to let it go.I did, as a matter of fact, stop reading for the day once I hit this point, and had to force myself to pick up the book again the next day so that I could continue.It doesn't take away from the story, mind you. I said it once, and I say it again, I love this book. I felt every single emotion that was in here, and that's one of the best things that I can ever ask for in a story: make me feel. And you certainly feel. You feel to the point of tears sometimes. Lehabah's end did it for me, that little fire sprite was one of the good ones. Bryce's phone call to Hunt when she's in the middle of taking out demons after the Gates open and knows she might very well die, did it for me again. Danika and Bryce's reunion after Bryce makes her Drop did it for me a third time. And then that bittersweet moment, near the end of the book, when Bryce gets just a glimpse of the pack and Connor waves to her, brought tears to my eyes once again.But I still think that there is, and was, so much to explore. And while we're taken to the brink of those moments that can be darker, like the ones that Hunt described having experienced during his years with Sandriel alongside Pollux, we're not taken there. It's not that I want to see my beloved characters suffer, it's that sometimes that suffering can have room for that much more growth. Sometimes when we bypass that, things appear a little too easy.At the end of the day, though, this was stellar. My worry was for nothing, and I am going to be suffering until the second book is so much as announced. I'm still not over the losses in this first installment, I still remember the epic scene of Bryce against Micah, of Hunt's plummet over that helicopter, of Lehabah's sacrifice. I am so curious to see how the obscure Aidas ties in with this story and what more he has to offer, and I can't even imagine how the Asteri will likely play a part in the future of this world.Bring it on, Crescent City. I'm waiting.

I’m blown away by this book. I’ve never read a modern crime fantasy book before, and this was SO well done.At first, it took me until about page 150 to really get into it. It’s one of those books that just throws you into the plot immediately and doesn’t really introduce what’s going on and who everyone is. You’re just kind of there in their lives for a while, which can be confusing.This went on for a while until the first part of the plot started around 100 pages in. That’s when things got interesting!All of the characters are amazing. Mostly Bryce. Bryce isn’t your typical female lead. She is the embodiment of a boss girl without being annoying, if that makes sense? She is hilarious, strong, has a heart of gold, and is an amazing friend. All this said, I think she besides Nesta Archeron are the most well written female characters IMO.While this book is quite lengthy at 800 pages, I ended up enjoying that length greatly. It gave time for sweet little character moments, and didn’t feel rushed.The plot twists in this book are nothing short of jaw dropping. They were unexpected and super well written.I also cried a lot towards the end of the book! I rarely cry when I read books, but this one is a tear jerker! Whew.All in all, this really is a 10/10 for me personally, and I’m so excited to read the next CC book!

Spoiler Free Part:I'm going to start off by saying that I am a moderate SJM fan. I tried but failed to ever get into her Throne of Glass series (particularly thrown off by the multiple love interest changes) and really only got truly into ACoTR series towards the end of the first book. While I liked her writing style, I just couldn't connect with the characters. The last third of ACoTR was the first time I felt like the characters were interesting and the plot became engaging. So, I say this without rose colored glasses- I liked House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City Book 1). I thought it was well written, interesting and I connected with the characters. My biggest love of the book was the deep and real feeling of unquestioning love between the two best friends, Bryce and Danika. It's not a spoiler to say that Danika is murdered, as its in the book blurb, but I had totally forgotten and was absolutely gutted when it happened. Bryce's grief for her friend felt so real throughout the books. I think that was what made me empathize with and like her beyond her sassiness. Also, I for one didnt mind the partying and drug use specifically because its depicted that she realized she was basically wasted her life chasing stupid pleasures and not doing anything meaningful. However, this book has a TON of info dump and exposition. I'll go into it more below in the spoiler section, but there is a LOT of information for the reader to process constantly, and new characters are introduced constantly as well making it feel like there are just too many cast to keep track of. The relationship between Hunt & Bryce feels organic to me and I didn't feel that it was "insta-love" as some others have complained. It made sense to me that they were the only two people who saw each other as they really were. My biggest gripe is that the very last bit of the book feels like it was supposed to be part of one of her other series compared to the rest of the story.Overall I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars, it was far from perfect but it was highly enjoyable and I'm anticipating the next book in the series.********SPOILERS**********DO NOT READ BELOW UNLESS YOU WANT SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!I really loved the relationship between Bryce and her friends throughout the book. They felt very real and genuine. Even the relationship with Rhun felt nicely done. The friend characters were well fleshed out and didnt feel too two dimensional.I really like the world building. I think the caste system and the way the Vanir reign is well explained and makes sense. I thought the concept of "The Drop" was unique and interesting.And of course, I loved Danika. Oh boy did I love Danika, and I was heartbroken when she died, because I had forgotten it was coming. When Lele died, I was also genuinely saddened. I felt like the emotions in the book were really well done. Although some people complained about the multiple dead-end leads, I enjoyed them (at one point I was certain Sabine was the killer) because it would have been really boring if they just easily figured it out right away. The Kristillos demon was kind of a disappointment. I mean, it took down Micah but really didn't seem that dangerous overall.I liked Aidas and am intrigued to see him return in future books.I also liked the war between Humans & Vanir. That was something that ACoTR hinted at being a possibility but I think the concept of rebelling against their masters and finding a way to fight back was a good plotline; however I also think Bryce doesn't seem to care too much about their cause. She is always befriending and trying to free slaves, her parents are humans, but she doesn't seem to care all that much about the overall subjugation of multiple species. It kind of gets treated like "thats the way it is" without any sense of outrage or hatred about it.Alright now for some gripes:Fury is just a carbon copy of Amren. What is the point of her whole character? Bryce could have been partying with June that night; Rhun could have put a gun to Hunts head and rode Bryce off on the wave runner; Rhun also could have been the one with a helicopter stashed off site. What did Fury actually do for the plot?Everyone is soooooooooooo super crazy off the charts perfectly hot, and also, everyone is insanely deadly. Now I get it, they are Vanir and Angels, but come on. Is there no such thing as an ugly werewolf or an unattractive mermaid? And everyone is a super honed amazing assassin. Fury, Bryce's adopted dad, Rhun and his friends, Hunt, every werewolf, etc. Everyone is stunningly hot and dangerous. To us, they might be, but if that was your entire world your entire life wouldnt it seem a little trite? If everyone is hot, does it mean anything anymore?Also like others have said, jesus with the overkill about Bryce being scorch-the-earth-hot. I get it if Conner & Hunt are super attracted to her, and if she gets hit on occasionally. But it is literally like every male she meets throughout the book can't bear to keep their hands off her. Every time she walks down the street every male is just falling all over themselves to look at her. It definitely feels slathered on a little thick.One of the biggest things that bugs me though is this: The last third of the book. Oh my god. Everything happening on screen, Micah going all Bond Villain and giving a long monologue explaining everything he did and why and just happened to be on camera for everyone important to see. Eye roll. We weren't even with Bryce during most of the action but rather watching it alongside the other secondary characters. The whole scene with the Nok was absolutely unnecessary and just felt like it was dragging out the ending of the book. Micah could have slammed Bryce into the tank, resulting in it cracking and her being severely injured, and Lele still could have broken the glass without the whole Syrinx-Rescue/Nok-Fight even needing to happen. In fact, it would have felt more believable that the Nok fought Micah and occupied him long enough for Bryce to escape than for Micah, the Archangel, the immensely powerful Governor, to have been....conveniently locked in a magically warded bathroom while a whole other scene got played out. It just felt totally unnecessary.Okay- now- last major gripe:THE LAST 50 PAGES OF THE BOOK. What the hell? Did we suddenly get transported into A Court of Thorn and Roses? Portals to Hel opening up all over the city, the lead character running around fighting in hand-to hand combat to protect helpless citizens, the magical companions fighting demons with her.......it felt like I was suddenly watching Feyre, not Bryce. On top of that, while I appreciate the symbolism of Bryce using Danika's sword, it felt totally unrealistic to see a woman who spent the last five years of her life first partying and being a college student then an antiquities desk clerk suddenly is an amazing sword wielding killer. The gun thing is believable due to her Stepfather and the scene at the gun range. But we never once see Bryce mention ever knowing how to use a sword or pick one up, but suddenly she's single handedly taking on an army of demons with flawless sword fighting? I really enjoyed the ending bit with her making the Drop and Danika being there (so touching) but other than that the very last part of the book suddenly felt like it was just a rehashing of the battle scene from A Court of Mist & Fury.The ending of the book wrapped everything up pretty well, but it also leaves a lot unanswered. Bryce admits that the entire city saw her use her Starborn powers and that she is now more powerful than any other mixed-species has ever been before. She even says the Fae & Angels can't let it stand that she showed their caste system was invalid. And yet, the highest Angels told her just to lay low and they would leave them alone. Obviously, we know that they probably don't, but I feel like a cliffhanger as to what would happen now in the fate of humans Vs Vanir/Angels and what that revelation was going to mean for Bryce would have worked better than just wrapping it up in a neat but not really logical bow.I still liked the books, I still like the characters and I am excited for the next one, but hopefully some of these issues will be corrected going forwards.Anyway that concludes my long as heck summary, thanks for reading!!!