My Review: House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City #3): by Sarah J. Maas

***Warning!! This review contains spoilers for this book and for previous books in the series, so continue reading at your own risk! You’ve officially been warned!!***

To see my review of book 1 – House of Earth and Blood – Click HERE

To see my review of book 2 – House of Sky and Breath – Click HERE

Total Star Rating: 4.25 Stars

The gods know what would happen if all us females were unsupervised. Absolute anarchy. Cities would crumble.”

– Sarah J. Maas, “House of Flame and Shadow”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.

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The wait was finally over….but then I had to put off making this book review for months and months because I put off typing up reviews for a long time too….I guess I was on a hiatus *shrugs*

Thinking back to this third installment when I read it, I’ll admit that while I absolutely loved it like I usually love an SJM novel, there was something about this one that fell short for me…like it didn’t quite meet all the expectations I had. And maybe that partially had to do with me (and plenty of others) hyping this book up way up too much in our own heads to the point that nothing the author would’ve written would’ve met our expectations. But either way, it can be agreed that this wasn’t her best book…it was still incredible, but defs not her best.

I think for me, it was partially because we all expected more that crossover tease we got from the end of book 2, and then we (or at least me) was expecting an MCU Avengers: Endgame level epic showdown where all the characters from the other series (ACOTAR and possibly TOG) come through portals to help Bryce and Hunt and the others battle it out with the Asteri.

Not to knock what we DID get…it was still awesome! The Princes of Hel were a major highlight for me in this one and become more prominent much to my relief. and the battle we witnessed was still absolutely incredible.

The worldbuilding and mythology/lore was OF COURSE absolutely mindblowing…I commend SJM with how she weaved it all together, and even amongst her different series too. Like how does one do that?! I can’t even describe how it was all done, you just have to read the book yourself and experience it for yourself. It’s just so awe-inspiring and shows the skill she truly has as an author, whether you like her books or not.

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‘Okay, let’s do a head count. If you’re disowned, disgraced, or both, raise your hand.’ Tharion, Baxian, Lidia, Hunt, and Ruhn raised their hands.”

– Sarah J. Maas, “House of Flame and Shadow”

What I Liked:

1. The Mythology/Lore Mixed Together From TWO Series! When I learned the things that you do that involves the history of both the lore of Crescent City AND ACOTAR, I was in complete awe. The way she mixed TWO mythologies together the way it unraveled and weaved together was legit chef’s kiss.
2. WE GET CROSSOVER INTERACTION! So this is of course a BIG spoiler if you haven’t read the previous book, but there’s crossover interaction with Bryce and characters from ACOTAR and its AWESOME!!
3. Lidia.Freakin.Cervos! The Hind gets a major character MVP award in this book because she was by far the most complex and most interesting character! I was totally hoping for this too with it being revealed in HOSAB that she was Agent Day and a rebel spy…and this book we get to see her in a whole new light and she was incredible! Absolutely loved her! She was kind of like the Manon Blackbeak of this series it feels like in my opinion.
4. We See Princes of Hel! We get WAY more Aidas, which was a big improvement over what we got in HOSAB, but we also keep getting more and more interactions with the other princes too: Thanatos and Apollion. I love the dark and creepy mystique and aura around them and all the questions surrounding them of whether they’re friends or foes in this epic battle that’s on our way!

What I Didn’t Like:

1. I Wish We Got More ACOTAR Interaction…While I was ecstatic with what we did get, I of course wish we got more along with it. Like I wanted it to be like Avengers: Endgame with everyone reappearing through the portals and coming to fight Thanos in the final battle, but SJM characters instead. It would’ve been epic, but hey, I hyped myself up too much there and so the disappointment is on me, and I think anyone else who was disappointed by this aspect also hyped themselves up wayyyyy too much.
2. Ithan and Tharion’s Decision Making Skills…I swear these two were in a competition amongst themselves to see who could fuck up their lives even further…SO many issues popped up in this book (and even continuing from the last book too) with the choices these two characters specifically make. And while I LOVE the characters themselves, these issues they created for themselves I also found to be the least interesting parts of the story in this book.
3. Change of POV Several Times Mid-Chapter…So I actually did this same thing on a writing project a few years ago and didn’t see a problem with it back then, but now I totally see what beta readers were saying, it’s very jarring and very jumpy with how within each chapters, we jump from character to character who are all over the place in Midgard (or elsewhere) and if SJM’s writing is like that….Oh lord I KNOW my amateurish writing was like that back then too.

Conclusion:

Overall, another EPIC installment by the queen herself… SJM always delivers, and this book was about as epic as you could imagine in terms of action and excitement. Did you get EVERYTHING you wanted? probably not….but that’s also because it’s CRESCENT CITY and not the next ACOTAR book, and that does make a huge difference in what to expect for this book.

It wasn’t perfect, but we all know hardly any book ever is, and I know I was blown away by this book like I usually am whenever it comes to queen Maas!

Thanks for reading!

— Nick Goodsell