House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Pages: 816

Series: Crescent City #1

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Release Date: March 3, 2020

Genre(s): High/Urban Fantasy with Romantic Elements

Format: Hardcover

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Goodreads Synopsis

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

“Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.”

What Did I Think?

Okay, y’all. I think I’ve finally calmed down from the awesomeness that it this book enough to formulate all of my thoughts, so here it goes:

The world-building in this book was fantastic, as with all of Sarah J. Maas’ books! In all my years of reading, I’ve never read anything quite like this world, and I absolutely loved every moment of piecing the imagery and descriptions of this world together and creating a visual in my mind of exactly what Lunathion (aka Crescent City) would look like!

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this book was the fact that even though Danika and the Pack of Devils weren’t physically present for a good portion of the book, I was so invested in their characters and fell in love with them instantaneously, which made the more emotional moments of Bryce’s journey that much more heartbreakingly beautiful for me to be a part of. It takes incredible talent for someone to be able to write characters that stick with the reader long after they’re gone (not gonna spoil anything, folks, so just read the book to find out what I mean!), and the fact that Maas could make the reader connect with a group of nearly-invisible characters on this deep of a level in literally a couple of chapters is completely insane, but in the best possible way!

Speaking of characters… First and foremost, I love every freaking character in this book, including the mean ones (yeah, I’m talking to you, SABINE, MICAH, AND THE AUTUMN KING). Ruhn, Queen Hypaxia, Flynn, Declan, Naomi, Isaiah, Ithan, Amelie (err, okay, my like of this one is still up in the air), Tharion, Fury, and so many more have totally stolen my heart, and even though I know there’s bound to be casualties in the other books in this series (A SARAH J. MAAS SPECIALTY, much to my dismay), I really hope that a lot of these guys make it to the end and get their happy endings (I know, unlikely, but one can hope, right?).

Okay, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the ROMANCE between Hunt and Bryce! At first, I wasn’t sure I was sold, to be honest. I think this was because I feel like with all relationships (fictional and in real life), you have to work on yourself first before you can really connect with someone else, and these two both had things they needed to figure out. However, as I continued reading and learning more about their individual struggles, I couldn’t think of a better pairing, as they were able to help one another through the challenges they were facing because the battles they were fighting individually were very similar to the other’s. While Bryce and Hunt’s individual journeys in and of itself themselves were incredibly raw and beautiful to watch unfold, I think the emotional bond (and, of course, the romantic bond) they created with one another makes their stories that much more compelling because they had one another to lean on and trust, when at the beginning they each had close to no one in their corners.

A quick shout-out to my FAVORITE element of this whole book, as cheezy as it may sound: the fact that EVERY SINGLE MOMENT circled back to the idea that there is real power in love, and that sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps you moving forward, whether it be love for your friends, family, a romantic partner, or maybe even a combination of all three.

Okay, so I’ve rambled a whole lot about this book, so here are my final thoughts:

The plot moved at a perfect pace for me, and I thought the story line was very well constructed– complex enough that the reader is certainly going to have to think things through, but not so complicated that our heads are spinning. The characters and their development were FABULOUS and their motivations/journeys and their reactions to various plot points were represented realistically, and I loved all of the “OH SNAP NO FREAKING WAY” plot twists that kept getting thrown our way! I would seriously give this book 1,000,000 starts if I could, but since I can’t fit that many on this post, I’ll just have to settle for 5/5!

Who Would I Recommend This Book To?

Due to mature content (both in terms of romantic elements and violent themes), I would only recommend this book to mature audiences (17/18+).

If your’re looking for an adult fantasy novel that’s action packed, full of plot twists, and has has a little dash of “forbidden romance” thrown in, this book is totally for you! If you’ve read Sarah J. Maas’ other books and fell in love with her characters and world-building, I highly recommend you check this book out!

I also recommend this book to those of you who are big fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout, Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and Leigh Bardugo!