Alexis:
House of Flame and Shadow, the third book in the Crescent City series, has already been controversial in the SJM community, but I really enjoyed it!
It’s not perfect (let’s be honest—ACOTAR (A Court of Thorns and Roses) isn’t either) BUT with the magnitude of everything she had to pull together in House of Flame and Shadow, I thought it was a great, wild ride!
The stakes are high. So many things are happening and being revealed, and despite the massive page count, I was on my toes for all of it. I loved how she pulled everything together!
A lot of people don’t like Bryce, but I’m not one of them. While she’s a little hot-headed, I love a character with actual flaws—and she’s a badass! She also reminded me a lot of Aelin in this book, and a lot of the plot actually reminded me of ACOWAR, the 3rd book in the ACOTAR series.
Two of the side characters were definitely the stars of this book: Lidia and Ruhn. If you know, you know!
House of Earth and Blood is definitely my favorite of the three, and I only gave House of Sky and Breath 3 stars, so it was definitely my least favorite of the bunch. While I think the first book is honestly the best and stands perfectly on its own, I did enjoy this one. I just missed the dynamic of Bryce and Hunt from the first book.
All of that being said, I think Maas did a great job. Sure, the final battle definitely could’ve been a little longer. And sure, there are some info dumps in the first half. But Maas had a lot of things to link together, and overall, this was a great ending. (Or is it the ending? You never know with Maas!)
VERDICT: 5 ⭐