I have been looking forward to reading House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas, the third book in the Crescent City series, ever since the last book was released two years ago. As we were left on a massive cliffhanger plus a big reveal that I’m not going to mention in my opening paragraph due to spoilers. I will be sharing light spoilers during the review portion, so if you haven’t read this series or others by this author and plan to please go to one of my other reviews. As there’s no way I can discuss this book without going into some spoilers.
Synopsis
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.
Book Details
- Published: January 30, 2024
- Page Count: 848 pages
- Genre: Epic Fantasy
Thoughts on House of Flame and Shadow
This book starts off where the last one left off. Bryce is in the Night Court with Nesta, Azriel, Rhys, and Amren. They have brought her to the dungeons in the Hewn City, since they don’t trust her. And honestly, I can understand their line of thought. Bryce breaks out but is followed by Azriel and Nesta as she follows the direction the star in her chest is pointing her to. Which I wasn’t surprised was to the Prison considering that was once the Dusk Court, which we know Bryce descended from. Once there we get a massive info dump in the form of a projection of one of hers and Rhysand’s ancestor, who tells her what happened fifteen thousand years ago during the war against the Asteri/Daglan. However, I felt like this information dump at least made things make sense whereas when that’s happened in other books, I was left royally confused and didn’t make sense of any of the information until way later.
On a total side note, I love how Bryce always referred to Nesta as a warrior and that her step-dad, Randall, would’ve liked her. It was so reaffirming to see how far Nesta came and see her from a POV where she wasn’t being judged for what she did in the past and without bias. And I always love seeing Azriel, though I feel kind of bad that he lost the Truth-Teller to Bryce, but she needed it to kill the Asteri and on a technicality (prophecy) it is hers. I had hoped they would’ve become strong allies, but I understand why they didn’t. Bryce is from another world with the Asteri who want everyone to be their slaves, and the Night Court has been free of that for thousands of years. Each side is looking out for their world and it puts them at odds with one another, especially considering Nesta controls the Dread Trove and technically Bryce has a piece of that on her back. So, it makes sense why Nesta and the Inner Court would want to try taking it back.
While this is happening Hunt, Ruhn, and Baxian are being held by the Asteri in the dungeons being tortured. Lidia along with Tristan Flynn, Declan, Ithan, and Tharion plan to free those three from the dungeons as well as get Tharion out of his arrangement with the Viper Queen. Of course, a lot of things go wrong during these various attempts of freeing individuals. I won’t say what happens to avoid sharing an spoilers but things were very tense throughout that entire sequence.
After everyone is reunited, there’s a period I’m going to call the growth/reflection period. I’ll try not to share too many spoilers while I go over this part and I won’t discuss the plot that’s happening around this point of time where this character development is taking place. If there’s something that I deem too much of a spoiler, I will have that in a hidden section.
- Hunt blames himself for not doing more to stop everyone from going to the Eternal City even though they all made that decision not just him. And Bryce doesn’t just want him to go along with their plans, she wants him to fully support stopping the Asteri, so the two argue a good portion of time regarding this.
- Bryce is now the prophesied leader of the Fae, whom she doesn’t like, and has to come to terms with what that means and what she’s going to do about that. Which has been a thing with Bryce since the last book. She wants the benefits of her station, but doesn’t want to fully claim everything it means. Not that I entirely blame her considering she has always seemed as lesser to them, and there are lot of problems with the entitlement of the nobility and their treatment of others. But as other characters point out to her, she has to decide what she’s going to do with that fact as the Fae will be looking towards her now that the sword and knife are reunited.
- Ruhn also is in a state where he has to come to terms with Lidia, who tortured him but also rescued him from the dungeons. Not to mention, he, along with Hunt and Baxian, had to mentally sort through everything that happened in the dungeons to them.
- Lidia is dealing with the fact that for really the first time she is allowed be herself, rather than a role or mask everyone wanted from her. She has a complicated history with the majority of the group, since she was forced to move up the ranks and get close to the Asteri to spy on them. SpoilerLidia also nearly died to break Ruhn, Hunt, and Baxian out of the dungeons making her double agent status known to the Asteri. And we learn that she has twin fifteen-year old boys on the Ocean Queen’s ship that she hasn’t seen since they were eighteen months old, as she was forced to leave them behind by the Ocean Queen. The father is an unknown deer shifter as this happened during a fertility rite, but she kept that a secret from her father and everyone loyal to the Asteri, so they could have a shot at a normal life that she never got.
- Tharion has to deal with the fall out of pissing off pretty much every leader: The River Queen, The Viper Queen, and possibly the Ocean Queen. Of course, Tharion makes a last minute decision that is not thought out at all, which is rightly questioned by the rest of the group. Then he makes another split second decision, granted this time it was with good intentions of protecting Flynn’s little sister as he wished someone would’ve done for his sister if she was still alive. But my goodness, this dude and Ithan never think out their plans before executing them.
- Ithan learns how to make his brother proud. SpoilerHe accidently killed the lost Fendyr heir, Sigrid, when they were trying to free Tharion from the Viper Queen. So, he went to Jesba for help bringing her back to life only the King of House of Shadow and Flame made her a reaper. And he vows to restore her, but I understood fairly quickly that he was going to become the new Prime of the shifters, and he would make the wolves better. Rather than allowing a different Alpha, who knows nothing, to make the change he wishes to see happen.
Bryce’s character arc is quite similar to Aelin’s in Throne of Glass. They both create plans without informing anybody, they are both the chosen ones making amends for something their ancestor did or was involved in thousands of years ago, and they are both queens who initially rejected the role. I’ll stress that the rest of the aspects in the books are different, so Crescent City isn’t a rehash of Throne of Glass, but there are many parallels between these two characters. In prior Crescent City books, I would have described these two characters as being very different, but after this book, Aelin and Bryce share a lot in common. However, Aelin had to convince others to follow her, whereas Bryce did not. Despite the fact that she is the least experienced person in the group, they all sort of just let her lead.
Total side note, I love how in Crescent City these guys can just lost entire limbs and they just grow back like nothing yet we are told repeatedly they have less magic than the A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass worlds. The healing system makes literally no sense. I was so scared for Ruhn due to the teasers from Sarah J. Maas about this book and his prophecy, but literally I don’t know why I did considering this healing system. None of our main characters are in any danger of having a Kingdom of Ash moment, and I’m kind of glad for that since they got a good ending. Or at least most of them did as Ithan and Tharion, our two himbos, were set up for the potential of having their own books in the future as their ending didn’t feel like a ending.
Overall, I seriously enjoyed this book and would highly recommend this book. It was intense at times as I was at the edge of my seat. At the end of the book, there was a sweet moment between Nesta and Bryce. And I loved seeing Nesta interact with Ember (Bryce’s mom). I’m curious how that is going to play out back in A Court of Thorns and Roses as it seems another book is planned for Nesta based on the way things went. And everything that was taken by Bryce was returned and then some. So, I’m curious how that’s going to play out in the future especially since the publisher announced that Sarah J. Maas will be releasing seven more books this year (or in the next few years).
I would say more about the ending but I don’t want to give too many spoilers beyond what I already have through the hidden sections. But I thought this was a great way to end the story for Bryce, Hunt, Baxian, Lidia, and Ruhn. I’m sure they will make appearances in the future if there will be more Crescent City books, but they will not be the focus as they were with the first three books.
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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