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A review by livvy_alipat
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
EDIT!!
Okay, I wrote my first review about an hour after finishing it, and I should have taken some time to let it sink it. Well, now I have. I was previously giving it a 4 on the sole basis of it being a SJM book, where her writing sends you directly into her worlds and her character development is insanely profound.
And while that is mostly true, even in CC3, it's nowhere near as true as in anything we've seen from her in the past. I didn't want pack information on Ithan, I didn't want River Queen/ Blue Court dealing with Therion, I barely wanted to know what was going on with Ruhn but all of his story line was Lidia so that was disappointing. The Jessiba story line fell flat, the crossover for all three worlds was a bit of a let down, the Princes of Hel were not all of that impressive or scary.... Honestly, I'm so sad. And that sounds lame, maybe it is. But with the promise that this finale held, it was very underwhelming. I feel like she purposely left a million story lines open, just so she could maybe come back to them like she's doing with ACOTAR. and ugh, don't get me started on a potential book about Elaine. Bleugck.
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I'm giving this book a 4 because I just can't bring myself to give it a 3 anything. Maybe I need longer to reflect, but from someone who just finished the end of this series (it's SJM so who actually knows, but) this ending just fell a little flat.
I actually really love Bryce as a FMC. She has stayed true to her character from start to finish. One of the things I love about SJM is that for the most part I feel as if she totally fleshes out her characters and tries to stay true to who they are throughout her stories. Bryce's banter is written really well and I love her sass, her heart, and how you can tell she really thinks through her difficult decisions. She also owns her wrongs, which "accountability" is something I think a lot of modern fantasy writers miss with their FMC or just don't develop as well, so I love that about Bryce.
The book still did nothing to convince me to be into Hunt as MMC. haha, sorry Hunt fans! He's not broody in an attractive way, he's just boring. I also expected him to be a bit more impressive, after having Rhysand and Rowan as the other male leads to compare to. "...as lightening writhed up his wrists/ flashed in his eyes" it's like 80% for show. Rhysand literally turned an entire shipful of enemies into bloody mist pulp with just a thought. So, meh, Hunt isn't a favorite.
I could literally share a novel's worth of opinions on all of the characters- because there are 80 million of them. Which gets so annoying. I know here and there, seeing the story through an alternate POV could help in shaping everything, but I just couldn't be bothered to see another chapter with Ithan and Therion, or even Ruhn and especially Lidia. And it's not because I didn't root for them or care about them. My main complaint is that in trying to create this huge world with so many moving pieces, SJM loses the main characters in the mix. I honestly didn't get enough from Bryce's POV. And that's 90% of what I wanted.
Overall, I didn't dislike the book- obviously, I'm giving it a 4 star rating. It just truly fell flat for me as compared to books 1 and 2, which I couldn't put down and couldn't wait for the rest of the story. I can't see myself picking this one up and rereading again for a very very long time.
Okay, I wrote my first review about an hour after finishing it, and I should have taken some time to let it sink it. Well, now I have. I was previously giving it a 4 on the sole basis of it being a SJM book, where her writing sends you directly into her worlds and her character development is insanely profound.
And while that is mostly true, even in CC3, it's nowhere near as true as in anything we've seen from her in the past. I didn't want pack information on Ithan, I didn't want River Queen/ Blue Court dealing with Therion, I barely wanted to know what was going on with Ruhn but all of his story line was Lidia so that was disappointing. The Jessiba story line fell flat, the crossover for all three worlds was a bit of a let down, the Princes of Hel were not all of that impressive or scary.... Honestly, I'm so sad. And that sounds lame, maybe it is. But with the promise that this finale held, it was very underwhelming. I feel like she purposely left a million story lines open, just so she could maybe come back to them like she's doing with ACOTAR. and ugh, don't get me started on a potential book about Elaine. Bleugck.
---------------------------------
I'm giving this book a 4 because I just can't bring myself to give it a 3 anything. Maybe I need longer to reflect, but from someone who just finished the end of this series (it's SJM so who actually knows, but) this ending just fell a little flat.
I actually really love Bryce as a FMC. She has stayed true to her character from start to finish. One of the things I love about SJM is that for the most part I feel as if she totally fleshes out her characters and tries to stay true to who they are throughout her stories. Bryce's banter is written really well and I love her sass, her heart, and how you can tell she really thinks through her difficult decisions. She also owns her wrongs, which "accountability" is something I think a lot of modern fantasy writers miss with their FMC or just don't develop as well, so I love that about Bryce.
The book still did nothing to convince me to be into Hunt as MMC. haha, sorry Hunt fans! He's not broody in an attractive way, he's just boring. I also expected him to be a bit more impressive, after having Rhysand and Rowan as the other male leads to compare to. "...as lightening writhed up his wrists/ flashed in his eyes" it's like 80% for show. Rhysand literally turned an entire shipful of enemies into bloody mist pulp with just a thought. So, meh, Hunt isn't a favorite.
I could literally share a novel's worth of opinions on all of the characters- because there are 80 million of them. Which gets so annoying. I know here and there, seeing the story through an alternate POV could help in shaping everything, but I just couldn't be bothered to see another chapter with Ithan and Therion, or even Ruhn and especially Lidia. And it's not because I didn't root for them or care about them. My main complaint is that in trying to create this huge world with so many moving pieces, SJM loses the main characters in the mix. I honestly didn't get enough from Bryce's POV. And that's 90% of what I wanted.
Overall, I didn't dislike the book- obviously, I'm giving it a 4 star rating. It just truly fell flat for me as compared to books 1 and 2, which I couldn't put down and couldn't wait for the rest of the story. I can't see myself picking this one up and rereading again for a very very long time.