House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J Maas – Spoiler-free Book Review!

Hello lovelies!

Welcome to my first review of the year! The last book I read in 2020 was House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas and it was actually the best book I read that year; no lies. I’m still kind of in a book hangover because of it. I thought it would only be fitting to share my review of this wonderful book even though there are already a thousand ones out there. I hope you enjoy!

Title: House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1)

Author: Sarah J Maas

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. (Goodreads)

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5 stars: Persephone – Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring. Persephone is my favourite goddess because she is full of contradictions – she represents both strength as queen of the underworld and a softness as a floral maiden. She teaches me how it’s okay to be both. If Persephone appears, that means that the book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, that it holds a particular place in my heart and that it is now part of my favourite books ever.

Pheme: The goddess of fame, gossip and renown – This goddess will be invoked when a book has received a lot of attention and is praised by critics and the book community. She will be featured whether the book lived up to my expectations or not.

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Where does one begin?? I think this book is part of my top 3 all-time favourite books ever. You know how annoying it is when someone asks you what your favorite book is and you can’t answer because there are too many? Well I have found the solution because I would confidently reply with “Crescent City”. This book was a rollercoaster and it was particularly intense because I read it under a short period of time (2 days and a half). I had seen raving reviews about it throughout the year and I knew I would like it but I ended LOVING IT. In the sense that I fell in love and my heart physically hurts from it. Whenever I loo at the book on my shelf I feel like crying. I’m hurting. This book is a little different from Maas’ other books because it is no longer young adult and we could tell by the writing style! I was surprised at how sexy it was! And the characters curse a lot more and make some questionable life choices but I really liked that. It was believable and a nice change from how the characters in YA behave because of the age difference. I think that this book is a masterpiece because of the way everything just falls into place and clicks. This book is exactly 800 pages long but somehow every single word counts. It felt like a detective sorry because the author just left so many clues and so many things made sense when everything was revealed and explained. I repeat everything MADE SENSE. I cannot tell you the amount of time I have read books when the big, shocking reveal didn’t make sense. At all. The last two hundred pages were magnificent and I might never recover. My heart still beats quickly when I think about it. There are also so so so many beautiful and inspiring quotes that resonated with me. I all want to cry about them. I think my heart has never dropped so hard than when I read the words “light it up”. I want it to be tattooed on me. Everywhere. (Kidding…unless?) I loved the focus this book on love. Of any kind. The kind of love for someone that is your mirror but also friendship, how deeply you can connect with someone that is your soulmate and also hiding a secret to protect a sibling. Or sacrificing your life to save a friend, giving up your own peace and chance at eternity to fulfill a promise. Man, I loved every single moment. I loved how pure these types of love were. The author also explores death in a thorough and raw manner and I felt like I myself had lost a loved one. She paints the characters so vividly and profoundly that every single one of them had a voice. Every single one. And there were many! Let it be known that Bryce Quinlan is who I inspire to be. She knows who she is, she knows her wort and she knows that it is not defined by the fact that she likes partying and being sexually active. She’s loving, brave, caring and strong and I can only wish to be as amazing as she is. The world-building is impeccable. How can someone come up with something like this?? Through the old wars, past and present rebellions and explanations of how the system works, I could see clearly Crescent City. It could have been confusing; it should have been confusing even because there were so many elements and characters thrown at the reader but Maas managed to paint it all perfectly. I loved all the glimpses of history we got and I loved reading about the Drop; it was fascinating. Now I don’t know if this is the history and classic literature major in me speaking but I saw so many references to old Greece and the Roman Empire and I LOVED IT. I think this added something to the story and gave it that “myth” aura. Also can we talk about the fact that there is technology in this?? HECK YES to phones, hacking and video chats. It was so refreshing!! Basically this is one of the best books ever written in the history of books and I will never recover. I am Sarah J Maas trash. She ruined every other book for me.

Did you read it? Is it on your TBR? Let me know in the comments!

Karla xx