Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood
A Book Review
Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog. Finally, after months of contemplating about the idea of posting book reviews here, I can now do so with my first read of 2022, and that is none other than House of Earth and Blood, the first book to the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas.
Before I share my in-depth thoughts about House of Earth and Blood, allow me to first introduce its renowned author. If you haven’t heard of her, Sarah J. Maas is a young adult and new adult fantasy author who has previously written two high fantasy book series, namely: Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses. House of Earth and Blood is considered as her urban adult fantasy debut, published in 2020.
I’ve still yet to finish reading her A Court of Thorns and Roses series, but unfortunately won’t be reading from her Throne of Glass series anymore due to issues I’ve had whilst reading the first book.
Now, without further ado, let’s talk about House of Earth and Blood which I gave a star rating of 4.5/5 stars. For anyone who might consider reading the book after seeing my none-spoiled review, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who is a beginner in the fantasy genre because of how intricate the worldbuilding and lore of this book is that it can seem overwhelming for other readers. But if you are a huge fantasy reader, you will definitely enjoy this.
Additionally, as this is adult fantasy, I would also like to give a few trigger warnings when you do think of reading it. This book does deal with themes such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, sex, profanities, violence/abuse, attempted suicide, grief, depression and graphic descriptions. If any or all of these themes makes you as a reader uncomfortable, then I would also not recommend this book. If you don’t mind any of these themes, go ahead and read it.
Moving on, when I finished this book a couple days ago, I was left with a traumatic feeling for the first time in a long while that I’ve been reading fantasy. It left me thinking that I need therapy or a recovery kit due to the rollercoaster of emotions I went through. Turning the last page, I really couldn’t accept that I finally finished reading it after months in between academic and Christmas break that I invested my time in it.
I would have DNF (did not finish/wouldn’t have finished) it were it also not for my book lover friends who have read the book and kept raving about it to me until I finally picked it up. Over time, of course, I did enjoy reading reading it, fully committed, despite my busy schedule, to finishing House of Earth and Blood.
To explain the synopsis of this book through a series of collage that I made, it begins with a flashback of what happened prior to the present day events in Lunathion with the half human, half fae main character, Bryce Quinlan dealing with the trauma of her closest friends being brutally murdered by a demon. Two years after the case was closed, a string of murders similar to what happened to Bryce’s friends are occurring again which re-opens the case and forces her to investigate alongside a fallen angel named Hunt Athalar upon the command of their city’s leaders. But as Bryce uncovers the truth, she begins to trace back the clues into her own dark past.
So in the opposite fashion, I’d first like to discuss the critiques I’ve had with House of Earth and Blood before I discuss the strong, compelling points this book had for me. One of the things that bothered me was the author’s writing style. Yes, it is an accessible, simplistic writing which I personally prefer, but I did find that for some scenes in the book particularly when describing the characters, it seemed quite cheesy or dramatic, making what the readers know about the characters more tell than show. Personally, I think Sarah J. Maas’ writing was at its best when she wrote A Court of Thorns and Roses in 2015. I found her writing genuinely lyrical and sophisticated in this particular book series, whereas in House of Earth and Blood, it was just plain dramatic. Another one of the things that also bothered me was the characters and the portrayal of the characters themselves. When I was nearly done reading this book, it occurred to me that they resemble many of the characters she’s already written about. Fury Axtar, one of the side characters to the story did remind me of Amren from A Court of Thorns and Roses, and even Declan Emmett and Tristan Flynn reminded of Cassian and Azriel from the latter series mentioned. Aside from these definite character resemblances, the portrayal of powerful and dangerous characters like Micah Domitus and Sandriel here was undermined by the need to prove that Bryce is a badass lead who can take on anyone who crosses her path. I really feel like the author can improve to make her characters more grounded or realistic that they actually own up to their roles rather than it just being said or mentioned. Now, the third con of this book has to be the storyline. Like I said before, if you’re not a huge fantasy reader or just a beginner, this book can be overwhelming for you to process. If I were to recommend another adult fantasy book that is not too intimidating, it would be Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. But moving on, since there are many things going on in this book apart from the plot/plot twists including the introduction of the world, politics and lore, it does feel congested to take note of all these things at the same time. On my end, I had no problem with this as I was reading the book, but I do know that it’s not a clean cut plot as I wanted it to be either. And finally, the last con or issue I seem to have had with this book was its action or drama themes especially in the fourth part. While I still immensely enjoyed this part of the book, and I bawled my eyes out crying over my attachment to the characters, I did also cringed at some scenes, mostly the dramatic ones wherein the writing reminded me of local TV dramas I’ve watched and hated. On the other hand, two particular action sequences which I will not say due to them being spoilers felt underwhelming for me because of how easy both Bryce and Hunt seemed to have prevailed over them. There was barely any struggle to them which goes back to what I’m saying about the need to prove Bryce is a badass, independent lead, and undermining powerful and dangerous characters in the book.
With all of these critiques discussed, it is time to share the strong, compelling points of House of Earth and Blood. The first one that came to mind when I was reading it was how the book serves as an homage to all other fantasy stories for both old and modern readers. The concept of heaven and hell as well as the existence of demons and angels as derived from the Bible was interesting to see interwoven with creatures from Greco-Roman, Irish and Norse mythology as well as other tales including the Arthurian legend within this book. For any readers who have been long-time fans of fantasy fiction titles such as The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus or Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan, and The Folk of the Air by Holly Black, this book is a perfect addition to your TBR (to be read) pile. The second pro of this book has to be its setting. The way that the world was crafted clearly shows how much thought Sarah put into it. The city of Lunathion or Valbara definitely felt like an RPG setting for me that you can easily visit and familiarize yourself with through the given map every time you read this book. Griffin’s antiquities is probably one of the favorite places I’ve read about here with its ancient artifacts and secret library full of dangerous books. As for the lore and political system, they were also noticeably intricate and expansive amongst the different creatures to keep you invested in this world. From the different classifications of the creatures according to their houses, to the history of the Star born fae and the princes of hel, all of these have greater potential to explored if not within the main series then in prequel stories in the future. The point here is that I commend Sarah for creating something atmospheric, original and almost realistic of a world that you’re immediately or gradually pulled into it, magic and technology in tow. Another pro with this book is its plot/conflict. I appreciate the slow build-up of tension in the plot throughout the divided parts or sections of this book. Apart from the twisted murder mystery, I liked how characters’ dynamics have shifted until the end. And while I did say that I didn’t like some overly dramatic scenes especially in the last part, I was still emotional throughout the other dramatic sequences in the book. Again without going into too much spoilers, my favorite character dynamics have to be between Bryce and Hunt as well as Bryce and Ruhn. I liked that unlike her other series which have heavily leaned into romance/erotica, Sarah focused on more than just developing romantic relationships but also familial bonds and friendship in House of Earth and Blood.
On that note, allow me to talk about character diversity and dynamics. One of the main complaints or issues towards Sarah J. Maas’ previous works is the lack of diversity in her characters who are for example strictly modeled after white people. In this particular book, she managed to address that issue by including POC (person of color) characters like Juniper, one of Bryce’s friends, who is a black fawn ballerina. Then there’s the integration of body positivity in Bryce herself, who is a plus-size woman. Of course, Sarah also included representations of the LGBTQ+ community through the male to male, and female to female relationships in this book. As for the dynamics of the characters, I definitely enjoyed their interactions especially the main cast including Bryce, Hunt and Ruhn. Whether they were having witty banters or emotional moments together, I was always compelled to read their dialogues/conversations with each other. Other characters that I liked in this book include Randall, Flynn, Declan, Hypaxia, Syrinx, Danica, Connor, Tharion, Jesiba and Lehabah. If you are interested to know more about these characters, then you should definitely read this book for yourself.
Finally, one of the last things I want to talk about here that’s quite similar to the existence of diversity is also the number of social commentaries Sarah has made in this book which primarily has to do with power and corruption. How power itself is being gatekeep by the elites or the wealthy people to ensure their privileges and authority, which forces those without any kind of power at all to be abused or left to survive on their own. This particular commentary blended well with the situation in which both supernatural creatures and humans are forced to live side by side, with the humans left with only two, not-so-favored choices which are: to rebel or be enslaved due to their lack of power, specifically magical abilities, and money. Another commentary that was also emphasized here was male toxicity. Again, despite my complaints about character resemblances and portrayals, I like that the main character, Bryce managed to stand up for herself throughout this book especially to some male characters who either always underestimated her or assumed the worst in her. Going back to the point of male toxicity, I like that Sarah addressed the objectification of women, for example as being nothing but breeding stocks, as something that is not clearly okay, and will never be okay, whether or not these men are supernatural or not, which connects to the fact that women should be able to make their own choices without the unnecessary influence of the men around them. One last commentary that has been made, and has struck me was the portrayal of grief and trauma in this book. As with the synopsis and trigger warnings I have provided, Bryce deals with such deep, emotional pain over the loss of her friends that every time she cried, broke down or got frustrated throughout the investigation, all of her emotional and even physical struggle felt so real to me, felt like I was her experiencing everything that’s supposedly only words on a page. Another character, Hunt, is someone who has dealt with both abuse and trauma that the graphic descriptions of some of his experiences, or how he’d punish himself because of the things he’s done made me sympathize, if not empathize, with how badly he’s been treated all his life. To conclude, I appreciate how Sarah portrayed this reality of inevitably experiencing such things in life, and how much people need to be more than just aware but accepting, understanding and supportive of the ones in their life going through any kind of grief, trauma or abuse.
That’s it for my lengthy book review for January. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book: House of Sky and Breath which will be coming out on February 15, 2022. I’m so excited to see what’s going to happen next to this series’ characters. If there are things I wish to see in the sequel, I’d honestly say more character development, more body positivity especially for men and more inclusive, significant themes that the author can integrate into the continuing story.
Until my next blog… See you!
