House of Flame and Shadow
The wait for House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas is finally over! After the cliffhanger at the end of HOSAB, us SJM fans couldn’t be more relieved. But I’m honestly sad I finished this! It was such an enjoyable ride.
Spoilers ahead!
The first half of this book was AMAZING! I couldn’t put it down. But then the second half felt like “who can be the biggest martyr?!” If you’re friends with a Danaan, you can say goodbye to your automony because you won’t get a choice, they’re going to decide what’s best and then you’ll have to deal! See: Bryce’s parents and Lidia’s bullet in the leg.
And then ended with a classic SJM death fakeout scene, very tired of these. It feels akin to the required beats of a Hallmark story: Death? Check? Resurrection? Check
I miss the emotional depth of the first book. Since then Bryce and Hunt’s relationship has felt like it lacks chemistry. In HOEAB, you could feel their connection and the were rooting for them. The next two books, they’re constantly getting separated and having to save each other that you lose the small stuff, which with them was what made the most impact as a reader. The next two books were so plot heavy that the relationships have felt undercooked. The reunion Hunt and Bruce have after being tortured and thinking they’d never see each other again was very underwhelming. Like are y’all still into each other?? The second two books lost some heart in the story in that it became too macro. Sort of like the Marvel problem of ‘we must save the world!’ that takes away some of the stakes that we had in the first book where we were focused on getting justice for and avenging Danika. I think the first book was fantasy romance, where the focus was on Hunt and Bryce’s growing relationship but had fantasy elements. The second two books have been more romantic fantasy and were really plot driven with less emphasis on the relationships. I personally am more interested in fantasy romance so I think that’s why the first one is my favorite.
The character development of Lidia I was so here for !!
The reveal on the boat of her having two sons was mind blowing and very well executed. I already loved Lidia and this added even more mystery and depth to her. Ruhn, however, acted like a real asshole and wasn’t fair to her a lot of the time until the end. I loved this from Lidia to Ruhn:
“I wanted you to listen,” she snapped, “but you wouldn’t. Yet now that I fit some sort of acceptably sad female backstory, you’re willing to hear me out… Would you have listened if i had no other backstory than realizing what was right and wanting to fight for it? Of doing whatever it took to make sure that good prevailed against tyranny?
Or does my being a mother somehow make my choices more palatable to you?”
This was so beautifully said! After Lidia literally died to save Ruhn and his friends he still said “you’re dead to me”. He truly didn’t soften to her until he found out she had children. Was everything she did up to that point not enough to make her an amazing person and worthy of being loved by him? Loved this commentary on how women are valued.
Azriel and Nesta took so many Ls?! The ACOTAR crossover was total fan service and not necessary tbh but I still ate it up. Even though Azriel and Nesta being outsmarted by Bryce seemed out of character!
And the history lesson in the caves?! Wow! Some shady ladies but very interesting.
Tharion is the biggest liability ever?! Just continues to make terrible decisions that jeopardize everyone around him. Can we vote him out? Also, REALLY missed Syrinx :(
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book until the last 100 pages where I was rolling my eyes.
