P E R F E C T I O N

Ok! What I’m NOT going to do is bore you with the synopsis. I feel EVERYONE knows it, that’s not what you’re here for. 😉

This is an 800 page book and in many ways it reminded me of the reading experience I had with The Name of the Wind. Now, stay with me here. What I mean is that everything was slow to build - the development of the world, plot and characters. You feel completely immersed in this world, you’re living it ... experiencing it. The focus is on Bryce and the murder that happens (I checked the synopsis before sharing ... so no spoilers). The downward spiral, the mystery of what’s happening in this world and the build of one of the most interesting relationships I’ve ever read.

Of course this is fantasy - this world has angels, fae, mer and otters (oh the love I have for 🦦) to name a few. This world is intricate with different houses and all the magical laws you would come to expect. The build of this world is tackled gradually, there are a few moments that felt like an info dump but it wasn’t out of sync/flow. Bryce is half human half fae so the typical struggle of identity is handled here but not as stereotypically as you might expect.

The characters. That’s what you’re here for. Bryce is a truly fantastic character - she is determined and fierce, a protector and also heavily judged for what she appears to be. But that’s just surface rubbish, every character that comes to meet her realises the persona she has built is the opposite of who she truly is. She is one of those characters that couldn’t give a f*ck about what people think about her. She grieves and feels she must suffer that grief and remove joy from her life. The transformation is beautiful to see, she finds something to live for. Hunt (The Umbra Mortis) is EVERYTHING. His history (over 200 years of it) helps us to get an understanding of the history and politics of this world and why he is in this situation. The back and forth between Bryce and Hunt is fantastic, it offers laughter and this raw connection. Ruhn is another character that is a favourite - there is something so quiet and knowing about him. Lehabah is incredible - sassy, a protector, a call everyone out on their bs character that deserves the world. I won’t mention everyone don’t worry.

If you’re here for the infamous bone town of sjm, be prepared to be surprised. The relationship built here is different. I can’t speak on more here because spoilers. But sjm makes the reader WORK for this.

The plot builds slowly over time. The great thing about this being an 800 page book is the fact that you get to live in that world. Sometimes it feels the plot isn’t moving but those moments/details where another element is being built are vital to the plot and the atmosphere, truly.

In many ways I can see a change in the writing style. Yes, this is her first adult novel and there’s a shift. The writing style is more refined, the thought process of each character is so realistic and whilst I can recognise certain sjm tropes, it is a new experience.

As the end draws nearer everything becomes life and death. This book made me cry twice and it rips you apart at times to then come along and heal you. I can understand now why people have instantly reread this book. It’s magic ... what happens in this book makes you want to start it again and to revel in those foreshadowing moments. You want to pick up on all the subtle hints. All the elements come together in such a fantastic way you are left feeling you’ve been ruined for other books. What can follow this book?

I’m most proud that I read this physically. I’ve been struggling so much with my health and cognitive disabilities that it felt impossible, but I did it!

Trigger warnings - brutality, violence against animals, demons and just the usual adult fantasy triggers honestly.

I was given an extract of this book through NetGalley - now I don't usually bother with extracts, but this one looked intriguing. And it was.
I've never read Sarah Maas before, and this is apparently her first venture into writing for an adult rather than YA audience. And for me it worked. I have read some comments where people who have read her YA books thought that this one had faults - yes of course we had Alpha aholes and a kick ass heroine. After all, this is the trope in which this book was written. Nice to see also that the angels weren't all bright and light and good - plenty of grey and nasties.
I thought it was good universe building - yes we had the MidGard planet and a continent called the Pangera (see Pangea - the real land mass on Earth) and other references to these universes/worlds built in other books in this genre - but still the mix of technology and magic in this one was different.
And I so far haven't come across a universe where there are angel slaves. Which I thought was a nice touch and permitted new storylines to emerge.
For me, this was a good read - it could have stopped at many points and been a much shorter book and left stuff for the next - but instead Mass carried on with a new twist and more highs and lows. The twists and hidden secrets kept coming right until the end - hints of these secrets only realisable after the action - which is good writing and means good plotting took place.
I liked the extract enough to buy the full book which means I wanted to find out more in the story... so a good read for me. I hope to read the next one in the series and that it is as long and complex in plotting as this one.

I have loved Sarah J. Maas’s books and I had high expectations for House of Earth and Blood (Cresent City #1).

I’m not going to lie.. seeing those 3 star ratings scared me. Thank god I haven’t read a single worded review except to quench my nosy-ass-self by peeking into the ratings. That’s all. I swear.

I’m also not going to lie, everytime I felt like I was making progress reading this book, I realized that I still had hundreds of pages more to go. I think what made me apprehensive was that so many things had happened within the first few chapters that I was honestly fearful of what’s more to come. And also a part of me was anxious that this book would be an ultimate disappointment by the end.

I think that the one thing people would have a slight discomfort initially with this book would be that the POVs change rapidly unlike other books where we know when the POVs change. It takes a minute to adjust to this but once you get the hang of it…the ball starts rolling and it’s on! I actually really enjoyed the POV swap as it felt like I was getting a real time feel of everything from different points of view without it being repetitive (if that makes sense).

I have always loved Sarah J. Maas’s storytelling ability but this book took it to a whole new level. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that this is just the first book in the series.Also, can we please take a moment and talk about the level of detail regarding the world this book is set in? I mean, I felt like I was a part of this world and everytime I took my eyes off the book, my so called ‘reality’ felt like a cruel cruel joke.

I don’t know whether it’s a spoiler or not but from Chapter 76 till the very end of the book, I was a blubbering mess: Just when I think I am done, SJM would throw another punch and I would fall to my knees and cry my eyes out. This book wasn’t all heartaches and pain.. HOEAB is filled with wonderfully well written characters that we will either love or hate. The ones we love? Gosh! we will love them to the core and fall for them hard. And the ones that our hearts and brains just can’t seem to wrap around? we will despise them.

I won’t deny you the joy of knowing that this book did make me laugh out loud on so many occasions. Sheer unadulterated joy and happiness even in the smallest of things.

House of Earth and Blood is a book unlike anything I have ever read written by Sarah J. Maas. I LOVED this book so much and I will never stop recommending this to everybody.

House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas has been one hell of a ride. This will without a doubt climb to the very top as one of my favourite book for the year 2020 and hands down my favourite SJM book of all time.



Sarah J. Maas…if you ever read this (wishful thinking)… Light it up!

I was so excited to receive a sneak peek of Sarah J Maas' much awaited book. Especially after hearing all of the amazing buzz surrounding it and the early reviews. It's definitely different to her previous books but still contains the complex and fun characters and intricate world building. I know I only received a small snippet of the book but it piqued my interest enough to want me to continue with the test of the book. It's a little bit outside of my usual reading interests, but I'm looking forward to getting lost in Bruce's world and learn more about the fae and this oh, so complicated world.

this is one of my most anticipated books of 2020 and this extract got me absolutely hooked i could not stop reading! i cannot wait to dive into the entire thing

Great few chapters, intriguing and captivating this book is going to be so good! I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the story.

Having received the first 5 chapters as an ARC, I was eager to see if this book would grab me enough to get the rest of the book.
Well, after reading chapter one, I had to get a notebook and pen, and start again, so I could write down a who's who and what's where. There was so much name / species / occupation / place / family relationship / history / religion / geography dropping that I honestly had to keep going back and forth to get it. It's a very quick drop into the world of this book, and you need to be invested in it, otherwise you'll be majorly confused. But the history and culture and religion and species interactions seemed interesting enough, so I continued.
It soon became clear that this is not a young adult book. The characters may be young adults at age 23, but their behaviours are far from what any teens or young adults should really look up to or sthrive for. The first few chapters are full of sex drugs and violence. And I mean full. It isn't just the "hey, I'm 23, I like to party and do drugs and have sex", no, it's detailed descriptions of the drugs' effects, and I was waiting for the main character to get raped and murdered in an alley in some interspecies hate crime. Well, she wasn't - instead, the teaser chapters end with another brutal and graphic scene of violence, with the main character barely holding on to her sanity and life. Way to end on a cliffhanger.
This book is clearly not for the faint of heart. And certainly not for a young audience. I'm not even sure if it's for an adult audience without a massive warning. The ARC should have said "explicit extract" instead of "exclusive extract". Personally, I have read quite a lot of explicit books, be it sex or drugs or violence, but usually I know what I'm in for before I begin. I was not expecting this from SJM, but maybe I should have, given how the ACOTAR books progressed. I might see if I can get a copy of the full book so I can have a better picture of the story, and see if the sudden early-on violence may be balanced out throughout the book.

4.68/5 Stars
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I read this book back in March when it was released and have yet to completely get over it. Of course, this is nothing new, Sarah’s books tend to do that to me.
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When I heard that Sarah was going to be releasing her first adult fantasy book, I was beyond intrigued. I went into this book with high expectations and was not disappointed. In the beginning, there were times when I was a little confused because there was so much world building happening that I had already begun muddling everything together in my brain. However, once I got over that small hump it was smooth, albeit emotional, sailing for me!
I adored Bryce and Hunt; their chemistry was phenomenal and their relationship was intoxicating.
Going into the book I told myself not to get too attached to Hunt (those who have read Sarah’s other series will understand the reasoning behind that decision). However, that goal wasn’t achieved because after chapter 54 I was smitten with him and there was no going back. I ended up loving him as much as he loves Bryce and Sunball, which means that I am going to have to guard my heart because I’m sure the 2nd book in the series will end up shattering it.
As for Bryce, I felt that she was an amazing MC. I found her relatable and I loved the immense emotional progress that she made throughout the book. She has such a big heart and I admire her for it! ꒰˘̩̩̩⌣˘̩̩̩๑꒱♡
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Overall, I loved the book and cannot wait until the second one is released. All of the characters were beyond interesting and relatable and I’m excited to see their journey continue! I also enjoyed that Sarah included some mental health aspects because it’s something that millions of people struggle with, so reading about a character that also experiences these things can make people feel heard and seen which is great. :)))

I was so happy when I saw that I could read the first few chapters. The world is very complicated and the first 2-3 chapters were full of info dumping , which was strange because I never saw that problem in Sarah J. Maas other novels.

I loved this. Sarah J Maas gas done it shain, and has managed to suck me in after reading only a few pages. Phenomenal.

I can't wait to read the finished copy! Although this is an extract, it was so enjoyable and I really want to find out more about Bryce! Highly recommend anyone to pick this up if you're looking for a complex fantasy world with amazing writing!

Never disappointed by this author!
I was hesitant to pick up another one of her books having loved both of her other series and didn’t want to be let down! But she did it again! Can not wait for the next instalment of this series!

If your looking for a book that has complex characters with real emotions and amazing plot twist that you don’t see coming... well this a book for you!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year along with Chain of Gold but sadly it wasn't the five star read that I was hoping for. I really enjoyed the book but just not as much as her other series perhaps because I am not a huge fan of urban fantasy. I didn't really warm to Bryce as a character although I did love many of the other characters and I loved that there were vampires, angels, demons and many other magical creatures in the book.

The story follows Bryce who is half human and half fae as she investigates who raised the demon that killed her best friends and which is now killing again. She is aided in this by Hunt Athalar who is a fallen angel and there is a love/ hate relationship between them at first though they are both keeping secrets from one another.

The book takes awhile to get going and is a little too long but I enjoyed the storyline and the romance and I love how Sarah J Maas writes and how she creates such amazing, complex fantasy worlds. If you like her other books then you will like this but for me it wasn't as good as Acotar or Tog which is a shame.

Quite confusing to begin with but I can see the story is going to be amazing. I absolutely cannot wait to continue with this book. Highly anticipatinf this one.

- The first couple of chapters were certainly interesting, but it’s a huge book so I know it was barely a bit of what the whole book offers
- It sets up a really interesting world and some unusual characters with a good relationships
- I think I’ll definitely be getting a copy of the book to read the whole thing at some point

Really enjoyed this book excerpt.

The excerpt was just a teaser and made me feel invested with the characters. I loved the relationships between characters and the development of the world. It made me go and purchase the Crescent City so that I would know what happened next!

Fast paced, great world building, and a lovable heroine. The romance was also really sweet and I can't wait to see what happens in book 2.

I want the full
Copy of this book so badly. I should have read this before, whoops. But at least it’s made me want it!

Sarah j. Maas is and always will be one of my favourite authors and she has once again out done herself with Crescent City. I can not get over how much I love this book, I am already contemplating re-reading it and I only finished it the other month (something which is rather unusual for me).

I received the first five chapters of this book from Netgalley in exchange for this review and by the end of them I could hardly wait the 3 extra weeks till the book was released. I will admit I was a bit unsure at first as I had built this book up in my head so much and I felt it started rather slowly. However, by the end of chapter 5 i was thoroughly hooked and remained so for the entirety of the book; so much so that I read it in under a week, and now feel like I need to go back and savour it more.

I can not recommend this book enough and am impatiently waiting for the next book to be released.

Amazing - plus I've now got the whole book! Sarah J Maas is incredible and I will read everything she ever writes!