House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City, #1)

by Sarah J. Maas

[Kate (Blogging with Dragons)]

I received this excerpt for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

House of Earth and Blood was a total surprise for me. I don’t know what I was expecting from this new work of Sarah J. Maas, but it wasn’t this adult urban fantasy novel that put me to mind of Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series or Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. I was surprised by the swearing and the casual references to sex and drugs, something I have not encountered with the author’s other works. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something that caught me off guard. In fact, I am positively excited to see what other differences will come of House of Earth and Blood being categorized as an adult novel rather than a young adult novel!

Despite all this excitement in realizing I was reading an adult, rather than young adult novel, I honestly can’t say that I was hooked on House of Earth and Blood from the get-go. At the beginning of the excerpt, I felt like I was being absolutely inundated--and overwhelmed, for that matter--with information about the characters and their backgrounds, houses, a way of life, crime, and a city I knew nothing about. I felt like I should be taking rigorous notes! The excerpt is filled to the brim with werewolves, chimeras, fae, fauns, archangels, and every other fantastical creature of which you could dream--each complete with their own hierarchy existing within the greater organization of Crescent City. I am sure I still don’t fully understand how everything works and that I probably won’t until I finish the entire novel--which I definitely will be reading.

It’s clear from this excerpt, however, that Crescent City is certainly a character of its very own, one that stands out even among the rest of the larger-than-life characters. It is hinted within House of Earth and Blood that there is even more to this dazzling city than meets the eye. I can’t wait to discover more of what that is!

The author does an amazing job of developing not only Crescent City, but also her characters in just the first few chapters. Perhaps that is why I was SO stunned when I realized I was essentially reading a tragic origin story in the making for the somewhat frivolous main character, half-fae-half-human Bryce Quinlan. I thought the story was going one way and it went in a completely different direction. I was absolutely astounded by the ending to the excerpt, which was a total cliffhanger. I have a sneaking suspicion that as a result of these shocking events, Bryce will become just as badass or even more so than her counterparts Feyre and Aelin. And I cannot wait to see if being in the adult genre will lead Bryce down even darker paths than Maas’s other beloved heroines.

I also have really high hopes for the romance of this series. Even this early in House of Blood and Earth, Sarah J. Maas has made it very clear that Bryce will not be accepting any toxic masculinity aka “alphahole” behavior directed at her, despite being rather low on the Crescent City pecking order as a half-human. A lot of this is due to Bryce’s parents, and my curiosity is PIQUED. I want to know more about her background and literally everything else!

By the end of this excerpt, I was completely invested in Bryce and her magical city. I cannot wait to see where Bryce’s inevitable quest for revenge will take her. Time to preorder!


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