REVIEW: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas (Spoilers)
Recommended For: Lovers of SJM's books
Rating: ⭑⭑⭑ / 5 stars
This book gets many things right, and also many things wrong. I was initially attracted to this book due to the cover (so much for not judging a book by its cover), although I was quite hesitant about it, and I was right to be.
The problem with this book isn't so much the plot, but her characters. I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing about how perfect, golden-skinned, beautiful, strong, unique, and talented each of her characters is. This applies to a lot of Sarah J Maas' characters as well as to the main character of this book, Bryce Quinlan. It is exhausting and hard to relate to a character who has no flaws. Likewise, it is exhausting trying to relate to Bryce Quinlan, who is half-fae, half-human, and constantly described as being the most beautiful, most wanted woman.
The writing is pretty cringe-y in this book. For instance:
And another one:
"The strong tan column of his throat worked with the movement, and Bryce crossed her arms again."
All her characters seem to be 'tanned', which is disturbing in its own way.
And, another:
"How many males had run from this part of her, their alphahole egos threatened by it?"
Additionally, the author has graced us with the constant use of the terms: "alphahole", and "bobbed". Alphahole is basically an Alpha-asshole, used to describe men in this book who lust after her. To be fair though, Bryce does the same thing too. She hates being lusted after, yet her eyes seem to only gravitate towards men's abs throughout the book.
Although Maas intends for us to love her character, I can't help but feel that, if the story were told from any of the other characters' perspectives, we (the readers) would label her as the asshole.
I was quite happy, however, with Hunt Athalar. Finally, we received a semi-interesting male character. He is less of an "alpha male" than Maas' other male characters (hint: Rhysand), but towards the end, she falls into the trap of displaying him as the "all-powerful male partner" to Bryce Quinlan. Honestly, I was a bit more pleased with their relationship prior to the "drug-buying scene", because I liked their conversations, and I liked seeing their individual characteristics.
The best thing about this book had to have been the friendship between Bryce and Danika. I'm not going to lie, that scene towards the end when they were screaming "Light It Up", had me crying. Sarah J Maas got the friendship aspect right in this book. More importantly, she got the grief aspect right.
To conclude, will I be reading the sequel? Most probably. Was it too long? It definitely could have been shortened, as the plot is pretty simple, and does not need 800+ pages.
Rating: ⭑⭑⭑ / 5 stars
This book gets many things right, and also many things wrong. I was initially attracted to this book due to the cover (so much for not judging a book by its cover), although I was quite hesitant about it, and I was right to be.
The problem with this book isn't so much the plot, but her characters. I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing about how perfect, golden-skinned, beautiful, strong, unique, and talented each of her characters is. This applies to a lot of Sarah J Maas' characters as well as to the main character of this book, Bryce Quinlan. It is exhausting and hard to relate to a character who has no flaws. Likewise, it is exhausting trying to relate to Bryce Quinlan, who is half-fae, half-human, and constantly described as being the most beautiful, most wanted woman.
The writing is pretty cringe-y in this book. For instance:
"...she swept the silky curtain of red hair over a shoulder, the slightly curled ends almost brushing the generous curve of her ass."
The number of times she describes Bryce's hair as "silky" had me rolling my eyes. Girl, what shampoo is she on? You know, for a writer who is attempting to write a 'feminist' character, SJM sure does know how to place her in such a misogynistic light.And another one:
"The strong tan column of his throat worked with the movement, and Bryce crossed her arms again."
All her characters seem to be 'tanned', which is disturbing in its own way.
And, another:
"How many males had run from this part of her, their alphahole egos threatened by it?"
Additionally, the author has graced us with the constant use of the terms: "alphahole", and "bobbed". Alphahole is basically an Alpha-asshole, used to describe men in this book who lust after her. To be fair though, Bryce does the same thing too. She hates being lusted after, yet her eyes seem to only gravitate towards men's abs throughout the book.
Although Maas intends for us to love her character, I can't help but feel that, if the story were told from any of the other characters' perspectives, we (the readers) would label her as the asshole.
I was quite happy, however, with Hunt Athalar. Finally, we received a semi-interesting male character. He is less of an "alpha male" than Maas' other male characters (hint: Rhysand), but towards the end, she falls into the trap of displaying him as the "all-powerful male partner" to Bryce Quinlan. Honestly, I was a bit more pleased with their relationship prior to the "drug-buying scene", because I liked their conversations, and I liked seeing their individual characteristics.
The best thing about this book had to have been the friendship between Bryce and Danika. I'm not going to lie, that scene towards the end when they were screaming "Light It Up", had me crying. Sarah J Maas got the friendship aspect right in this book. More importantly, she got the grief aspect right.
To conclude, will I be reading the sequel? Most probably. Was it too long? It definitely could have been shortened, as the plot is pretty simple, and does not need 800+ pages.
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