Things to know about House of Earth and Blood before you start reading… It’s an epic romantasy read, book one in the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas. The first quarter is a wild ride of world-building, but I found if you just go with the flow and not stress about who and what everything is, you eventually get the hang of it. You have time to get things straight in your head as it clocks in at OVER 800 pages.
Interestingly, its got an element of modernity to it, with characters using mobile phones, going clubbing and getting drunk with their friends. Also, it has a slightly different crime-thriller twist to its plot compared to other romantasy books I’ve read and lastly, it gives us my favourite lead romantasy female character so far in Bryce Quinlan. In short: I loved it!
Opening sentence: There was a wolf at the gallery door.
Welcome to Crescent City
With the basics established, let’s delve. Bryce Quinlan is half-human / half-Fae and is a straight-talking, confident red-head who knows her own mind. She works in a gallery, has a love of showing off her curves (in a very pro-feminist way), no weak, small, shy FMC here.
Bryce’s inner-circle includes Danika (a wolf shifter) and her wolf pack, Ruhn (Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae, he can summon shadows), Juniper (a ballet dancing fawn), Fury (an assassin of mysterious origins), Lehabah (a fire sprite) and Bryce’s detective-partner-in-crime, Hunt Athalar, an angel who is also an assassin and can summon lightning. If that all sounds a little wild, well that’s because it is. Suspend your disbelief and embrace this fantasy world. Trust me, it’s worth it.
The romantasy crime thriller
Yes, so more on the partner-in-crime element. House of Earth and Blood uses the forced proximity trope to throw our two romantically-linked characters together, but I’m not mad about it. When one of Bryce’s friends is murdered, the archangel that runs the city needs the killer (a demon) found ASAP.
He has his team of angels (including his personal assassin, Hunt) on the case, but needs more insider information to speed things up. So, he instructs Bryce and Hunt to work together to find the killer.
What follows is a truly gripping and brilliant story of Bryce and Hunt doing exactly that, with A LOT of unexpected moments, magic, power and, of course, simmering sexual tension thrown into the mix too. This is a story and characters you really care about.
In it for the long haul
I really like how within chapters, the POV of the scene playing out switches to a different character, as well as giving air-time to a range of characters throughout. It makes for a richer reading experience than just having one narrator, I think.
Sarah J. Maas has announced book 6 in the ACOTAR series and there’s a link between the worlds of the books, so that’s the main reason I picked up House of Earth and Blood. I had mixed feeling about ACOTAR but happy to say I am loving Crescent City so much more! Originally planned as a trilogy, Sarah has announced a fourth book, so this world will keep expanding too.
In summary, I found Bryce and Hunt to be the perfect lead duo and the world building within House of Earth and Blood means the scene has been set for adventures I am very much intrigued to read more about in the next book, House of Sky and Breath.
- Get your copy of House of Earth and Blood here;
- Published by Bloomsbury 2020;
- 823 pages;
- Book review rating:
Books on the 7:47 