Published: February 15, 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Series: Crescent City #2
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 805 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 4.5/5.0
Synopsis:
Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.
In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.
Guys, I feel like it goes without saying but Sarah J Maas’s new releases are ALWAYS at the top of my TBR each year and for good reason. They are utterly addictive. So much so that all I did for a week straight when I got home was read these books. I did a re-read of House of Earth and Blood which was amazing (I amend my rating to 5 stars) and then started House of Sky and Breath (HoSaB) immediately.
House of Sky and Breath picks up a few months after the events of the previous book, which I like because it gave the characters time to sort things out (like new jobs) off page. I don’t really need to read an entire chapter about fantastical interview processes. It jumps off on quite a dark note in the prologue, which is set in Pangera and features a rebel girl going into a death camp to rescue her younger brother and then follows their flight to the coast where he’s off on a boat to safety and she gets captured. This really sets the tone for the whole book, which is a bit darker than the first. Where the first book was a murder mystery and tons of worldbuilding, HoSaB is more a discussion about turning a blind eye to the horrors that exist in favor of a normal life vs. standing up against the tyrants who enact the horrors. With a side of romance of course.
Bryce, Hunt, and the entirety of Crescent City are still recovering from the deadly demon incursion that happened in the first book and our MCs are just trying to stay out of the spotlight. Bryce is dealing with her newfound and unwanted fame whereas Hunt is now freed from the bonds of slavery, but seems to be waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. And when the new Archangel Celestina is assigned to the city and she seems kind, he’s understandably mistrustful especially when her triarii belonged to Sandriel. Pollux and Baxian are his new co-workers and all he can remember is how he suffered at their hands under Sandriel’s regime.
The plot really kicks off when Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn (and associates) are recruited by Tharion (the mer shifter) to help him find the boy who escaped on the boat from Pangera. Apparently he’s rumored to be a thunderbird, which is an incredibly rare gift that is highly coveted by those in power, whether in be Tharion’s River Queen, the Ophion rebels, or the Asteri. They really do spend most of the book looking for the boy, Emile and it takes them to the Bone Quarter, the Viper Queen, and even the Ocean Queen’s court.
In between all this, Bryce is trying to master her powers, deal with an unwanted engagement to the newly arrived and completely douche-y fae Prince Cormac from Avallen, and continue her investigation into what exactly Danika was involved with. There are soooo many POVs and different plot threads and Sarah J. Maas handles them well but it still gets a little overwhelming! As her books progress and get more complicated, I’ve noticed she tends to pop in these sudden, well timed info drops or plot twists that you would never in a million years see coming. For instance, everyone is searching high and low for Emile and suddenly Bryce is like oh yeah, I know exactly where he is, let’s go get him! And then how so many things tie back to Danika – it was getting ridiculous by the end. Sure seems like Bryce didn’t know her friend nearly as well as she thought!
As always, I really loved the book despite some quibbles that I’ve had with every one of her series thus far. I zoomed right through this and at some point, probably before book 3, I’ll do a re-read and pick up on some of the details I might have missed the first time through. But let me tell you what, I will never EVER forget the ending of this book and I am SHOOK, EVEN DAYS LATER. I….. I am so unbelievably excited for the third book that I am looking up fan theories. I never do this, but my excitement literally cannot be contained and I am seriously hoping the third book won’t be a whole year away. I need some resolution, stat!
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