This review will be spoiler free and safe to read before you buy the book. A more in depth review will be posted on March 4th, the day after the book is released.
Final Rating: 7.5/10
I actually had a really hard time coming up with a rating for this book. I’m stuck between a 7.5 and an 8. This is a good book, but I think I wanted it to be better sooner. To clarify, this book is long. Like, almost 800 pages. And I really only fell in love with it in the last 150ish pages. But those pages were so good, it kinda made up for a slow start. So, for now, 7.5 it is.
The story begins with you being introduced to the main character, Bryce, and her best friend, Danika. We spend the first several chapters world building and exploring the environment, culture, customs, and various denizens of Crescent City. The first few chapters were.... hard, for me, personally. The chapters read like someone had finally taken the muzzle off of SJM and she just puked out all these “adult” references she’d been holding back on over the years. Bryce and Danika are party girls. Drug and alcohol references are made almost immediately, and “fuck” is the standout vocabulary word for this book. Which is fine, of course, but it felt so in your face that it almost came across as trying too hard. Eventually, as you continue to read, you get used to the language and lifestyles of the various characters, but still.
The main motivator in this book a gruesome murder, which is connected deeply to Bryce. The trauma she endures the night of the crime is immense, and the fallout we learn about as the rest of the book unfolds is almost as bad. As I learned more about what Bryce went through and where her head was at, I started to understand her more and her decision making at least made sense, even when I didn’t agree with it. However, it took a long time for me to see her in that light. Like many of SJM’s leading ladies, Bryce is a strong, independent woman with a sharp tongue and a quick wit. She keeps everyone at arms length and you have to break through her barriers to see her soft, mushy, lovable inside. Admittedly, I like this character. It’s a common one, but still enjoyable to read about none the less. My only issue with Bryce is that the process of unraveling all of her trauma and allowing her to grow took so long- not in world, but for me, as the reader. Hunt, her love interest and the other main character of this story, also points out one of my personal pet peeve’s about Bryce right to her face- she has a giant chip on her shoulder when it comes to men (”males” in this world, since these beings are neither human nor mortal). Any attempt from a non-female person to control any aspect of her life, from suggesting she eat or go to bed or see a doctor, etc, is considered in Bryce’s view to be “aggressive and possessive”, and yes, she even has her own made up label for the type, called an “Alpha-hole”. And Alpha male who is an asshole. Alpha-hole.
Side note: made up swear words are also a huge pet peeve of mine, but I digress.
The saving grace of these issues I have with Bryce’s story is that, in the end, they are resolved. All of them, for the most part. I am 1000% happy with how everything turned out in the end. I want to talk about it so badly, but I will save that for the full review later. I devoured the last part of this book. I was sobbing, cheering, grinning from ear to ear, and am now eagerly awaiting book two when book one isn’t even technically out yet.
However, getting to that point took, like, 500 more pages of reading.
Don’t get me wrong! I was intrigued, for the most part, by the mystery the main cast was trying to solve. As new elements were added here and there, I kept finding myself strung along just a little bit further. But when I stop to think about it, I find myself wondering: was I truly enjoying the story, or was I just so happy to have new SJM content that I didn’t mind reading through the admittedly sometimes boring middle stuff because it’s Sarah J. Maas. All I really know is that I didn’t love it like I wanted to, but I think I did like it. I at least liked it enough to keep going, and I am certainly not the type of person who can keep reading a book I have no interest in.
In the end, I think I’d have to consider book one of the House of Earth and Blood series to be more of an intro to the world and characters than anything. It sets out a well-thought out foundation for what will most definitely be an epic series. Now that all the players are on the board, I’m chomping at the bit to see what they’ll do next. I’m also going to need some epic fan art of these characters because, as is in every SJM literary world, everyone is smokin’ hot and deserves to have their portraits created.
On one late parting note, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. In her previous series, I know some of the biggest criticisms was a lack of diversity, both in coloring and in sexuality/gender identity. I don’t know if it was her publishers her held her back on that front, or if she’s just grown as a person, but SJM had been freed from those restraints and has taken full advantage. Yes, there are black characters. And brown ones. And white ones. We have at least one canonically gay character, and lovely lady couple, and likely more on the way given the tone the book takes in regards to sex. I look forward to seeing how this progresses even further in the following books.
Thanks for reading this review! Be on the lookout for my full, full one later on in March, and don’t forget to get your copy from your local bookstore March 3rd! :)
“‘It’s all in your head,’ Genevieve said.
'I know,’ said Alyss, and despite the traumas of the past, the uncertainty of the future, she wouldn’t have given up this moment for anything. 'Isn’t it wonderful?’”
Year Read: before 2013, 2020
Rating: 3/5
About: Alyss Heart, princess of Wonderland, has fled to Victorian London to escape the tyranny of her Aunt Redd. Trapped in a world where no one believes her stories and her imagination is slowly leaving her, she’s forced to become someone else to survive with her adopted family. As years pass, even Alyss believes that it was all just stories she made up. Meanwhile, Hatter Madigan is failing to fulfill his promise to the former queen that he’ll look after Alyss as he scours the human world for the lost princess. Wonderland won’t leave her alone forever, and Redd won’t settle for anything less than blood. Trigger warnings: death, parent death, violence, injury, blood, some body horror, fat shaming, grief.
Thoughts: I read this years ago and never got around to finishing the trilogy, and I like it better on a second pass. In part, I think it’s that I was better able to grasp some of the world-building on a second read, and also that I’ve read much worse Alice in Wonderland adaptations since then. There’s no denying that Beddor’s Wonderland is strange, as all Wonderlands tend to be, but it’s not as complicated as I first thought. It’s a weird blend of fantasy, science fiction, and something almost like steampunk (Hatter’s weapons, in particular). If there’s something I didn’t like about it, it’s that the magic is based primarily on whatever characters can imagine, and imagination has no limits. There are a lot of odd inventions, and there were moments when I wanted the narrative to slow down and explain some of them a little more. (I thought Glass Eyes were literally giant floating eyeballs on my first read. Spoiler alert: They’re not.)
It’s a surprisingly fast-paced read despite the fact that it spans roughly thirteen years in one novel. Beddor keeps the action sequences coming, and there were times it felt like he was pulling influence from graphic novels. Given that Hatter’s story continues in a graphic novel series, that’s not surprising. The whole novel might benefit from artwork that picks up where some of the fleeting descriptions don’t quite take off. My edition has a handful of truly lovely illustrations in it, and they really helped me with what a card soldier is supposed to look like. (My mind automatically pictured the Disney version. Beddor’s are scarier.)
Alyss took a while to grow on me, but that’s understandable. At first, she’s a spoiled child with a child’s limited worldview, and then she’s tossed into a world where no one believes a word she says. Her strength is quiet, but it develops consistently over the course of the book; I’ll be interested to see what she’s like in the next one, after everything that’s happened. The rest of the Alice characters are hit or miss, Hatter being the most notable as the stoic assassin and protector. (I do love assassin characters, and Mad Hatters.) Alice also has her own brooding love interest in Dodge, and I’m excited to see more of Molly later on. The villains aren’t quite as strong. It’s hard to write a Red Queen who isn’t irritatingly over the top (unless you’re Marissa Meyer), and both she and the Cat feel rather flat compared to the others. I didn’t enjoy all the fat-shaming descriptions of Jack of Diamonds either; those kinds of jokes didn’t age well in almost fifteen years. All things considered though, it’s a solid start to the series, and I’m looking forward to the rest.
They all kind of read like weird little stories in and of themselves. HG is about an amnesia victim trying to recall the facts people have told her about herself, but which she doesn’t remember. Twilight is a love story about two mimes. And Harry Potter is the tragic story of boy whom absolutely nothing happens to.
if you read it all three horizontally it sounds like a fanfiction cross over between katniss and harry and the author is making them have a really awkward first meeting
Fanfiction is becoming people’s primary form of entertainment right now because most media right now is so cheap, bland, recycled, and sponsored by people who love money more than the source material. Fanfiction is written for free by people who genuinely love what they’re writing about. That’s why it’s better. That’s why it’s more satisfying. Fanfiction is a home-cooked meal made for yourself and for your friends. Media today is junky fast food spoiled by too much grease and the knowledge that the people producing it are being criminally mistreated and underpaid.
I’m almost done with Crescent City, and GUYS the last 150 pages have me shook. I cannot wait to review this and share all my thoughts with you guys. And I especially cannot wait for March 3rd so you can all get your hands on a copy, too.
This will be the official start of my Throne of Glass fanfiction, taking place some 20-odd years after the end of the series.
Synopsis: Erilea is at peace, and the kingdoms are recovering. But that doesn’t mean that the future generations are just riding their parents’ coattails into the bright future ahead of them. From their personal lives to the manipulative game of politics, each kingdom still has plenty of drama to sort through. Wounds from the past have not quite healed, new players have entered the game, and no road is without its bumps. The future of Erilea will lie with the next generation of rulers and their people. This is their story.
Prologue
To be selected as a guard in the castle of Orynth was the greatest honor a solider of Terrasen could receive. To have made into the Queen’s Guard, the elite group dedicated to protecting Queen Aelin, an even bigger honor than that. Although peace has reigned in Terrasen for the last 24 years, a guard’s duty was to always be vigilant. To always be looking and listening for the signs of a threat.
It was truly an honor to have such a position.
CRASH! BANG!
Frightened gasps echoed from the council chambers behind Matthias. He flinched, not from shock, but from pity for the poor old fools who dared to cross the Queen. The first time he’d been assigned to guard over the council meeting, he’d witnessed similar events. His partner back then had had to hold him back to keep him from bursting through the doors. “Nothing to concern yourself over,” he’d said. “The Queen is just expressing her opinions.” Matthias couldn’t help but wonder, if those were just her opinions, what did her royal commands sound like?
Shouts and more pounding came from behind the closed oak doors and Matthias’s training kicked in as he expertly focused on the white noise around him instead of the shouts coming from the room behind him. This council meeting had been impromptu, with little notice given. Several of the council members hadn’t even been able to make the trip to the castle in time for it. And from the sounds of it, the Queen was also displeased with the hurried nature of it all. Idly, Matthias wondered if it was a chair, or the whole table the Queen had flipped over this time.
Suddenly, the large dual doors of the council chamber flung open, a blast of air rushing through as the Queen exited brusquely, King Rowan and Lord Aedion on her heels. None wore pleasant expressions, but Matthias had caught just enough of the Queen’s murderous look to know that what ever furniture had survived in the council chamber was lucky to have done so.
Yes, so serve in the Queen’s Guard was truly an honor. The alternative was too terrifying to think about.
----
Aelin paced back and forth through her shared chamber with Rowan. The Fae warrior currently was seated at the edge of their impossibly luxurious bed, and even through all her storming thoughts, a tiny voice whispered in the back of her mind, He’s going warp the mattress.
“They can’t make her,” she declared, finally coming to a stop in front of him. “I’m the gods-damned queen. I fought and bled and almost died more times than I can count to wear that damned crown, so like hell am I going to let a council full of over-stuffed, old as dirt, sneering peacocks tell me when I’m to marry off my only fucking daughter.” Her rage was barely contained, each word laced with venom as they rolled off her tongue with a snarl.
Rowan merely nodded, knowing better than to try to force his wife to calm herself. Better to let her work off some steam before coaxing her off that ledge she often careened off of when angered. His mate though she was, Rowan had learned to pick his battles.
Aelin began to pace once more, but this time her path eventually led her to their balcony, overlooking the river below. “We promised,” she said quietly, too quietly for anyone without Fae hearing to have caught. “We promised that any child of ours would be raised with the love and freedom we never given. That they would be given a life full of unconditional support, no matter what. I won’t force her, Rowan.” Aelin looked back at him then, eyes shimmering both with unshed tears and righteous fury. “I won’t ask this of her. Not now, not ever. The council can kiss my ass about it.”
Rowan approached and wrapped his arms around his queen, kissing the top of her head. “I feel the same, Fireheart,” her murmured into her hair, squeezing her to him. “However-”
At that moment, the door to their room swung open, Aedion barging through, a hand over his eyes. “Is it safe?”
Aelin rolled her eyes, a small smirk tugging up the corners of her mouth. “Neither of us is naked, if that’s what you mean.”
Aedion let out an exaggerated sigh and lowered his hand from his eyes, giving them both a wide grin. “Well, I’ll take what I can get, I guess.”
Letting out an irritated huff of breath that may or may not have been more than a little half hearted, Rowan released Aelin. “I’m sure you’ve seen worse.”
“You know,” Aedion said, making himself comfortable in Aelin’s favorite reading chair, “I don’t know if I have. Not to say you don’t have a great ass, my King.”
Aelin couldn’t keep her chuckle to herself, and even snuck a pinch from said ass. “As much as I love talking about things that make both you males uncomfortable,” she said, making her way back into the bed chamber, “please tell me you have good news.”
Aedion’s jovial expression melted into one that was all business. “I don’t know if I’d call it good, per se,” he said, “but I don't think it’s bad, either.”
“So just news, then.” Aelin shrugged. “I’ll take it.”
Running a hand through his hair, Aedion started, “the council was right about one thing- literally ever noble house on the continent is waiting with baited breath for you to put Elle’s hand in marriage up for grabs.” He didn’t add, like a fucking breed mare on the market. Didn’t have to. “But, from what I can see, no matter who would be chosen to wed the princess, someone would end up bitter and rile up enough supporters to cause... problems.”
Problems. They’d dealt with their fair share of problems, even after Erawan and Maeve. Kingdoms didn’t rebuilt themselves. But problems were one thing. Peace was a whole other.
“So far it seems like your saying I have no choice but to whore out my own daughter to the highest bidder and hope their military might will keep any potential sore losers at bay,” Aelin snapped. “I though you said this wasn’t bad news.”
Aedion shifted forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees. “It’s not.” He eyed his cousin and his king, choosing his words carefully. “The timing of this meeting isn’t coincidence. The missing members, Lord Darrow included? Most of them oppose this idea.” Aelin and Rowan shared a look before turning back to Aedion. “They’re of the opinion that Princess Eliana is too young yet to be wed, and that the choosing of a fiancé would upset the balance of Erilea. No alliance is worth that risk, not when Terrasen has not even a decade of stability under it’s belt.”
“I sense a ‘but’,” Aelin said warily.
Aedion snickered. “I bet you do.”
Thwack.
He’d deserved that.
Aedion rubbed the back of his hand to sooth Aelin’s blow as he continued. “But,” he emphasized, “that still leaves a majority of the council in favor of a marriage alliance. You may be Queen, but the council still holds enough sway to hinder your power here. If they want to press this...”
“They are more than capable of doing so,” Rowan finished, a dark look crossing his face.
The three of them for silent for a moment. Aedion and Rowan both looked to Aelin. Her arms were crossed, the loose sleeves of her tunic bunching at her elbow, pulling slightly up. The council meeting had been so rushed that she hadn’t had time to change out of her regular day clothes. Rarely was the queen caught outside in fancy dresses (as much as she loved them). Breeches and tunics suited her fine and were much better for the physicality that usually accompanied her day.
No matter what she wore, though, she’d always be Aelin. Clever Aelin. Scheming Aelin.
Rowan saw the spark of an idea in her eyes even before she spoke. “What if we do it?”
Aedion’s brow scrunched. “I’m confused. Isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid?”
But Aelin wasn’t listening, already pacing away from him, her thoughts trickling out and forming sentences in her mouth. “What if we do it? We announce that we’re looking for suitable partners for our daughter, make a show of it for the council. We take in offers, we’ll even throw a party- no, a ball, to officially introduce her into society and all that shit that other kingdoms love to do for their heirs.” She was on a roll now. Rowan and Aedion could only watch as she pieced together the idea forming in her mind. “Elle loves balls, she’ll have a grand time. She can dance with all the eligible attendees, meet as many people as she likes.”
“Again- is this not exactly what you were just roaring you wouldn’t do in a million years?”
Aelin shook her head, a wicked gleam in her eye now. “Oh, no, cousin mine. Because here’s the catch- the council said we needed to ‘consider’ a marriage alliance for Eliana. They never said how long we needed to consider it for.”
Rowan caught his wife’s meaning. “These things take time, of course,” he said slowly. “Months.”
“Years.”
“Decades, even.” He smiled, his grin matching Aelin’s. “For a Fae, that’s hardly any time at all.”
Aedion was finally catching on. “So, a fake ball then? To appease the part of the council that wants to forge a marriage alliance. But we don’t force Elle into anything by, what? Making sure she’s in on it?” He stroked his chin, considering. “That would make things easiest. She’s a smart kid. She can keep it secret.”
“And when the rest of the council is able to rejoin us,” Rowan added, “we’ll be able to reassure them that no decisions have been made and not to worry about upsetting the peace of Erilea.”
Again, silence filled the large room, interrupted only by the far off sounds of the river below.
Finally, Aedion spoke up. “That could work.”
That was all Aelin needed to hear before striding for the door to the hall, looking every bit the queen she was, even in the commonest of clothes, and instructing the guard to fetch her daughter.
Can I just say that THIS is one of the best things that ever happened in acomaf?! 😂😂😂 GAAAAH. My heart beats and bleeds for this fandom.
~
Insta: arz28
In brief: New York City, newly alive, is being attacked, and six humans, no longer quite human, must do everything in their power to save their city.
Full disclosure: I received this as a reading copy through work, with the expectation that I would like it enough to recommend it on release day.
Thoughts: I totally get the buzz about Jemisin now. This is one of the most complex and interesting fantasies, especially contemporary fantasies, I’ve read in a good while, right up there with Middlegame. It’s fun and layered and hard-hitting and beautiful, and I don’t know how much hype this is getting yet, but it deserves so much. So. So. Much.
Unfortunately my library doesn’t own any copies yet and I’m already waiting for them to get their hands on two things, but I have been wanting to get into Jemisin’s work for awhile now.
BTW, I should note @anassarhenisch, your gushing about Middlegame got me to finally start looking into McGuire’s stuff, so I have you to thank for starting the October Daye series.
Yeah, the book isn’t out until the end of March, I should’ve mentioned. (My library also seems to be waiting on copies which is why I was so excited to get the ARC.) Hopefully your library has a similar service to mine, where you can create a TBR on your account, so you can track this.
Also yay! I got someone else into the October Daye books! Hope you like ‘em! They’re very different from Middlegame though.
janainaart
romaincrisis
origamiaround
titsay
jbbartram-illu
