“Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood” Review (5/5)

The first novel of Sarah J. Maas’s latest urban-fantasy series, “Crescent City”. This book is Adult Fantasy, so please be advised.

Summary

Bryce Quinlan was the quintessential party girl that just wanted to live life by her own rules. However, a horrible incident leaves her with physical and emotional scars that she is still dealing with two years later. Now she has to work with Hunt Athalar, a gorgeous and moody angel as well as Govener’s personal assassin.

Together, the two must work together to uncover the grizzly crimes that have been popping up in the Crescent City, while also facing their own inner demons.

Positive Aspects of the Book

• Character Dynamics: SJM's novels always follow the circle of trusted friends ideal. However, "Crescent City" breaks from the mold right out the get-go. Bryce's inner circle is all but decimated after the death of Danika and the Pack. She struggles with her grief and her inability to move on, as well as have a support system. SJM writes about the struggles of making and maintaining friendships when you shift into adulthood, which is heartbreakingly true for many adults. So, when Bryce and Hunt are joined together to figure out what happened to Danika and the Pack, it's great to see a friendship grow between two people that otherwise probably wouldn't have anything to do with each other. Circumstance threw them together, but as they got to know each other and their pasts, a true friendship developed. When Bryce and Hunt's friendship eventually evolves into romantic feelings, it felt real because it was real. There was no "mating bond" that has plagued her previous two series (not that I'm against the "mating bond" trope), but a genuine transformation. The other character dynamics that are well-written is the sibling dynamic between Ruhn and Bryce, especially their estrangement and Ruhn's wishes of them to reconnect. The other dynamic worth noting Bryce's friendship with Danika. They are platonic soulmates. There is no romantic feelings between the two but they connect on the same level as one would with a soulmate. They are two halves of a whole. Very few people ever get to experience this type of friendship and people don't every really talk about these types of friendships. The way that SJM wrote Danika and Bryce's friendship is the closest I've seen to platonic soulmates ever written in all the books I've read, which makes it just as more heartbreaking in the end.

• Character Development: The characters in “Crescent City” develop slowly but surely as the story moves along. As this is the first novel in the series, not only are the readers getting to know the characters, but we also wish to see them grow in the same novel. This is because people are always growing and changing throughout their lives. SJM struggled with this concept a little bit in her previous series. The characters in ToG and ACOTAR do grow as we read the series, but we don’t see much of that in the first novel (its there, but the first novels in those series come off more like prologues to the rest of the series). “Crescent City” breaks that mold by having the two main characters, Bryce and Hunt, help each other heal from their pasts. Bryce’s grief throughout the novel is palpable and raw, while Hunt’s mixture of anger, resentment, and numbness is heartbreaking and written in a way that the readers can relate to, despite not ever experiencing the hellish life he is living.

• World-Building and Lore: SJM has always been great at world-building, and "Crescent City" is the best one yet. She throws her readers into an established world and basically tells us to immerse ourselves and figure it out. She briefly and sufficiently explains parts of the world as they come up, but in a way that doesn't take away from the story. The new terms, social hierarchy, locations, and positions are a lot to take in, but become easier to understand as you reach the halfway mark. Luckily, the terms she introduces are easy to deduce after awhile, and she doesn't have outlandish names and titles for the hierarchy. Personally, I struggled with the locations because of how big a city, Lunathion (aka Crescent City) is. My struggle was partly because SJM has the characters refer to some locations with nicknames that the locals would use, which is a good touch.

• Story Plot and Subplot(s): "Crescent City" takes on a unique approach to fantasy by adding in the urban setting. It's also unique in the main plot following a criminal investigation and the healing of Bryce's (and Hunt's) trauma/depression. Most fantasy novels revolve around an adventure or hero's story, while this one is as if "Law and Order" made a baby with a CW show; weird but good in a way. Most fantasy novels have a daring adventure in distant lands, but with "Crescent City", the adventure is a murder mystery with a dash of politics. It was a breath of fresh air, especially considering how much YA Fantasy I read and how they all are similar in one way or the other. Subplot-wise, there isn't too much subplot because everything is tied together so well and everything is connected to the main storyline of the investigation. Bryce's grief process is probably the most well-written account of how someone deals with a great loss and it was great to see her work through her grief and trauma with the help of Hunt. On the other hand, Hunt's story could have used a bit more light on it. I was certainly thrown for a loop when it was discovered that he was a part of a plot to get synth in order to topple the archangels (even though he did back out at the last second because of his feelings for Bryce). At that point, I thought he was too broken by his experiences or he was holding out hope for Micah to keep up his end of the bargain. It was an interesting twist and it definitely played into his defiant nature, even if I thought he had given up hope a little bit by that point.

• Pacing: If you were to go the the "Crescent City" Goodreads page and clicked on the first 1-star review, you would find the biggest criticism being the pacing. In my opinion, the pacing actually really helped set the book up for the climax and helped the overall character development and dynamics take shape. The pacing didn't drag, it followed an investigation and the inner turmoils of Bryce and Hunt. The pacing is set in a way that the reader doesn't get information overload. This novel is jam-packed full of information and if the pacing were extremely fast-paced, a lot of people would give up because they couldn't keep up. Not to mention, the journey isn't always about the high action moments. Character development doesn't happen when the character is fighting for their life. The slow moments are for when the characters can reassess and think about the situation and their actions, which a lot of people seem to forget.

Aspects That Need Improvement

While the lore and world-building can be a bit difficult to follow right out the gate, the reading and understanding of the world picks up as you get more into it. I don’t necessarily see this as an aspect that needs improvement. In a way, SJM is throwing you into a world and culture that you pick up as you go, just as if you had moved to a new country. Does it take some getting used to? Yes, but don’t most fantasy novels? Look at "Lord of the Rings" or any Anne Rice novel. Their world-building is just as complex and overly explained to the point that I want to beat my head into a wall.

Conclusion

Having read all of SJM’s novels, “Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood” is by far my favorite. SJM’s writing has come a long way since “Throne of Glass” and I’m glad to see that this novel stands on its own two feet very well. I highly recommend reading this novel, especially if you are in a reading slump. I can't wait to see where SJM is going to take this series (I have my theories), but I'm coming along for the ride.