Sarah J Maas House of Flame and Shadow SPOILERS

[readingmakesmehappy]

The third volume of the Crescent City trilogy is out! I can't be the only person who's really too old to be reading these but is entirely gripped? So starting this thread as a place to discuss, ideally without the kind of nonsense gushing you get on BookTok etc.

So, if you have not read the first two books, do not read on. If you have not yet started HOFAS and don't want to see spoilers, don't read on,

I'm a couple of chapters in and currently I'm only interested in Bryce's storyline and how she's going to convince Rhys and Co of her story. Annoyingly - and obviously in a clever structure to keep us reading - we keep getting the torture porn stuff of what's happening to Hunt and some tedious stuff in the Meat Market with the minor characters I've forgotten from the last book.

But obviously I can't put it down

My copy arrived today

I can’t wait to start reading

I’ve almost finished. Got a few more chapters to go.

I must say, I would have thought there were more interactions with ACOTAR. I liked it was about Nesta and Azriel though. There will obviously be another book out in both CC and ACOTAR

I would have liked more of Rhys and at least a sighting of Feyre, rather than just Nesta and Azriel.

Must admit to having lost the thread slightly of the backstory with Helene and Theia etc etc. I had the same thing with the Throne of Glass mythology.

Finally finished it. I honestly thought there was going to be another book but it ended nicely

I nearly cried when Bryce saw Danika and Lehabah though

I do think it leaves it open for another book featuring Nesta. Probably not one for Bryce.

Well we know there has to be another book for ACOTAR cos there’s still the King of Hyburn to defeat

Vassa also needs to be released from the sorcerer too

Also, did you spot the little TOG reference in there too?

Huge sarah j maas fan here. I find it incredible she’s around my age with 16 novels when I can’t write a correct grammatical sentence. The way she’s woven this universe is amazing. I read them out of order ACOTAR then the first 2 CC then throne of glass then CC 3. I was mind blown at the crossover of throne of glass, and CC2 to Rhys etc. Ultimately I think CC 3 was all over the place. I’m glad it ended, and I don’t see how it will drag on. And I’m really looking forward to the Nesta book. There were references to Ramiel and undiscovered things under there which I’m here for. I missed Rhys in the crossover tbh. Still a very good book, captivating, though a tad confusing. Looking forward to what she has next.

Do you mean with Jessiba? I think the under king too. There was also a peregrini reference plus the Pegasus. I read a theory that midguard is the land from throne of glass a long time further on which I can sort of see, minus the Aelin falling through worlds and seeing current characters and then timelines being wonky issue.

Enlighten me...

@madeleine85 I think it could have done with a really tough edit. But Bloomsbury don't seem able to do that with their popular writers - think how the first Harry Potter books were really tight and well constructed and then by the end they were waaaaay too long.

No not Jesiba. It was Lydia. She named her son Brannon after a king with fire. She also has fire magic too

I did really enjoy it, although there were a fair few loose ends with characters who weren't Bryce - especially Ithan and Tharion. SJM did fall into the same trap as she did with TOG of a few too many characters to keep track of though!

Also Ruhn/Lydia was sometimes so badly written it was hilarious - "his balls tightened" genuinely made me laugh out loud. It doesn't sound sexy at all! At least Bryce and Hunt had stopped having the most incredible sex for five pages at a time all the time though.

I do think that one of the things SJM does really well is write female friendships, and Danika and Lehabah were part of that. I would have liked Bryce to make some more friends at some stage! It was one of the strengths of the Court of Silver Flames that Nesta made friends with people.