House of Flame and Shadow

So... House of Flame and Shadow... One week later and I'm still not sure where to start and what to write on this review. The short summary is: I didn't like it.

Some might say it's an issue about expectations, but it is not.

I agree that the passage of time between the publication of books in the same series for highly acclaimed writers can be problematic. Readers have the time for their imagination to run wild, leading to the creation of endless theories that can easily culminate in heartbreak, because no author can ever fulfil the enormity of the expectations created. This might be the case for George R. R. Martin, and Patrick Rothfuss, but I don't see it as a problem for Sarah, for several reasons:
• not that much time passed between publications.
• I love her books but, in my opinion the world she has created doesn't have the same depth as the examples given to reach the same level of theories circulating.
• I had a total amount of zero theories for this book. I had some things that I would have liked to see, but nothing that would dramatically affect my enjoyment of the book. I think she is a wonderful storyteller and I just wanted to enjoy the ride towards the happy ending.

I have one main issue with the book: Bryce became the greatest alphahole and single-handedly ruined the whole story.

This is the only trope I truly hate. I just can't stand a Mary/ Gary Sue and honestly, I see it as a lack of effort because it's much easier to defeat the evil if you are insanely powerful.

SJM is well known for creating over-powerful FMC, but this doesn't particularly bother me because they usually train and have a bit of time to grow into that power. This, however, didn't happen to Bryce. She just kept acquiring power, and immediately dominating it, doing everything by instinct.
This was particularly annoying to me as SJM created Bryce as someone with barely any magic, and even after she acquired some power, it served mostly as an enhancer/ enabler of other's magic (particularly Hunt), which was a much more unique concept, and one that I would have liked to see.

Crescent City was a series with a major focus on mental health. It had amazing descriptions of living with depression, regrets, and grief, and I loved that the main couple's relationship was based on acceptance of each other past, and support of each other feelings.
Somehow, we moved from this acceptance and support, to absolutely dismissing Hunt's feelings. I just can't accept that a character that spent more than 200 years suffering, and 3 books being tortured and having his wings cut, could not have a single moment to be traumatized, sad and scared. Moreover, he was a general before, but he could only contribute with one opinion in the whole plan, because obviously, all 25-year-olds know best. What is the purpose of having centenary people around if you are not going to use their knowledge. Bryce is not only overpowered, but outsmarts everyone which is absolutely unrealistic.

The writing was bad, the change on POV messy, and some character's ARC were awful.

Lidia and Ruhn were the only good thing in this book.


First thoughts:
Uff, it's over. RTC after collecting my thoughts

Firstly, to whichever Harris Teeter employee fucked up and shelved two copies of this into the corner of the book section just a week before the official release date, THANK YOU!

Here's all of my VERY SPOILERY notes that I took while reading House of Flame and Shadow for the very first time. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. :)

• Lidia I love you
• Noooo Ruhn and Hunt and Baxian

House of Flame and Shadow stands as another literary flop, weaving intricate plots and meager character development that barely captivate readers from start to finish. The novel grapples with pacing issues and an abundance of point-of-view switches, with some chapters containing up to five transitions. While this technique adds depth to the narrative, it also elongates the story, causing the storyline to progress at a slower pace.

So I have sat on this book for a little bit, and I have to admit, some of it fell flat. I think the fact that we waited so long for this book, everyone's expectations were just too high. I'm happy with the ending, the conclusion, the aspects of TOG and ACOTAR were great. I think I hyped it too much in my head.

There is a few story lines that kinda made me go ‘huh'. Tharion's and Ithan's being the main two. The rest was just Bryce doing a lot off page, and then us finding out what a good character she is after.