Ratings280
Average rating4.2
That moment when you think that the author can't get any worse and somehow she discovers a new low.
At this point, I'm convinced that Sarah J. Maas just writes her own fanfiction and you can't convince me otherwise. She even does her own crossover with that ending.
Were my expectations of this book lowest of the low? Yes. Was I disappointed anyway? Hell, yes!
In this book there weren't any good points, so let's move on straight to the bad part:
- the only parts with the plot were the prologue and the last 4-5 chapters. Yes, the book, which is 800-pages long, has a plot that took only 80 pages.
- what was there else? we had a bunch of characters who wanted to fck someone and they either didn't or did. Yep. Seven hundred pages of absolutely nothing. Seven hundred pages of a bunch of “males” (why does Sarah J. Maas treat her character like animals? You have no idea how often the term “breeding” was mentioned in this one) hanging out in Bryce's apartment whining about their father/alpha/queen over and over again. - one of the early plot points was looking for a couple of rebels - Sophie and Emile. All of them were looking for those super-powerful thunderbirds (of course, they are super-powerful, it's Sarah's fanfiction) for at least 70% of the book (when they had a spare moment between whining and fcking of course) and then we get to know, that Bryce found Emile around 20% of the book and just didn't tell anyone. Haven't even mentioned it in her POV. Because she's so “smart” and “powerful” and “awesome”.
- By the way, about Bryce. Does this “female” know how to speak like a normal person? Her every line has to be snarkiest than the previous one. I have no idea how anyone can stand her. She literally can't listen to anyone else except herself. The freaking prince of “Hel” has to tell her to stop fooling around and finally start learning her powers. Did she listen - no. She started to do something only after her friend's throat was ripped out (don't worry, he's alive. apparently for these being ripped throats are nothing).
- and for Bryce's other friend. This time a dead one - Danika. She was alive for 5 chapters in the first book. But she's still the main plot drive (of whatever is left of the plot). This “female” had more secrets than Bryce had pairs of “feminine” lace underwear. Side point, Sarah J. Maas has to start her own “How to find your femininity?” courses with how often she describes something as “utterly feminine”Back to Danika - now we know that she helped rebels, had a mate, looked for another heir for wolves and she loved Bryce (as a friend), but never ever really told her anything. What a busy girl.
- another point - Bryce's and Hunt's relationship. They are mates. The truest of truest mates. Who is surprised? No one. They just make me sick. No matter what is happening around them, they behave like sex-starved idiots. Someone was killed - don't worry, let me fck you. They argued - all is forgotten, we just need to fck. Everywhere, anytime. And when they are not in the process, they are thinking about it constantly. At this point of my life, I'm so ready to puke is I see more curled toes, silk slicknesses, and velvety iridescent heads of giant penises. Sarah continuously tries to convince me, that they have true love “because they truly see each other for who they are”, but she hadn't shown it even once. When they try to start any meaningful conversation it just inevitably turns to sex. I wouldn't argue, sex is a very important part of relationships but it is far from only one.
I guess, it's high time for me to jump off this Sarah J. Maas trainwreck.
alright listen.... SJM is my favourite author and i trust her with my life but girl wtf is this book???
I know smut is a big trend right now but there is such thing as too much smut. The storyline is just smut. I'm happy that sex positivity is being talked about and being included in books but when sex is favoured over telling a story... just upload that shit to wattpad. Smut books are great but this is a fantasy erotica book... i'm expecting action and magic at least a couple times.
I don't need to know when a male characters balls twitch every other chapter, i need to know the plot line.
never thought SJM would do this but she really made the main character one of those people who joke at the worst times. Bryces life would be on the line and here she is thinking shes doing stand up comedy. Like girl be SERIOUS for once. Idk but being sarcastic to people who are about to kill you is a bad move idk. I love funny characters but theres a time and a place. I can't connect emotionally to a story or characters if they arent serious in serious incidents.
Hunt is very plain and boring to me. Another Fae male with a big willy.... its getting old at this point.
"you're my mate" STFU WITH THE MATE SHIT. Can we not have a couple that are just simply in love but not tied together by this mate stuff? If i hear "you're my mate" ever again in a SJM book...
the end sucks btw. but when the ACOTAR characters showed up... maybe my jaw dropped a lil bit but i'm sick of that crew too so yeah the end sucks
I would do anything to go back to the Throne of Glass times. Bring back my man Chaol bruv
3.75/5 stars
The way my soul left my body and hasn't returned after that ending is the reason why I'm rounding up to 4 stars.
Two years? I have to wait up to two fucking years for book #3? I can't. I'm suing SJM for emotional damage.
But the way my girl Danika was treated as a plot device? That is the reason why it's not gonna be 5 stars. Someone has to stick up for her and her storyline.
Things I liked:
-The ending. What. the. fuck.
-Ithan. Maybe my new favorite SJM character since Manon and Dorian? I just loved him so much. It was such a pleasant surprise.
-Also Ithan and Therion? Maybe I'm just wayyy desperate for more LGBTQ+ relationships in a SJM book but I definitely convinced they are gonna fall madly in love with each other.
-Literally every side character and their banter. Like let me New Girl it up in Ruhn's house
-SJM's worldbuilding. It's intense but it's honestly a rare talent.
-about how a door was opened up, very widely, and now the loves of my life, Dorian and Manon, might come back. I might get to read about them and their perfect selves. Please do this to me Sarah. Please. I'm a loyal fan since 2015. I deserve this.
Things I didn't liked:
-The ending. What. the. fuck.
-Danika being insert as a plot device MULTIPLE TIMES. Like she's dead. Let her rest. I loved the relationship Danika and Bryce had in book #1 and how through love, all is possible. But at this point I'm just like? Were the even friends?
-Hunt. He's boring. Too possessive. Lack any sort of character development. And he was even more one-dimensional this book contrasted against the secondary characters. My boy Ithan is Oz compared to Hunt's Kansas.
-The concept of mates and how I finally thought we were going to get a SJM book without that BUT THEN IT HAPPENED. Andthe conversations around it were beyond cringey. And I can literally give a Ted Talk about how heteronormative SJM makes the idea of mates and how the concept seems to almost take consent out of love. Let it die Sarah. Please.
-It was too long. It could have condensed.
-I am on the computer so insert puke emoji's here but the phone sex scene. It was just not what I wanted to read at that moment. Just get back to the plot please and thank you.
-How stupid this book made me feel during the last chapter LIKE IT WAS SO OBVIOUS THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN WHY AM I SO SHOCKED
-about how a door was opened up, very widely, and now the hate of my life, R*wan, might come back. I might have to read about him and his stupid bird-self. Don't do this to me Sarah. Please. I'm a loyal fan since 2015. I don't deserve this.
13.10.2021
Praise for the cover! But...no praise for the the announcement or kind of marketing with which the book cover was announced: “now with 500% more sex”.
Wait.
I am no erotica reader. I am a fantasy reader and I expect to have a solid plot, deep world-building and character development. Then, if the chemistry between two characters is good, sex can also be present, but that HAS TO BE second to the rest.
So I don't know what to expect, but I did not like that announcement at all.
It gives out the idea that sex is going to sell more books and considering that most of Sarah Maas' readers are female, I wonder if it is true that you are incentivized to buy certain books if there is a lot of romance and sex involved. I cannot believe that. With all the global sensibilization about women's rights, sexual harassment, emancipation, and so on, I cannot believe that Maas' readers are gonna fall for that.
Dear author and publisher, please, if you want to sell books where the main focus is sex, that's fine but AT LEAST label them as ‘erotica with fantasy elements' and not as adult fantasy, because fantasy should be respected as a genre and we readers should be made aware of what we are buying.
read in HOSAB vlog: coming soon
An extra star for the end the rest was...idek how to describe it
I will never be the same person after reading this book. Also: thank you Sarah J. Maas for the reading slump that's going to hit me like a truck, just like the ending of this book this. I knew it was going to be good, but did I expect THAT? Oh, NO.
No spoilers here, just a heads up that this book is going to blow your mind. It sure did that to me. It was amazing and incredible and everything, I won't be able to stop thinking about this book for a very loooong time. And WHEN DO WE GET THE NEXT BOOK? I NEED IT NOW
Contains spoilers
This a 3.5-4 star most of the way through, until the end which BLEW MY MIND. I liked House of Earth and Blood just fine, but was feeling a bit Maas-ed out. After the ending of this one, however, my friend's exhortation to JUST READ THIS made perfect sense. You know an author's hooked you on the plot(s) when you feel aggravated that the next one doesn't come out for SIX MONTHS! Patience is not one of my virtues. My only plot-related note is that Maas is getting gayer as she goes, and I'm in full support of that!
While I didn't enjoy the first book as much as some of my friends did, the second book is a massive improvement over the first.
At times, these characters are very frustrating and annoying. Especially Bryce. Her obsession with her friend who had lied to her about everything is very frustrating. She definitely has a blind spot for her, but her insistence on being surprised everytime she finds something new about Danika is downright stupid.
If that is her character, well and good, but then a bout of genius planning comes absolutely out of nowhere and seems very unbelievable.
Unlike a lot of others, I somehow do not buy the romance/whatever the hell it is between Bryce and Hunt. It seems very sudden and it really doesn't work for me.
With the bad out of the way, on to the good - the second one was much better written compared to the first. There was better progression of story, the mystery here flowed much better and the reveals came at the time they were needed and weren't just out in for dramatic effect, like I felt the first book did.
The world of Crescent City is rich. The world building in book one does come at odd places, but in the second they flow much better. Some of the criticisms I had for the first book, were fixed or addressed in this book, which helped in the enjoyment of this one.
I enjoyed this book - truly. Mostly because of Ruhn and the brief appearance of Aidas, even some of the supporting cast are fun and engaging characters. There's a surprising romance I really enjoyed and some reveals that were just too good.
But, I think I find SJM's ACOTAR series far more engaging and fun when I compare it to this series. So while I like the two crescent city novels, I'm not sure I love them as much as ACOTAR. But I am looking forward to book 3 in January.
(Referencing spoilery material below)
To be very honest, I only read this book because of the spoilers I had read about the final chapter, and what the future holds for this series and it's relation to other SJM novels. I am really looking forward to the next book and all the more lore building and the connections with the other novels.
3.75 stars. This was longer than it needed to be and some of the spicy scenes felt like they were just thrown in and not really necessary for the story imo.
Can't say I expected ending though.
Omg....
That ending...
My man... starts with an (R)
2 months before the 3rd book comes our, January 30th. Cant come soon enough. I loved the world immersion; the gang looking into clues and mysteries.
My die hard favorites/ Main Loves will cry if anything happens to them: Bryce Quinlan, Hunt Athalar, Emile Renast, Ithan Holstrom, Syrinx, Ruhn Danaan.
Characters that I find interesting but not my die hard favorites: Baxian Argos, Juniper Andromeda, Fury Axtar, Declan Emmet, Tharion Ketos, and Tristan Flynn.
I didn't want to give it 5*, it was 4.5* rounded to 4* until page 740.
I got this book so spoiled, SO SPOILED, I hated looking at it, I dreaded finishing it, I just couldn't.
Throne of Glass is my favorite saga of Sarah but Crescent City made it's way to my Top 5 with book one, and I was so excited for book two that when I got spoiled all that was going to happen, I just raged.
So I'm here to tell you that those 60 pages I had left, were worth it. Worth it because a hope I had been harbouring after I read ToG has become a reality, and I just sobbed my way through that part 🤷🏼♀️
I also kind of expected more about the book...? It felt like reading AKOFAF in some way, though not as badly because at least this time I kind of remember what has happened before the apocalyptic finale. But yeah, it's felt like all the good things were reserved for those last 60 pages.
Dont mind my rant here, I might change the ranking on this book when I reread it come CC3. But regardless, it's a good book that I really enjoyed and I'd really recommend you reading if you love Sarah's work ☺️
I like Sarah J Maas' lore and world building, but this book didn't need to be 800+ pages long. I don't know if her editor sucks or if she just doesn't listen to her editor, but this book didn't need to be this long. I went on a 3 month reading slump in the middle of this book because I was so bored. And, oh my god, don't get me started on how cringe the relationship gets. I'm happy for you if you liked it and if you were shocked by the incredibly predictable twist at the end, but it was infuriating for me. I don't know if I'll read the next one because I'm sure it'll be 800+ pages again when it really could be at least 400 pages, if not less.
That book was insane. I'm at a loss for words. I cannot recommend this series enough. Also, you should absolutely read Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses first cause seeing teasers and Easter Eggs throughout the book had me SCREAMINGGGG!! I love all the characters and I'm so excited to see where Sarah J Maas takes the story from here!!!
Oh my! I don't know what to do now... The book itself four stars. The fifth one is solely for that ending. WHAT?!?! I can't prosess so much emotions.
All of my thoughts on my YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq_yEWKAKV0