Blog #27: Crescent City House of Earth and Blood

 Spoilers!

I was really excited to start the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas, because I liked her other two series (ACOTAR & TOG). It was also heavily recommended by two of my friends that have read this series, saying it was really good and I’d love it.

     I will say the first 50-100 pages of CC were rough to get through. This is a theme with Maas’ books, but this was way worse. It was a lot of world building, and different kinds of people. Fae, Wolves, Shifters, Angels, humans, etc etc. And it was all crammed into the first 100 pages, and it was definitely hard to get through. But once you get through that the book is really good and I loved it. And the main characters name I really liked: Bryce.

     Danika and Bryce’s friendship was so fun to read. How much they loved each other, and did everything together. It was refreshing to read a female friendship that didn’t have jealousy or one was better than the other. They accepted each other for who the were, and had tons of fun. They weren’t very big on sappy declarations to family and other friends, but they told each other that they loved each other. They even got matching tattoos saying: “Through Love, All is Possible”. I loved that for them.

     Speaking of fun; I liked reading about the characters being young and full of life and having fun. They went to clubs, went dancing, drank and experimented with drugs. Very young adult esque. Compared to her other two series where the young adult female was starving, or was captured and had to live like a slave. Bryce had been full of life, with a loving family and tons of friends. It was just a nice change is all.

     Now let’s discuss Ruhn Danaan. I have seen everyone on live talk about how Ruhn is their book boyfriend and how much they loved him. I don’t see what the fuss was all about. He didn’t read as anything special, he just doesn’t get along with Bryce. I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

     Hunt on the other hand, I liked him way more than Ruhn. I also enjoyed reading him and Bryce working a “who done it” type of detective work. They were trying to find who was using and distributing the drug Synth, and who had stolen the Horn, which was a Fae relic, and thought these two things could be related. 

SPOILERS

     I was so shocked that Danika died. In no way did I expect that to happen. And not just that she died, she didn’t come back. She was dead, gone, finished. And even two years after her death, Bryce still mourned her friend and just lived day to day, which wasn’t really living. They were going to do The Drop together, which was how they became immortal. They were going to go through life together, no matter what. But now Bryce is alone. It was heartbreaking indeed.

     I was confused though why everyone in the book hates Bryce for Danika and the Wolves dying. She wasn’t there when it happened, and she chased after the demon that she thought attacked them, even getting her leg cut open herself. They all bring up how Bryce was partying that night, and having sex. Sabine, Danika’s Mom, blames her for everything that happened. The other packs of wolves also dislike her because of what happened. It’s just confusing to me why they blame her, but she also blames herself so she just takes the cruel words thrown at her.

     Another death I didn’t see coming was Lehabah, the fire sprite, and a friend to Bryce. She sacrifices herself to give Bryce a few minutes to get ready to murder the angel Micah. He had figured out that the tattoo on Bryce’s back, the ink that was used had been the horn boiled down into nothing. He wanted to use her to open portals to other worlds. So Lehabah sacrificed herself. I did tear up though when she died, and all she kept saying is: “My friends are worth me, and I’m not afraid”.

     It broke my heart.

     I don’t want to spoil too much about the Horn and the Synth, it’s a huge reveal in the book so I don’t want to spoil it beyond what I’ve said above, that the Horn is tattooed onto Bryce. The reveal of everything is worth the wait, and everything makes so much more sense. 

     So I definitely think CC is a great book to read. Maas does a great job of taking fantasy based characters, and making them different and interesting. My favorite group would have to be the Wolves.

     10/10 Would Recommend.

      Signing Off,

     Fenisha Estes