I debated back and forth whether to review these as individual books or as a complete series. Finally decided to go the series route because they tie so well into each other, plus I can comment on Sarah J. Maas series as a whole. So let’s get to it.
About the Books
The Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
Book #1: House of Earth and Blood
Pages: 803
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: October 13 – November 16, 2025
Blurb: Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom-and the power of love.
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Book #2: House of Sky and Breath
Pages: 805
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: November 17 – December 4, 2025
Blurb: Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.
In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.
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Book #3: House of Flame and Shadow
Pages: 835
Edition Read: Kindle eBook
Dates Read: December 5 – 16, 2025
Blurb: Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.
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**BEWARE, THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AFOOT**
Probably obvious, but it needed to be said, lol.
These books took me a very long time to read, as you can see. The are CHONKY. Now, I don’t mind a good chonky book as long as it’s not chonky for the sake of being chonky. If there’s a ton of filler and the story meanders for too long, you’re gonna lose me.
Luckily, that wasn’t the case here. I was actually very impressed by that, as one of my main complaints with the Throne of Glass series was that it was too long and there were too many diverging stories that took away from the main plot rather than enhancing it. I had similar feelings towards A Court of Thorns and Roses, but also had other reasons for not enjoying that one (in my opinion, it is way too overhyped, mostly due to the spicy scenes, which I thought were too much at times). Crescent City stuck with the main characters and the main story and the series was better for it. I felt like there was more time to connect with the characters and to flesh them out more, despite having fewer books to do it. That’s probably why this is my favorite of Maas’ series
Speaking of characters, let’s get into it. I really liked Bryce as a character. She’s smart, funny, and loyal to her loved ones no matter what. Bryce has to face a lot of uncomfortable truths about her past, her family, and her situation and, at times, doesn’t handle it well. She is flawed in a way that made her feel realistic, despite having amazing powers that seem to come out all at once – she went from being a nobody half-breed who couldn’t do anything to the extremely powerful Starborn princess in seemingly the blink of an eye. I’m not a big fan of that trope. To me, there should have been some lead up to her having all this power instead of basically going from powerless human adjacent to crazy powerful fae capable of taking down tons of demons in the blink of an eye – hell, in the span of one book! It felt very sudden and pulled me out of the story a little.
Moving on to Hunt. I liked Hunt. A lot. His character arc felt completely believable to me, going from a rebel to a slave and then breaking free, having his power limited and then finally released. The pacing for that across the three books was very good. He and Bryce have a bit of an enemies-to-lovers thing going on, which I did enjoy. Their relationship grew very organically, despite neither of them having any reason to trust the other. They are both dealing with a lot of trauma and they way they both handle it, both separately and together, also felt very real. It’s important to me that, even in a fantasy book, there are things that are grounded in real world situations or stakes. Crescent City did that very well with these two characters.
I also did love the quick glimpse we saw into the ACOTAR world, now knowing that these two series exist in the same univers. That was cool. I wish that more had been done with it.
This series was a great combination of a fantasy story with lots of elements of romance and mystery/thriller thrown in. As I said before, it is my favorite of Maas’ work so far. House of Flame and Shadow won the GoodReads Award for Best Romantasy in 2024 and I can see why. The whole series was fun and engaging, exciting and emotional, and despite my critiques of it, I wholeheartedly enjoyed it.
GoodReads rating: 4 stars for book #1, 5 stars for books #2 and #3
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
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