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Sarah J Maas fans rejoice around the world with the release of the highly anticipated final book in the Crescent City series, “House of Flame and Shadow.” Maas had originally gained fame from her award-winning “A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR)” series and the extensive “Throne of Glass” series.
Even though all her books are in the same fantasy realm, the characters in each series have never interacted until the end of the second book in the Crescent City series, “House of Sky and Breath.” The book ended with a riveting cliffhanger when the main character Bryce jumped through a portal and landed in the same world as the characters in ACOTAR, which sent fans into a frenzy. ACOTAR is “booktok” famous and the last book in the series came out in 2021. Maas is rumored to be working on the sixth book in the series, but fans only just received confirmation after this recent release, because this book blended the worlds of the ACOTAR characters and the Crescent City characters.
That said, the crossover was wholly disappointing for me. For one, it was definitely a marketing push to grab purchases from members of the ACOTAR fandom because the actual crossover only consisted of a small portion of the 850-page book. There are lots of questions left unanswered with the collaboration of the characters, however, Maas definitively confirmed that the ACOTAR series will continue, where I hope some of the plot holes will be closed.
Besides the occasionally messy plot, there’s a lot to like about this book. The flow of the book is constantly moving, alleviating boredom and as the plot ramps up there are several “sit on the edge of your seat” moments. As someone who often needs a little romance to remain interested, I was delighted by the love story between Lydia and Ruhn. It was a cute side plot, which brought some passion into the story instead of Bryce and Hunt’s relationship which had already reached its height in the previous book.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and Maas made Bryce a lovable, fun and complex character who we can all relate to at times and gave her a modern spin which characters in ACOTAR lacked. Maas accomplished the feat of wrapping up Bryce’s story in Midgard and starting a new story in Prythian (where ACOTAR is based) and I’m interested to see the next move in the Maas multiverse.
