House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas
- May 3, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 3
This is a review of House of Sky and Breath, if you are looking for a review of the Crescent City series, click here.
This is the second book is Sarah J Maas’ Crescent City series. Although I ended up enjoying the first book in the series, House of Earth and Blood, it took me awhile to really get into the story. Not the case with this book. The story picks up only a few months after the first book ends and we get right into the drama and intrigue. This book deals with war, blood, death, detailed injuries, slavery, torture, gun and other types of violence, colonization, classism, murder, and barely consensual sexual activity.
As I said, this book picks up almost immediately after House of Earth and Blood left off. Bryce and Hunt are trying to live a quiet life, one that the Asteri have no need to take not of. They’re kind of together, kind of not. They’re getting to know each other for a few months before doing anything physical. Unfortunately, the Ophion rebel network has been very active lately and they insist on pulling Bryce and her friends into the fold. It quickly becomes apparent to Bryce that she doesn’t agree with the tactics of the imperialists or the rebels, but now she knows to much to sit quietly to the side.
This book caught me from the very beginning. You get to see Bryce dealing with her new found fame very poorly, and dealing with the sexual tension between herself and Hunt even more poorly still. We get to learn more secrets, while promises of even bigger secrets loom large! The best part of this book, in my opinion, is the array of different viewpoints that we get. The first novel in the series relies very heavily on Bryce and Hunt, in this one we get more Ruhn, Tharion, and even some Ithan bits. All of our favorites are back and we get to meet (and fall in love with) some new characters as well. The ending was one doozy of a cliff hanger, I was so glad that I hadn’t read this book when it was first released and didn’t have to wait for the next to come out before finding out what happened!
I’m giving House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas 4 out of 5 stars. Spice level is a 2.5 out of 5, nothing to sneeze at.
For more from Sarah J Maas, check out her website at https://sarahjmaas.com/
Pairs well with a game of pool and a pizza with friends.
If you’re looking for a summary of this book, or the first book in the series, check out our summaries of the Crescent City series.
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