House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, 2) Paperback – September 26, 2023

The second of Crescent City Series, House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas certainly got intense and the ending of the book, unfinished, kept me wanting for more! The opening of the book with Sofie Renast was certainly interesting though I expected a different outcome for her. How Sofie got intertwined into the original story feels somewhat neat and seamless and actual continuation of the first book, House of Earth and Blood.There is definitely more depth added to the characters of Bryce, Hunt, Ruhn, Ithan, Tharian and Hypaxia. Agent Daybright kept me guessing until ruling out couple of other choices. It was an interesting reveal to me. Another interesting reveal was that of Baxian. Didn’t see things coming as they are with Celestina or what Tharian chose at the end. Addition of Ariadne and three fire sprite Malana, Rithi and Sasa was a nice touch. Also, interesting is the intro of Sigrid. Waiting to see how all of these character contribute the final plot and how it’s all going to end.Sarah J. Maas sure knows who to tell a story wonderfully and definitely a bold writer and I like her for that. Plot is at a very interesting point and can’t wait to finished the last and final part of the series, House of Flame and Shadow to know what happens. Looking forward to finish it soon. 🙂Also, it’s great having kindle edition with the audio book. Enjoyed the narration by Elizabeth Evans with her adept narration for all the characters. The pace felt a bit slow and it was perfect to listen at the speed of 1.2x.

Wow. I don’t even know where to start, except to BEG you to run to your nearest book retailer and pick up this series. Pick up all of Sarah J Maas’s series, as every single one of them is excellent and I have yet to read anything by her that I don’t absolutely love with all my heart. I’ve been following her career since the early Throne of Glass days, and seeing her find so much success and such a devoted fan base (one I’m proudly part of) that enables her to continue creating these incredible stories and equally spellbinding worlds? It brings me so much joy, and also a deep sense of kinship with the rest of the fandom who love her characters as much as I do.I’ll preface this actual review by saying I had already very confidently figured out two of the major reveals that are spelled out towards the end of the book. I guessed them early on (one I had figured out midway through HOEAB) and I have to admit - I had the audacity to feel disappointed because it had all just seemed so OBVIOUS to me and it didn’t seem like a typical SJM ending for there to be nothing crazy for me to gush over. That being said - despite those two mysteries having been pretty clear to me, I still LOVED the book. I loved the characters, I loved the dialogue, the internal struggles, the power moves, the sense of adventure the book carried through it. The way SJM writes fantasy, as always, is divine. The friendships and relationships snd love stories, as always, were poignant and touching, and they elevated HOSAB from a story about different types of magical beings living in a fantastical world to a story about the human condition and what it means to survive, what it means to sacrifice for something bigger than yourself, and what it means to truly love someone. So, even with those two reveals at the end not really being reveals to me, this story was so gorgeous that it was still a 5 star read for me. Now it seems like those reveals were red herrings of a kind, in that they kept the reader focused on those specific mysteries instead of wondering what else could be at play.BUT - then the real ending came, something that I never saw coming even ONCE and turned everything on its head so thoroughly that I had to eat all of those “disappointed feelings” with a monstrous slice of oh so humble pie because HOLY CRAP. THAT IS HOW YOU END ON A BIG REVEAL! It was fantastic. The ending was so surprising and delightful that I immediately wanted to run to everyone I knew and beg them to HURRY UP so we could talk about what this means! So well done and just so enjoyable in every single way. If you have been holding out on reading SJM and haven’t yet discovered what the fuss is about, I urge you to open up one of her books and find out for yourself why so many people are such devoted fans. Thank you for this beautiful second installment. I simply can’t wait to see what happens next!

I like the story but have to skim past the very x rated parts. Would really like it to be a little less graphic.

“Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again, I promise.”✨✨After the events of HOEAB, Bryce and Hunt are trying to live their lives while staying under the Asteri’s radar. However, rebel activity is on the rise, and they want Bryce, Hunt, and their friends to join the cause. With their home on the precipice of war, Bryce must choose who to fight for and how far she’s willing to go as secrets unravel and her world gets turned upside down.✨✨At this point, if Maas writes it, I will read it. I love her writing and House of Sky and Breath was no exception. Maas has a particular talent for dropping seemingly irrelevant details that often come back in a big way. This book is full of those details, and you could lose yourself in theory boards trying to sort it all out. One of the elements in this book that I loved was getting a broader range and more page time of characters being focused on outside of Bryce and Hunt. There are so many different groups, fae, shifter, mer, etc., that I appreciated the extra insight into their political workings. I especially found the interactions between Ruhn and agent Daybright fascinating while trying to puzzle out her identity. Also Bryce is starting to develop some Aelin worthy plans, and I’m here for it. The amount of times she’s thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone else it has already figured out the clues, I love it. The vibe of HOSAB had a darker and more tense vibe than HOEAB at least for me. There are lighter and comedic moments to help offset this, though. One of my favorites being the ‘that’s not a cat’ scene. Once you pick this book up, it’ll be a struggle not to want to finish it in one sitting. I will warn you though, there are so many twists, turns, and mind blowing revelations towards the end that you’ll want book 3 immediately. I highly recommend reading this as well as Maas other work.

Great story. Love the turn at the ending. I can't wait to read the next one. Every book Maas writes leaves that feeling!