House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City – Book Review

I spent a lot of time hyping up Crescent City ahead of its March 2020 release, mainly because I was impressed with the brand Mass had built in the YA/New Adult market and I couldn’t wait to see how that would translate to adult fantasy. I even wrote a love letter to the book after reading the first 100 pages; but after finally finishing the book has my opinion changed? Or has it exceeded all expectations? Here’s my official House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City review.

House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas | Buy on Amazon UK | Buy on Amazon US

About Crescent City

Premise

Bryce Quinlan is a half-human and half-fae woman living in Crescent City among a pack of Vanir (shapeshifting wolves). She might not have everything, but she enjoys spending time with her best friends, working hard and partying all night. When her best friends are brutally murdered while she’s partying hard, Bryce’s life will be forever changed.

Two years later, when a similar murder occurs, Bryce is forced into an investigation to find out the true culprit of both slaughters. She’s paired up with a fallen angel, Hunt Athalar; and together, with help from Bryce’s fae brother Ruhn, they will unravel a mysterious conspiracy. While also growing closer together.

My thoughts on Crescent City

Outside of the spectacular personal brand that Sarah J. Maas has built over the years, one of the other things I love about her is how she’s able to capture an entire aesthetic in her prose. She has this ability to make the reader vividly see the characters, surroundings and their actions as she writes.

I saw many complaining about there being too much info-dumping and world-building in this book, but I would actually argue that this book has the least convoluted world-building I’ve read in a fantasy book.

But while I thoroughly enjoyed reading Crescent City and was entertained throughout all 816 pages, I cannot call it the perfect book. The book is marketed as adult fantasy, but when put up against other adult fantasy works it is nothing alike.

I believe the only thing that deems this adult fantasy is the fact that her characters are older than the ones in Maas’s previous books. But they generally act the exact same way her characters would act in her New Adult books. This left me asking the question, what exactly does separate this book from A Court of Mist and Fury? (My previous favourite Maas book.)

There’s tons more swearing, the characters are ‘older’, and instead of coming up with creative ways to refer to a penis, she flat out calls it a cock. But besides that, this book wasn’t exactly the kind of adult fantasy I was expecting. Either her previous books are already adult fantasy, or this one reads just like her NA/YA books.

Another thing I expected to see in Maas’ adult work, is more varied characters. And I don’t just mean characters of a different colour—which, she had a few in here. But they’re not exactly main characters that were present the whole way through—I mean characters who are completely unalike. But it seems like every one in Crescent City is a super model-like specimen who is attractive to all; including Bryce herself. Sure, Maas’ beautiful world pallet is something that separates her brand and makes her books standout, but again, in adult fantasy I believe more depth and variety should be given to readers. Even if the main cast are beautiful, powerful beings, why not have some supporting cast who are more varied in their looks and abilities?

My criticisms could just be a result of me misunderstanding what was meant by “adult fantasy” here, and in which case, I must commend Sarah J. Maas on another book full of dazzling escapism. But as someone who reads a ton of mature/adult books, I was expecting something that would enter the same realm but also have Maas’ signature fantasy aesthetic and prose.

Verdict

I want to be clear in saying that this is still one of my favourite Maas books period. I just had different expectations for it and in every review I write there’s a need to be critical.

With that being said, I recommend the book to anyone who has loved a Maas book (or something similar) and wants to try something in the urban fantasy realm. But if you’re expecting Game of Thrones or Black Leopard Red Wolf, then Crescent City is something quite different. Make sure you have the right expectations going in and there will be a ton to enjoy here.

Whenever a sequel comes, I’ll be the first in line to pre-order. Because Maas did create a new and fascinating world for new stories to be told.