House of Earth and Blood – Sarah J Maas

As a major fan of all of her works, I was thrilled and excited to read her first adult novel House of Earth and Blood from her new Crescent City series. Maas sets the world of her novel far into the future, creating a universe in which mortals struggle to survive against the backdrop of war and under the dominion of various otherworldly, non-human characters. Structured almost like a Roman civilisation, the world of House of Earth and Blood is awash with fantasy elements, from Fae, to Sorceresses, to Angels.

However, since the main character, Bryce Quinlan is half-fae, half-human, Maas still touches us with the poignant struggles of human existence.

As a character Bryce is hard not to love, with her unwavering loyalty to those she loves and what she believes in, matched against her struggle to fit into a society that denies and rebukes her existence: being of two worlds ultimately means she is unaccepted by both. But Maas’ portrait of a strong female protagonist who refuses to let the opinions and prejudices of others stop her from her goals is what makes her novel such a success — this strong female archetype is a feature of all her other works, including Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

As with any good novel, Maas’ plot is full of heart-racing romance and unexpected plot twists that will keep reading well into the night. The diversity of her characters, from ones you cannot help to admire to those whose mere presence on the page makes you want to scream, gives her book the kind of vitality that makes it hard to forget long after you’ve finished reading.

However, being almost 800 pages long, you’ll need to set some time aside to get the whole way through. Once you do though, it will be completely worth it. With the next instalment in the series set to come out in January 2022, House of Earth and Blood will be the perfect summer read for those looking to unwind.

A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J Maas

I cannot deny that I am a major Sarah J Maas fan, and her recent book from the Crescent City series has won my heart for its unique plotlines and enthralling characters. But my love for her work all started with her novel A Court of Thorns and Roses. This book first caught my eye as a reworking of Beauty and the Beast, a much-loved Disney film of mine, and so I was immediately sold. However, it is so much more than just a Beauty and the Beast remake- it’s also full of different folktales, such as the ballad of Tamlin which makes her writing that much more nuanced and intriguing.

Set in a more Victorian setting than Crescent City, ACOTAR mixes fantasy and classic elements together to create a world that is both something familiar, drawing on the theme of sisterhood and Victorian dress as in Little Women, whilst maintaining a high-fantasy air comparable to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, with her elaborate Fae rules and systems vastly different to our everyday mundane lives. For anyone looking for a well-written fantasy novel that still has something down-to-earth and familiar, Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series provides just that.

She recently just expanded this series, also, with a fourth book A Court of Silver Flames, which is beautiful for her character development. In this book Maas’ central character, Nesta, undergoes a truly poignant journey, in that she starts the novel lost, suffering from mental health issues, but as the book progresses, she learns to cope with various difficulties, in a way that is really quite moving. I think the way in which Maas discusses these issues of mental health, in a world that is far removed from our own, but still deals with issues so intimately familiar with many people, allows her book to truly connect with those who read it.

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