I typically have a slower start to the year when it comes to discovering some of my favorite books of the year, but there were so many new releases over the past three months and some backlist titles I loved!! Between January and March, I read 34 books and 7 novellas.
If I had to choose, House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas is its own kind of top fave because any SJM is an automatic 5/5, but I think Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey is my absolute fave.
It’s time for one of my favorite posts to write: a ramble review/thoughts collection of the latest Sarah J. Maas book! I finished the third book in the Crescent City series, House of Flame and Shadow, last weekend, and I have spent some time taking in reviews – I recommend checking out The Bookish Life of Jess and Tori’s podcast episode and Jared and Lindsey’s POV reaction video. It took me about a week to finish House of Flame and Shadow, reading it from Saturday to Saturday – I thought I would take longer, as I had been reading anywhere from 50-100 pages a day, but I ended up devouring the last 200 pages in my final sitting. My post will contain spoilers for the Crescent City and A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
Before spoilers, you should know that House of Flame and Shadow (HOFAS) is definitely a favorite book of the year. As of right now, it’s the best book I’ve read so far in 2024, even though SJM’s books are so different from what I normally read (with maybe the exception of Fourth Wing, but there’s still something so distinct about SJM’s work from other romantasy) and they’re just always five out of five stars for me because I just love the reading experience so much. My spoiler thoughts are beginning right below the picture of the Crescent City series.
Everyone’s most anticipated book of the year comes out in less than two weeks, Sarah J.Maas’ s third Crescent City installment (and let’s be honest, ACOTAR crossover), House of Flame and Shadow. To get into the spirit, I’ve decided to rank my preference of both series. Let’s be honest, any Sarah J.Maas book gets an automatic 5/5 stars from me, so this is just a light-hearted look at these books.
I am not someone who has done annotated rereads of Crescent City and ACOTAR or has made deep-dive predictions before I read into House of Flame and Shadow and before writing this post. I have considered rereading House of Sky & Breath before reading House of Flame and Shadow, but even two years out, I still feel like I have a decent memory of what happened in book #2 (and let’s be honest, I’ll probably read or watch a recap or two because I just realized it came out TWO years ago, not one). I am so happy for Sarah J.Maas and readers that her books have become SO extremely widespread.
If you’ve been here a while, you probably know that I’ve been reading Sarah J.Maas since 2015, when I was reading Throne of Glass and the first ACOTAR book in my high school library(!!!). I’ve been to a few of her signings, including one at a Costco (which is so crazy to think of now that SJM used to be able to have calm signings there) and more popular ones at Book Con (which is still a major RIP because I loved the Book Expo and Book Con weekend, but I honestly can’t imagine how that event would be now with how the book influencer community has grown in the past two years alone, not to mention the readership of authors like SJM). That all being said, I’m just here to enjoy all of SJM’s books…probably avoid bookstagram for the next week few weeks to avoid spoilers since my copy that I preordered in August is scheduled to come the week after release – sigh that while I love that everyone is reading SJM, I’m disappointed about how hard it is now to get copies of her books on release day, let alone exclusive editions – I think I walked into Barnes and Noble on release day and always got copies of her books until Kingdom of Ash (and even then a pre-order got screwed up, so I had to end up buying the last exclusive in person). Anyone, time for the books!
I shared in my A Court of Silver Flames or House of Sky & Breath reviews that it was soon time for me to do an updated Sarah J. Maas review. As you likely know, I have been an avid SJM reader since 2015 – yes, I was indeed reading A Court of Thorns & Roses in my high school library before school and during study hall. If reading fantasy romance in that setting is my claim to fame, I am so here for it. Fun fact that my Top 5 SJM Books post I wrote in 2020 is one of my most popular posts on the blog – I definitely owe some of the attention to the increased popularity of SJM thanks to ACOTAR love on BookTok.
While I am tempted to do an updated ranking since I do think that A Court of Silver Flames and House of Earth & Blood might just be among my top five favorites (I’m thinking of doing a top ten because let’s be honest, if though I have my FAVORITES, I LOVE all of SJM’s work), I thought I’d go in a different direction and rank the Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, and Crescent City series, based on the first 2 Crescent City books.
1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – Yes, let the controversy rain over me. Maybe blame it on the fact that it was my introduction to Sarah J. Maas, but Throne of Glass owns my heart. I think Throne of Glass is the most fantasy of SJM’s books, in the sense that we don’t get a ton of steam/romance, at least until the last three books. Yes, a large part of that is because Throne of Glass is considered YA, but my theory is that those last few get a little steamy because they were written along side A Court of Mist & Fury and A Court of War & Ruin, ie when ACOTAR really established the romance. Crescent City is of course SJM’s most high fantasy, but I think its setting that borrows a lot of elements from the modern world makes it less of an intimidating fantasy read than ToG (aside from the page numbers of course). While there is that connection to ACOTAR within House of Sky & Breath (trying to be save with spoilers/as non-spoilers as possible).If you’re a reader that has started with the Crescent City series and want to explore more of her backlist, while ACOTAR is the obvious choice, I would recommend reading Throne of Glass if you like the fantasy of SJM more than the romance. Throne of Glass as a series has a similar effect to the transition from ACOTAR to ACOMAF, in the sense that everything you know and expect based on the first two books, Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, gets blown up by the end of Heir of Fire and the series goes into a new direction with my personal favorite SJM book, Queen of Midnight. Throne of Glass begins as semi-Cinderella inspired retelling, as assassin Celaena Sardothien is selected to compete to be the king’s champion, earning the attention of the crown prince, Dorian, and captain of the guard, Chaol Westfall, along the way.
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Summary (from the publisher): Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.
In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.
My Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
My Thoughts:
Yes dear reader, it only took me 5 days to finish the 8-5 page beast that is the second book in Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series, House of Sky & Breath. Warning that I am going to be using this review as a way for me to process my thoughts on the book. I am going to do my best to not share specific spoilers for House of Sky & Breath, but there may be slight spoilers for the first book, House of Earth & Blood below. I actually haven’t read too many reviews that include spoilers for House of Sky & Breath. Plenty of the bookish people I follow across social media have simply said that they love this book & have alluded to its shocking ending. I also highly recommend listening to Fated Mates’ podcast non-spoiler episode with Sarah J. Maas about HOSAB. I also plan on listening to SJM’s interview on the B&N Podcast this week. In this review, I am going to talk about my thoughts on the book & my relationship with SJM’s books overall..and yes, my reactions to THAT ending.
Nowadays, I don’t even really consider myself a fantasy fan aside from the occasional 1-2 books from fan favorite authors that I read (like Leigh Bardugo or Victoria Schwab) and of course, SJM. There’s just something so intricate yet somewhat – emphasis on somewhat because I don’t think I have the complete political details of HOSAB down just year & probably need a reread to do so – easy to understand world-building that just gets me every single time. I especially love HOSAB and the Crescent City series because I love how it blends the modern world and fantasy elements. And yes, again dear reader, this book is the most STEAMY out of SJM’s books, on an entirely new level from event A Court of Silver Flames). I really think HOSAB is way more fantasy romance than just high fantasy/adult fantasy compared to other books. There’s really no limit to the more mature content of HOSAB compared to SJM’s books. I know while it’s not every reader’s cup of tea, I love the fluff and the banter of these books and don’t mind the length of the novel.
Read More »After reading House of Earth and Blood back in March, I started thinking about which book I consider to my favorite book by Sarah J. Maas. I considered ranking all the books across Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and now Crescent City, but I think that would require another full reread of all her books. I’ve read the first five ToG books twice and the first two ACOTAR books twice. I decided to at least rank my top five favorite SJM books in honor of the potential that ACOTAR #4 will be out in January 2021. This is unconfirmed, but as Kristin of Super Space Chick points out in her latest News & Stuff video, the book’s release date is set for January 26, 2021, on retail sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
#5. A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2)
As I was writing this post, I went on Goodreads to revisit my reviews for all of these books. I noticed that A Court of Mist and Fury is both SJM’s highest rated and most read book on Goodreads. This really isn’t a surprise to me because ACOTAR is way more well-read than Throne of Glass outside of the fantasy bookish community and/or readers who don’t normally read YA or adult fantasy and tend to read romance. ACOMAF is definitely the strongest installment in the ACOTAR trilogy. It’s obvious that this book completely sold me on Feyre and Rhysand (hellloooo Chapter 55), but it makes the series into something more than a Beauty and the Beauty retelling or what we might’ve expected after the first book.
A sidenote, by after my second reread, I realized that ACOMAF really should’ve made ACOTAR be considered as an adult or at least new adult fantasy series. You likely I am so much more of a romance reader since I reread ACOMAF – contemporary romance is my current favorite genre- but I think the genre name for this series needed to switch before ACOTAR #4, which Sarah has said will be considered adult fantasy.
#4. Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5)
Empire of Storms could have easily been a ‘middle book’ between Queen of Shadows and Kingdom of Ash, but SJM completely nailed this one. The fifth Throne of Glass book features some of my favorite scenes and quotes in the entire series. Although it might not be a favorite amongst readers who love action in their favorite, I personally loved it because of all the plot and world-building and stage-setting for Kingdom of Ash. At the end of my reread back in 2018, I retitled this book as ‘Empire of Tears’ thanks to its ending.Read More »
Whenever Sarah J. Maas comes out with a new book, it gets immediate priority on my to-read pile. According to my Goodreads, I had Crescent City on my TBR since May 2018, so I had plenty of time to plan my reading around its release. House of Earth and Blood, the first book in the Crescent City series, is SJM’s latest release since Kingdom of Ash came out in October 2018, so it was such an exciting experience going to the bookstore on release day and pick up her first adult fantasy book.
I highly recommend checking out SJM’s Crescent City Q&A on the World of Sarah J. Maas YouTube channel. Since she cancelled the Crescent City tour due to the health climate, SJM and her husband, Josh aka Papa Maas, hosted a live show answering readers’ questions about the new series and basically anything SJM related. With no spoilers, they shared a lot of fun details about the book and Sarah’s writing process. I loved when SJM talked about the cover design and revealed the hidden details within. She also talked about her life outside of being an author, from how she met her husband to what it’s been like being a mom and her struggle and journey with anxiety and depression. Although she warned that things could change, it looks like we’ll be getting the first book in the Nesta ACOTAR spin-off series and Crescent City #2 in 2021. Like Crescent City, the Nesta spin-off will also be considered adult fantasy. SJM revealed that the new ACOTAR covers coming in June are meant to grab more adult readers.
As one of my go-to authors, I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even need to read the full synopsis of her books anymore to know if I’ll pick them up or not- the answer is always yes! Of course, having loved SJM’s young adult books about Fae, I was even more excited for Crescent City when it was announced that this urban fantasy series would follow a young half-Fae woman on a mission to find the demon that murdered her closest friends two years prior.
Summary (from the publisher): Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard 
all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
My Thoughts:
It’s no surprise to anyone that I absolutely loved House of Earth and Blood. I am already crying over the fact that I finished it and need the sequel. While SJM’s books tend to be on the lengthy side normally, I read this 799 beast over the course of the week. I did have some other things in life going on at the time aka homework, dealing with a very much altered school schedule, and watching Star Wars, but I found that I couldn’t really fly through House of Earth and Blood because there are so many details. I also didn’t want to necessarily fly through me because I wanted to catch all the details and really enjoy being back in SJM’s writing.Read More »
If this post is published, it means that I have conquered the beast that is Sarah J. Maas’s Kingdom of Ash. RIP my bookish soul.
The final book in the Throne of Glass series, Kingdom of Ash’s 980 page story took over my reading life for five days. Yes, I’m still laughing at the fact that I thought I could hold off reading my most anticipated release of 2018 until Thanksgiving break. Since I myself was avoiding KoA spoilers for as long as possible, here are some of my non-spoiler thoughts:
Welcome back to the Night Court, reader darling.
A Court of Frost and Starlight is the first novella and fourth installment in Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy. ACOFAS acts as a tie-in to the upcoming books in the series, and follows the Night Court’s first Winter Solstice together after the events in A Court of Wings and Ruin.
While there was some confusion over if ACOFAS was technically the fourth book or just a novella (after all SJM’s Tower of Dawn was supposed to originally be a novella…), the size of ACOFAS alone indicates novella status for SJM! Not including the sneak peek, ACOFAS clocks in at 229 pages, which is pretty short in the ACOTAR world—ACOWAR was 699 pages itself. Despite everyone talking about its length on bookstagram (*insert angst about my copy not coming until 6 days after release date when I preordered it back in February HERE), even I was shocked by its size! However, I have now have plenty of room to give it in a home (aka squeeze it amongst my SJM books) on my shelf.
Since Tower of Dawn is the sixth (technically seventh if you count The Assassin’s Blade) installment in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, I will not be providing a summary today. I love my non-spoiler folk, especially since I just read ToD in April and I myself spent 8 months avoiding spoilers, but when it comes to the love of my life, Chaol Westfall, your girl needs to talk some spoilers about her man.
In lieu of a summary, I’ve answered what I’m sure are your burning questions (Aelin’s nickname isn’t Fireheart for nothing) on how to go about reading Tower of Dawn:
Do I need to read The Assassin’s Blade to read Tower of Dawn? No, not necessarily, but I recommend that you read The Assassin’s Blade because by Tower of Dawn, all 5 stories have significantly come into play. If you are trying to plan out your Throne of Glass series read or reread, I recommend that you read The Assassin’s Blade in between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows.
Do I need to read Tower of Dawn to read Kingdom of Ash? Obviously, Kingdom of Ash has not yet come out, but I 100% believe that Tower of Dawn is necessary for character development and plot development. There are a LOT of new details that honestly can be considered to be plot twists about the magic system and dark forces our characters are facing.
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
Warning: Spoilers for the Throne of Glass series and Tower of Dawn below
Many of you know that Chaol is my #1 fictional boyfriend. I’ve loved him since Throne of Glass , I used to consider Crown of Midnight to be my favorite ToG book because of all of its Chaolness (despite the whole Nehemia thing and Celaena basically wanting to rip him to shreds), and I should probably make my first bookish candle one inspired by him. So even I’m still trying to figure out how I did not read Tower of Dawn immediately after its September 2017 release. I’m trying to chalk it up to the fact that I had really wanted to reread the first five ToG books beforehand (which I’ve ended up doing this year) and fall semester stress.
I’m sure it’s again no surprise to you guys that I loved Tower of Dawn. It’s easily made its way into my top 3 ToG books and most definitely a favorite read of 2018. There’s just so much world building in this installment, as Chaol and Nesryn journey to Antica and the Southern Continent. I’m not sure if we’ll get anything else from the ToG world after Kingdom of Ash, but my spin-off predictions now includes with one of our new ships and a new favorite OTP of mine starting a new life together as rulers of the Southern Continent…
I still need to look into some ToD fanart, but does anyone know what a ruk acutally looks like? I feel like I finally understand what a wyvern is supposed to look like, but now I have to figure out this giant, but awesome bird??? Are we going to get an Abraxos and Kadara ship now???
As you may tell, I’m quite excited to discuss some new ships (really Haley, a wyvern and a ruk??), but I do want to talk about character development beforehand. We get three perspectives in ToD, Chaol, Yrene, and Nesryn. Chaol experiences the most development, from coming to terms with his disability to overcoming his anger over the past. There’s that one chapter, Chapter 55 to be exact, that was just so heartbreaking, as Chaol faces his past in Anielle and his actions from Crown of Midnight, including his bitterness over his relationship with Celaena/Aelin.
But fear not, because Yrene was there to save the day! I am SO happy with Yrene and Chaol as a couple, and I’m so excited to see more Yrene in Kingdom of Ash. She’s easily become one of my favorite characters, and I’m really excited to explore her and the healers’ magic, not to mention her BOND with Chaol. Below are some of my favorite quotes from Chaol AND LADY WESTFALL (!!!):
“Yrene could have sworn it was far more than the dawn that shone in the captain’s brown eyes as they rode into the city” (177).
“And that this moment, flying together over the sands, devouring the desert wind, her hair a golden-brown banner behind her…
Chaol felt, perhaps for the first time, as if he was awake.
And he was grateful, right down to his very bones, for it” (489).
If I can’t have him, I’m more than happy that Yrene can.
And speaking of OTPs, I am HERE for Sartaq and Nesryn. If Tower of Dawn remained as its intended novella, I think there would’ve been a chance that Nesryn and Chaol set sail as a ship, but I think Chaol needed Yrene for his own development. I also think Nesryn and Sartaq’s personalities fit really well together, and while Kingdom of Ash is not going to be a light-hearted read, I could use some more of Derala’s teasing:
“Sartaq gave her a knowing, cocky grin. As if he’d fully decided what would come after and nothing she could say would ever convince him otherwise.
And from the courtyard just a wall away, her sister shouted, loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, ‘I told you, Father!’ ” (648).
And while Chaol and Yrene definitely make some discoveries of their own, I was shocked by Nesryn and Sartaq’s finding out that Maeve is QUEEN OF THE VALG?? And those giant spiders definitely didn’t help adjusting to that fact Rereading Throne of Glass this year allowed me to pay closer attention to plot details and set-up for later installments, but I would love to know how much and how long ago SJM had everything planned out. How many notebooks did she use??? I really want to go back to Heir of Fire, for example, and look for owl references when Aelin meets Maeve.
If you’re planning to reread Empire of Storms AND Tower of Dawn before Kingdom of Ash, I recommend checking out Jenna of jennaclarek’s awesome Eos meets ToD reading guide. I know a lot of EoS readers were upset that we didn’t get Chaol and Nesryn in that installment (little did we know what Sarah had up her sleeve), so I think this is a really awesome way to experience our full cast before the final book.
This is so far from perfect but I made a preliminary EOS+TOD reading guide if you’re interested! I may tweak this when I use it later this summer but let me know if you use it & it works!! Shout-out to SJM for ruining my life (in the best way) 😁 #ThroneofGlass#KingdomofAshpic.twitter.com/KDCHGi6bGM
— JENNA⚡️ (@jennaclarek) April 25, 2018
If you want more ToG content, check out my guest post with my rankings of each book over on Literary Sea!
Have you read Tower of Dawn? What’s you favorite ToG ship? Share in the comments!
Fangirl Fury 