House of Earth and Blood

Crescent City, Book 1

By: Sarah J. Maas

Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans

Length: 27 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

Number one New York Times best-selling author Sarah J. Maas launches her brand-new CRESCENT CITY series with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

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' 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.  

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and pause-resisting suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by number one New York Times best-selling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom - and the power of love.

©2020 Sarah J. Maas (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

What a disappointment

If this had been written by any other author than SMJ, I would have returned this book within the first 6 chapters. I don't even know where to start. I cried bitter tears of disappointment from the first chapter all the way until chapter 30ish. I couldn't even wrap my brain around the fact that SJM wrote this book. The beginning was a hot mess and needed a flow chart to keep straight.The reader is literally bombarded with information overload about houses, gates, factions, types of monsters and so on in the first few pages. After you get through that then the over done sexual encounters, awkward cussing and the drugs start. NONSTOP. The book is literally about getting people addicted to drugs to give them super human strength to win a war. What a huge turn off. I absolutely loved her other books and have read them all 6+ times. As an adult in my 30's I'm disgusted that this is considered an adult series. I expected more in depth, heart felt conversations and real life emotions. What I got was the equivalent of Zootopia with foul language and sex. Almost like a young teenager wrote a story about what they think life as an adult is like. The Fae Prince's frat house has a beer pong table and is littered with liquor bottles. Come on SJM!!! **FACEPALM** TOG and ACOTAR had more mature relationships and insight than this by far. I hated the insta-love between Bryce and Hunt. Couldn't she have fallen in love with a merman or vampire or Wolf or anything other than another winged male. (I LOVE RHYS, Cassian and Azriel) As I read it was almost as if she took all the characters from her other two series gave them different names and slapped them into this book but not in a good way... Bryce = Celaena Sardothien. Hunt = A cross between Cassian and Azriel. Ruhn= Dorian. Danika= Sam Courtland/Nehemia Ytger. I could go on and on. Why did she rehash the same hidden half fae princess with hidden mega power. Same self sacrifice to close a gate to get rid of monsters. Why??!! The last eight chapters were good. More her writing style, passionate and badass and would have been perfect if she would have just cut out the vomit inducing moaning and groaning. Overall I think this book was a huge letdown and SJM could have taken this series in a whole new direction instead of rehashing the same overdone theme. I'm returning my copy of the hard cover book in protest. P.S. If you say you didn't picture Hunt as Deadpool with his baby legs waiting for his wings to regrow you're a liar.

Not worth the hype

First off let me say how big a Sarah J Maas fan I am, and how utterly disappointed I was after reading this.
The good: Interesting world. It’s like fantasy set in current times. Fae, angels, humans, werewolves, and the like all exist on the planet in a time when smartphones and the internet are present.
The plot is... sort of intriguing - but not enough. I stopped reading so many times only to pick it up again because I was hoping it got better. It did, a little.
The Bad: ..... literally everything else. My eyes got sore from all the eye rolling. The main characters are so cringy- like every man who breathes is staring at the main character with lust- 🙄 every single one. Like- we get it, she’s hot. Can we move on?
I felt like 80% of the book was Bryce talking about how much guys were leering at her, hitting on her, or being possessive.
The main romance was so cliche. I feel like I’m back in Junior High school with all the annoying drama. Would not recommend.

Elizabeth Evans/Sarah J Maas are a POWER COMBO

I would listen to Elizabeth Evans narrate the f****** phone book. She’s incredibly talented. Thank you. THANK YOU!!!

The Arc of the Crescent

Chapter 1: I'll never follow all this complexity. Chapters 2 & 3: I can't believe I paid money for this crap. Chapters 4+: Well, this is actually a pretty good sci fi, fantasy, romance, noir mystery. Chapters 50+: wow, this is really good... Chapters 60+: ... and a little bit pornographic. Chapters 90+: I can't stop listening. Good thing I don't have to get up early tomorrow. Epilogue: I'm definitely getting the next one.

I read this out of loyalty.

Maas’ Throne Of Glass series is one of my all time favorites so I had high hopes for this book. However, I found it to be depressing and really didn’t like the main characters until the very end. I will have to think twice before reading the next one.

Multiple Listen

This book is worth hearing multiple times. Sarah’s new world is fascinating, terrifying, glorious, complicated, and a deliciously satisfying experience. The narrator (from the Throne of Glass series—THANK YOU!) is eloquent, has a lovely cadence, gives attention to emotions without melodrama, and knows how to use energy levels to lift and then gradually relax the listener before the adrenaline flows once more.
I’m re-starting the book immediately because I fell asleep last night while listening, but I woke up two or three times because my brain kept saying “What did I miss?!” [~Thomas Jefferson via Lin Manuel Miranda] and “how far back do I need to rewind?”
Please excuse my lack of ending to this review. I need to return to Crescent City immediately.

sarah j. maas strikes again

I LOVED this story. I will be honest, when I first heard about this story, I was very skeptical. the synopsis sounded like a poorly written mystery novel with two dimensional characters.

the only real reason I gave this book a chance was because I love the authors stories. her last two series hold a special place on my book shelves.

this story though, the build up, the emotions, the twists. it was everything I want in a book and more. there were moments in this story i couldnt breathe. It felt like I was punched in the gut and I was left in tears.
other moments I literally laughed out loud. the dynamic and the banter characters have with one another give it a sense that these characters are real. you feel what they feel in this story.

I'm so glad I gave this story a chance. I will definitely be re-reading this book over and over. I adored every moment.
I'm so glad Sarah J. Maas is back and she kicked ass with this story.

The Fantasy Book from SJM I've Been Waiting For!

This is what I've been yearning for from SJM. Maas is known for her immense world building through the Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses series, that it never occurred to me that her new series would be anything less.

This is a DENSE book. There is a lot of exposition that was built to fully immerse us in the politics, races, interpersonal relations, and world mythology. I am going to need to relisten/reread this book several times to fully digest everything, which I am more than happy to do!

The book is an emotional roller coaster full of laughter, sadness, heart-stopping action, with a touch of romance (basically all the good stuff that fellow Maasians have come to know, love, and anticipate). There were several points that I was yelling at my car stereo; several times I had to stop and REWIND because I didn't think I heard what happened properly (I'm not a rewinder); and several more times I had to stop to fully digest the scope of what was going on.

Not going to lie, there were was a lot of "Holy F***, what just happend?" and "Sh***! that did not just happen!" that were yelled through the course of the listen.

As far as characters go, there is a whole new assortment of personalities to fall in love with. For fans of Maas' other works, you will see parallels between Bryce's and Aelin's characters, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.

Many will be thrown off be Evans' performance as it is very similar to how she read the Throne of Glass series. Evans has a grit and snark to her deliverance that lends itself to this book and the Throne of Glass series, which makes her an excellent choice. I will say that I feel her character voices are not that strong, so sometimes I got a little confused during long spouts of dialogue with who was talking. Didn't bother me much, though.

This is the SJM book I've been waiting for and I cannot wait to reread/relisten to it!

So when does book 2 come out? Love you SJM!

It didn’t capture my attention.

I kept drifting in and out of the story. Maybe it was the lengthy , unrelated details or me being ready for action. Either way I can’t get Into it.

Standard great beginning

When it comes to Sarah j. Maas, great beginnings are pretty standard. This book is no exception, well thought out plot, excellent action, interesting characters, and heart wrenching drama are all here and expertly utilized. However... i am hesitant to get my hopes up to high, whether it is the Main darning socks on the sidelines of the battle field or having given up so much of her power that the Main is basically only capable of a less then mediocre light show for the final boss battle, Sarah's endings tend to be spectacular duds in comparison to the lead up. Still as usual i will be waiting with baited breathe for any hint of the next book.
As for the story, the only complaint i have is that the Main was somewhat unlikable at times, mostly when it came to the elite, her poor person snobbery was quite strong. Also she is a giant b to her brother and even when she talks about why in the end, i'm still not really convinced she had good reasons. though at least with her brother she does acknowledge that she is being unfair to him. I would also say that Sarah does make the elite in this book pretty douchey so i guess it's okay...i think. I loved the pseudo twitter flame war social commentary on current ideology conversations that occasionally came up (i.e. Alphaholes) I thought both sides brought up some pretty good points.
Elizabeth Evans needs to be my spirit animal. She is amazing at bring Sarah's characters alive.

Fantastic surprise!!

This book has all of the common elements of urban fantasy but none of the predictable twists. I read a lot of fantasy so there's not a lot I don't see coming. instead the build up towards the end is full of so many twists and surprises that I didn't expect that I'm definitely reading the next one in the series

Really good narration

The narrator is great at conveying personalities through voices and it makes it easier to follow as there are lots of characters.
The story was interesting, I liked how it mixed tech with fantasy and I liked the added criminal investigation angle. I got more invested as the story went on and I'm excited for the next book!

Wow !

Absolutely brilliant! this book had so many twists and turns and an awesome storyline and great characters.

so much better then anything I hoped to hear

another gripping fantastic book by Sarah J maas can't believe she pulled it out of the bag again I just couldn't stop listening absolutely devoured this book can't wait to listen to the next one

perfect narrator

this book is one of the reasons audio books are so enjoyable - the narrator was fantastic, and made the book even better. a book that actually made me feel feelings; characters very fleshed out, I loved and cried. 5/5

first slow and then captivating

Well, I didn't feel it in the begining.I don't know why, maybe because it's so different from ACOTAR but i am so glad I didn't quit.
It's so long and so many creatures and I felt like I just felt out of nowhere into a world with so many creatures unknown to me, in a more contemporary scenery than ACOTAR. 
And it begins with a twist so gruesome, that I barely had time to get used to the characters and then they were gone. Maybe it was also the narrator delivering it. Maybe it was my mood...
Also in the begining Bryce sounded like a brat, such futile and immature, it was hard to connect with her.
The Audiobook has 27h and 50m, so it's almost the triple of a normal book and it felt so slow paced, it took me awhile to feel the allure. It took me listening to around 10 hours of this book to finally get interested in it, but I only got hooked when the characters gain more dimension and I felt the attraction and angst between Bryce and Hunt. But the second half was nail biting, stress eating and tear swallow. 
Hail for the queen twists. You bet I am gonna dive into the second book.

Brilliant

Loved the characters loved the story loved the narrater just as much!!!!!
Can’t wait for book two

Amazing!

Not predictable, fantasy with modern elements, loved it! Story telling and world building as amazing as ever from Sarah J Maas 👏🏼👏🏼 Also love the narrator!