Sarah J. Maas’s newest fantasy fiction book, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, introduces a strong, snarky female lead named Bryce Quinlan and a headstrong, lovable male lead named Hunt Athalar. They work together to solve a mystery and in time learn about each other. 

The half human-half Fae, Bryce Quinlan, used to light up Crescent City all night. She would party with humans, Fae (a species of magical creatures, possessing long life spans and some elemental magic), shifters, and angels merging the different classes.

That is until a demon murders Bryce’s best friends.

Two years later, the suspect is supposedly behind bars, but the crimes start up again. The city leaders command Bryce to help investigate under the watchful eye of a fallen angel, Hunt Athalar. As Bryce continues to look more closely into what has been happening in her city, she uncovers a trail that will lead her into her own dark past.

The two main characters, Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar, have a rocky relationship in the beginning with Hunt having to babysit the unsteady Bryce. Throughout the book Bryce learns how to deal with the heartbreak of losing every single friend, while also having to look closely at their deaths. 

When Bryce and Hunt first meet, they both have a stereotypical idea of who the other is, however, they soon realize that they have a lot to learn about each other, and have many things in common. 

The plot of this book is just as intricate and surprising as Sarah J. Maas’s other books. She crafts unsuspecting twists and turns that keep readers on their toes, never knowing what is going to happen next. This book is thrilling and keeps your eyes glued to the pages. 

In Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, Maas dives into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom, and the power of love. Much like her other books, she shows us the power of both friendship and love. Using these values, she reveals to us how one can use these to climb out of the arms of grief. 

Throughout the book, the phrase “LIGHT IT UP!” was used multiple times between Bryce and her best friend, Danika. This phrase was used to show the friendship between the two girls, and eventually became a mantra that Bryce told herself to help with the pain of losing her friends. Maas leaves this phrase in her readers hearts and allows the reader to keep a part of the story with them. The phrase helped keep the book a cut above. 

Throughout this book, there are hundreds of amazing themes and moments that help to shape the emotional impact of the book and add levels of excitement. While I didn’t appreciate the amount of bad language that was in the beginning, the explicit language did start to fade away eventually when Bryce better handled her grief. Besides the language, it was a great book that was intriguing and fun to read. 

This book was similar to Maas’s other books, especially Mist of Fury and Empire of Storms. All three books deal closely with loss and the use of friendship to help them out of the clutches of grief. I believe that this book was just as intriguing as her others even though it had a slower start. Her books keep you captivated and leave you wanting more from the story. 

Other similar titles include Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, and From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout. 

I would rate this book four stars out of five. I took a star off because of the excessive use of explicit language throughout the book and because the two year gap in the beginning made it harder to fully comprehend the effects that grief had on Bryce. Besides those two drawbacks, this book had so many high points that made it an amazing read. With the plot twists and the relationships that were built, this book is a must read.