House of Earth and Blood- Sarah J Maas

Jack Reacher turned faerie!

I think this may be one of my new favourite book series and the best crossover between crime thriller and dark fantasy I have read so far. The novel centres around 25 year old half- fae half-human Bryce Quinlan and her quest to discover who is behind the string of brutal murders terrorizing Crescent City.

The first 50 pages or so are very much all about setting the scene and building up who Bryce is as a character therefore the pacing was quite slow and dragging but as soon as the first murder was discovered the story really took off and didn't let up at all until the very last page. Generally, the world building and lore was really well integrated into the plot and, given the vast amount of it in the SJM multiverse, never became too overwhelming and impossible to navigate. I particularly enjoyed discovering all of the history alongside Bryce and I really hope the indication that this world is a lot more corrupt and twisted beneath the surface is explored further in the next books.

Bryce is a really interesting and complex main character, with a lot more layers to her character revealed throughout the story. She is the epitome of a strong, independent woman who doesn't back down to protect those she loves or who can't protect themselves. The integration of slow reveals about Bryce's backstory throughout this book were very well written and really highlighted how hard she had fought her entire life to be where she is. I absolutely adored the enemies to friends to lovers arc explored between Bryce and Hunt Athalar, a former rebel angel known as the Umbra Mortis enslaved as the personal assassin to the notorious archangel Micah. Again, I was really impressed with the depth of Hunt's character exploration and his development throughout the book from hired killer to broken-but-healing lover made him the perfect male counterpart to Bryce. There were some really hot and steamy moments between the two towards the end of the book and I really hope we get some more spice in the rest of the series now their relationship is established- please don't destroy their happiness SJM!

The twists in this story I definitely did not see coming, particularly the true identity of the murderer and all of Danika's secrets. I am really intrigued as to where this storyline will go next as I don't think either Bryce or Hunt have it in them to lie low for long and with Danika having an entirely secret almost second life I think there is definitely more to the murders than first suspected.

Overall, this novel is a great introduction the the Crescent City series and one of the best dark fantasy/ crime thriller hybrid novels on the market, with a strong set of highly complicated characters with rich backstories and an equally complex world that is not entirely what it seems.

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐