Now, having read only the first book in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, and not being all that impressed by it, I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage getting through an eight-hundred plus page book by said author. But it had been several years since the reading of Throne of Glass, and I had heard enough excitement about House of Earth and Blood, that it interested me. Not only that, when I saw the cover reveal, I found it stunning and beautifully intricate, and was actually even more intrigued.

As far as what’s inside, there are certain aspects of the book that I enjoyed and there are certain ones that I didn’t enjoy as much.

First off, I believe Maas did a good job in her characters. She makes them believable. They struggle through personal issues that we can relate to in our own lives, and being that the book is pretty thick, she definitely takes her time in their character development.

Bryce is introduced as somewhat of a substandard type of person, being only half-fae, which is looked down upon, especially since she doesn’t have the abilities that any of the full-fae beings have. Despite that, she’s not timid and she goes about her life as she pleases. But it’s when her friends are killed or gone, that’s when we get to see the vulnerable side of this character. What I like about this character is that even though she sometimes doesn’t make the best decisions as we see early on in the book, she earns respect from the reader as we get to know more about her.

As for the male counterpart in the story, Hunt Athalar has good reason to be the brooding and serious angel that he is, and the author allows more of his backstory revealed earlier on, which gives the reader more reading time to like him, or at least feel compassion for him.

We do get to know a little more about some of the other characters, including Ruhn Danaan, the Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae, but not nearly as much as I would’ve liked.

Much of the book is going through the characters’ thoughts and processes, mostly Bryce and Hunt, which is fine. However, further along into the book, it can feel a little too drawn out, especially in the middle portion of the book. Still, Maas’ timing of revealing certain details of a character work in her favor, especially when it comes to the final quarter of the book.

Though there is some action that takes place, most of the story is in how the protagonists start trying to fit all the pieces of this crime/murder mystery. And, of course, there’s the romance element of the story, which is limited for reasons, but thankfully it’s not rushed, which occurs all too often in New Adult and Young Adults books.

The real highlight is that last quarter of the book, when the pieces are finally put into place and we can see most of the details we’ve read throughout come together to have it all make sense. And I can’t say that I would’ve been able to predict how the story ended up at all. Honestly, I enjoyed the conclusion more than I thought I would.

Overall, it’s the characters that kept me coming back to reading the book, and the finale was exciting, fast-paced, dramatic, tearful, and downright satisfying. Maas knows how to give these characters life and getting to the ending is worth the read.