Synopsis: 'Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.' from crescentcity.fandom.com/.

EFF you Sarah, I should send you my therapist bill after what part 1 put us through.

With that being said, truly an incredible read. We've heard of the darkness our favorite characters have gone through via memories, but Sarah put us there in realtime and it definitely hit deep.

Part 1 is very difficult to get through, not because of poor writing, but due to the very graphic scenes that I may agree were necessary for the story. However, the absence of comedic relief did not go unnoticed. I felt like Bryce in part 1 was a completely different character than the first two books. I still don't understand the need for the "munch munch" in part 1, but it doesn't seem like the characters were traumatized nearly as much as the readers were.

I'm still buzzing from the ACOTAR tie in and hope we see more again soon. There is another tie in mention that I hope is developed more, but out of respect for spoilers, I'll refrain from further details.

There was never a dull moment in this book, which made the 835 pg read breeze by. Despite the numerous poor choices made by Ithan and Tharion, followed by a ridiculous amount of whining from both, the storylines were cohesive. There are a couple side plots that weren't fulfilled, but I suspect that means we'll get more down the road.

Maas is a literary gem to this generation and I can't recommend her books enough to anyone interested in fantasy/romantasy. ( )

Overcooked, overbakes, overdone ( )

Firstly, to whichever Harris Teeter employee fucked up and shelved two copies of this into the corner of the book section just a week before the official release date, THANK YOU!

Here’s all of my VERY SPOILERY notes that I took while reading House of Flame and Shadow for the very first time. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. :)

• Lidia I love you
• Noooo Ruhn and Hunt and Baxian ( )

disappointed in how nonsensical most of it was. Wayyyyyy too long and of course all the action was in the last 100 pages. I loved seeing the ACOTAR world again but most of the book felt….out of character. For all characters. And I cringed a lot, which I never did with SJM. It felt like this Maasverse was played up a lot in her head but failed to deliver its emotional value through the writing/plot. A lot of the tropes are getting repetitive, I fear. The last 10 pages were pleasant. Overall, very mid. ( )