Let’s just start by saying 2 years ago I’d have finished this book in 2 or 3 days. But it took me over 2 weeks to finish it and I enjoyed every moment. House of Sky and Breath follows the same formula as House of Earth and Blod – Crescent City 2 so it was quite easy to get into and felt familiar reading. This goes without saying that Sarah J. Maas is an amazing writer and the book is an amazing book. House of Sky and Breath starts with Bryce and the fallen angel, Hunt, trying to get back to normal after (temporarily) saving the world.
House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City 2) Official Synopsis
A #1 New York Times bestseller!
Sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller!
Sarah J. Maas’s sexy, groundbreaking CRESCENT CITY series continues with the second instalment.
Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal-they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.
The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.
In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode and the people who will do anything to save it.
House of Sky and Breath Non-Spoiler Review
The House of Sky and Breath book was as big as the House of Earth and Blood. Despite being a second book still has a lot of information dumping and world-building. It also had an ensemble cast. The major characters all had POVs and were quite as diverse as book one. I wish we had gotten more from some characters and less from other characters.
This book also had an ensemble made up of
Bryce: a Starborn Fae Princess,
Hunt: an Angelic instrument of death
Ithan (Cornor’s Brother): a Wolf abandoned by his pack
Ruhn: an unassuming brother who denies his royal birthright
Tharion: a river shifter and fighter
Hypaxia: a queen witch who becomes more ally than marriage promise.
Every other character kinda took a back seat here. I wish we got more of Fury and Juniper. Maybe not Juniper but probably Fury.
To be honest Sarah J. Mass is a good writer which made it easy to read this chunky book, however just like book one it could have been a few pages shorter. It could have been 500 pages and still good. Some POVs were quite unnecessary and towards the middle and end, I started to get frustrated with the book.
I couldn’t even guess what was going on since we readers got no hints or were intentionally misdirected like the characters.
Also, another character that was focused on in this book was Danika, Danika is dead but she still lives on in their lives. Apparently, a lot of things she has done in the past come to play here I thought we already put Danika to rest in book one but apparently not.
There’s also the introduction of new characters here but they seem to fit in just well. In such a way that you are not really confused as to who is who.
If you haven’t read the book stop here now.
House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City 2) Spoiler Review
This is the part where I get to talk about it spoilers and all. If you haven’t read all of the Sarah J Mass Books – House of Sky and Breath, House of Earth and Blood, all the Books in the Throne of Glass series – TOG and The books in A House of Thorn and Roses – ACOTAR
There was a lot of build-up in the book only to have a little payoff at the end. The information revealed was interesting but it was just like here you go and handed it over. There was no discovery and little reveals.
There were a lot of reveals tho but just someone telling us oh here is how this happens and all. I’ll be honest I was a little frustrated at the end of the whole scene with Rigelus telling Bryce about the multiverse and everything about it, was a lot of info dump and I had to keep up when I just wanted to figure out what was happening. Same with the scene where the Night king reveals all that happens at the bone quarter. It was just a lot f info dump.
The Asteri
These guys are the bad guys over a lot of worlds. This literally felt like Eternals. If you have watched Eternals you’d understand better.
The Asteri are the rulers of the Midgard. They rule the planet from the Eternal City in Panera.
It is unknown where the Asteri originates from. They were the victors of the First Wars and thus wrote history. They made the scholars and philosophers write down their version of events under the penalty of death. This included naming Hel as the enemy and erasing Theia from the historical records.
However, it seems like Hel are the good guy even Bryce seeks them for help but ends up in Velaris instead.
The Great Library of Parthos is what remains of the truth of the world before the Asteri and the writings of the few brave souls who tried to voice it afterwards. This is the library that Jesiba protects at all costs.
The Asteri reduced the humans to near-slavery and created the hierarchies of the Vanir. Apparently feeding off their First light and the Last light and they’ve been doing it over many planets.
Ruhn
First of all, I thought the book was too long. But that aside, I wish we had more of Ruhn’s POV I was looking forward to it in this second book, especially his and Hypaxia’s engagement but we didn’t get that. Ruhn was paired with another character who I’m hoping we get a little bit of later. To be honest I enjoyed reading his POV but all the character development from book one just seemed to disappear.
I’m looking forward to his story in Book 3 since he’s been captured with Hunt and Bryce says the Rhys looks exactly like Ruhn, so Fae must be Prythian originally. Or there’s a blood relation, also we do not know Rhysand’s surname so we might just get his last name in these books.
Agent Daybright and Night
Ruhn’s storyline wasn’t exactly what I looked forward to in Book 2, but I looked forward to Ruhn and Agent Daybright’s scenes.
For the whole book, I was theorizing who Daybright could be. I started off thinking it was Hypaxia because she already scammed us in book one however, I changed my mind to Celestina, because of her relationship with Shahar Hunt’s former lover.
As I read more, I finally figured she was the Hind. There was the plot to dissuade us from the belief at the Autumnal Equinox by having Ruhn run into both the Harpy and the Hind. But I knew it was the Hind, She drowned Sophie instead of torturing or killing her and she also has said nothing about finding them in the water.
Let’s not talk about the weird Astral sex scene I literally skimmed through it. The same goes for the rest of the sex scenes in this book I honestly couldn’t bear to read them so I skimmed through them. What I did like however was the Hind saving the gang at the end and I can’t wait for more real-life interactions between Ruhn and the Hind since it seems like they are mates.
Bryce and Hunt
Also on Hunt and Bryce’s romance, to be honest, I’m not feeling it. I honestly don’t. I had wished she would change the main love interest.
I think I liked Bryce in book one but Bryce in book two I just couldn’t get into. I was interested in everything except Byrce and Hunt as a couple. Individually I could get into it. And rage Hunt???? I didn’t get the plot. The opposite of what Byrce wants but yeah she was able to handle him and not get pissed at him. I didn’t just get that part. I liked Cormac as a character.
But if Sarah had brought back Shahar- Hunt’s former lover I might have gotten into the story a little bit but I did like Cormac and his teleporting powers which is basically like winnowing in A Court of Thorn and Roses like Rhysand does.
They say Hunt and Bryce are mates, However, if the worlds are linked, they might just be Carranam not mates, In Throne of Glass, Carranam refers to a bond between two Fae. It allows the Fae to share their magic, which is a strong advantage in battle, and to communicate almost telepathically.
House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City 2) Book Ending Explained
Now that ending has opened up a lot. In the final chapter Byrce manages to escape the Asteri by opening a gate to travel through the world to reach Hel to request aid from the Princes, What we learned on that final page was that Bryce transported herself, not to Hel as she expected, but to Prythian, seemingly right onto the pristine lawn of Rhysand and Feyre’s new home in Velaris near the Sidra River instead, carrying with her the Starsword.
I wasn’t surprised by that, to be honest. The moment they started talking about other worlds and all, I started thinking about Rhysand, Freya and the gang. I started also thinking of Aelin and Rowan. It was just so wholesome. I loved it.
Amren
So now, does it mean that Amren’s true form is probably an angel?
Remember that Amren is an extremely powerful creature of unknown origins? She escaped after millennia-long imprisonment by giving up “her grace and perfect immortality” to bind herself and her soul into a High Fae body thus being Made.
She is said to be older than even Prythian and is believed to have slipped into the world from a different realm when Prythian was forming, only to be trapped when the rift she came through closed at will. When Nesta Archeron asks her what she was, Amren replies that she was “a messenger and soldier-assassin for a wrathful god who ruled a young world.”
Amren also understood Bryce at the end of A House Of Sky and Breath when she spoke the ancient language of the Fae, of the Starborn. Amren staggered back, surprised to hear her speak the language as no one has spoken it in their world for fifteen thousand years, So parts of her world probably ended up in Byrce’s world or she is probably from Bryce’s world.
Even if it isn’t I think Fury and Amren are probably from the same world. I kept on thinking about how I was getting the same vibes from both characters. They are both described with similar characteristics and little is known about both characters.
Starsword – The Dread Trove
Azriel’s Knife is the twin to the star sword, remember when he says the words were singing to each other. So that makes it the fourth piece of The Dread Trove. The Dread Trove is a collection of magical Fae items with immense power.
Their original maker was the Cauldron. Some of them were created hundreds to thousands of years ago and were used by various Fae rulers to secure their rule.
Only three ancient Trove, the Crown, the Mask, and the Harp, have survived, with many being lost to time or misplacement.
In House of Sky and Breath, Amren noticed the Starsword and nodded to Azriel’s knife, Truth-Teller, at his side.
The knife is the twin to the sword as it glimmered with a dark light in answer to the sword’s white light. Amren whispered that the Starsword is actually Gwydion, confirming that it is a fourth Piece of the Dread Trove.
Gwydion – a magical sword of death that belonged to the first High King of Prythian, Fionn to free and unite the land from the Daglan. It’s said that it was forged by the High Priestess Oleanna, and was as dark as night. Its other name is the Starsword. The sword ended up on Midgard where Ruhn Danaan had earned and carried it. The sword calls to both Ruhn and his half-sister, Bryce Quinlan.
There is a Fae prophecy from Midgard that says: “When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be”, referring to Gwydion and Truth-Teller.
Theory: If the whole gang from A Court of Thorn and Roses can’t visit Midgard- Crescent City, Azriel probably will be able to go back with Bryce.
Connected Worlds
In Kingdom of Ash (Page 800) When Aelin Aelin is falling through all the worlds and gets caught on a Gentle Wind by a “winged fae male standing next to a pregnant female.” We were all super distracted by the A Court Of Thorn and Roses crossover but before she falls through Prythian, she “passed through a world where a great city had been built along the curve of a river, the buildings impossibly tall and glimmering with lights.” That’s probably Crescent City. However, It seems that Sarah J Mass was giving a glimpse of her new world before we even realized it.
(Kingdom of Ash Page 800) Page Excerpt
But she could not slow, Could not stop.
Tumbling, flipping over herself, she passed through them one by one by one by one by one.
It is the strength of this that matters. Wherever you go, Aelin, no matter how far, this will lead you home.
Aelin roared, a spark of self fashing through the sky.
The tether grew stronger. Tighter. Reeling her in.
Too fast. She had to slow-
She plummeted into the last of herself, into what remained, grappling for any sort of power to slow her racing.
She passed through a world where a great city had been built along the curve of a river, the buildings impossibly tall and glimmering with lights.
Passed through a world of rain and green and wind.
Roaring, she tried to slow.
She passed through a world of oceans with no land to be seen. Close. Home was so close she could nearly smell the pine and snow. If reused it, if she passed by it-
She passed through a world of snowcapped mountains under shining stars.
Passed over one of those mountains, where a winged male stood beside a heavily pregnant female, gazing at those very stars. Fae.
They were Fae, but this was not her world.
She flung out a hand, as If she might signal them if they might somehow help her when she was nothing but an invisible speck of power-
The winged male, beautiful beyond reason, snapped his head toward her as she arced across his starry sky. He lifted a hand, as if in greeting.
Books From Other Worlds
Also, in Crescent City, they reference the Book of Breathings (A Court Of Thorns And Roses) and The Walking Dead (Throne Of Glass) as two books in Jessiba’s Library towards the end of book 1.
The Book of Breathings is a powerful magical item in A Court of Thorn and Roses Book Series created by a race of faeries who feared the power of the Cauldron, and its purpose is to be able to nullify the Cauldron’s magic.
Somehow the book ended in Midgard, in possession of Jesiba Roga who kept it in her gallery, Griffin Antiquities. And the Walking Dead is a book that Aelin reads in Throne of Glass.
Shifters
The shifters obviously come from Aelin’s world. Since there the fae have animals they shift into so probably another crossover of worlds and species.
Ah it’s a whole lot and my braid is actually heating from trying to keep up and tie up all these worlds together, so I’ll just stop here or start in another discussion post. You can share theories and thoughts in the comments.
Overall it’s such a book. I had worries that It’d suffer from second-book syndrome but alas it didn’t I enjoyed it thoroughly and it did what a second book is supposed to do and I will be looking forward to the next book(s)
Leave a Reply