House of Sky and Breath Review!

Okay, this is going to be a long review. IT WAS SUCH A GOOD BOOK. It was very heavy and plot-driven, with less focus on romance than usual for an SJM book, but it was still very well written. The characters were very well made and had depth to them, but poor Hunt just couldn't get a break. He was constantly under the stress of protecting others (Bryce) while ensuring that the Governor or anyone else didn't figure out their plans. On the other hand, Bryce and Ruhn's relationship was so cute! They made up in the last book and now depended on each other. Bryce came to Ruhn for help on the entire case with Emile, and Ruhn tried to support her through it all. Additionally, I felt like Tharion was like Helion in Acotar or Fenrys in ToG! There are a lot of similarities in the characters, which shall be discussed in the SPOILER section below  

***AGAIN LOTS OF SPOILERS HERE***

SO. THE ENDING. Rhysand and the Inner Circle from Acotar are now going to be involved in the lives of <i>Princess Bryce Adelaide Quinlan</i> and HER Inner Circle. Poor Bryce jumped through the Gate thinking she was going to reach Hel, but she instead met Rhys. IN PRYTHIAN. I am hoping that this is going to be a large crossover, not just a cameo appearance, with Rhys helping Bryce, and possibly Aelin joining them too. Personally, I don't think that CC is going to be a trilogy since it has 4 houses, but we simply don't know. I am thinking that House of Flame and Shadow is going to be the perfect time to introduce Aelin and her gang, since the Asteri seem like the Daglan in Acotar, "feeding off the souls of mortals," and some parts in the story hint to people being Valg, so it's uncertain. It is mentioned that the different and original Fae were animal shifters. Animals shifters like Rowan, Fenrys, Gavriel, and more in ToG. Lastly, when Bryce sees Rhys, she immediately thinks that he is Ruhn. She thinks everything is the same except the Illyrian wings and the piercings, making me think that maybe Ruhn isn't the Fae from their world. And the Autumn King sounds like he's from the Autumn Court. Overall, this obviously has to be a crossover WITH Aelin and Rhysand helping Bryce, and I'm here for it.

Going back to the plot of the book directly, Hunt's father was not revealed, and Mordoc said that his sent was off; not entirely angel, but not human either, leading me to believe that his father might be somewhere from Hel, or had something to do with the Valg. And Hunt simply could not seem to catch a break! He trusted Celestina but she betrayed them simply because of her love for Hypaxia (which she was too cowardly to admit as well). He lost Vik and Justinian, and Sandriel's triarii soon joined theirs. He only managed to build a fairly normal relationship with Baxian, but to turn things sour again, he had the mark branded on his brow once more, his mate was gone, etc. And at the end of Hunt's POV, he said that he "knows nothing." Does this mean that he doesn't remember Bryce anymore and when it's a full-on war, he's going to be against her, but his "mate instincts" kick in and he changes sides? I DUNNO. WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO WAIT A WHOLE YEAR AND SEE.

Now to Tharion. I LOVED THARION. HE WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. But sadly, he literally sold his soul to a snake to get away from his "master," the River Queen. I wish he took Commander Sendes's option and worked for the Ocean Queen instead of the River Queen. I hope the Viper Queen treats him well or at least doesn't kill him, but I think that's a given considering how well she took care of Emile-no-longer-Emile :) And his dynamic with Bryce is completely hilarious! The way he calls her "Legs" and how they playfully flirt with each other provides some much-needed humor in an otherwise dark book. Basically, Tharion is the best-written character in the entire book and I mean it.

Ruhn Danaan. He finally had the perfect character development he deserved. Day and Night. Agent Daybright eventually became his lover, all while he was unaware that she was THE HIND. He said that he was nervous when he was the Harpy standing at the fountain, and when he thought it was her, he felt some really mixed emotions. This led to some tensions between Day and Night for a short while because Lidia, the Hind, did not know how he would react if he knew it was her. But poor Lidia. Pollux was busy abusing her, and she had no say in anything. but she still put up a strong enough facade to get the whole world shaking at the knees. Still, Ruhn was there for her. When they were captured by the Asteri, she bought them some time and killed the Harpy for them. And throughout the book, he showed people that he was worth it and that his father's opinions didn't reflect upon his worth. He was also so kind to Ithan Holstrom despite knowing how much pain he caused Bryce. He let Ithan stay over, became a good friend to him, and gave him duties to make him feel like the wolf he once was.

There really wasn't much to Ithan, but he was an interesting character. He liked Bryce from the beginning and had no choice but to step aside because he knew his older brother, Connor, liked and met Bryce first. He hated himself for liking Bryce and thinking that he finally had a chance with her when his brother died, so he took his anger out on her instead (sometimes psychology makes no sense). BUT. He WAS the one who found out that there were fire sprites and a dragon in the Astronomer's "lab" setup. Yet, that's not all he found. He found out that one of the mystics was a wolf, and this wasn't just any wolf; she was an Alpha. An Alpha who turned out to be the heir to the Prime. The reason why Sabine kept hounding (pun intended) Bryce to stay away from "wolf affairs" was because she was afraid that Bryce would find out about Sabine not being the only heir to the Prime. Ithan's character keeps growing, and I have no idea how it is going to turn out for him. 

Last but not least, Her Royal Highness, Princess Bryce Adelaide Danaan of the Fae. She easily claims second place for being a badass female lead (second only to Aelin). She plotted her way through everything and found a way for her parents to adopt Emile and make him Cooper Quinlan-Silago. She figured out her own feelings, found her mate, repaired and made new relationships, led a rebellion, and did so much more. She found out so much about the Asteri and the connection Sophie and even DANIKA had to them. (To be clear, I do not trust Danika anymore. I feel like she has been turned into the scapegoat for everything. How did Bryce live with her for years and not notice when she was being a little shady? I guess we can only chalk it up to questionable judgment since she loved Danika like a sister). She figured out how to teleport and combine someone else's magic with hers to make it a powerful weapon. Speaking of weapons, she knew that Ruhn deserved the Starsword and didn't take it from him even upon his insistence that she was more Starborn than he was. She did so because she did not want to be acknowledged as a Princess and wanted to be normal, but she made the mistake of using her title as Princess to get Juniper her position as the principal in the ballet, but in doing so, June was livid at her and it gave the Autumn King the right to make her an official princess. This meant that her name was no longer Bryce Quinlan, but Bryce Danaan, which she absolutely loathed despite her love for her brother. Furthermore, since Bryce was now a princess and Hunt was her mate, he became a prince, and she used Celestina and Ephraim's mating party to announce her mating to Hunt. She used the event as leverage against her father, but she did not expect the Asteri to appear, albeit only on screens, to accept their mating bond. (On the topic of mates, Danika ALSO hid the fact that Baxian was her mate!) But overall, Bryce is an amazingly badass character and is very well written. I am excited to see her in the future books and hope that she spends some time in Prythian and meets Aelin too!

Thanks for reading!