I LOVED this book. It is very different from TOG & ACOTAR, and it's so heavy on the world building, but it is such a good story. Maybe it’s just because I’m pregnant, but this book made me cry multiple times. I haven’t felt so attached to characters in a long time! I'm so excited to read the next two.

HOEAB is heavy on world building and plot so if you're an ACOTAR fan don't go into HOEAB with the same expectations. It's more similar to TOG. But even TOG did not have this much world building. So much info to grasp. And such a complex world..

The characters are much more fleshed out and felt real. Their emotions, trauma were all realistic. Bryce reminds me of Aelin. And the ending had me sobbing.

If you're a fan of complex world with amazing plot and romance and relations then this is for you ❤️

Holy fuck. Holy fucking fuck. This book is my favorite of all sjm books written so far. The world building, the raw emotions, the arcs… I am at a loss. Bryce was so easy to connect to and live through. I am in awe.

Hard to get into but had me crying by the end.

A slow start with some confusing world building but I liked this more than I thought I would!!

Crescent City was an amazing book! I hadn’t given 5 stars on a book and felt it in such a deep level in a long time. It gave a vibe like A Court of Thorns and Roses but I found it so much better! When I read acotar it was my favorite but after reading this it has dethroned it. I loved how it focused so much on Danika and Bryce’s relationship. It was so sweet and from the heart. I loved how everyone had their own troubles and you got to know more about it through the way the book is written. You got to read the protagonists’ thoughts and understand them better and it really helped me invest in all the characters and like each of them for different reasons. Also the main couple’s relationship is very real and it gets you to really see why they likes each other. I liked that it had so many plot twists and it had me sobbing on so many chapters! Loved the first book and can’t wait to read the next ones🌙

Enjoyable romantasy with a contemporary/futuristic setting, sexual tension and a gripping finale that had me captivated until the end.

YEEEESSSSSSSS (i understood nothing of the epilog but thats okey)

the beginning of this book is bad. trust me it’s bad. we all know it’s bad. but the ending of the book is gold. it’s perfection. it’s a pure masterpiece. i can’t even comprehend everything that went down, but shit went down. and i was eating it up.

there was absolutely no reason for that book to be so fucking long. woulda rated 2.5 but rounded up bc I will probably read the next book (bc I guess I am willing to torture myself)

omg guys sjm never disappoints. I've been crying for Bryce and Hunt and the pack since yesterday. I'm in love with them now

I LOVED IT. The characters were so loveable (too loveable in some cases, I had a really hard time letting go), and the plot was so great and twisty. I really had no idea what to expect coming into it, but it wildly exceeded expectations. Definitely SJM’s best writing yet imo. Less of her “bloody ribbons” “half a thought” “stared and stared and stared” repeated phrases ad nauseum (love her though!). Cannot WAIT to dive into the next one. (Also the audiobook reader for this was fantastic.)

Ruhn is my hero

Bryce is a powerful main character in this epic novel that includes a little bit of everything.

Words cannot describe how much I loved this book! I was looking for a book that would suck me in, and genuinely there were times I was so invested I forgot I was reading. There was a last at the near end that also had me sobbing and it has been a good long time since a book has made that happen

I found HOEAB absolutely amazing. It was well-done. I'm quite impressed by the world building that SJM wrote with this series, it was well-written and well thought out, in my opinion. Characters were well done as well. Storyline left me shock, like as in. There are things I did not expect at all. All in all, really loved this book.

4.5/5 ⭐️

This is my first Sarah J. Maas book and idk how I feel. I might be burnt out on this type of fantasy book.

Favourit book of the year, it got me so hard, I got angry, upset I cried I celebrated. Its was a rollercoaster of emotions that I didnt felt in a wile probably since January when I did the marathon of A.C.O.T.A.R. Its beautiful, how, alot of situations get you, right up on your feet, beautifully written, elementes that I love seen in books they were probably all in there, love to hate, I love Hunt and Bryce, the sweet sweet burning Lehabah, the friendships that get lost but never forgotten.... that Frase that got me crying harder and harder true the end " through love, all is possible", "light it, up bitch".... I cant recommend this book enough. I read alot of books in my life not enough for my taste, but I can say. This was my favorite of the year, the entire life. I cant wait to read the second one. Long story short.... Bryce loses her friends/ roommates, and years later she discovers that, the guy behind bars is not the killer, and she goes on a journey to find out who and why her best friends where killed. Despite her opinion on her self, shes not an ordinary human, shes half fae, and gets, alot of hate from ppl for that and for letting her friends death. Something that she couldn't stop. The journey, will drive us through a few courts, witches, faces wolf packs and to her self discovery. My first adult fantasy book dispute my age, 35, I blushed alot, god tham, love scenes. Read this book now!!!!!

what a rollercoaster omg 😭 i loved it… i think sjm's greatest strength is her ability to craft interesting and multi-layered characters, even if they bear resemblances to characters she has written from other series, they always feel so authentic. what i loved most in this book was danika and bryce friendship, it's portrayed with such depth, it’s fr the heart and soul of the book. i had tears in my eyes so many times while i was reading, i really didn't expect to be so emotionally invested in them (especially when spoiler: i knew before reading that danika was going to die). but i was also invested in every bond bryce had with other people (& creatures). her relationship with her mom, her friends, her brother and hunt, they were all so well written & i loved it so much. also i usually don't really like when a book has multiple povs. when i read tog i skimmed so many of the povs because they bored me. this didn't happen at all here, i actually loved all the pov and thought each brought something to the story (although i did have a preference for bryce’s pov) however the book did have a few flaws, i found the pacing a bit odd, the middle was too slow while it felt rushed near the end. it didn’t help that in the span of maybe 150 pages, we had like 5 major plot twists, and half of these plot twists felt incoherent and nonsensical. the choices made by some characters were also very questionable. this almost made me drop my 4 stars rating to a 3.5 rating. however the ending saved it. the ending was extremely emotional, it will be unforgettable for me, i think its one of the best book ending she has written??. sjm is soo talented in evoking raw emotion from the reader and that ending is a shining example of that. the ending was so epic, i wonder what she has in store for the rest of the series omg😭

This was a really great book! Why not 5 stars, because I have some issues with this book! Yes, I know... I must be in minority here, but let's get into it! First of all... I didn't like the relationship between Hunt and Bryce, it was too sexual for my taste. I was here for the fantasy but received a lot of weird moments between these two characters. However it gets a little better by the end, but personally, it wasn't right for me. The second problem, I didn't like Bryce... I know that she is still an amazing friend, and some people like to hate her. But her personality was too confusing and I didn't understand some decisions that she made. The third problem was the language. I don't mind some cursing, but sometimes here I felt that it was a little forced. Also, for me, it felt a little underwhelming and spoiled some of the more intimate moments. And lastly, more than half of the book is just a build-up, a lot of sexual tension, and characters going one way then another. I don't think it is a bad thing but at some point, I realized that I had no interest in their "adventure" nor their "romance". All these things were kinda forgotten by the end! I mean, the last 300 pages were soooo amazing! The story, the love, the idea! I almost forgot my problems about the first part of the book and I analyzed better all the ideas and some things made sense. (I still didn't like Bryce though) In spite of everything, I usually classify the book by my experience and I didn't have 5 stars experience through the book, so that is why I can't give it 5 stars. But with an end so strong I also couldn't give 3 stars here. Not to mention the world, which is so big and creative that it saved the book quite a bit. And not to forget that this book introduced me to Hunt... who I loved so much!

5★ i went into this knowing next to nothing, and what i was left with was nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster of tears, excitement, love and friendship. this was impossible to put down and i had to stop myself from reading a few times just to take a breather. i didn’t know what to expect but i sure as hell was not disappointed

1st read 9/10/2020 2nd read 15/11/2023 there’s something about sarah j maas her witting that’s just perfect to me idk a lot of similarities with throne of glass LOL 1. ruhn is literally dorian i don’t even need to explain theyre literally the same person 2. the subtle hints that ruhn is going to fall in love with the witch queen who was pretending to be a med witch or whatever like okay this manon x sorscha crossover LMAO 3. the best friend dying to protect the main lead trope… idk how sjm does it but i eat it up everytime and the dialogue ALWAYS makes me cry… danika and nehemia ah so sad 4. hunt is literally rowan but in the year 394029302 idk what year they’re in but cmon now… he’s also extremely similar to rhys now im not going to sum up all the similarities but if you read both book you’ll know. now… this is a slow paced book and it could’ve been shorter but it’s okay i loved it. things i loved about it are: the danika and bryce dialogues like i mentioned before i love the best friend dying trope cause it’s fucking angsty and i like crying and yeah i cried “I love you, Bryce. I’m so sorry. Close your eyes, Danika.” and then just ruhn his character i love him so much and im so fascinated by him? i want to know more about him and the oracle prophecy like wow im actually more interested in his story rather than the main story with bryce and hunt. also i think i love him so much cause he reminds me of dorian and we all know how i feel about dorian. hunt: i do not give a single fuck about him he’s a bit boring OH THE CAT DEMON i almost forgot about him im also very excited about that part of the story oh and also jesiba like i don’t trust that old lady i love the witch queen! forgot her name hypexia or something… love her! that was my review i think thanks for reading and i can’t wait to read the second one

5/5 December 13, 2023 I dying here, I need the third book now ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ March 25, 2022 I'm so glad I waited until the second book was released to start this series.