Crescent City by Sarah J Maas || Book Review

Crescent City… where do I begin?

I want to start off with a summary of my thoughts and then I’ll get into the more nitty-gritty details in a minute. But one word for this novel – wow.

By the end of this story my chest was squeezing, I was tearing up, I was smiling, and I was thrumming with nerves. I won’t lie though, I struggled with it at first, but then I saw a conversation on the Crescent City Facebook group, it looked like everyone felt that way and a lot of people were saying just stick with it - it’ll be worth it. And I’m so glad I did. Damn Sarah, you out did yourself girl!

So let’s get into it. Crescent City, what is it about?

The story is told from multiple POV’s of the main characters throughout, but the standout main characters are definitely Bryce Quinlan and her love interest Hunt Athalar. The story rotates around Bryce and Hunt as they investigate a series of unusual murders that have occurred because of a particularly lethal demon, a demon who is also dubbed the killer of one of Bryce’s closest friends. Most of the story rotates around this search, as they learn new and shocking things about the murders that lead them to the next stage in their search, but it also follows their budding relationship.

Both Hunt and Bryce are deeply complicated and wounded characters, both have been through traumatising ordeals that link them and their somewhat unusual and sadistic understanding of each other. It doesn’t take long for them to realise that they are kindered souls, and because of what each has been through, they understand one another more than anyone else ever could.

Sarah J. Maas has done a truly spectacular job of creating the world in Crescent City. It blows my mind. Everything, and I mean everything, has come from her imagination, right down to the way they get their “electricity” in the city or the technology to power their phones, to the swear words they use, and the unique policing forces and political names. But because of this it can be hard to read in the beginning, as Maas so cleverly writes so confidently about these things that we as readers have no idea about yet. And I am definitely a stickler for details! I love to be able to really understand every sentence or scene, so Mass’ writing method in the beginning was challenging. It’ll make sense soon… I need it to make sense now! But, as I mentioned earlier – stick with it and it all starts to make sense. Honestly, I am still in awe of the world she has created right down to the small details.

I couldn’t help comparing this movie to the Netflix film Bright (not that the story lines are at all the same), but I loved the film because of the way it incorporated these magical/fantasy things into the everyday norm, and that is essentially what Maas does with this book. It’s a story where every form of fantasy creature exists, and they all live their day-to-day lives as normally as you or I would. With jobs and social lives and friends. But Maas takes it one interesting step further – each “species” belongs to an overall house that governs them, and each house has their own hierarchy and policing teams. But in a way, I like to think of Lunathion (or Crescent City) as a bit like London, where all races (and species in this case) intermingle.

To compare this story to Maas’s other well-known series – the A Court Of… books – this one is so different, and she really stepped up her game. Crescent City is definitely Adult Fiction as compared to the A Court Of books, which now I can definitely see are Young Adult. But not just that, I feel as if her writing has truly evolved in this book, it was so different and at first, I was stunned that it was even the same writer!

Characters

Let’s talk about the different kinds of characters in this book – because there are many! But I’ll only touch on the four I think worth mentioning.

Bryce Quinlan

Bryce Quinlan is one of the main protagonists, and I have to say, Maas did an amazing job with her. To me she’s different to the usual main female characters that I’ve read about. Bryce is badass, independent, sarcastic, potty-mouthed, and drop dead gorgeous (and she knows it). I love how sassy she is and that she flaunts her beauty – I don’t even know the last time I came across a fantasy novel with a female lead that wears tight short dresses with stilettos, does her hair and make-up everyday as well as her nails. And I love it!

But Bryce is a much deeper character than her surface “party-girl” appearance. She’s deeply mentally scarred and has issues for days. Losing her best friend really did a number on her. But that’s what I love about her – she’s gorgeous but she’s realistically not perfect at all. She has her flaws.

Hunt Athalar

Ok so this book is probably the first one I’ve ever read where I have been more attracted to the female lead than the male. Hunt is a big muscular fallen angel that should have me swooning, but to be honest, I just wasn’t. And I can’t quite put my finger on why. But none-the-less I enjoyed him as a character.

Hunt has a whole treasure trove full of issues too, and that’s why his bond with Bryce becomes so strong, because they understand each other, see each other’s wounds and flaws and understand them. Accept them. And the sexual tension between the two is on another scale!

But this is one gripe I have with Maas. We all know she’s a streamy writer (and let’s be honest, that’s what we love!) but she honestly has me with figurative blue balls the whole way through! She is constantly teasing an almost kiss, and almost touch… it’s agonising! And a little too obvious. And I didn’t like it. Not because I’m like “Come on! Give us a sex scene!” But because I just didn’t like the way she was trying to build it up.

Ruhn Danaan

I really liked Ruhn. He is Bryce’s brother on their father’s side, but he’s got a punk rocker exterior with a really caring personality. Big thumbs up for him!

Leahbah

Oh my sweet, sweet Leahbah. I honestly loved that little fire sprite so much. She is such a grand romantic trapped as a slave in a dark room full of books. She had my heart and I CRIED SO HARD FOR HER.

All in all, the characters are wide and varied, and I loved that Maas had such a range of them and that they are all as different as they look.

Rant

Now, me being who I am I have to have a little rant. Because although I enjoyed this book and the story, there are undoubtedly going to be things that get my goat!

I’ll start with the almost too similar factors to the A Court Of books.

So, there are some, ahem, similar themes in this one to the A Court Of books. Clearly Maas has a thing for winged males (don’t we all), but by far the biggest similarity is the way Bryce ascends into power by gaining power from all the different species – sounds familiar right? I think that there are just a few too many similarities between Feyre and Bryce – and I’m predicting the next book will cover Bryce discovering how to use her new “powers” and discovering from whom she got them (insert eye roll here).

Let’s also not forget that Rhys was a brooding winged male too, and he, like Hunt, had a lot of dark issues. But, to be honest, this little fact didn’t bother me too much.

The sexual tension between Bryce and Hunt was also a bit of a mood ruiner for me. It was too much like – oh, it’s coming! Oh, wait they got interrupted, again – over and over again and this happened a little too often.

Danika – I loved her as a character and I honestly wish she didn’t have to be killed off and could have remained as a main character. Not quite a rant but just a little note.

I knew, KNEW, that Micah was going to be the bad guy! Honestly. Because normally with stories like these it’s the most unlikely person (or someone who’s right in front of the characters) that is the one behind it all. But I just couldn’t figure out how…

I didn’t like the way Mass induced the – WOW DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING – moments. Because for me, when reading from the perspective of said character that later turns out to have a twist, I find it very ingenuine. It’s hard to explain what I mean… But when reading from one character POV we see other characters through their eyes and their thoughts. So when the main character (and we) think they know a character and suddenly they do something completely out of character, it’s a shock, or twist. BUT. When we read from said characters POV and the author tries to introduce a twist with that character, I just don’t find it believable. Because we were in their heads. In their thoughts, so we would surely know when their thinking about this thing or twist. And Maas does this with both Bryce and Hunt. Yes, I know she is going for the shock factor, and no, I don’t have an answer of how to do it differently. But all I know is I am not the biggest fan of this form of writing.

Conclusion

By the end of this book I was on the edge of my seat, and Maas does an amazing job at weaving small details throughout that eventually come together in an – Oh that makes sense now! – moment. It’s safe to say I really enjoyed this book, even though there’s a lot of swearing, some drug use and drinking in the beginning – I like it! I liked how realistic it was and that it’s not all dark brooding guys and sweet powerful girls. I will most definitely be reading the next one.

Oh, and one last thing (I know this is dragging on a bit now) but I have to shoutout the cover art for this book! It is STUNNING!! So detailed and beautiful (heart eyes emoji here).

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