Reading Time: 3 minutes

Spoiler-free review for book 2, but may contain spoilers for book 1

House of Sky and Breath is book 2 in the Crescent City series. For my reviews of book 1 and book 3, click below:

• House of Earth and Blood
• House of Flame and Shadow

It’s practically divine timing that I’m posting this review on the heels of the Book 3 cover reveal (and the ensuing spoilers; I finished this book just in the nick of time). If you haven’t seen any of the marketing posts for House of Flame and Shadow yet, DON’T. The Bloomsbury team has doled out several HOSAB spoilers recently, with no warnings. So if you haven’t caught up, just run away when you see this series mentioned on social media.

What’s House of Sky and Breath about?

Bryce and Hunt are dragged into the rebel cause, only to discover that nothing about their world is as it seems.

Book 1 was better, but the twists and turns make me excited for book 3.

“To destroy monsters, we become monsters.”

Book 1 in this series had all the hallmarks of a five-star read for me. But book 2 felt sluggish and less cohesive by comparison. While I do have my issues with it, I have to say I did not see the twist coming and I’ve definitely pre-ordered the third.

Okay, so I have two main critiques for this one: too many POVs and a meandering plot. Let’s talk about it.

Too many POVs

The reading experience felt fragmented to me. Each point-of-view character had their own personal issues and contributions, some of which were interesting, but they would only get a few pages at a time before we switched to someone else. The rapid pace of flipping between characters made it difficult to get (and stay) immersed in any one person’s story.

The only POV I ever truly cared about was Bryce, and she’s the one it seemed we got the least. I liked Hunt’s and Ruhn’s POVs in general, especially because they felt relevant to the story, but still not as much as Bryce. She’s the main character. But she felt almost sidelined unless there was a major plot point happening.

I did not care for Tharion or Ithan’s POVs. They added little to the story, in my opinion – and I really didn’t care much for either of their personal problems. Ithan’s started to get more interesting in the second half, but his side plot still felt out of place to the main plot. Which brings me to my next point.

The meandering plot

The main characters were slow in making any progress on their goals throughout this story, so the little plot it did have was fairly stretched out. I don’t remember much about the first few hundred pages, if I’m honest.

One thing that slowed it down was partially the POV problem. But related to that was the amount of time spent rehashing information to other important characters. For example, if we just watched one character make an important discovery, it was inevitably followed by a scene of them meeting up with the gang to explain the discovery.

For one thing, information-sharing scenes are always boring, but for another, it renders that character’s POV chapter unnecessary. Did we need to read something from Tharion’s perspective if we could have just gotten the summary during the next meet-up?

Another thing that slowed it down (and this is probably a me thing) was the sex scenes. Don’t get me wrong, romance is great. But I’m notorious for finding established couples boring. I like romantic suspense. So I found myself skipping over smutty scenes because I was over it. Also, can I just say sexual chemistry is not the only kind of romantic chemistry? Banter, teasing, care, moral support – these are all things I enjoy reading about more than just how hot they think their partner is. Let’s be real.

What I did like

The expanded world-building was excellent. The discoveries they made about their world (and the twists it set up) were not just daring on the author’s part, but well-executed. It expands our understanding of their universe so far beyond the bounds of where I expected it to go.

While we saw less of Bryce’s POV here, everything she did do felt true to her character: self-sacrificing, sympathetic, caring, and willing to go above and beyond for the right thing even when it puts her in danger. Which I loved. She’s one of my favorite main characters.

Should you read House of Sky and Breath?

If you read book 1, and if you read all of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, then yes – you need to read this one. While I may take issue with the writing and various plot points of this book, I think it’s setting up something really big and interesting for the next release and I’m excited to see where it goes.