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Reading Order - Crescent City
Sarah J. Maas
💕 Bryce Quinlan & Hunt Athalar
If ACOTAR is Maas in fairy tale mode, Crescent City is Maas in urban fantasy mode, with phones, nightclubs and fallen angels. Bryce Quinlan is half fae and half human, living her best life in Lunathion until a demon murders her best friend and leaves her shattered. To find the killer she ends up forced to work with Hunt Athalar, an enslaved angel with a reputation as an executioner, and what starts as a reluctant alliance turns into one of the most intense slow burns the author has ever written. Mystery, politics, a rebellion against the Asteri, lots of humor, great smut and a crossover with Prythian that will blow your mind.
Reading style · Strict order
Read strictly in this order — the books connect directly.
Editor's note: Strict order, it's one continuous story for Bryce and Hunt and each book picks up right where the last one ends. Heads up about the crossover: House of Sky and Breath crosses over directly with A Court of Thorns and Roses, so if ACOTAR is still on your TBR, read up to A Court of Silver Flames before opening book 2 so you don't get spoiled. House of Flame and Shadow keeps that crossover going, so ideally you'll be caught up on both series. The series is ongoing: Sarah J. Maas has confirmed a fourth book, but it doesn't have a title or a release date yet.
Reading order
#1House of Earth and Blood
Sarah J. Maas
★★★★4/5
💕 Bryce Quinlan & Hunt Athalar
Bryce Quinlan, half fae and half human, works at an antiquities gallery by day and parties every night in Lunathion, until a demon slaughters her best friend and her entire pack. Two years later, with the supposed killer behind bars, the murders start again. To investigate them she's assigned an escort, Hunt Athalar, a fallen angel enslaved by the archangels, who's promised his freedom if he solves the case. Between clues, the city's secrets and a tension that keeps building, the two of them uncover a dark power that threatens everything they want to protect.
⚠ Content warnings
Graphic violence and gore, murder of loved ones, deep grief and depression, drug and alcohol use, self-destructive behavior, slavery and mind control (Hunt's halo), torture (referenced and on page), physical abuse of a child by a parent (referenced), explicit sexual content.
#2House of Sky and Breath
Sarah J. Maas
★★★★4/5
💕 Bryce Quinlan & Hunt Athalar
After saving Crescent City, Bryce and Hunt just want to get back to something close to normal, and they even agree to wait until the Winter Solstice to start their relationship, if they can hold out that long. But the Asteri have them in their sights, and the rebellion growing against them drags them in without asking. Alongside Ruhn and their friends, Bryce will have to decide whether to stay quiet while others suffer or jump into the fight, knowing that what she uncovers could change everything she thought she knew about her world and her own magic.
⚠ Content warnings
Graphic violence and gore, on-page torture, slavery, war and the slaughter of civilians, character deaths, manipulation and abuse of power, grief, explicit sexual content. Spoilers for A Court of Thorns and Roses (up to A Court of Silver Flames).
#3House of Flame and Shadow
Sarah J. Maas
★★★★4/5
💕 Bryce Quinlan & Hunt Athalar
Bryce never imagined she'd see a world other than Midgard, and now that she's stranded in one, all she wants is to go home. The problem is she doesn't know who to trust, and every ally might have plans of their own. Meanwhile, Hunt is locked in the Asteri's dungeons again, with no idea where Bryce is and desperate to reach her. Separated and with everything against them, the two of them will have to find a way back to each other before the world they know collapses completely.
⚠ Content warnings
Graphic torture and imprisonment, violence and gore, mutilation, war, character deaths, slavery and mind control, trauma and PTSD, explicit sexual content. Spoilers for A Court of Thorns and Roses.
Reading with Matcha · Made with love by Ari