House of Earth and Blood
Sarah J. Maas, 2020
Fantasy RomanceMystery, thriller & crimeContemporary fiction
A party girl and a fallen angel hunt a demon through a glittering city, where a murder opens a case built on old magic and worse loyalties. It reads like a glittering, sharp-edged city mystery, with wry banter, bursts of power and a friendship that feels like shelter.
Feels like serenity. About friendship and power.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy fantasy romance built around a murder case and friendships that carry real weight. It is an adult fantasy, though, with graphic violence and explicit sex, so it is not for younger readers.
Why read it
The murder case gives the magic and romance a sharp edge, and the central friendship gives the glittering city a pulse worth following.
A page from the book
The friend who makes even ruin feel survivable.
But she was the one person I could be myself around and never feel judged. The one person that I knew would always pick up the phone, or call me back. She was the one person who made me feel brave because no matter what happened, no matter how bad or embarrassing or shitty it was, I knew that I had her in my corner. That if it all went to Hel, I could talk to her and it would be fine. Sarah J. Maas.Sarah J. Maas began writing 'Queen of Glass' as a teenager on FictionPress; it became Throne of Glass. House of Earth and Blood was her first adult fantasy.
Books that feel like this
More by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas, 2015
A human huntress is taken into a faerie court as payment for a kill, and finds desire, danger and old bargains waiting there.
A Court of Mist and Fury
Sarah J. Maas, 2016
A woman remade by magic must decide whether the male everyone fears is her captor or her way out. Slow-burn fae romance with a survivor at its centre.
A Court of Wings and Ruin
Sarah J. Maas, 2017
A fantasy romance of war, winged courts and dangerous bargains, where love is a weapon and every alliance has teeth.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is House of Earth and Blood for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy fantasy romance built around a murder case and friendships that carry real weight. It is an adult fantasy, though, with graphic violence and explicit sex, so it is not for younger readers.
- What is House of Earth and Blood like?
- It reads like a glittering, sharp-edged city mystery, with wry banter, bursts of power and a friendship that feels like shelter. Feels like serenity. About friendship and power.
- What should I read after House of Earth and Blood?
- If you liked House of Earth and Blood, try Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J. K. Rowling), Storm Front (Jim Butcher) and The Hunting Party (Lucy Foley).
A taste of the feed
What a friend paints on her ceiling when she misses you.
Luna had decorated her bedroom ceiling with five beautifully painted faces: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville. They were not moving as the portraits at Hogwarts moved, but there was a certain magic about them all the same; Harry thought they breathed. What appeared to be fine golden chains wove around the pictures, linking them together, but after examining them for a minute or so, Harry realized that the chains were actually one word, repeated a thousand times in golden ink: friends...friends...friends...friends... Harry felt a great rush of affection for Luna.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows · J. K. Rowling
What paranoia looks like when it keeps being proved right.
Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.
Storm Front · Jim Butcher
How little pressure it takes to find out what someone really is.
Some people, given just the right amount of pressure, taken out of their usual, comfortable environments, don’t need much encouragement at all to become monsters. And sometimes you just get a strong sense about people, and you can’t explain it; you simply know it, in some deeper part of yourself.
The Hunting Party · Lucy Foley
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