Sarah J. Maas

Synopsis: 'Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.' from crescentcity.fandom.com/.… (more)

Synopsis: 'Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.

The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.' From crescentcity.fandom.com/… (more)

Synopsis: 'Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. By day, she works for an antiquities dealer, selling barely legal magical artifacts, and by night, she parties with her friends, savoring every pleasure Lunathion—otherwise known as Crescent City— has to offer. But it all comes crumbling down when a ruthless murder shakes the very foundations of the city—and Bryce’s world.

Two years later, her job has become a dead end, and she now seeks only blissful oblivion in the city’s most notorious nightclubs. But when the murderer attacks again, Bryce finds herself dragged into the investigation and paired with an infamous Fallen angel whose own brutal past haunts his every step.

Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, wants nothing to do with Bryce Quinlan, despite being ordered to protect her. She stands for everything he once rebelled against and seems more interested in partying than solving the murder, no matter how close to home it might hit. But Hunt soon realizes there’s far more to Bryce than meets the eye—and that he’s going to have to find a way to work with her if they want to solve this case.

As Bryce and Hunt race to untangle the mystery, they have no way of knowing the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents, and down to the darkest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir...' From crescentcity.fandom.com/

Review:… (more)

This is basically a "holiday special" book. We're done with the previous book's war and are now in a peaceful, contemplative, rebuilding phase, in which Feyre gets to angst about all the people who didn't survive and the friends and family they left behind. Maas remembers that Feyre likes to paint (although I realized that she's never specified what kind of paint Feyre uses - I assume acrylics?), there's some fretting over Winter Solstice gift buying, and we get updates on both Nesta (who's doing terribly) and Elain (who's doing ok, although her almost-marriage and Lucien are still sore spots).

There are tiny hints of what might be going on in the next book, but overall, this really could have and should have been an anthology of short stories, or a bonus story at the end of the previous book. I'm guessing Maas isn't really comfortable writing short stories, though.

Overall, this was ok for what it was, but it didn't feel like a truly necessary entry in the series.

I continue to be reminded of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy. At some point, I need to reread those books and see if they're actually better than these or if it's just nostalgia coloring my memories.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (more)