CS Lewis said “One day, you will be old enough again to read fairy tales.” Here I am, back in my ‘fantasy’ era where all I want is an outrageously imaginative world where gorgeous angels and elves are fighting each other and finding their ways through their immortal lives. Sarah J Maas delivered a feast on a platter with the Crescent City Series and I could not put the 800 page long books (three of them) down until I was done.
Worldbuilding in fiction is a major thing for me. I categorize fiction writers like George Martin, JK Rowling, Lewis Carroll (and now even Sarah J Maas) etc as ‘elite’ because the process of worldbuilding and convincing readers of its acceptability is supreme level of talent in my eyes. There are very few who can do it as exceptionally as the best ones have. In all honesty, I picked up the Crescent City series with scepticism because I expected it to be a teenage fetish novel with a lot of unnecessary mythical creature sex.
Well, Maas did not disappoint on that level but she ate and left no crumbs when it came to worldbuilding as well. I had heard of the ACOTAR series and knew she had a dedicated fan base – now I know why. The Crescent City series consisting three books so far – House of Earth and Blood, House of Sky and Breath, and House of Flame and Shadow – narrate a grand story that pans through various planets in cosmos. Bryce Quinlan and her extremely hot assassin mate Hunt Athalar are thrown together by some rather painful circumstances and initially, there is a love-hate kind of professional relationship with a deep, steamy romance brewing underneath. And boy does it brew later on.
Maas’ three books long series revolves within an inter-galactic space involving a number of different types of magical beings, governing systems, magical challenges and autocratic empires that needed felling. The very memorable characters (each of them with their own character arcs) with an impressive range collaborate to accomplish an Olympic challenge that leads to a grand climax cumulated in The House of Sky and Breath.
The range of characters and the customized arcs that they get is really impressive to me. There are rebellious fae princes like Ruhn Danaan and Tristan Flynn who hate their despicable fathers, utterly feared spies of the realm like Lidia Cervos who display a character trajectory unlike any other, decent soldiers like Isaiah and Naomi, fire sprites, ocean creatures, mermaids, shifters, creatures with elemental powers, witches, wolves; the list can go on. Every single character is strong, gets an interesting back-story and ultimately plays a distinct role in concluding the rather long and elaborate storyline. Plus there’s something for every kind of reader in the Crescent City – a grand and intricate story, war, sport, politics, cosmic realms, love, romance, sex, a ton of adventure.
Maas has not hurried through the story anywhere – neither in romance, nor in adventure. But there isn’t even a moment of boredom anywhere in the three books. Once the storyline picks up in The House of Fire and Blood, there’s no putting the series down until you’re done. It’ll have you thinking about it when you’re nowhere close to the books even.
I’ve added Sarah J Maas to the list of authors I admire. I’m glad that she aces the art of worldbuilding and storytelling so I have another series on my wishlist after Crescent City – ACOTAR. I just hope that Maas keeps writing and we have enough of her to keep coming back to.
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