House of Flame and Shadow (Part 1 of 2) (Dramatized Adaptation)
Crescent City, Book 3
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Buy Now for £5.99
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By:
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Sarah J. Maas
About this listen
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.
In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse—with its future resting on their shoulders.
Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!
Performed by Colleen Delany, Kit Swann, Devon Lexington, Natalie Van Sistine, Jonathan David Bullock, Danny Montooth, Danny Gavigan, Debi Tinsley, Robb Moreira, Nick J. Russo, Julie-Ann Elliott, Shawn K. Jain, Henry W. Kramer, Holly Adams, Rayner Gabriel, Daniel Llaca, Jessica Schly, Crystal Lee, Marissa Clay, Belsheber Rusape, Su Ling Chan, Nora Achrati, Anthony Palmini, Nazia Chaudhry, Elena Anderson, Wyn Delano, Patrick Boylan, Sarah Ruth Thomas, Matthew Bassett, Christopher Williams, Khaya Fraites, Donald Guzzi, Jessica Threet, Niusha Nawab, Ryan Haugen, Jeri J. Marshall, Julienne Irons, James Konicek, Terence Aselford, Rob McFadyen, Yasmin Tuazon, Ellen Quay, Gregory Linington, Matthew Pauli, Karen Novack, Thomas Penny, and Michael John Casey.
©2024 Sarah J. Maas (P)2024 Graphic Audio LLCloved the ACOTAR crossover
The ACOTAR crossover I needed
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I neeeeeeed part 2!!!!!!
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Amazing
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Love the SJM books sooo much. Emma Halbrook on TikTok has a great description of reading order for anyone interested.
SOOO GOOD
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The main takeaway I had from this is that, while Bryce's character takes something of a beating in this book writing-wise, I now can see that a lot of my annoyance at her stems from the fact that she spends most of her time misleading and being unapologetically bitchy to characters which I (and a lot of the readership) have come to know and like. As a result, I was drawn to take their 'side' over Bryce's and view her through their eyes. However, when trying to look at things a bit more objectively, I can begin to understand Bryce's actions are those of someone who doesn't know these other characters or understand their motives. Still doesn't stop me from grinding my teeth at her attitude, but I'm really trying to like these books a bit more...
As is usual for the graphic audios, it really does help bring the characters and situations to life. While I am glad they didn't go too 'graphic' with the sounds and voice acting in the more harrowing moments, it does hammer (no pun intended) home the conditions in the Asteri dungeons, for example, which in turn makes the actions that take place down there all the more imaginable.
That being said, there were some elements that even the GA couldn't save. The biggest one is the absolutely massive info-dump/exposition speech by Selene. Yes, the fact that there were sound effects gave it a very slight lift, but it's just something that effectively stops the story for goodness knows how many pages just to give you a potted history of the Asteri, which feels really dull and comes as quite a big disappointment given the build up. There are so many better ways that that could have been woven into the wider narrative!
Having the cast of actors also made me realise just how much 'woe is me' and self-loathing goes on in here. EVERYONE is blaming themselves for something which is clearly not their fault, and as much as I don't get the hate for Ithan and Tharion, this book doesn't exactly give the characters a lot of opportunity to redeem themselves in the eyes of the readers. This does make Bryce's 'bitch queen' attitude stand out from the crowd, but this doesn't do a lot to endear her to me.
The performances are all great, as we've come to expect from the GAs, and overall I just think it highlights the difference in the writing - something went off the boil a bit here IMO and, while it tries to have the same scope and scale of the author's other books, given that so much of it is set in a couple of static locations with no links to the outside world, it misses out on so much of the worldbuilding that we've come to expect. But of course, part two is still to come...
A fresh perspective
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