Huis van vuur & schaduw

4.5 stars

After waiting for 2 years, the time finally arrived. Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow arrived. Would I say I enjoyed this book? Yes, I did. The first half of the book was amazing. I was so excited to jump back into these characters' lives and find out what happens next. The second half of the book is a bit of a mess. Everything just seemed incredibly rushed and confusing. The number of times I had to stop and reread full paragraphs because the conversation or plot points would get too confusing and convoluted is shocking. Did the book need to be nearly 1000 pages long? Nope. Not at all. SJM probably could've gotten 2 books out of what happens in this book. It probably would've been better that way. That crossover we've all been waiting [dying] to read for the past 2 years? Yeah, pretty disappointing. I'm not gonna lie, this point makes me sad but to be honest that's probably on me. Probably on a lot of us if you're feeling like you're in the same boat as I am. I went into this book thinking extravagant things were going to happen. The characters from both of these worlds were going to team up together and defeat the enemy and it would be amazing and blah blah blah. Nope. And that's all I'm going to say about that. This is a spoiler-free zone, just go into this book with realistic expectations. Lower that bar a little and you'll be fine.However, it was a solid book. There were some amazing scenes. There were some tear-jerking scenes. Yes, this book made me cry. Just like the first two. Would I say this is my favourite SJM book? No, it's probably my least favourite one. I mean, the fact that I was more emotionally invested in Ruhn and Lidia than I was in Bryce and Hunt says it all. Honestly, Day and Night supremacy.The way this book finished seemed like the ending of things. Pretty much [nearly] everything got covered and wrapped up in a neat, pretty bow. But I've heard that SJM is planning a fourth. Honestly, I don't think she should do it. I love this series but let's be honest, if you've read this book, and have read how it ends, what else could she possibly write about? Other than how everyone's lives are a couple of years later or something. A novella? Maybe. A whole novel? Probably not.