First Impressions: Crescent City - House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

I was very excited to see a sampler for House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas on NetGalley, and I requested it straight away. I have a kind of love/hate thing with Sarah J Maas's books even though the author is one of the loveliest I've met, and I enjoyed A Court of Thorns and Roses a lot when I binged it last year. Like, a lot. Even though it's not my thing and hella problematic. It's complicated.

Because of this, I am very excited to see what I think of the first Crescent City book, House of Earth and Blood.

There was a wolf at the gallery door.

I liked the run down of the different houses at the start - not that I know truly what I meant when I read them. It did mean however that once the houses started being mentioned then I knew a bit about what was going on.

There is a map. Of course there's a map, it's fantasy. But it's a very pretty map, a round of applause for the cartographer!

As for the story, you are dumped right in. And I love it. I found myself quickly becoming submerged in the world, watching it come slowly to life in front of me. I loved the vibrancy, the colour and life in the characters.

I feel like Sarah J Mass's writing style has definitely evolved. It's much more mature and polished from what I remember of Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses. It's darker too, more gritty, yet with a wry humour. I'm impressed, I think.

This sampler is pretty sizable - five whole chapters that took me well over an hour to read through. It has made me very excited for House of Earth and Blood, because I need more! It's an excellent start.