**My Thoughts on "The Horn" by Cassell**

I recently finished listening to "The Horn" by Cassell, and I must say, it was an... interesting experience. As I sat through the 800 pages of audio, I couldn't help but feel that the author's intention behind this book was just so convoluted and strange. The story follows Micah, a young woman with a special gift, as she navigates her way through a world of demons, angels, and magic. While the premise is intriguing, the execution fell flat for me.

One of my main issues with the book was the tone and setting. I felt like Cassell was trying to make this a high fantasy, but ultimately it's an urban fantasy. The contrast between the two felt jarring, and I couldn't shake off the feeling that the author was just phoning it in. As someone who values traditional lore and world-building, I found myself cringing at the inconsistencies and conveniences that seemed to pop up left and right.

Take, for example, Micah's relationship with her father. I had assumed, based on my understanding of the Autumn King from other works in the genre, that he was her true father. But nope, it turns out he's actually... another guy. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this twist, and I have to admit that I was disappointed by the lack of continuity.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But didn't you like the parts where Micah's powers were showcased?" Well, yes and no. On one hand, I did appreciate the emotional resonance of some of these scenes. The way Cassell wove together themes of love, grief, and sacrifice was genuinely touching. But on the other hand, it felt like a bit too much of a "magic fix-it" solution to all of Micah's problems. I mean, come on, sometimes you can't just wave your hand and make everything okay.

And don't even get me started on the male hero character. I was underwhelmed by his presence throughout the book, and I found myself rolling my eyes at his antics more often than not. I mean, what's up with this "beta male" trope? Can we please just have a well-rounded, complex male protagonist for once?

One thing that did stick with me was Monty's review of the book. If you haven't read it, please go check out his thoughts on it – I think they're spot on. Cassell does an excellent job of summarizing and articulating my feelings towards this book, even if I didn't entirely agree with them.

As for my rating, I'm torn between giving "The Horn" two or three stars. While it was entertaining enough, it just didn't resonate with me on a deeper level. I appreciate that Cassell is taking risks and pushing boundaries in her storytelling, but sometimes those risks don't pay off. In the end, I think this book will appeal to fans of urban fantasy and anyone looking for a quick, easy read.

But for me? It's just not a five-star read. Maybe that'll change as I continue reading the series and getting to know Micah and her world better. Until then, I'll be over here with my doubts and criticisms.

**Personal Note**

As I reflect on my experience with "The Horn", I'm struck by how conflicted I am about my own review. Part of me wants to praise Cassell for her creativity and bravery in tackling this complex story. Another part of me is frustrated that the book didn't quite live up to my expectations.

I've been listening to books for years, and each one leaves an indelible mark on me. Some I adore, while others... well, let's just say they won't be remembered fondly anytime soon. "The Horn" is one of those in-between stories that will likely be forgotten by the time next year rolls around.

Despite my reservations, I do appreciate Cassell for bringing this story to life. And who knows? Maybe the second book in the series will change my mind about her work. Until then, I'll keep an open mind and see where the journey takes me.

**The Audio Experience**

One thing that helped me through this reading experience was listening to the audio version of "The Horn". There's something about immersing myself in a story that really helps me connect with it on a deeper level. While Cassell's writing is undoubtedly engaging, I found myself struggling to get into the world and characters when reading physical copies.

I'm not sure what it is about audio storytelling that works for me, but it always seems to bring out the emotions and conflicts in a way that written words alone can't capture. Maybe it's just me, but I'll take an audiobook over a physical copy any day of the week.

**The Final Thoughts**

As I finish writing this review, I'm left with more questions than answers. Cassell's vision for "The Horn" is undeniably unique, even if it didn't quite resonate with me. Perhaps that's the point – sometimes authors take risks and challenge us to think outside our comfort zones.

For now, I'll be taking a step back and reassessing my expectations for future books from Cassell. Maybe I'll find myself drawn into her world sooner rather than later. Until then, I bid you adieu, dear readers...

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: encome on welcome back to my channel I filmed this intro like three different times took a break to eat dinner and I think now I'm officially ready to talk about this okay I am starting in on house of earthen blood Crescent City book one by Sarah J mass and I don't really know what to say except for I have a complicated relationship with Sarah J mass bucks I enjoyed a court of thorns and roses that series the first three books at least didn't love to run the class I don't know what to think about this I feel like I've done extensive and exhaustive research before going into this book because I've been unsure if I wanted to go into this book is 800 pages it is adult fantasy pretty much all of my trigger words I guess you could say words that tell me to run away from a book but my friend mica got a tattoo after reading this book it got me thinking if it's good enough for her it's got to be good enough for me right or maybe she has tastes I don't really know but that's what I'm gonna seek to find out in this video I am going to reading this book over the next two and a half days it is Wednesday if you guys are seeing this video if it is made the light of day you're gonna be seeing it on Friday so I've got tonight tomorrow and part of Friday to read this um not gonna lie to you I'm a little bit a little bit nervous about it but thankfully I have the apartment to myself today Hayden is gone for band practice I don't her practicing for icing is theirs quarantine and they can't have any shows but who am I to limit what he does I'm kind of glad he's gone so we have the house to ourselves and we can just read the out of this book I have already started it to be honest with you I am like a full 16 pages in and I have to say not only do the pages resemble that of a Bible but the way that the first 16 pages have been set up it really reminds me of the Bible the one time that I tried to attempt to read the Bible I couldn't get through it because there's this chapter pretty early on where hey can we not do that right now yeah well that'll happen you know when you're an I was trying to say that the beginning of the Bible has a bunch of names of people and their lineage and it was boring to read about so I stopped reading the Bible after that I'm hoping that that uh doesn't continue in this book I just feel like there's so much info dumping and how do you info-dump in the first 60 pages of a book I would love to know I mean I actually wouldn't love to know because I've already read it in this but I want to like this I really do I want to enjoy anyway I would love to enjoy the ships and all of the goodness but I don't know I have tried to start this book a couple of different times like I said I'm trying to push through the first couple of hundred pages cuz I've heard that that's how long it takes to get interesting so I'm gonna try to get to like page 100 before I really pass judgment and I'll let you guys know how that goes okay I'm not driven 14 pages into this book and things are finally starting to pick up thank god has it gotten any less confusing or less info dumpee not really but I feel like I can kind of tell you what the plots about thus far so this book is about Bryce Quinlan who is a party girl which we're not allowed to forget she works in an art gallery and her best friend is the leader of a pack of werewolves she's the alpha or going to be the Alpha and Bryce hangs out with this girl her name's Danica and her friends a lot that's sort of the gist of the beginning of the book I don't know if I said Bryce this is half Fae and apparently humans are bad in this world there's every possible magical creature or being you could think of in this Crescent City Bryce's job is to hunt down some artifacts that was stolen a long time ago also at the same time there is a guy who's let loose out of prison named Briggs at the beginning of the book we're told that this guy is really bad and that he is human but he was basically a white supremacist I guess or a white nationalist he bombs the out of things and the Anika's worried that breaks is gonna come after her which is Sarah Jane masses heavy hint of foreshadowing telling you that clearly Danica something to be scared of and in the first like I don't know 30 or 40 pages Danica and her entire Packer slaughtered and Bryce has to kind of deal with the emotional repercussions and of course she doesn't deal well with them in typical Sarah J Maas heroine fashion so Bryce is dealing with the fact that her friends are dead she she came and saw that they had been slaughtered she was the one to find them she is kinda interviewed by I guess the police of the magical beings what are they called Villar whatever the magical beings all have like one name to denote their magic allottee a lot of people on this magical task force police force whatever our angels and our male love interest I'm sure is going to be hunt and he's a literally Reese he is literally freeze Bryce is I would say Selena not really Farrah definitely Selena energy basically at this point we just got a little bit of hunts backstory and we are two years ahead or two years after the fact of Danica dying so I don't know what's really gonna happen I don't I think I'm assuming hunt and Bryce are gonna come together for some reason and do something that's sort of we're at mm-hmm my hair's looking rough but I'm liking it but I'm noticing how each of the characters really are just repeats of things that Sarah J Mascis done before and I'm not mad at it it's just interesting that her tactic for this book and her tactic for making it an adult book was to just throw in so much backstory and a really really big world and I don't know that it's really effective at this point and I don't know if she's going to expand upon things are we gonna go to different lands because we've made reference a lot of times to places beyond just Crescent City I don't know how to feel about it I'm not upset I'm kind of enjoying it but I think it's too early to tell if this is going to be a story that sticks with me or that I really enjoy I don't love any of the characters right off the bat which is good even though Bryce is very like Selena asked I wouldn't say that I'm upset at it because Selena slash Ellen was a big part of why I didn't enjoy the throne of glass series so I'm glad that our main character is a little less irritating she stole a stupid like don't get me wrong but she's not quite as grating and who knows I like hunt - I think he's a little less alpha and Reiss it is 10 o'clock and I do want to take a bath so I'm probably going to stop and read the rest read the rest tomorrow read a lot tomorrow haha laughs bunny that's funny to me it's funny it's Friday my dudes I didn't film at all yesterday I ended up reading like 100 more pages of this book I'm at page 227 and I have thoughts also I'm trying to post this video today so we'll see if that half it's not going to have to because I have you know a gun 600 pages at this book left but anyway just thought the shutter spot I should point that out to you because I'm a real big idiot okay well I don't just like Bryson hunt I sort of don't give a about them and the fact that I don't give a about them has risen or has awakened more questions in me about what this book and what the series is going to be right because I really give a about Bryce's half-brother rune who is like full-blooded Fae and is one of the I mean he's the only son I think of the ruler of the faith we're getting his POV so I'm curious like is how expensive is this world's going to be because like I said we've been getting insane amounts of backstory for like all of these characters and all of the different lands and stuff like even more so than Sarah J Maas is normal info dumping so I'm just curious as to like how expansive this is going to yet if it is I'm very curious if it isn't I'm wondering why she would take this approach I just feel like this could have better been marketed as paranormal romance cuz that's kind of the vibe that I'm getting but it's just like paranormal romance overstuffed with a ton of like fantasy elements so I don't know I just have such conflicting feelings reading this like I'm I'm enjoying it to an extent I think Bryson hunts relationship dynamic is like sort of weird because they're like reluctantly put together to solve the crime of what happened to Danica I was right about my assumption in that just FYI that's sort of what they're doing they're charged by the arc angel who's one of the leaders of the city there's like different houses and they kind of ruled the city or whatever anyway the arc angel who's a ruler of haunted houses he's in charge of hunt basically he's like the head cop Micah I think is the guy that put hunt on the prowl and was like team up with Bryce to do I just don't know that I like Bryce and Hunt's dynamic I just feel like it's very paranormal romance to me which like I like a good paranormal romance but I just don't like oh my god she's too flighty she's like a party girl and then she's like oh my God look at this fat ass I'm so cool obviously much too good for you I just don't like it like y'all gotta we all know it that's not from it I'm not I just don't appreciate it I don't know also I like literally forgot to mention that it's mentioned multiple times in here that Bryce sensuously sways her hips or that she couldn't be a ballerina because her ass was literally she fat for I've seen too many curves to be Valerie no I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't think I mean we're not like that far into Bryce and don't going on this expedition to you know find this demon that killed Danica but I don't know I don't know I don't know that I like the dynamics I don't hate it but I don't know that I like it Stowe and I feel like that's a little worried something given that I am 200 pages in I'm hoping that I do a complete 180 and I'm like oh my god this shit's best book ever but at this point I'm not really there yet so my plan for today is to continue to read this book I did cave and buy the audiobook I like did this thing where I purchased three audible credits for like a discounted price or something so I ended up getting this for like $11 the audiobook of this book I think it was a wise investment cuz I feel like this is probably a book that all in every reading know you well but all of that to say my goal today is to finish this book and to get some done around the house so I'll probably splice in clips of me hanging out with the cats or like bopping Louie listen to this audio book maybe that'll be fun and interesting to watch I don't know this vlog is really like not going how I wanted it to go I feel like usually my reaction vlogs are very like me sitting in one place popping up the camera every like 10 pages because I have something disaster you to say and I really don't for this book besides like some of the stupid interactions the price and hunt half like there's not been not much to comment on so I'm hoping as the book goes on there's more to comment on but anyway that's just a lot of me babbling I'm so sorry I'm gonna get back to it and you know knowledge you know if my thoughts change and is she tryna is she trying to pull a Cassie Claire cuz I just have thoughts and feelings about this it's been hinted at multiple times that Danica probably had like some sort of sexual relationship with Bryce but on top of that it's also been hinted at that rune is supposed to like have some more complicated or his relationship with Bryce is more complicated than we know and I'm like well you guys call each other cousins but you're really half siblings but on top of that it feels like y'all are supposed to get it on or something I don't know am i delusional like that's definitely the vibes I'm getting and I'm just I want to know why I want to know why also I was kind of wrong earlier cuz I think I said that like they're trying to have this demon which they kind of are but they're also trying to hunt down this horn that was stolen from a temple or some it's a magical artifact this is something that Bryce was supposed to hunt down like before Danica died she's back on the prowl to find it because it can like do something I don't magic name I mean people I guess we underestimated previously the ability of this horn but apparently it can do so I don't know not yet I'm though both of my boys are so like that's more exciting at this point what do you think do you think that riddim okay well he doesn't want to answer what about you Pepe do you think that random rice are gonna get it on or that they're supposed to get it on I'm so confused there's that could be as confused I don't want to continue reading this book this man just talked about how he wants to suck this girl's toes and then like kiss the rest of her so not only is he a cop but he has a foot fetish and I just don't know that I can support him in this endeavor in this trying time so anyway um the fucked-up thing is that I'm like halfway done and I just don't give a about any of these characters I only care about rune although I don't know if I mentioned it I think I probably already dead but the whole like brown Brice relationship not a big fan because I just feel like it's uncomfy and I think they explained like why relationship is the way it is and it's not incest that's not the reason thank God but it just I don't know it feels like he has a crush on her I don't I'm not I'm not loving it maybe I'm just reading too much into this I really thought this is gonna be an exciting vlog and yet here we are so I'm at chapter 50 and things are getting not cuter that's for sure things are finally starting to get spicier which is ridiculous because that's like over halfway into the book come on this book should don't beat this long I'm just I don't want to say I've made up my mind but I really really truly feel like if Sara J mass didn't have such in my opinion negative thoughts and feelings towards romance as I shown wrong I mean I'm just assuming here but since she has not put any of her likes muddy talents to use in actual romance I really think if she had just embraced it and made this into a paranormal romance urban fantasy it would have been a better idea I'm enjoying the plot twist that happened essentially since this is a spoiler vlog I can just get into it we find out that it's not Danica's mother who has the horn or who sent the demon after her own daughter she actually wasn't trying to kill her daughter Danica was the one that stole the horn during this power outage a few years ago or Danika died obviously so that's kind of a fun plot twist and I think I'm starting to get slightly more invested into the characters in the story I'm still very apathetic towards Bryson hunt I mean they have like a romantic embrace and I just I was like what I've heard where they were really interrupted by Sabine Danica's mother but I'm just like I don't care if you guys I literally don't care if you and that's like the last thing that you should be hearing from me a lover of romance on top of that I heard that there is a character that dies in this book who is like a beloved character and if it's this little book sprite but I just don't care like I kind of want her to choke and die maybe it's because I'm listening to this on audio and the voice that the narrator does with little sprite is annoying but I'm also just like was this childish character I just I don't care I don't care am I better in a yes for sure certainly like I'm just I don't know I'm wanting more I want more apparently there's some demon daddy that comes in we did get to meet a really hot mermaid mermail or man I think was mermail he goes a little bit sad because it's aired a mass but I want more of that how come I cared more about him and his trauma in the five seconds that we learned about it then I give a about Bryce or about Bryce or punts I can't even form words to tell you how much I don't care about either of these characters can this please just be told from runes point of view or the diamond daddy who I haven't even met yet I don't know man I had such high hopes I will say it seems like the reviews on this book are pretty mixed I haven't heard very many people say they absolutely hate this book but a lot of people just gave this book three stars cuz I thought it was kind of lackluster and it's sort of how I'm feeling I'm hoping that I can at least bump it up a star because I heard that the last 25% of this book is good I'm just like you guys keep telling me like oh it gets better oh my god like first hundred pages get past it no I mean actually it suffered the first 58% like you need to get past that and then they're like oh no it's really the last 200 pages and I'm like well then why do the other 500 pages success like tell me tell me why and I'm going I have problems I'm so sorry literally I know I apologize and pretty much every vlog for making it shitty but like this one is truly shitty but I am not wasting a good thumbnail okay number one demon daddy deserves all the rights because he was there for five seconds like a murmur mail whatever the his name was barnacleboy um I just you know he's got possessed he's got the personality but I think I like hunt now I don't know why my characters have to go through some before I start liking them but that's just how it is so he just had to go kill some people because that's like part of his duty I guess for like rebelling I don't think I explained this earlier but basically hunt rebelled against the powers that be and now he is enslaved and has to kill people to make up for all the lives lost in the war or whatever the so you had to kill three people now he's back at Bryce's place he's obviously super traumatized and he's like under the shower her head and just like going through it you know emotionally and so Bryce is gonna like help him out and like wash his hair and stuff and like that Shay kills me every time and reminds me of satus from lover weekend I just I'm a simple girl give me a really up male character and then I'm toast do I like Bryce no but I think hones okay I think this is what Sarah J Maas was trying to do with Reese but I like that Hunt doesn't have all the power in the world like he is obviously very powerful he's not my guy you know what I mean like he's not the most powerful dude in this land which I appreciate it he's got kind of like betta tendencies which I don't know why does she keep calling him an alpha hole if he's a beta male you know things to think about also they keep talking about how homegirl hasn't done the drop yet and I I just still don't really understand what the point is apparently all of these immortal beings are mortal until they like drop off some cliff and I don't know if it's like just a mental thing or if it's physical too but apparently the drop that they do give some power to the city and that's what like powers all of their like houses and I don't know like the whole city is powered by power from these beings going through their like change or whatever they're dropped I just know that when Bryce goes through hers she's going to end up having all of these like magical powers even though she's only half a she's going to end up being a bad like that there's no other explanation for it right I don't know I'm getting more intrigued thank God is sixty five seventy percent into this book like I should not be feeling like this you know just like oh it's finally getting good I know this is such a minor detail but she mentions that she's not wearing underwear like in her head she says like I'm not wearing underwear i wonderful notice it says that hunt apparently know does it how does he notice that she's not wearing underwear if he can't see it can he sent it does she got that stank stank okay I'm gonna go okay it actually it actually just says that he can smell things on people so confirmed he gets small prices fresh tilapia same dumb different sweatshirt okay it is Saturday and I have a little bit over uttering pages left in this book and it's getting better but not much so mister a floor has betrayed price shockingly actually I am a little bit shocked I really thought that hunt was going to be the romantic companion to price this whole series but it's looking like that might not be it might not be endgame which I guess shouldn't surprise me that much given the fact that and pretty much all of Sarah Jane about the series she has you set to believe like one guy is gonna be the one for her like the main character and that it's not that's exciting we also found out that Danica was involved with some like sketchy drug ring like she was hoping to make some sort of like synthetic drug to enhance magical abilities she got addicted to it docks like she stole the horn apparently she was a drug addict so that's fun I'm assuming we're gonna find out later that that's not really the case and that that's just a cover for something else apparently hunt knew about this about Danica and he just didn't tell Bryce so he betrayed her and now hunt pissed off Micah the head cop and he got sold to his lovers sister who hates him and he got his wings cut off and I don't know just a bunch of shit's gone down nah nothing like too exciting don't get me wrong but at least they're attempting to have more of like an exciting plot coming on like I said multiple times in this video I really just believe this should have been a paranormal romance I really feel like a lot could've been cut out to make this more exciting and you don't have to have the characters get together in the first book to make it a paranormal like urban fantasy romance I just think that this book was marketed in such a way to make you believe that this is gonna be some like epic fantasy and it's not a high fantasy like this is definitely an urban paranormal fantasy and that's fine that's awesome I just think that the tone is super weird I'm gonna leave a link to two people's reviews talented the description of this video one is Maddie from Maddie the book pusher I think Maddie's review does a really good job at selling up my thoughts on Sarah J Mascis world building and the source of content in this that I think we're strange and then also Monty I think he does a really good job it's a written review on Goodreads of describing everything that I doesn't love about this book I mean I guess I'm not even done yet but I just I'm so frustrated I don't know this is barely a three star read at this point I think it's gonna get better over the next hundred pages hopefully but I still don't think that it's enough to I weren't the link of this book a lot of the world-building was unnecessary it's it's not even world-building it's just here's some information you don't care about that's not relevant to the story at all I don't think you need to unveil your entire world in the first book to make it an effective story I just feel like she really got let me craft the entire world it's like when you're brainstorming and you like to think a little intricate details before you start writing she thought that you needed to put all that in the first book and that's just not the case like that's not storytelling that's just being lazy I don't know I'm bitching too much I'm gonna continue reading oh hi so I am become a horn this shit's so convoluted so apparently Bryce is the horn horn got cleaved into and that's why people didn't think that it was magical anymore and so the recovered part of the horn was ground up and she consumed it so this bug is okay I have a theory what if this is actually Hades and Persephone retelling all I'm saying is that this book ended very very similarly to the end of a court of thorns and roses in which she thinks she has found her home the heroine thinks she has found her home with a dune and she's happy and then in the next book we find out things were not quite so great and that there's another male leaven dress and I'm just saying that the ending scene of this has mr. Fagin devil man devil daddy ATIS wouldn't that be cool I don't know okay so we could talk about the ending of this book because I'm done with it we could talk about my just final thoughts I'm sorry look I know I've said that a million times in this vlog but I'm really sorry that this was so I'm exciting literally the tone of this is so opposite from the thumbnail it's insane so sorry okay so what happened we find out that Bryce is the horn she has eaten this grunt ground-up horn and Micah seeks to activate her light or some and in doing so demons from hell are unleashed in the city and the only way for her to save everybody is to make the drop officially and the power generated from now will seal the gates the demons will go away or die or whatever the so she does that and we find out that she is more powerful than everybody and she's more powerful than her father which like oh my god yeah he's so great and that's kind of the end of the thought we you know find out her who her true father is which is beard because I was under the impression that the autumn King was our Father this whole time so like I guess my reading comprehension is just crap but apparently Otto okay wait there's a feather in my sweater okay anyway so she has this like power that of course you know is just amazing and she saves everybody just as I had anticipated because that's a Saturday mass book for you and I like that she became the horn I guess I don't know if I like that alike that's predictable as I still don't give a about hunt he is like beta male central and I'm just like very sick of him he is less exciting than Rowan and freeze so I don't love that also the fact that that she gave her male hero a last name and felt the need to not let history on his last name was irritating I will say that the like grief component I did kind of appreciate it like I did like that like love is like the magic and the power and whatever like I kind of it's cheesy and it happens in every fantasy book right but like I like this I thought it was cute I bend at least kind of do I think she's gonna live happily ever after was fine absolutely not but now let's talk about my final thoughts because I'm very conflicted about my rating I'm either gonna give this two or three stars because literally after finishing it I agree wholeheartedly with Monty's review please go read it please I think it's spoiler free to be honest and it's just such a good job at really summarizing and articulating my feelings and thoughts on this book so like shout out to him for being so smart I'm not I just you think the intention behind this book is just so convoluted and strange and I just I wish that more thought had been put into like the components of this book I feel like the tone both the tone and the setting of this were just so strange I really feel like she could have done a better job at making it in urban fantasy I think she was trying to make this a high fantasy but it's truly an urban fantasy and it just it's it's really your reading experience personally I mean you could call it an inventive world if you want nots fine to like I think everybody's gonna have a different reading experience with this book but for me it just felt a little bit jarring as sometimes urban fantasies can do I think for me angels just really me up like angels and Fae coexisting and story is just I don't know why I guess I'm just like a stickler for just like I'm very what's a basic lore but traditional like lore if you can have vampires there can be werewolves but like having angels is weird I don't know I'll be interested to see for this book series goes I didn't hate this I'm glad that I brought it on audio so like I can listen to it and don't have to read it physically when I am gonna read the second book you know whatever that comes out I'm just not convinced of the greatness of this and this is just not a five-star read objectively I mean I think obviously there's no such thing as objectivity when it comes to reading or art or whatever like we all have opinions but this was not a perfect book regardless of whether you like it I just don't think it was perfect about Cassell that's my official stance on it I'm glad I did this log so at least I can like look back on it and posterity and hopefully I'll read the second and third and however many books in the series there are and I'll come back to this and be like oh my god I was so wrong like the first books actually really good but at this point I'm not really feeling that way it was entertaining enough but like I said it's just not something that we did it for me so anyway I'm glad I finished this this is my 80th book of this year it was 800 pages that feels nice and fitting and today's not the 8th but that would be cool if it works anyway thanks for watching I'm sorry this was not dining I love you guys so much I've got more good stuff coming that's more exciting than this yeah and until next timecome on welcome back to my channel I filmed this intro like three different times took a break to eat dinner and I think now I'm officially ready to talk about this okay I am starting in on house of earthen blood Crescent City book one by Sarah J mass and I don't really know what to say except for I have a complicated relationship with Sarah J mass bucks I enjoyed a court of thorns and roses that series the first three books at least didn't love to run the class I don't know what to think about this I feel like I've done extensive and exhaustive research before going into this book because I've been unsure if I wanted to go into this book is 800 pages it is adult fantasy pretty much all of my trigger words I guess you could say words that tell me to run away from a book but my friend mica got a tattoo after reading this book it got me thinking if it's good enough for her it's got to be good enough for me right or maybe she has tastes I don't really know but that's what I'm gonna seek to find out in this video I am going to reading this book over the next two and a half days it is Wednesday if you guys are seeing this video if it is made the light of day you're gonna be seeing it on Friday so I've got tonight tomorrow and part of Friday to read this um not gonna lie to you I'm a little bit a little bit nervous about it but thankfully I have the apartment to myself today Hayden is gone for band practice I don't her practicing for icing is theirs quarantine and they can't have any shows but who am I to limit what he does I'm kind of glad he's gone so we have the house to ourselves and we can just read the out of this book I have already started it to be honest with you I am like a full 16 pages in and I have to say not only do the pages resemble that of a Bible but the way that the first 16 pages have been set up it really reminds me of the Bible the one time that I tried to attempt to read the Bible I couldn't get through it because there's this chapter pretty early on where hey can we not do that right now yeah well that'll happen you know when you're an I was trying to say that the beginning of the Bible has a bunch of names of people and their lineage and it was boring to read about so I stopped reading the Bible after that I'm hoping that that uh doesn't continue in this book I just feel like there's so much info dumping and how do you info-dump in the first 60 pages of a book I would love to know I mean I actually wouldn't love to know because I've already read it in this but I want to like this I really do I want to enjoy anyway I would love to enjoy the ships and all of the goodness but I don't know I have tried to start this book a couple of different times like I said I'm trying to push through the first couple of hundred pages cuz I've heard that that's how long it takes to get interesting so I'm gonna try to get to like page 100 before I really pass judgment and I'll let you guys know how that goes okay I'm not driven 14 pages into this book and things are finally starting to pick up thank god has it gotten any less confusing or less info dumpee not really but I feel like I can kind of tell you what the plots about thus far so this book is about Bryce Quinlan who is a party girl which we're not allowed to forget she works in an art gallery and her best friend is the leader of a pack of werewolves she's the alpha or going to be the Alpha and Bryce hangs out with this girl her name's Danica and her friends a lot that's sort of the gist of the beginning of the book I don't know if I said Bryce this is half Fae and apparently humans are bad in this world there's every possible magical creature or being you could think of in this Crescent City Bryce's job is to hunt down some artifacts that was stolen a long time ago also at the same time there is a guy who's let loose out of prison named Briggs at the beginning of the book we're told that this guy is really bad and that he is human but he was basically a white supremacist I guess or a white nationalist he bombs the out of things and the Anika's worried that breaks is gonna come after her which is Sarah Jane masses heavy hint of foreshadowing telling you that clearly Danica something to be scared of and in the first like I don't know 30 or 40 pages Danica and her entire Packer slaughtered and Bryce has to kind of deal with the emotional repercussions and of course she doesn't deal well with them in typical Sarah J Maas heroine fashion so Bryce is dealing with the fact that her friends are dead she she came and saw that they had been slaughtered she was the one to find them she is kinda interviewed by I guess the police of the magical beings what are they called Villar whatever the magical beings all have like one name to denote their magic allottee a lot of people on this magical task force police force whatever our angels and our male love interest I'm sure is going to be hunt and he's a literally Reese he is literally freeze Bryce is I would say Selena not really Farrah definitely Selena energy basically at this point we just got a little bit of hunts backstory and we are two years ahead or two years after the fact of Danica dying so I don't know what's really gonna happen I don't I think I'm assuming hunt and Bryce are gonna come together for some reason and do something that's sort of we're at mm-hmm my hair's looking rough but I'm liking it but I'm noticing how each of the characters really are just repeats of things that Sarah J Mascis done before and I'm not mad at it it's just interesting that her tactic for this book and her tactic for making it an adult book was to just throw in so much backstory and a really really big world and I don't know that it's really effective at this point and I don't know if she's going to expand upon things are we gonna go to different lands because we've made reference a lot of times to places beyond just Crescent City I don't know how to feel about it I'm not upset I'm kind of enjoying it but I think it's too early to tell if this is going to be a story that sticks with me or that I really enjoy I don't love any of the characters right off the bat which is good even though Bryce is very like Selena asked I wouldn't say that I'm upset at it because Selena slash Ellen was a big part of why I didn't enjoy the throne of glass series so I'm glad that our main character is a little less irritating she stole a stupid like don't get me wrong but she's not quite as grating and who knows I like hunt - I think he's a little less alpha and Reiss it is 10 o'clock and I do want to take a bath so I'm probably going to stop and read the rest read the rest tomorrow read a lot tomorrow haha laughs bunny that's funny to me it's funny it's Friday my dudes I didn't film at all yesterday I ended up reading like 100 more pages of this book I'm at page 227 and I have thoughts also I'm trying to post this video today so we'll see if that half it's not going to have to because I have you know a gun 600 pages at this book left but anyway just thought the shutter spot I should point that out to you because I'm a real big idiot okay well I don't just like Bryson hunt I sort of don't give a about them and the fact that I don't give a about them has risen or has awakened more questions in me about what this book and what the series is going to be right because I really give a about Bryce's half-brother rune who is like full-blooded Fae and is one of the I mean he's the only son I think of the ruler of the faith we're getting his POV so I'm curious like is how expensive is this world's going to be because like I said we've been getting insane amounts of backstory for like all of these characters and all of the different lands and stuff like even more so than Sarah J Maas is normal info dumping so I'm just curious as to like how expansive this is going to yet if it is I'm very curious if it isn't I'm wondering why she would take this approach I just feel like this could have better been marketed as paranormal romance cuz that's kind of the vibe that I'm getting but it's just like paranormal romance overstuffed with a ton of like fantasy elements so I don't know I just have such conflicting feelings reading this like I'm I'm enjoying it to an extent I think Bryson hunts relationship dynamic is like sort of weird because they're like reluctantly put together to solve the crime of what happened to Danica I was right about my assumption in that just FYI that's sort of what they're doing they're charged by the arc angel who's one of the leaders of the city there's like different houses and they kind of ruled the city or whatever anyway the arc angel who's a ruler of haunted houses he's in charge of hunt basically he's like the head cop Micah I think is the guy that put hunt on the prowl and was like team up with Bryce to do I just don't know that I like Bryce and Hunt's dynamic I just feel like it's very paranormal romance to me which like I like a good paranormal romance but I just don't like oh my god she's too flighty she's like a party girl and then she's like oh my God look at this fat ass I'm so cool obviously much too good for you I just don't like it like y'all gotta we all know it that's not from it I'm not I just don't appreciate it I don't know also I like literally forgot to mention that it's mentioned multiple times in here that Bryce sensuously sways her hips or that she couldn't be a ballerina because her ass was literally she fat for I've seen too many curves to be Valerie no I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't think I mean we're not like that far into Bryce and don't going on this expedition to you know find this demon that killed Danica but I don't know I don't know I don't know that I like the dynamics I don't hate it but I don't know that I like it Stowe and I feel like that's a little worried something given that I am 200 pages in I'm hoping that I do a complete 180 and I'm like oh my god this shit's best book ever but at this point I'm not really there yet so my plan for today is to continue to read this book I did cave and buy the audiobook I like did this thing where I purchased three audible credits for like a discounted price or something so I ended up getting this for like $11 the audiobook of this book I think it was a wise investment cuz I feel like this is probably a book that all in every reading know you well but all of that to say my goal today is to finish this book and to get some done around the house so I'll probably splice in clips of me hanging out with the cats or like bopping Louie listen to this audio book maybe that'll be fun and interesting to watch I don't know this vlog is really like not going how I wanted it to go I feel like usually my reaction vlogs are very like me sitting in one place popping up the camera every like 10 pages because I have something disaster you to say and I really don't for this book besides like some of the stupid interactions the price and hunt half like there's not been not much to comment on so I'm hoping as the book goes on there's more to comment on but anyway that's just a lot of me babbling I'm so sorry I'm gonna get back to it and you know knowledge you know if my thoughts change and is she tryna is she trying to pull a Cassie Claire cuz I just have thoughts and feelings about this it's been hinted at multiple times that Danica probably had like some sort of sexual relationship with Bryce but on top of that it's also been hinted at that rune is supposed to like have some more complicated or his relationship with Bryce is more complicated than we know and I'm like well you guys call each other cousins but you're really half siblings but on top of that it feels like y'all are supposed to get it on or something I don't know am i delusional like that's definitely the vibes I'm getting and I'm just I want to know why I want to know why also I was kind of wrong earlier cuz I think I said that like they're trying to have this demon which they kind of are but they're also trying to hunt down this horn that was stolen from a temple or some it's a magical artifact this is something that Bryce was supposed to hunt down like before Danica died she's back on the prowl to find it because it can like do something I don't magic name I mean people I guess we underestimated previously the ability of this horn but apparently it can do so I don't know not yet I'm though both of my boys are so like that's more exciting at this point what do you think do you think that riddim okay well he doesn't want to answer what about you Pepe do you think that random rice are gonna get it on or that they're supposed to get it on I'm so confused there's that could be as confused I don't want to continue reading this book this man just talked about how he wants to suck this girl's toes and then like kiss the rest of her so not only is he a cop but he has a foot fetish and I just don't know that I can support him in this endeavor in this trying time so anyway um the fucked-up thing is that I'm like halfway done and I just don't give a about any of these characters I only care about rune although I don't know if I mentioned it I think I probably already dead but the whole like brown Brice relationship not a big fan because I just feel like it's uncomfy and I think they explained like why relationship is the way it is and it's not incest that's not the reason thank God but it just I don't know it feels like he has a crush on her I don't I'm not I'm not loving it maybe I'm just reading too much into this I really thought this is gonna be an exciting vlog and yet here we are so I'm at chapter 50 and things are getting not cuter that's for sure things are finally starting to get spicier which is ridiculous because that's like over halfway into the book come on this book should don't beat this long I'm just I don't want to say I've made up my mind but I really really truly feel like if Sara J mass didn't have such in my opinion negative thoughts and feelings towards romance as I shown wrong I mean I'm just assuming here but since she has not put any of her likes muddy talents to use in actual romance I really think if she had just embraced it and made this into a paranormal romance urban fantasy it would have been a better idea I'm enjoying the plot twist that happened essentially since this is a spoiler vlog I can just get into it we find out that it's not Danica's mother who has the horn or who sent the demon after her own daughter she actually wasn't trying to kill her daughter Danica was the one that stole the horn during this power outage a few years ago or Danika died obviously so that's kind of a fun plot twist and I think I'm starting to get slightly more invested into the characters in the story I'm still very apathetic towards Bryson hunt I mean they have like a romantic embrace and I just I was like what I've heard where they were really interrupted by Sabine Danica's mother but I'm just like I don't care if you guys I literally don't care if you and that's like the last thing that you should be hearing from me a lover of romance on top of that I heard that there is a character that dies in this book who is like a beloved character and if it's this little book sprite but I just don't care like I kind of want her to choke and die maybe it's because I'm listening to this on audio and the voice that the narrator does with little sprite is annoying but I'm also just like was this childish character I just I don't care I don't care am I better in a yes for sure certainly like I'm just I don't know I'm wanting more I want more apparently there's some demon daddy that comes in we did get to meet a really hot mermaid mermail or man I think was mermail he goes a little bit sad because it's aired a mass but I want more of that how come I cared more about him and his trauma in the five seconds that we learned about it then I give a about Bryce or about Bryce or punts I can't even form words to tell you how much I don't care about either of these characters can this please just be told from runes point of view or the diamond daddy who I haven't even met yet I don't know man I had such high hopes I will say it seems like the reviews on this book are pretty mixed I haven't heard very many people say they absolutely hate this book but a lot of people just gave this book three stars cuz I thought it was kind of lackluster and it's sort of how I'm feeling I'm hoping that I can at least bump it up a star because I heard that the last 25% of this book is good I'm just like you guys keep telling me like oh it gets better oh my god like first hundred pages get past it no I mean actually it suffered the first 58% like you need to get past that and then they're like oh no it's really the last 200 pages and I'm like well then why do the other 500 pages success like tell me tell me why and I'm going I have problems I'm so sorry literally I know I apologize and pretty much every vlog for making it shitty but like this one is truly shitty but I am not wasting a good thumbnail okay number one demon daddy deserves all the rights because he was there for five seconds like a murmur mail whatever the his name was barnacleboy um I just you know he's got possessed he's got the personality but I think I like hunt now I don't know why my characters have to go through some before I start liking them but that's just how it is so he just had to go kill some people because that's like part of his duty I guess for like rebelling I don't think I explained this earlier but basically hunt rebelled against the powers that be and now he is enslaved and has to kill people to make up for all the lives lost in the war or whatever the so you had to kill three people now he's back at Bryce's place he's obviously super traumatized and he's like under the shower her head and just like going through it you know emotionally and so Bryce is gonna like help him out and like wash his hair and stuff and like that Shay kills me every time and reminds me of satus from lover weekend I just I'm a simple girl give me a really up male character and then I'm toast do I like Bryce no but I think hones okay I think this is what Sarah J Maas was trying to do with Reese but I like that Hunt doesn't have all the power in the world like he is obviously very powerful he's not my guy you know what I mean like he's not the most powerful dude in this land which I appreciate it he's got kind of like betta tendencies which I don't know why does she keep calling him an alpha hole if he's a beta male you know things to think about also they keep talking about how homegirl hasn't done the drop yet and I I just still don't really understand what the point is apparently all of these immortal beings are mortal until they like drop off some cliff and I don't know if it's like just a mental thing or if it's physical too but apparently the drop that they do give some power to the city and that's what like powers all of their like houses and I don't know like the whole city is powered by power from these beings going through their like change or whatever they're dropped I just know that when Bryce goes through hers she's going to end up having all of these like magical powers even though she's only half a she's going to end up being a bad like that there's no other explanation for it right I don't know I'm getting more intrigued thank God is sixty five seventy percent into this book like I should not be feeling like this you know just like oh it's finally getting good I know this is such a minor detail but she mentions that she's not wearing underwear like in her head she says like I'm not wearing underwear i wonderful notice it says that hunt apparently know does it how does he notice that she's not wearing underwear if he can't see it can he sent it does she got that stank stank okay I'm gonna go okay it actually it actually just says that he can smell things on people so confirmed he gets small prices fresh tilapia same dumb different sweatshirt okay it is Saturday and I have a little bit over uttering pages left in this book and it's getting better but not much so mister a floor has betrayed price shockingly actually I am a little bit shocked I really thought that hunt was going to be the romantic companion to price this whole series but it's looking like that might not be it might not be endgame which I guess shouldn't surprise me that much given the fact that and pretty much all of Sarah Jane about the series she has you set to believe like one guy is gonna be the one for her like the main character and that it's not that's exciting we also found out that Danica was involved with some like sketchy drug ring like she was hoping to make some sort of like synthetic drug to enhance magical abilities she got addicted to it docks like she stole the horn apparently she was a drug addict so that's fun I'm assuming we're gonna find out later that that's not really the case and that that's just a cover for something else apparently hunt knew about this about Danica and he just didn't tell Bryce so he betrayed her and now hunt pissed off Micah the head cop and he got sold to his lovers sister who hates him and he got his wings cut off and I don't know just a bunch of shit's gone down nah nothing like too exciting don't get me wrong but at least they're attempting to have more of like an exciting plot coming on like I said multiple times in this video I really just believe this should have been a paranormal romance I really feel like a lot could've been cut out to make this more exciting and you don't have to have the characters get together in the first book to make it a paranormal like urban fantasy romance I just think that this book was marketed in such a way to make you believe that this is gonna be some like epic fantasy and it's not a high fantasy like this is definitely an urban paranormal fantasy and that's fine that's awesome I just think that the tone is super weird I'm gonna leave a link to two people's reviews talented the description of this video one is Maddie from Maddie the book pusher I think Maddie's review does a really good job at selling up my thoughts on Sarah J Mascis world building and the source of content in this that I think we're strange and then also Monty I think he does a really good job it's a written review on Goodreads of describing everything that I doesn't love about this book I mean I guess I'm not even done yet but I just I'm so frustrated I don't know this is barely a three star read at this point I think it's gonna get better over the next hundred pages hopefully but I still don't think that it's enough to I weren't the link of this book a lot of the world-building was unnecessary it's it's not even world-building it's just here's some information you don't care about that's not relevant to the story at all I don't think you need to unveil your entire world in the first book to make it an effective story I just feel like she really got let me craft the entire world it's like when you're brainstorming and you like to think a little intricate details before you start writing she thought that you needed to put all that in the first book and that's just not the case like that's not storytelling that's just being lazy I don't know I'm bitching too much I'm gonna continue reading oh hi so I am become a horn this shit's so convoluted so apparently Bryce is the horn horn got cleaved into and that's why people didn't think that it was magical anymore and so the recovered part of the horn was ground up and she consumed it so this bug is okay I have a theory what if this is actually Hades and Persephone retelling all I'm saying is that this book ended very very similarly to the end of a court of thorns and roses in which she thinks she has found her home the heroine thinks she has found her home with a dune and she's happy and then in the next book we find out things were not quite so great and that there's another male leaven dress and I'm just saying that the ending scene of this has mr. Fagin devil man devil daddy ATIS wouldn't that be cool I don't know okay so we could talk about the ending of this book because I'm done with it we could talk about my just final thoughts I'm sorry look I know I've said that a million times in this vlog but I'm really sorry that this was so I'm exciting literally the tone of this is so opposite from the thumbnail it's insane so sorry okay so what happened we find out that Bryce is the horn she has eaten this grunt ground-up horn and Micah seeks to activate her light or some and in doing so demons from hell are unleashed in the city and the only way for her to save everybody is to make the drop officially and the power generated from now will seal the gates the demons will go away or die or whatever the so she does that and we find out that she is more powerful than everybody and she's more powerful than her father which like oh my god yeah he's so great and that's kind of the end of the thought we you know find out her who her true father is which is beard because I was under the impression that the autumn King was our Father this whole time so like I guess my reading comprehension is just crap but apparently Otto okay wait there's a feather in my sweater okay anyway so she has this like power that of course you know is just amazing and she saves everybody just as I had anticipated because that's a Saturday mass book for you and I like that she became the horn I guess I don't know if I like that alike that's predictable as I still don't give a about hunt he is like beta male central and I'm just like very sick of him he is less exciting than Rowan and freeze so I don't love that also the fact that that she gave her male hero a last name and felt the need to not let history on his last name was irritating I will say that the like grief component I did kind of appreciate it like I did like that like love is like the magic and the power and whatever like I kind of it's cheesy and it happens in every fantasy book right but like I like this I thought it was cute I bend at least kind of do I think she's gonna live happily ever after was fine absolutely not but now let's talk about my final thoughts because I'm very conflicted about my rating I'm either gonna give this two or three stars because literally after finishing it I agree wholeheartedly with Monty's review please go read it please I think it's spoiler free to be honest and it's just such a good job at really summarizing and articulating my feelings and thoughts on this book so like shout out to him for being so smart I'm not I just you think the intention behind this book is just so convoluted and strange and I just I wish that more thought had been put into like the components of this book I feel like the tone both the tone and the setting of this were just so strange I really feel like she could have done a better job at making it in urban fantasy I think she was trying to make this a high fantasy but it's truly an urban fantasy and it just it's it's really your reading experience personally I mean you could call it an inventive world if you want nots fine to like I think everybody's gonna have a different reading experience with this book but for me it just felt a little bit jarring as sometimes urban fantasies can do I think for me angels just really me up like angels and Fae coexisting and story is just I don't know why I guess I'm just like a stickler for just like I'm very what's a basic lore but traditional like lore if you can have vampires there can be werewolves but like having angels is weird I don't know I'll be interested to see for this book series goes I didn't hate this I'm glad that I brought it on audio so like I can listen to it and don't have to read it physically when I am gonna read the second book you know whatever that comes out I'm just not convinced of the greatness of this and this is just not a five-star read objectively I mean I think obviously there's no such thing as objectivity when it comes to reading or art or whatever like we all have opinions but this was not a perfect book regardless of whether you like it I just don't think it was perfect about Cassell that's my official stance on it I'm glad I did this log so at least I can like look back on it and posterity and hopefully I'll read the second and third and however many books in the series there are and I'll come back to this and be like oh my god I was so wrong like the first books actually really good but at this point I'm not really feeling that way it was entertaining enough but like I said it's just not something that we did it for me so anyway I'm glad I finished this this is my 80th book of this year it was 800 pages that feels nice and fitting and today's not the 8th but that would be cool if it works anyway thanks for watching I'm sorry this was not dining I love you guys so much I've got more good stuff coming that's more exciting than this yeah and until next time\n"