Authors website: https://sarahjmaas.com/books/house-of-earth-and-blood/

Link to good reads website: https://www.goodreads.com/

I think this book could have used a few more rounds of revision. This book feels

like a rough draft that needs a few more drafts. That said, I was thrilled to see

something that might be a little less polished come off the press from such an

awesome author. It’s neat to think SJM’s genius might take multiple drafts 

This is a good book to read if you are writing:

- New adult fantasy and/or paranormal

- Paranormal romance

- Omniscient POV

BREAKDOWN:

Note: I’m not using any particular plot system for this one, just noting where/when

the big stuff happens.

Chapters 1-4: we read a lot of stuff about stuff. Turns out later that very little of it

is necessary

Ch. 5: inciting incident (murder)

Ch. 6: meet Hunt Athalar, the love interest. But we meet Hunt through Isaiah

Tiberion’s POV, which confused me. Isaiah isn’t a main character.

I really struggled with the omniscient POV (again). Starting this chapter in

Isaiah’s mind made me think Isaiah was a main character and more important

than he actually is.

CH 7: here’s our reaction after inciting incident

Ch. 8: Meet Bryce again two years later

- I don’t think aspiring authors could get away with this time jump.

- If Hunt and Bryce had actually had some sort of bonding/interacting in the

early incident, then there would be this 2 year gap for that moment to

become a memory they both come back to. But in this book, that moment

in chapter 6 is remembered by Bryce for the crisis (murder) not because

she met Hunt. Hunt remembers the crisis (murder) because he stapled

Bryce’s leg badly to stop her from dying; he doesn’t remember it as a

bonding moment (meet-cute) kind of thing.

Ch. 9: Meet Hunt again two years later

Ch. 10: another murder that acts as another inciting incident.

Ch. 11: a proposition is given to Bryce that will propel her to make a decision.

The decision to pursue the murderer moves the story into act 2 (on page

133…which is something SJM can get away with, but aspiring authors cannot).

Ch. 12: call to action

- Enemies to lovers set up: Hunt and Bryce really don’t like each other

(which, again, makes that initial meeting at the first murder under-used, I

think). They hate each other here, so why bother creating that initial

meeting? I do prefer romantic relationships in which the main characters

have a history together, but that initial meeting didn’t do enough to create

that history

Ch. 14: Ruhn gets a chapter. Not sure why. I didn’t think his perspective

contributed much: his father is an awful person, he thinks he’s the Chosen One

but his power is limited, he wishes he and Bryce had a better relationship…. All

of that could have been gotten from Bryce’s POV as she interacts with him.

If you’re interested in enemies-to-lovers arcs, this book has a lot of little kernels

through Act 2 that show Bryce and Hunt adjusting their relationship. Chapters I

noted: 31, 35, 36.

Moving beyond Act 2 to the wind up to final events…

Chapter 65: where everything fell apart for me. I probably should’ve stopped

reading 700 pages ago, because I was struggling with the book, but it’s SJM so I

kept going.

Ch. 65: Bryce sees Hunt involved in the drug deal on the barge. We’ve been in

Hunt’s head in recent chapters, I needed to know this was brewing. If this book

was only Bryce’s POV, this could have worked as a shocker. As is, it felt very

unexpected and uncharacteristic of Hunt (and not in an “Oh, plot twist!” sort of

way, but an “Um…did I pick up the wrong book?” kind of way).

Ch. 66: Powerful people somehow end up all in the same place to make the

moment more dramatic and add stakes.

Yes, we need to up the stakes and add pressure to our characters here. But with

as little as we’ve seen of the Viper Queen, Micah, etc., I wanted more of an idea

of the logistics that got those important people on that barge. It seems they

randomly popped in because the author needed them there.

Ch. 68: Here but also throughout this book, I couldn’t help thinking of Brandon

Sanderson’s lecture on promises and payoffs. Characters and situations

throughout this book make promises, but did not payoff for me. I felt there were a

lot of empty threats. The description of Hunt in the early chapters didn’t jive with

his actions later in the book. Bryce is so clever in the beginning of the murder

investigation and so out of it at the end.

Ch. 69-71:

It’s possible I misunderstood these chapters. But here’s my notes:

- More promises that don’t pay off.

- Bryce hates Hunt, but response after the barge incident felt clumsy and

underwhelming

- Hunt fears Sandriel but we see nothing except Sandriel taunting him.

(Well, we also see Justinian crucified and we’re told the wraith is in a box

at the bottom of the ocean, but I wasn’t emotionally invested in either of

those characters, so their suffering is mostly just background noise)

- Pollux. His character huffs and puffs but never blows a house down

- And then Bryce shows up with a fortune to buy Hunt back. Yeah… this

didn’t work for me. I wanted to see her change of heart and spend some

time understanding what she’s sacrificing to get this money from Jesiba

- Also: Jesiba felt very uneven: sometimes she’s mean, sometimes she

loans Bryce fortunes of money to buy things that have sentimental value.

I’m all for nuanced and complex characters, but Jesiba’s ups and downs

feel inconsistent instead of complex.

- I was disappointed that our big tough angel with all these special powers

and prowess does nothing but say “please”… this felt like a

promises/payoff letdown.

Some other points that I wish were a little more developed:

- Ruhn has powers in Act 3 that we knew nothing of previously

- Bryce has known all along who and what she is

- We watch characters watching the climax of the book

- Micah’s character suddenly turning into an evil villain… yeah, he’s not

Santa Clause, but he gave Hunt that deal and he’s effectually protecting

Hunt from Sandriel with the deal, so this evil madman thing didn’t line up

for me.

Act 3 felt like a good rough draft in need of revision. Honestly, after how much I

love ACOTAR, it was a relief to see a book from SJM that perhaps wasn’t as

awesome as ACOTAR – it’s a nice reminder to me that she’s human (totally

awesome, but still human).

Save the cat link: https://savethecat.com/

a court of thorns and roses link: https://sarahjmaas.com/books/a-court-of-thorns-and-roses/

Opening Image & Set Up:

 Ch. 1: gives us the opening image and the world before the story: Feyre and her family,

poverty, hunting.

- Inciting incident: Feyre kills the wolf in the forest

- Save the Cat moment: hunting for Nesta, Elaine, and Feyre’s dad

 Set up: meet Feyre’s family, their situation, the family dynamics (dad, sisters). The

sometimes boyfriend. 

 The mercenary explains the potential danger near the wall and in the forest

(foreshadowing danger from Prythian)

Catalyst: A giant wolf (Tamlin) barges in, demanding the killer come with him. 

 Feyre must make a decision

Debate: Feyre considers the effects this will have on her family

 Her promise to her mother has been her motivation for tolerating her family situation

 Wanting to protect her family, she decides to go with him and try to escape later

 Notice that she has to sacrifice part of her promise to her mom that has been her

motivation up to this point. She does it (page 39) in order to get the wolf/fae away from

her family

Break into 2: Feyre leaves with Tamlin

 Her goal: escape

 Problem: Fae power/magic, the wall

Feyre’s journey in Act 2:

 (B-Story): Internal: learning to be independent of her sisters - realizing she did too

much for them, that they should have contributed a lot more than they did, that they

didn’t take care of her like she took care of them. All of those things about her dad, too.

As she spends more time away from her sisters, she’s free to think more about painting

and things she wants for herself.

 External: trying to escape, which leads her to get to know Tamlin and Lucien,

particularly Tamlin. She thinks he’s a beast at the beginning. As she gets to know him,

she relaxes that view. As she explores escape strategies, she has run-ins with Fae and Fae

magic (the Suriel, etc) that lead to our “fish out of water” moments. She grows to like

Alis and Lucien. Trying to escape leads to finding the gallery. 

Midpoint:

 Working up to the midpoint:

o There’s a “high” in chapter 23 when Tamlin uses his magic to allow Feyre to see

the magic around her. (And “magic has a price” as Tamlin warns)

o Ch. 24: Feyre isn’t glamoured anymore; in essence, losing her naïveté 

 And—surprise!—the next day she finds a decapitated head in the garden

(magic + prices + symbolic vision stuff = problems)

 And, here we go to our midpoint: chapter 26:

o The solstice celebration (notice it’s a celebration and it marks a timeline) 

o Drunk dancing

o kiss

o = Feyre’s “False Victory” according to a STC beat sheet 

 Of note:

o The recurring image of the faerie wine: she refused to drink it when she first

arrived; at the solstice (midpoint) she drinks it intentionally and enjoys herself

(and kisses Tamlin); and in Act 3, Rhys forces her to drink it. 

o The chapter ends with “It was the happiest moment of my life” (an appropriate

lead into chapter 26, when things start falling apart). 

Because our midpoint was a False Victory, we need our next STC beat to be Despair, and for

Feyre it certainly is. (Sorry, Feyre, but your misery is my warm sunny afternoon absorbed in a

book).

Bad Guys Close In:

 Ch. 26: Rhysand appears while Lucian, Tamlin, and Feyre are having lunch

 This works because:

o Stakes are raised and Rhysand hints at all sorts of things that don’t make sense to

Feyre but hint at big problems to come

o Feyre clings to old habits by trying to stay with Tamlin when he warns her she has

to leave because it’s dangerous 

All is lost & Dark Night of the Soul:

 Ch. 28-31: Feyre is sent home: she’s lost her painting, love, and companionship

o End of Ch. 27: Feyre reviews her situation: there’s a power in Prythian so

dangerous that a High Lord is sending her away from it, there’s the command

from the Suriel, her promise to her mother, and foreboding about what is to come

 She finds out what happened to Clare Beddor and her family because Feyre gave

Rhysand Clare’s name instead of her own (ch. 26).

Decision that moves us into Act 3: After finding about about Clare Beddor, Feyre decides to go

back to find/rescue Tamlin. She warns Nesta of the danger

Break Into 3:

 Intangible goal: Love… but more than that, Feyre’s looking for the security and understanding

Tamlin provides; also: she’s shown throughout the book how she defends and protects her loved

ones without questioning their own responsibilities. She’s driven by a desire to protect Tamlin,

too, just like she used to hunt for her sisters. 

She’s headed into danger to save Tamlin, but she’s also acting on a new-found self-confidence

and courage she gained during Act 2.

Gathering the Team:

 I think this could be assessed both of these two ways:

o 1) the team abandons the hero: Alis leaves her so she has to go Under the

Mountain alone; when she gets Under the Mountain, Lucien is used against her,

Tamlin is captive. 

 Which leads to: Storming the Castle as “Hope” beat in the end of Ch. 34

(pg 303) when she makes the bargain with Amarantha, then looks up at

Tamlin and thinks: “I loved him with a fierceness…” and she knows he

still loves her. Then she thinks: “I had nothing left but that, but the shred

of fool’s hope that I might win…"

o 2) the team assembles: Feyre gets Alis’ help at the house, then finds Lucien and

Tamlin when she arrives Under the Mountain (although they can’t help her right

now). 

 Which leads to Storming the Castle as a “Despair” beat in Ch. 35 when

she’s put back 

 Either way, this series of tests and trials Under the Mountain moves actively back

and forth from hope to despair. Each of the trials has a rising, a despair, a success (which

is sometimes a despair, as well).

Storming the Castle (the bargain with Amarantha for three tests)

Notice the rapid switch from high to low emotional beats that keeps the action moving

 Ch. 35: Lucien’s life threatened so Feyre will tell Amarantha her name; Amarantha

presents the riddle

o Note: pg 314: foreshadowing Amarantha’s use of the word “immediately” 

 Ch. 36: the Wyrm

o Pg 327: Feyre throws the bone at Amarantha in defiance

o This chapter ends on a high (success), next chapter starts on a low (despair)

o Notice that this trial is connected with Feyre’s hunting skills from the beginning

of the book. Re-using the hunting imagery creates a mirror/bookend.

 Ch 37: (despair) Feyre’s infected wound, afraid she’s going to die from it; no help from

Lucien. Rhysand offers her the bargain in exchange for healing her arm.

 Ch. 38: Starts on a low = the impossible tasks/chores to occupy her between the trials of

the bargain. Ends on a high: Rhysand’s protection from the chores and the guards. 

 Ch. 40: Feyre’s 2nd task. She wins with Rhysand’s help. Rhysand goes to her cell to

taunt her out of her despair. 

o Ends not necessarily on a hopeful beat, but she’s so angry at Rhysand that she’s

forgotten how miserable she is. 

 Ch. 41: Despair. She begins to think she isn’t going to leave the mountain alive. Also,

overhearing the Attor talk about invading human lands means despair for the greater

world, not just Feyre’s own situation. 

 Ch. 42: a brief moment of hope: Feyre and Tamlin are alone for a short time.

o Which turns to a low moment when they’re interrupted first by Rhys and then by

Amarantha. 

o Which gets complicated when Rhys shows up later and starts chatting about

feelings. 

 Ch. 43: Third and final trial in Feyre’s bargain with Amarantha. 

o Notice the story re-uses imagery from the beginning of the book: Feyre killed the

wolf who was a Fae with “hate in her heart;” now that she doesn’t hate the Fae,

she’s tasked with killing three Fae in order to free Tamlin. 

o And just as an unsuspecting reader might have thought the stakes couldn’t get any

higher: oh snap! (Hightower Surprise) Tamlin is under mask #3. This twist

brings everything together: the bargain with Amarantha, the time Feyre spent in

Tamlin’s estate, the “treaty” (as Feyre understood it) that brought Feyre to

Tamlin’s estate, the killing of the wolf in the forest with an ash arrow that started

everything off. And here, with all of this in her emotional bags, Feyre is presented

with an impossible choice:

 Kill Tamlin to end the curse, thereby destroying the reason she came

Under the Mountain in the first place

 Or don’t kill Tamlin, which will lead to Amarantha imprisoning Tamlin

indefinitely and killing Feyre. 

 Either way: Feyre and Tamlin aren’t going to end up together (or so it

seems)

 But, wait! Plot twist: Feyre Digs Down Deep, figures out the clues about Tamlin, and

stabs Tamlin knowing he has a heart of stone.

 Ch. 44: like any good villain, Amarantha doesn’t surrender. She points out that she never

said when she’d free Feyre and Tamlin, that only solving the riddle will mean immediate

release.

o Feyre Digs Down Deep again and comes up with a new plan: solving

Amarantha’s riddle. 

o Which leads us to

Executing the New Plan: Feyre uses old lessons to solve the riddle, which leads to our final

chaotic action: Amarantha kills Feyre, Rhysand fights Amarantha, Tamlin kills Amarantha,

Rhysand gets the other High Lords to save Feyre, and (WOW plot twist!) Feyre is resurrected as

a fae.

 The reaction to all that hits in ch. 46: Feyre is changed. She considers first how her body

has changed since becoming High Fae, and then, in the scene with Rhys, Feyre confesses

about how her heart is still human (and therefore very, very broken) 

o Note that the imagery of not dying alone comes back, reminiscent of the wolf

Feyre kills that starts everything, and the faerie that’s killed when she’s at

Tamlin’s. 

Then, (phew!) closing image: Feyre and Tamlin return to the Spring Court. It has been an action-

packed ride.