House of Earth and Blood (novel) (2024)

"There are worse fates than death, you know."
	This article contains plot details and potential spoilers for the Crescent City series. If you have not begun reading or are not too far into the story, please refrain from reading or at least proceed with caution.

House of Earth and Blood is the first book in the brand-new adult fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas.

Synopsis[]

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas launches her brand-new CRESCENT CITY series with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. By day, she works for an antiquities dealer, selling barely legal magical artifacts, and by night, she parties with her friends, savoring every pleasure Lunathion—otherwise known as Crescent City— has to offer. But it all comes crumbling down when a ruthless murder shakes the very foundations of the city—and Bryce’s world.

Two years later, her job has become a dead end, and she now seeks only blissful oblivion in the city’s most notorious nightclubs. But when the murderer attacks again, Bryce finds herself dragged into the investigation and paired with an infamous Fallen angel whose own brutal past haunts his every step.

Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, wants nothing to do with Bryce Quinlan, despite being ordered to protect her. She stands for everything he once rebelled against and seems more interested in partying than solving the murder, no matter how close to home it might hit. But Hunt soon realizes there’s far more to Bryce than meets the eye—and that he’s going to have to find a way to work with her if they want to solve this case.

As Bryce and Hunt race to untangle the mystery, they have no way of knowing the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents, and down to the darkest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir...

With unforgettable characters and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.^[1]

Plot[]

Part I: The Hollow[]

The Hollow shows Bryce's life before the tragic accident and the events that occurred that day. It tells a story of the truest friendship held between Bryce and Danika, and the blossoming, slow-burn romance of Bryce and Connor. In Part I, you already have a strong love for Bryce, and the Pack of Devils so the deaths so early on in the book are heart-breaking.

Part II: The Trench[]

This part shows the developing friendship between Hunt and Bryce, they start off as hostile partners and by the end of The Trench, they both feel a minor attraction toward each other. This part always has Sarah J. Maas' favorite scene, Bryce in the shooting range. Hunt and Bryce start to piece things together and solve the mystery, or so they thought.

Part III: The Canyon[]

As Bryce and Hunt delve deeper into the crimes and finally come closer to the answer, they also become more aware of their attraction to each other, and grow more intimate; at one point almost having sex. But then, all those feelings dissolve as Bryce learns that Hunt was working with Viktoria and Justinian, 33rd Legion members and slaves to Micah, and they planned to use Synth to overthrow Micah and end their slavery. Bryce was agonized and heartbroken and we were left on a cliffhanger on what punishment Hunt would be given.

Part IV: The Ravine[]

In this part, we learn that Micah has sold Hunt to Sandriel as punishment for the plotting of revenge. The Summit commences, with Hunt shackled with gorsian stones, barely able to move. Micah leaves suddenly and soon he arrives at Bryce's workplace. With Jesiba's installed cameras, Declan Emmet manages to livestream Micah's encounter with Bryce in front of everyone at the Summit. It is soon revealed that Micah killed Danika, who had inked the Horn onto Bryce's back and Micah was planning on using Bryce to open a portal to unknown worlds. Lehabah sacrifices herself so Bryce could slaughter Micah, and Queen Hypaxia dissolves Hunt's slave tattoo, so he could also slaughter Sandriel. Then Lunathion erupts into chaos as a portal to Hel opens up, leaving demons to roam the city. Bryce does the only thing she knows how to do, save everyone even if it means her death. She makes the Drop, with the help of Danika's spirit and her firstlight heals the world and closes all the portals.

Epilogue[]

The epilogue reveals that Jesiba had a relationship with Hunt's father, with Sarah J. Maas eluding toward it being a romantic one. It also shows Jesiba and Aidas, Prince of the Chasm, discussing Bryce's power, and how she holds Theia's light.

Characters[]

• Aidas
• Amelie Ravenscroft
• Bronson †
• Bryce Quinlan
• Connor Holstrom †
• Cthona (mentioned)
• Danika Fendyr †
• Declan Emmet
• Einar Danaan †
• Ember Quinlan
• Fendyr Prime †
• Fury Axtar
• Hecuba Enador † (mentioned)
• Helena † (mentioned)
• Hunt Athalar
• Hunt's Mother † (mentioned)
• Hypaxia Enador
• Hyrieus † (mentioned)
• Isaiah Tiberian
• Ithan Holstrom
• Jesiba Roga †
• Juniper Andromeda
• Justinian Gelos †
• Lehabah †
• Lehabah's Great-Grandmother † (mentioned)
• Lidia Cervos (mentioned)
• Lord Cedrian (mentioned)
• Luna (mentioned)
• Marlene
• Marrin
• Maximus Tertian †
• Micah Domitus †
• Naomi Boreas
• Nathalie †
• Philip Briggs
• Pollux Antonius †
• Randall Silago
• Reid Redner
• Rigelus †
• Riso Sergatto
• Ruhn Danaan
• Sabine Fendyr †
• Sandriel †
• Shahar † (mentioned)
• Syrinx
• Tharion Ketos
• The Oracle
• The River Queen (mentioned)
• The River Queen's Daughter
• The Under-King †
• The Viper Queen
• Thorne †
• Tristan Flynn
• Unnamed Fae Female
• Viktoria Vargos
• Zach †
• Zelda †
• Crucius

Pre-Order Offer[]

To celebrate the release of House of Earth and Blood, Bloomsbury Publishing hosted a special promotion! Submit your pre-order receipt to receive an exclusive art print. Attention: This offer was only available to the USA, Canada, UK, ROI, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Signed Books and Special Editions[]

• Barnes & Noble: Signed book.
• Waterstones: This exclusive edition has red sprayed edges.
• Bloomsbury: This version has a different cover and a gold spine.
• German Edition: In Germany the first (limited) edition had stenciled edges.

Foreign Publishers & Titles[]

• Bulgaria: Егмонт Анишър (June 27, 2020) - Bulgarian title: "Дом на пръст и кръв"
• Czech Republic: CooBoo (October 5, 2020) - Czech title: "Rod Země a Krve"
• Finland: Gummerus (May 2, 2023) - Finnish title: "Maan ja veren huone"
• France: De Saxus (May 12, 2021) - French title: "Maison de la terre et du sang"
• Germany: dtv Verlagsgesellschaft (September 18, 2020) - German title: "Wenn das Dunkel erwacht"
• Greece: Εκδόσεις Διόπτρα (May 24, 2023) - Greek title: "Ο Οίκος της Γης και του Αίματος"
• Hungary: Könyvmolyképző (January 6, 2021) - Hungarian title: "Föld és vér háza"
• Italy: Mondadori (July 14, 2020) - Italian title: "La Casa di Terra e Sangue"
• Netherlands: Boekerij (March 2020) - Dutch title: "Huis van Aarde en Bloed"
• Persia: آذرباد (May 18, 2021) - Persian title: "سرای خاک و خون"
• Poland: Uroboros (June 3, 2020) - Polish title: "Dom Ziemi i Krwi"
• Portual: Galera Record (September 28, 2020) - Portugese title: "Casa de Terra e Sangue"
• Romania: Editura Litera, Colecția New Moon (November 2020) - Romanian title: "Casa Pământului și a Sângelui"
• Russia: Азбука (October 2020) - Russian title: "Дом Земли и Крови"
• Slovakia: Slovart (2020) - Slovakian title: "Rod zeme a krvi"
• Spain: Alfa*guara (September 17, 2020) - Spanish title: "Casa de Tierra y Sangre"
• Turkey: Dex Kitap (April 14, 2021) - Turkish title: "Toprak ve Kan Hanesi"
• Ukraine: Nebo BookLab Publishing (April 25, 2023) - Ukrainian title: "Дім Землі та Крові"

Gallery[]

Covers[]

Exclusive Editions[]

Promo[]

Trivia[]

• Maas credits "Shenzhou," written by the British film composer Steven Price for the movie Gravity, with inspiring the book's climax. "I was listening to it on a plane and all of a sudden, I saw this scene play out," Maas says. "I literally began sobbing and had to pull the hood of my sweatshirt over my face and lean into the window to hide how hard I was crying. I'd never met these characters before, had no idea who they were, or what their world was like, or what had brought them to this particular moment. But as I listened to the track over and over, I began to piece things together. By the end of that flight, I knew I had to write this story if only to be able to one day write that scene."^[2]
• Crescent City is set in a modern, fantasy world. Vaguely reminiscent of the Roman Empire, if it had not fallen.^[3]
• In Melbourne on her Kingdom of Ash tour, Sarah J. Maas mentioned that the first draft she'd sent to a beta reader (author Lynette Noni, the co-author of The World of Throne of Glass) was "800 pages full of banter."
• At the same event, SJM joked that "there's at least one F-bomb on each page."

External Links[]

• House of Earth and Blood (novel) on Goodreads

References[]