House of Earth and Blood Deep Dive (HOEAB 1-7)

Anyone have Sarah J. Maas' address? My therapist keeps asking where to send the bill. 

On the debut episode of DTFae, co-hosts Cait and Elle discuss part one (chapters 1-7) of Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood. 

Sarah really outdid herself with the world(s) building, so we start with a breakdown of Midgard — its power structure, Houses, species, potential connections to other SJM books and, most importantly, which character(s) have hooves — before diving into the story. 

We’ll pick back up next week in part two, The Trench, with chapters 8-18. 

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We like our coffee icy and our books spicy! Oh, and we're totally Down To Fae. A podcast for fantasy romance readers and fans of authors like Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Rebecca Yarros and Carissa Broadbent. Follow along as your delulu hosts discuss your favorite romantasy books in a chapter-by-chapter read, re-read or refresher.

Transcript

Season One: 

Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood

C: Welcome to the first episode of DTFae! I’m Cait.

E: And I’m Elle. 

C: And we’re two friends who love romantasy books. Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, found family … anything with good world building and a little — or a lot — of spice. 

E: This is something we’ve wanted to do for years, but we had no idea how. 

C: We still have no idea what we’re doing, but we’ve reached the fuck it stage of life. 

E: And it’s the perfect time with the third Crescent City book, House of Flame and Shadow, coming out at the end of January. So we figured that, like us, people would be reading, re-reading or just want a refresher on the first two books. 

C: Honestly, what a time to be alive as a fan of romance and fantasy books. 

E: People really don’t know how great they have it with BookTok. 

C: Seriously. I had to discover Black Dagger Brotherhood reading over Elle’s shoulder on a plane. But with BookTok, there’s this community of people sharing recommendations and theories about the books we love, like Crescent City. 

Our credentials are the fact that we’ve read damn near every series in this genre. Some of my favorite non-SJM series are From Blood and Ash – I liked its prequel series, Flesh and Fire, even more – and really most JLA books, including her new one: Fall Of Ruin and Wrath, and speaking of more recent releases, Fourth Wing and The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Kingdom of the Wicked, Daughter of No Worlds, the Demon Queen Trials, and my guilty pleasure Zodiac Academy.

C: We love everything our lord and savior, SJM, writes. We’re starting with Crescent City, and while we’re not setting out to spoil Throne of Glass and ACOTAR, so much of the fun with Crescent City are the hints at crossovers, connections and easter eggs. 

E: So, it’s not required, but we highly recommend reading those series before Crescent City. And we’ll try to say spoiler alert so you can skip ahead if you want to. 

C: LPN Deep Dives has a guided reading podcast like we’re doing, but for ACOTAR. And Natalie and Jackie are hilarious. So check that out. 

E: Every week, we’ll be covering chapters from House of Earth and Blood that you can find in the show notes. On today’s episode, we’re talking chapters 1-7, but also giving a breakdown of the world, because there’s a lot going on. Next week we’ll cover chapters 8-18. 

C: I love this series, it may even be my favorite, but I have to be honest … it took me a couple of times starting and re-starting to really get into it. There is a lot of world building and character introductions and it’s overwhelming. I’ve heard the same from people I’ve recommended it to, but you just have to keep in mind you don’t need to memorize every detail. SJM is good about reminding us of important details when we need them. 

C: Okay, let’s start with a quick breakdown. We are introduced to Midgard, a world that used to be ruled by humans before magical beings called Vanir entered via a rift. The Vanir, ruled by the Asteri, enslaved and mistreated humans for the next 15,000 years. The calendars are literally labeled as HE and VE, human era and vanir era.

There are four houses that make up Midgard. Just an interesting note, Midgard loosely translates to Earth. So could Midgard actually be Earth? Is Crescent City literally New Orleans? And could it be at a point in time after Throne of Glass and/or ACOTAR and that’s where the Fae came from? Worth mentioning is Terrasen means "Old Earth."

We’ll talk about all of that and much, much more as we progress through the story. But GOD I love theories. — 

Side note: I found a really detailed list of possible name origins on Reddit that linked to a Google doc posted by WanderingInVelaris. Shout out to that creator for sharing her research. We’ll also be referencing Crescent City Wiki, who has Bansheequeen or Jasmine listed as administrator. Her IG is jasminslibrary.

E: Back to the four houses: The House of Earth and Blood is made up of witches, shifters and humans. So this is the house the pack of devils and Bryce’s mom, Ember, and stepfather, Randall, belong to. It’s also the former house of Bryce’s boss, Jesiba, who now belongs to … the House of Flame and Shadow.

The House of Flame and Shadow has wraiths, vampyrs, necromancers, dragons and quote “many wicked and unnamed things that even Urd herself cannot see.” They’re led by the Under-King. 

C: Urd sounds a lot like Wyrd to me. 

Like with the King of Hybern, we don’t know the Under-King’s name. I don’t think he even has one. I have a feeling these unnamed characters are going to be one of the ways Sarah ties these worlds together. 

Also, if Flame and Shadow sounds familiar, it’s because of this line from Empire of Storms: “The Queen of Flame and Shadow, the Heir of Fire, Aelin of the Wildfire, Fireheart . . . She burned through each title, even as she became them.” I’ll stop it there to avoid any Throne of Glass spoilers, but I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to SJM. 

E: The House of Many Waters is exactly what you’d think … Mer, Kelpies, Nymphs. Shit living in the water. This house is ruled by The River Queen, who we don’t know much about yet. 

C: Lastly, we have the house that our main character, Bryce, belongs to: House of Sky and Breath or, as Danika calls it “House of Shitheads and Bastards.” 

In addition to Fae, or half-fae in Bryce’s case, the House of Sky and Breath’s members include Malakim or angels, who remind me of the description of the Seraphim in ACOTAR. So maybe there’s a connection there? 

Sprites used to belong to this house, but were kicked out after the capital F Fall, so now they’re considered lowers. 

Which Crescent City house do you think you’d belong to?

C: I looked online for a CC quiz and couldn’t find one. I did find an ACOTAR quiz on Buzzfeed, and I got Spring Court. I took it twice, but I refuse to accept that. If anyone finds a CC House sorting quiz online, send it to DTFaepodcast@gmail.com. And send us your ACOTAR quiz results, too. 

E: Now that we’ve covered the houses, let’s talk about the world itself. Our main character, Bryce, lives on the continent of Valbara in Lunathion, which is named for the goddess Luna. It’s more commonly called Crescent City. Unlike other SJM books, Crescent City is a modern city with technology like cell phones, guns and, most importantly, reality TV.

C: Crescent City is built along the curve of a river, which sounds a hell of a lot like one of the places Aelin passes through in the Throne of Glass series. 

Spoiler Alert: She describes a great city built along the curve of a river with impossibly tall buildings and glimmering with lights. We do know she saw Feyre and her mate, who I’ll try not to name for those who haven’t read ACOTAR, because Sarah confirmed it in an interview. 

By the way, I should mention I’m terrible at pronouncing names and places. I go around for months saying the names in my head and they’re almost always wrong. Remember when I was reading Throne of Glass and complained, “There’s a WHOLE book about Chaol??”

Did I ever tell you about the guy I had a crush on in college? Corey? I had some science class with him — where I basically would just stare at him like a total creep — and one time I actually did okay on a science test, which was rare for me, and he walked by and said “Wow, nice job.” And I was like “Thanks, I have a photogenic memory.”

Jesus, I think about that like once a week. If you couldn’t tell, we’re from Nashville, so we’ll also try to keep our accents out of pronouncing names like Bryce. I’m usually pretty good at suppressing it, but every now and then, my mouth opens and banjos start playing.

E: As far as leadership, the governor of Crescent City is Archangel Micah Domitus and above him are the Asteri, who rule Midgard from the Eternal City in Pangera. 

There are several theories about the Asteri being connected to ACOTAR and ToG by the way. 

C: It’s interesting there are six Asteri with the seventh being “dead?” Question mark? There’s a certain blood-drinking, silver-eyed character in ACOTAR who is from another world and literally becomes pure light in her true form. 

Side note: There are a lot of sevens in Sarah’s books. Seven Asteri, seven courts, seven princes and levels of Hel, seven siphons, seven levels in the library at the house of wind. 

E: We meet a lot of characters pretty quickly, starting with Bryce, a half-fae/half-human working at Griffin Antiquities, and her BFF, Danika Fendyr. Danika is a wolf shifter and alpha of the Pack of Devils, who are part of the auxiliary, basically the police. Each species has an aux. 

She’s described as having silvery blonde hair with streaks of amethyst, sapphire and rose. Which sounds like a lot of upkeep, but whatever. They were roommates at CCU and have been friends ever since. 

Danika shows up needing to stash her sword in the supply closet, which Bryce knows will piss off her boss, Jesiba. And you don’t want to piss off Jesiba because she is a sorceress that will literally turn you into something like a frog or donkey. But, to Jesiba’s credit, she does give Bryce an amulet that offers protection from magic. A hazmat suit in a necklace. Probably more to protect the gallery than anything else. 

C: The amulet has three entwined circles. Remind you of anything? Like what the Bone Carver draws in the sand? Or the Eye of Elena from Throne of Glass.

In fact, the gallery not only has spells and enchantments to protect it from magic, but it has an old-school generator. Bryce had always wondered why until a recent blackout when the generator had kept the mechanical locks in place during looting. It makes you wonder what Jesiba has in there that’s so important … 

C: The sword, by the way, was given to Danika on her 18th birthday by her grandfather, the prime apparent of the Valbaran wolves, which pissed off her mother, Sabine. It doesn’t help that Danika, not Sabine, is rumored to be second in line. And that she’s roommates with a quote “half-breed slut.” Sabine’s words, not mine. 

Something small that I think is fun is that the wolves can talk in their wolf form. 

E: The shifters made me think of the high lords, especially Tampon, and Fenrys. Could they be fae that can change forms or are they a completely different species? It seems like, with what we know so far, they’re a different species. 

C: They did enter via the rift, so who’s to say they didn’t come from one of the other worlds we know. Bryce has wine red hair, amber eyes, full lips and high cheekbones, so she’s gorgeous, but even with her arched ears, her freckled skin is a dead giveaway that she’s only half fae. Another giveaway is how slowly her new matching tattoo is healing compared to Danika’s.

Right away, you can tell Bryce is different from other SJM main characters. She isn’t struggling to survive. Sure, her life isn’t perfect, but she’s not living in a cabin with her shitty family or having to enter a contest for assassins. 

She’s employed, she has friends – like the pack and Juniper and Fury, who we’ll meet later – parties and gets her nails done. So it’s a totally different vibe than we’re used to in SJM books. Bryce is a lot more relatable than some of the other female leads.

E: Danika tells Bryce about a human rebel she helped arrest, Phillip Briggs, being released due to a loophole. 

C: She blames fucked up paperwork, which what the fuck? Danika literally caught him with blueprints to blow up a club, the White Raven, so it’s sus. 

Side note: I can understand why the humans are rebelling. 

E: Lucky humans are lower class. Elsewhere, like where Briggs is from, they’re slaves and food.

It’s also in this conversation we learn about the 33rd Imperial Legion, who are the angels that make up Micah’s personal army, and the six lower heads: the wolves; the Fae Autumn King, the Under-King, the Viper Queen, the Oracle and the River Queen.

C: The humans in Asphodel Meadows, of fucking course, have no seat at the table. 

Oh, I forgot to mention Lele, a tiny fire sprite who loves gossip and trashy TV, which same. She has SPQM tattooed on her arm marking her as a slave. All sprites are marked as soon as they’re born because they (collective they, not every single one) joined a rebellion. 

I know it could be worse than living and working in the archives at Griffin Antiquities, but it’s still fucked up. 

In a lot of ways, like phones and TV, Crescent City is more advanced than we’ve seen in other SJM books. But CC isn’t as progressive as you initially think. I mean they have public crucifixions. Oof. 

E: There’s also Syrinx, a 30-pound chimera. He’s like a Crescent City version of Fleetfoot from Throne of Glass. 

C: And Lele reminds me of the brownie from that New Orleans series. What was that called?

E: Syrinx, “an expensive, rare creature,” was brought in to help Lehabah guard the books, but was more interested in belly rubs. 

In chapter two, we get a mini tour of the city with Bryce joining Danika on her walk to the meeting about Briggs. She’s fielding texts from Danika’s pack, who are worried about her reaction to the Briggs news. 

Crescent City has seven gates sitting on ley lines that were used for communication by guards centuries ago, but are now more of a tourist attraction. The gate at the heart of the old square, called the Heart Gate, has a quartz archway that fills the square with rainbows on summer solstice. 

C: I would definitely be one of the annoying tourists taking a selfie, because it sounds gorgeous.

E: The plaque above the gate reads “the power shall always belong to those who give their lives to the city.” 

C: Bryce muses the statement could be considered anti-Asteri, so she’s surprised they keep it up.

The two complain about tourists, which anyone living in a city can relate to, and Danika jumps line using her badge. This might be an unpopular opinion, but Danika is kind of a mean girl?

Also, did you ever read the Bargainer series? Just kidding, I know you did because I read your kindle. They use ley lines to travel between worlds. 

E: The gates remind me of Throne of Glass’ wyrd gates and wyrd keys. Baba Yellowlegs says they were the foundations of the world keeping realms — maybe like CC, ToG and ACOTAR — apart. So they’re definitely another clue pointing to a Maasverse. 

Bryce has her own mission from Jesiba to find Luna’s horn, an ancient Fae relic stolen from the Temple during that recent power outage. Micah is offering a huge reward for it, which is weird because it’s mostly a symbol … or at least that’s what we think. For a best friend, Danika isn’t exactly helpful about finding the horn. She basically tells Bryce to drop it. 

Bryce is reassuring Danika that Briggs will be thrown back in jail. I mean he has the 33rd monitoring him. Micah might even send his personal assassin, the “Umbra Mortis,” who has the rare gift of lightning in his veins.

C: Umbra Mortis is latin and translates to shadow of death. They make a pretty big deal about the angel being special. We later learn his name, or really his nickname, is Hunt. 

I have some Hunt theories there that I’ll keep to myself because they involve characters we haven’t met yet. But there are plenty Hunt origin and connections to other books possibilities. 

I did notice in my re-read that the phrasing “lightning zapped through her” was used when Bryce puts her hand on the disc at the Heart Gate to make a wish. And who do we know that has lightning? 

E: Let’s talk about The Drop, which neither Bryce nor Dannika have done yet, but plan to when they turn 27. Right before any permanent lines or wrinkles. 

C: or saggy tits. 

It doesn’t give you immortality, but it does significantly slow the aging process. They plan on doing it together — because besties — but because Bryce is half human, she’s not exactly sure how long she’ll live. But it’ll be longer than humans. Could be a thousand or a hundred years. 

And Danika will be very powerful once she makes the Drop, more powerful than her jealous mom and maybe even powerful enough to be alpha of all of the wolves. On the planet. 

C: There are different dominant shifter packs in control in different territories: lions, tigers, falcons, etc. I know it’s falcons and not hawks, but my mind immediately went to Rowan. 

E: They describe the drop as falling into your power and, upon reaching the bottom, it’s a race to get back up before you run out of time and literally die. It sounds terrifying. Which is why having an anchor, who acts as lifeline, is so important. 

C: While there aren’t any specific mentions of a Drop in ACOTAR or ToG, both Feyre and Aelin had moments I could see being similar to the drop. Feyre using you know who as her tether to life and Aelin faced herself and accepted who she was. She also literally dropped through worlds. 

E: During the Drop, Vanir release a flash of pure, raw magic that is quote “donated” to the Republic and used for first light, which is basically their electricity. And when they use the gates, usually to yell something like titties or wish for something deep, like bigger boobs, it takes a drop of their magic. 

The first time I read that, I remember thinking it was sketchy. But, the Drop parties where they use the light to make party favors sound fun. 

C: Nashville would be overrun with drop parties. Also, drops or kernels of magic remind me of ACOTAR … if you know you know. 

E: Bryce complains about her fake cousin, Ruhn, who is actually her half-brother. Or “Half brother and full-fae prick,” according to her. He’ll be at the meeting about Briggs today. 

C: We’re not straight up told who her father is, right? I can’t remember a big reveal. It just becomes super obvious with context clues. Sabine never even told Danika who her father is. They both have daddy issues, so more trauma to bond over. 

But Ember acts as mother to both Bryce and Danika, who affectionately calls her mom. Randall is who Bryce considers her real father. We learn more about both Ember and Randall later, but it’s important to note Randall made sure Bryce was trained and could take care of herself before she went to CCU. He’s a legendary sharp shooter. 

He’s not the step-father. He’s the father who stepped up.

E: We meet a lot of people in chapters three and four, including the entire pack of devils, who are back at the apartment when Bryce comes home before heading out on a date with a rich human named Reid. 

C: Danika and Bryce’s friendship and everyone being at the house hanging out makes me nostalgic for college. Or I guess I’ve romanticized that time because I didn’t have a mortgage and back pain? But it’s hard to keep close friendships like that as an adult. And everything is so scheduled now. There’s never any time to just hang out, you know?

E: The most important member, at least in regards to the storyline, is Connor, Danika’s second. Connor would’ve been alpha if Danika weren’t around, but he’s not resentful or jealous. 

C: We love a confident king! 

E: He has a younger brother named Ithan, who plays Sunball, which I picture as baseball but maybe lacrosse or rugby? Either way, I bet they’re hot. 

C: What sport, in your opinion, has the hottest players?

E: Answer

C: I’m going rugby, because I love thick thighs and it just seems like the manliest sport. They also all have Scottish accents in my head. Baseball is up there, mostly because of the pants. And I know BookTok is obsessed with hockey players. Dead last for me is golf. 

E: Ithan and Bryce have a cute sibling-like relationship, but he’s not at the apartment that night because he’s partying with teammates. 

There’s also Thorne, the omega, who may or may not have a thing with Danika. It’s a long shot for him, but the two seem to be pulled toward each other. 

C: The pack are staying in that night, watching TV, drinking beer and eating pizza to keep them from going out and killing Briggs, who we learn has officially been released. 

I find it hard to believe Micah, the Autumn King and the Oracle couldn’t find a way around the loophole? Humans have like no rights. Just throw him in a dungeon? 

Danika is obviously upset and Bryce thinks it might be something more than just Briggs’ release. She straight up asks what Danika isn’t telling her, but Danika says “nothing.” Full stop.

E: It turns out it’s more mommy issues. Sabine cornered Danika to lecture her about two CCU research students who were killed near the temple during Danika’s shift. The students were quote “ripped to shreds and partially eaten.” At least the prime wasn’t upset, because he was asleep during the meeting. It’s clearly affecting Danika though. 

C: Bryce’s room is covered in posters for the Crescent City ballet, and while she loves to dance, she was told she had the wrong body type. Gorgeous Bryce has the wrong body type, but they have Juniper up there clopping around the stage? 

This reminds me of Feyre, because bitch loved to paint. My favorite meme is the one where it shows Feyre painting, but it’s just stick figures. Have you ever seen how they painted cats and babies in Renaissance Paintings? That’s how I imagine her paintings look. If you’re a fan of memes, check out The Court of Memes on Instagram. 

Total side bar, but have we talked about Aelin believing music and art was important? Promising to rebuild. And Velaris has an artists’ neighborhood, the Rainbow. Is that the area Aelin rebuilt? That’s canon in my head. 

E: By the way, I would absolutely buy a copy of the “hottest bachelors of Crescent City calendar: Clothing Optional Edition” they have in the apartment. 

Connor is not happy about Bryce’s date with Reid, the rich hot-as-Hel human whose dad owns Redner Industries. She met him through Danika, who does part time security work there. 

She claims the work she does at the massive, human-owned tech company is too boring to explain, but pays well. 

C: Sketchy. There are a lot of sides to Danika and, even though she clearly loves and cares for Bryce, you get the feeling there’s a lot Bryce doesn’t really know about her. It’s all very surface. You remember how college and early 20s friendships were: mostly about living near each other and going to the same bars. 

E: Before Bryce leaves for her date, in heels for a 25-minute walk btw, Connor finally asks her out after five years. Connor had feelings for Bryce the whole time, but he’s serious about it now. We all know how Bryce feels about quote “alpha holes,” which is understandable considering her fae father tried to imprison her human mom, but it seems like an unfair comparison. Connor waited five years!

C: Connor gives a speech, which may or may not have been rehearsed, but is straight to the point. “You want me. I want you.” Bryce is all “possessive vey-nirs blah blah.” 

My toxic trait is loving the possessive men in romantasy books. Obviously I wouldn’t want it in real life, but there’s something about “the don’t look at or touch her” characters. 

Connor points out he’s not her father, which thank god. 

Something I miss in Crescent City is the fashion from ACOTAR. The beautifully detailed dresses and huge jewels. The most we get here is tight dresses and pearl studs. I get it, this has a more modern setting, but I still miss it. 

E: He pitches the idea for a trial date. A date before a date. She doesn’t say yes, but she doesn’t say no. Danika throws out a “light it up” as Bryce is leaving. I don’t have any catchphrases for any of my friendships, do you?

C: We say snicks instead of snacks and Ubear instead of Uber, does that count? Oh and doll hairs instead of dollars. But light it up makes me cringe, if I’m being honest. I think it’s the way the audiobook woman says it. 

Also, the use of the word “light” here is interesting and maybe a little foreshadowing? 

E: As she’s leaving the apartment complex, she notes how shitty it is and Danika could afford better, but chooses to live there because Bryce can swing it with her paycheck.

C: Why not let everyone pay what they can and live in the high rise if Danika can afford it. If you win the lottery, it will not hurt my feelings if you buy a huge mansion and let me live there for free.

E: The date with Reid is at a fancy restaurant and he’s late. She drinks a half bottle of wine while she waits. 

C: Which is bold because I’d be scared he’d bail and they’d expect me to pay.

E: Others at the restaurant are clearly judging and looking down their noses at Bryce, a half-breed. She gets a text, but it’s from Connor, not Reid. “You know I’m shit with talking. But what I wanted to say was that I think it’s worth it. You and me. Giving us a shot. I’m crazy about you. Just give me a chance, please.” 

C: GOD I love Connor. But here comes Reid, a boring human who is on his phone before he’s even pulled out of her. They talk about fun topics like war.

E: The humans are ready to wipe themselves out rather than submit to the Asteri. Which is very give me liberty or give me death. And if the conflict were to spread, one of the first places it would land would be Crescent City. Something Briggs was clearly trying to instigate. 

Her mind wanders and she wonders what it was like before, in HE, with just humans and regular animals. 

C: I’m going to guess it was better. Bryce can’t stop thinking about Connor’s text. How he wouldn’t tolerate vey-nir in the room sneering at her. Even Danika is saying a date with Conner wouldn’t kill her. So she says fuck it and breaks up with Reid. She leaves the restaurant and calls Fury and Juniper to clop on over to the White Raven, a temple turned club Briggs, who is now out, tried to blow up. Brilliant. 

I’d be going straight home to Connor, personally. She does text him agreeing to a date. And he talks about spoiling her and how she won’t regret it. I’m in love. Even though I KNOW not to get attached to the first love interest where SJM is involved. 

E: Fury is a mysterious character. Bryce doesn’t even know which house she belongs to. It’s apparently rude to ask. What we know is that Fury made the Drop at 21 and being at CCU was maybe a front for a mission because she’s maybe an assassin, according to Danika. 

C: I’d at least ask my close friends what their house was? 

E: A female outside of the club tries to sell Bryce a new drug, “Synth will make you feel like a god,” she says, but Bryce can’t afford it. Let’s all remember this moment, unlike Bryce, who snorts some white powder Fury brought in addition to her mirthroot. Fury does, however, warn Bryce to stay away from Synth, calling it “some bad shit.”

Bryce, Fury and Juniper – did we mention she has hooves? – drink and snort and smoke and dance and sweat. 

C: She must not get sweat stains in the same places I do, because I’d be under the dryer in the bathroom or leaving. 

They are having a great night. Life is good. Life is fucking good. She’s sending texts and videos to Danika, who has major FOMO about missing the night out. 

E: Still high off light seeker, Bryce goes home, but she’s so fucked up she can’t remember her building code at first. She notes several times on her way to her apartment how much the building smells. It’s overwhelming.

She steps in a puddle outside her door while looking for her keys, but the door is already open. The iron door is practically ripped off the hinges. She thinks she’s hallucinating before she smells the blood. 

C: Quote“But her fae eyes adjusted to the dark, revealing the apartment. What was left of it, What was left of them.” Bryce is not only in shock, but she’s still dealing with the drugs in her system. And she's our narrator. It’s dis-orienting. 

E: She finds what’s left of Danika, Thorne and Connor in her room. She assumes Thorne and Connor were attempting to protect her. 

C: I was in denial reading this. We just spent how much time getting to know and becoming invested in these characters. What the FUCK Sarah?

E: Bryce hears a sound in the hallway and grabs a broken table leg, which is an interesting choice, and starts chasing whoever or whatever did this.

C: I remember thinking grab the sword, but it’s still in that fucking supply closet. 

Armed with a table leg, she chases this humanoid thing that sounds like my sleep paralysis demon with near-translucent gray skin through the streets and finds it literally eating an angel. She can either keep chasing the thing, who ripped her thigh open and is now on the run, or help the angel who has a huge chest wound. 

She does get a hit in so she must not get her furniture at IKEA because my table leg could never.

E: She decides to stay and help this nameless angel and calls the vey-nir equivalent of 911. She doesn’t know where she is, but they can track the angel’s phone. And they do so pretty quickly once they hear the angel’s phone number. Hmmmm ….

We then switch POVs, seeing Bryce in an interrogation room from the eyes of Isaiah Tiberian. 

C: We switch POVs earlier and more often in Crescent City than SJM’s other books.

E: Isaiah is catching up Hunt aka the Umbra Mortis aka the shadow of death aka the personal assassin of Micah. But he’s not wearing his scary helmet, so he’s just Hunt. Isaiah and Hunt both have tattoos of thorns across their brows as a sign of their participation in the failed rebellion. The witch magic in the fucked up halo binds the majority of their power. We finally get a little more backstory on the rebellion here. 

Hunt led the 18th legion in an uprising against the Asteri for the archangel Shahar. They lost and now they’re slaves and serve the people they tried to overthrow. Hunt and Isaiah belong to Micah. Isaiah is unofficially the commander of the 33rd and no one really knows where Hunt falls in the pecking order. He is on demon duty most of the time, tracking and killing demons who creep through the cracks or enter via an illegal summoning. For that reason, Hunt answers directly to Micah.

C: Bryce is understandably in shock. And her leg was stitched up, sorry stapled up, by Hunt, who writes her off as just another spoiled party girl. And he’s not wrong. But not the time or place to judge her. 

It is interesting that Hunt seems to be the only one able to calm Bryce down or sense when she’s near her breaking point. 

When they hear Danika and her pack were killed the same day Briggs was released, they make some pretty big leaps and arrest him. Not only is that a big summoning for a human, but what dumbass would do it the very day he was released? 

E: And as if Bryce hasn’t been through enough, Sabine shows up calling Bryce a half-breed whore and threatening to kill her, but she really seems the most upset about the sword, which is air quotes “missing,” but we know exactly where it is. 

C: Isaiah wonders how Sabine could blame Bryce when you look at her one crime, public indecency at a parade, compared to Danika’s seven – there’s that number again – files. 

E: Sabine does say something interesting here: “Danika could never keep her mouth shut around her enemies.” She doesn’t elaborate and Hunt kicks her out. Back in the interrogation room, Viktoria, a wraith who also participated in the rebellion and is now stuck in her body because of it, pulls up texts between Bryce and Danika, including one that says she fucked someone who wasn’t Connor in the bathroom. 

C: Oof. Doesn’t seem relevant to the case, but okay. Even worse, they play audio from the apartment building. You can hear Danika begging and screaming and it’s horrible. 

We were listening to this scene during a road trip and our friend Morgan, who is a lawyer, kept yelling: Where are the lawyers? What are the laws? 

It pushes Bryce to a complete breakdown and she trashes the room and pukes. And somehow, it’s only the quote “shadow of death” that seems to have some decency about it. Once again, he calms Bryce down, but also judges her for her dress, thinking he’s seen whores wearing more modest clothes. This is a victim, Hunt! Fuck off!

E: Isaiah gets a call from their captain, Naomi, telling him to release Bryce immediately. Bryce’s half brother and prince of the Valbaran Fae, Ruhn fucking Danaan, is here to save the day! He storms in pissed his fake cousin was questioned without a fae escort. 

C: Surprise: the autumn king is Bryce’s deadbeat dad. I can’t remember if they come out and say it or it’s just that obvious at this point. 

Bryce limps away through an open door and out into the hall right before Ruhn bursts in.

E: We get more info on Ruhn here. He’s not only the Autumn King’s son and leader of the fae auxiliary, but has the Starsword as proof of his chosen one status. Its black hilt quote “devours the glaring firstlights.” Isaiah heard it was forged in another world, before the fae went through the Northern Rift. 

C: Is the Starsword connected to Truth Teller? Ruhn also has the power to summon shadows, a gift from his kin across the sea. Could he be related to our favorite shadow singer or the night court? Ruhn and Az are both broody emo boys. The Autumn King is one of the more obvious connections to ACOTAR. Autumn King, Autumn Court. There are some interesting Autumn Court, Dusk Court, Avallen Fae theories we’ll get into later. 

Hunt peppers Ruhn with questions about Bryce. Ruhn snaps, saying you could find her with drugs in her system at least one night a week and she always does what she wants. He’s bitter enough that it’s obvious there’s a backstory there, but it’s not what Hunt is thinking, which is incest. 

E: They aren’t too worried about Bryce leaving, because apparently the water she drank had a tracking device in it somehow, which seems illegal and not safe. 

We wrap up Part One with the “sailing,” where the body of a deceased is sent across the Istros River to the Bone Quarter for their final sleep. Connor’s younger brother, Ithan, messages Bryce and tells her she isn’t welcome.

C: It’s fucked up. They know she didn't do this. And she was, as far as we know, the closest person to Danika and an honorary member of the pack. I know he’s grieving but fuck Ithan and fuck Sabine. 

Bryce sneaks out of the hotel she’s staying in with her mother and sails to the Bone Quarter by herself. She’s kneeling at its steps when something comes out of the mist. Something ancient and terrible. Part one ends before we find out what exactly she’s doing there. 

The book doesn’t have a slow start, but there is a lot of complex world building. I was struggling until we hit Danika and the pack’s murders. I couldn’t put it down after that. I was speed reading looking for the moment where Bryce wakes up or time travels or something because what the fuck? 

C: We’ll pick back up next week in part two, The Trench, with chapters 8-18 and a time jump 22 months into the future. 

C: Send us your unpopular opinions, theories, fan art, fan fiction, whatever, to D-T-F-a-epodcast@gmail.com. Thank y’all so much, and we’ll see you next week!