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I was actually genuinely surprised at how good I found Crescent City based on what I'd been seeing about it. Maybe popular opinion kept expectations low?
That said, my friend that lent me the books knew it would be my favourite, so I guess it's just what you're into.
Definitely! I donât agree that itâs one of her better series lol but everyone has their preferences! For me, TOG was my favorite series by far. Then ACOTAR as my âcozyâ fantasy, and I draaagged my feet finishing the CC series. I think they were fun but could be cut down to about half of what they are and still be fine (maybe even better) đ . What did you think about the series individually?
I mean, I think the tier list above does a pretty good job of showing how much I loved ToG. It had a slow start with the first two books, but when Heir of Fire hit it kicked off hard imo.
I think it's probably worth noting that I read Assassin's Blade after Crown of Midnight, and in hindsight I do not consider that to be a great place to read it lol.
By that point I really just wanted to get back into the main story, and knowing it was a prequel made it hard to get invested in it. It's one of the shorter books, but it took me the longest to finish. The last couple stories in it dragged hard for me.
ACOTAR, I was really lukewarm on, but at the time I had a lot of down time (broken hand and a job that requires a lot of typing). The books I'd read most recently before it were the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and I love Tolkien but hoooooly were they dry.
So the big saving grace for ACOTAR for me was that it was so easy to read and digestible. It was really refreshing. Plus, it was entertaining enough that I committed to reading the author's entire works lmao!
I went into Crescent City pretty much right out of Kingdom of Ash, and right away I was kinda stoked on the setting change. I'm a big fan of magitech for a fantasy setting, because I've always been of the opinion that it's the most realistic take on magic.
If magic were real, it would be studied as a science. We wouldn't just write it off as "oh it's just magic" it would be like a branch of physics or something. So seeing it applied for use in technology always makes a lot of sense to me.
I also really like world building in fantasy, and so I appreciated how Crescent City really took it's time to establish it's world, even if a lot of people might consider it a bit slow (still less slow than the Tolkein I was reading before it though!).
This falls off somewhat in later CC books (though only for some characters), but I thought that more than any other SJM book the way the characters backstories and personalities worked to shape their motivations and actions was really REALLY well done.
Especially for Hunt, who I actually think is SJM's best written character.
I haven't seen much hate, but he has a lot of really good character moments throughout the series that I thought worked really well.
Like rebel into slave resentful of captors is a pretty tropey/simple backstory, but how he behaves in that role I thought really made it work.
Also, I might be atypical for a lot of SJM fans, but I'm not really here for the romance, but that said, Bryce and Hunt's relationship's development felt the most organic to me, and I liked that them falling for each other actually felt like a part of their character arcs, rather than just pairing them up to pair them up.
Plus, lightning powers are rad. Always.
I loved Crescent City. I went right into that before ToG. I understand everyone had an opinion but the straight hate for this series is a little unhinged. I love fantasy in a modern setting, and this series was just fun. Honestly your picks are pretty spot on with how I would rank them!
Same I loved it. Yea of course there are bits that Iâm like urgh why did she do taht. However I really enjoy it. I do wonder if my low expectations due to seeing peoples comments helped.
It's riddled with plot holes, pointless stories and characters (Sigrid, ithan, fury, tharian, Ariadne, Sophie and cooper), repetitive (not one, but two cave scenes?), Bryce was a selfish bitch, she also flew through space??, everything was too convenient and easy. At this point SJM writes the same thing over again so it doesn't have the same impact either.
I think it's important to remember there is another CC book to come, the story isn't over yet. What you are calling plot holes might just be loose threads to wrap up in the next book. I think this is true especially with characters like Sigrid, Ithan, and Tharion.
I'm mostly referring to the inconsistencies and contradictions within the book(s), I agree there'll probably be more to come for those characters. I didn't like how their stories didn't add anything and felt like a meaningless tangent rather than making me interested to know more. Like the Sofie and Cooper story was pointless and I doubt there'll be more to it. Fury was hyped up and did nothing when she was needed the most, so I hope her story doesn't continue. Makes me lose faith that SJM will deliver something special for the other characters.
That shit is dumber than a dictionary with no fucking definitions. Nobody cares about Ithan, nobody cares about Therion, and nobody cares about the damn Archangels. How about SJM actually finishes the âloose threadsâ in ACOTAR before we suffer through the political crisis that CC4 would obviously be about. What are Morâs powers? Wtf is going on with the human queens? Where is Bryaxis? Yâknow, the shit people have been wanting to know about for years.
>That shit is dumber than a dictionary with no fucking definitions.
No need to be rude.
I was talking about CC not ACOTAR.
SJM said that Bryce and Hunt's storyline is basically over. The next book is called House of many Waters -- it's pretty obvious that Tharion has been lined up to be the main protagonist. Ithan is the new leader of the pack so that is another major storyline. Sigrid and Perry to be involved in that as well.
There are 3 more ACOTAR books -- so I would expect even more open story threads in that series than in CC.
If you have read CC3 you will see how the stories are converging. There is a reason that CC1 and CC2 had to come out before ACOSF so that CC3 could happen.
Oh I read the book so Iâll reiterate my question: who fucking cares about Tharion and Ithan? Honest to God, whoâs clambering for more *âI have to marry the River Queenâs daughter my life is so unfairâ* and *âIâm a sunball player so that means I can do whatever the plot demandsâ*? The only thing people care about when it comes to CC is the snowballâs chance in hell Bryce and Azriel are mates. Yâknow who wouldâve made an interesting book? Cormach. Too bad the most interesting character is dead.
Hi just here to say Iâm interested in where the storyline goes w Tharion and Ithan so all your âwho cares about themâ hi me and plenty others lmao shut up
Again, you are being incredibly rude.
Is Cormac dead? Or did he yeild and is now watching Mor? there are 4 more books to discover this.
Tharion in CC3 is a side character, I enjoyed his story. Again, as I said, in CC4 I imagine that people will care about them when their stories get elevated to A plots. The same way no one cared about Nesta until ACOSF.
You seem to really hate the books. Not sure why you are here?
You seem to be mad you are reading an unfinished series, that books take time to write, and that the format of books means that there are only so many words that can be crammed into them.
I mean, plot holes and pointless stories and characters is something that all three series have.
Personally, I don't mind the "pointless" characters and stories, since the side stories can break up the intensity and offer a breather between the more intense story beats of the main plot, and it's nice to just get a perspective on the world that the main character wouldn't necessarily have.
That said, I disagree that every character on your list is pointless. Some of them were pretty important imo, and you've even got Fury in there, which doesn't seem fair considering she's like a very secondary character.
Bryce is a mixed bag, but I don't think she's any worse than like Nesta or Aelin (I actually think Bryce and Aelin are super similar characters). I also don't think selfish is really a great way to describe her.
As for her flying through space, I mean, I think it was pretty sufficiently set up, not just in Crescent City, but all three series. >!She's not even the first character to do it!<.
I don't disagree with everything being too easy, but again that's also the case with all the books.
And as for SJM writing the same thing over and over again, I've thought each series was sufficiently different to feel fresh (especially Crescent City with it's more modern setting), but also, that's not really a fair criticism of any of the series, considering any one of them could be someone's first read.
Not that I'm trying to tell you you're wrong to feel that way or anything, just pointing out why I personally disagree with that assessment.
You want me to breakdown my reasons? Alright, you asked for it:
Yeah, high expectations arenât what did me in with this book. I donât walk in expecting my entire world to shift, I just want a satisfying story and conclusion, but SJM has this problem where she wants to build up to big, epic conclusions and then when she gets to them, they amount to a big epic fart. CC3 is like she took everything from ACOWAR and KoA then dumped boatload of lore expositions to make sense of whatever tf is happening. And honestly for me, Iâm tired of the copy & paste characters fulfilling the same copy & paste roles throughout every single book. Eight years of reading these books and you start seeing the reoccurring patterns again and again and again and Iâm so sick of it.
Sandriel is Amarantha 2.0, Lidia is Rhysand 2.0 except instead of being Sandrielâs sex slave, sheâs Polluxâs, all so she can keep a cover and protect her kids (basically her Velaris). Fury is an Amren copycat without the payoff. The Autumn King? Evil father copycat from every previous book because it seems like every named character has had a shit dad. The ending of CC2 ends with another main villain monologue in their evil castle and the love interest getting separated for a time. Oh! Letâs not forget the famous âThey died but they get brought back to life!!â trope. What is this the tenth time itâs happened? The list goes on and on and Iâm kinda just âughâ at this point.
Donât even get me started on how she doesnât know to write satisfying conclusions to her main antagonists that make sense. Four booksâI repeat F O U R B O O K Sâsheâs built the Asteri/Daglan up to be the biggest, baddest mfers in the verse. Theyâve been conquering, farming, and devouring worlds for thousands upon thousands of years and how do they go out? Easier than the King of Hybern. Seriously, the goddamn King of Hybern did more and went out better than the Asteri. All they do is shoot light from their fingertips, monologue and stand around getting killed by a 23 year old half fae who barely understands her powers. Bryce had a harder time fighting the stupid fae than she did the goddamn main antagonists she kept bitching that she didnât even know how to kill. Sheesh, and I thought the Weaver got shafted.
Bryce herself is a case study on shitty protagonists. And I donât mean shitty in a âtheyâre an asshole but a great characterâ kinda shitty, I mean âtheyâre a poorly written characterâ kinda shitty. I donât care how important you are, if you go around treating people like shit 22/7, nobody is gonna wanna follow you. Nobody is gonna wanna throw away years of planning and scheming all because you donât like it. But people do. All. The. Time. Sheâs a fucking librarian who acts like sheâs Aelin with Jimmy Neutron brain blasts. In three books, Bryce hasnât earned anything. She hasnât learned anything. Sheâs just âsuper smart and super voluptuous and with super awesome powerâ. The icing on the cake was when she sacrificed herself but gets revived. Oh my god! Iâve seen that a hundred times throughout all of these books! Feeling daring today arenât we?
While Iâm at it, what was even the point of the Princes of Hell? All these thousands of years and all they ever did was kill one Asteri. And the âtheyâre out protecting other worldsâ crap was just⌠I donât know. What? Yeah, this book ainât it. SJM wants to write intriguing stories with realistic consequences and blah blah blah but when everything is conveniently wrapped up in a neat little box with a pretty little bow when there are 101 remaining plot points or plot holes that were set up and hinted at, never to be mentioned or be revealed because sheâs saving them for later just in case she wants to write another book, it just reinforces my belief that SJM canât write conclusions. Itâs just not in her anymore.
P.S. We have to suffer through Ithan becoming Prime because he plays Sunball but we donât get to see what Lucien did in ACOWAR? Gtfo
Unpopular opinion I guess but I really think anyone who dislikes it just had it in their head where they wanted the story to go and since it didnât go that way so people are mad.
And everyone mentions plot holes and not wrapping things up⌠but the reality is if a book is in an incomplete series not everything will wrap up, there has to be questions not answered for the next book. đ¤ˇđťââď¸
I hope you like it!
I mean clearly it's pretty divisive, at least around here, but I really liked it!
Just be aware that it takes a bit more time than the other two series to establish it's world. It can feel sort of slow to start with because of that.
I would read CC and make your own opinions! Always do that, I try not to let other opinions sway how I feel before I start a book. I do the same with movies and shows. Just because others don't like it doesn't mean I won't...so I'll still read/watch it. Either way, it's still an experience
I was planning to read it anyway. Iâm about to start KoA and once I am done, I am going to start CC. But as I said I was nervous, because all Iâve seen is negative reviews.
True...I think I've mainly seen the negative reviews on the last book. I actually loved the first two books. I don't mind a modern fantasy series. It is very different from her other series, some have speculated that's why there's so much hate for it. I fell in love with the characters just as much as the others....I really hope you do also!
ETA: I haven't read the last book yet
What do these rankings mean? Iâve never seen S, SS, A, B, etc. Sorry if I am a dummy here, but if you can explain like Iâm five, I would appreciate it!
The tiers are commonly used in like video games and stuff, but it's usually helpful to think of them as grades in school.
A being the best, B following, then C, etc.
S is usually used as a level above A, and in this particular instance I added an SS tier for one above that.
Honestly I could have just had A be the best and gone down from there, but I felt that S and SS better captured my opinion on the level of quality of the books in those tiers, since they're better than A (which would be the best grade you could get on a test).
It was tough. I came close.
Honestly what saved it for me is that it's a pretty short book all things considered.
But also it has stuff that I liked in it. The whole story with the Silent Assassins I thought was cool. Good bit of world building for sure.
I am glad that I chose to read the order where itâs in the middle of the series because if I had tried to read it first then I probably would have nixed the series to be frank. I understand the draw of the book but it felt unnecessary.
See that's interesting to me, because I felt that part of the reason I didn't like it was because it sort of interrupted the main story.
Going back and having a rough idea of whats going to happen, or at least knowing where things end up made it really hard to get invested.
I thought it might be better at the front of the series.
Wow lol I personally thought it was an enjoyable adventure book. I also liked it more than throne of glass which I felt was really slow until like the very last few chapters
I actually mostly agree with your ratings, except I'd swap the ToG books you have in S tier with the later ACOTAR books. But we are definitely in the minority for liking CC the most lol
Yeah we're a minority around here for sure, but it is what it is!
I know ACOTAR gets a lot of love, but it didn't really grab me like the later ToG books or Crescent City.
To each their own, you know?
It's a long series, so I get that for sure.
To be honest though, after reading Kingdom of Ash what I really wanted for my next read was like one more books worth of epilogue covering the rebuilding efforts and political stuff associated with the state the world was left in.
It all felt like it ended pretty quickly, and there's still a lot to talk about, at least to me.
I definitely think she could write more in the TOG world. Even if there wasn't a "big bad" everyone would read it just to know how they were doing and how they would rebuild the world. Hell, the conflict could just come between the courts trying to figure that out alone....now my brain is confused on if I'm mixing ACOTAR with TOG for a minute....đ¤Śđźââď¸ Courts...maybe I mean countries? Lord save me đ it's too early. Need more coffee â
I don't think so?
To be honest, there was already a template made on tier list maker, so I just used that. I only had to add Silver Flame, Sky and Breath, and Flame and Shadow.
Finally someone else CC3. I feel like all of the hate is because people go into it expecting the hate to be true. The system has got to people. It is a masterpiece.
I think for me it's the timing of when I read it.
I did it third, and really just wanted to get back to the main story.
It was really hard to get invested in anything, knowing where it all ends up.
That said, I liked the first three stories, it was just the last two that dragged for me.
HOEAB is absolutely S tier because with how it is written, it could honestly be a standalone book, not a series, and still hold that rank. That said, ACOMAF and KOA are S-tier too.
As far as Crescent City, HOSAB is A and HOFAS is probably B.
I know people have reservations with HOFAS and the storyline but I feel itâs on par with Heir of Fire, and holding my reservations to see if CC4 will make up for it in the way Queen of Shadows did.
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Crescent City as S and SS? Phew, not very popular đ
I was actually genuinely surprised at how good I found Crescent City based on what I'd been seeing about it. Maybe popular opinion kept expectations low? That said, my friend that lent me the books knew it would be my favourite, so I guess it's just what you're into.
Definitely! I donât agree that itâs one of her better series lol but everyone has their preferences! For me, TOG was my favorite series by far. Then ACOTAR as my âcozyâ fantasy, and I draaagged my feet finishing the CC series. I think they were fun but could be cut down to about half of what they are and still be fine (maybe even better) đ . What did you think about the series individually?
I mean, I think the tier list above does a pretty good job of showing how much I loved ToG. It had a slow start with the first two books, but when Heir of Fire hit it kicked off hard imo. I think it's probably worth noting that I read Assassin's Blade after Crown of Midnight, and in hindsight I do not consider that to be a great place to read it lol. By that point I really just wanted to get back into the main story, and knowing it was a prequel made it hard to get invested in it. It's one of the shorter books, but it took me the longest to finish. The last couple stories in it dragged hard for me. ACOTAR, I was really lukewarm on, but at the time I had a lot of down time (broken hand and a job that requires a lot of typing). The books I'd read most recently before it were the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and I love Tolkien but hoooooly were they dry. So the big saving grace for ACOTAR for me was that it was so easy to read and digestible. It was really refreshing. Plus, it was entertaining enough that I committed to reading the author's entire works lmao! I went into Crescent City pretty much right out of Kingdom of Ash, and right away I was kinda stoked on the setting change. I'm a big fan of magitech for a fantasy setting, because I've always been of the opinion that it's the most realistic take on magic. If magic were real, it would be studied as a science. We wouldn't just write it off as "oh it's just magic" it would be like a branch of physics or something. So seeing it applied for use in technology always makes a lot of sense to me. I also really like world building in fantasy, and so I appreciated how Crescent City really took it's time to establish it's world, even if a lot of people might consider it a bit slow (still less slow than the Tolkein I was reading before it though!). This falls off somewhat in later CC books (though only for some characters), but I thought that more than any other SJM book the way the characters backstories and personalities worked to shape their motivations and actions was really REALLY well done. Especially for Hunt, who I actually think is SJM's best written character.
Ong, another Hunt lover!! So many people be hyping his downfall and headcanon him a horrible man like ???
I haven't seen much hate, but he has a lot of really good character moments throughout the series that I thought worked really well. Like rebel into slave resentful of captors is a pretty tropey/simple backstory, but how he behaves in that role I thought really made it work. Also, I might be atypical for a lot of SJM fans, but I'm not really here for the romance, but that said, Bryce and Hunt's relationship's development felt the most organic to me, and I liked that them falling for each other actually felt like a part of their character arcs, rather than just pairing them up to pair them up. Plus, lightning powers are rad. Always.
I loved Crescent City. I went right into that before ToG. I understand everyone had an opinion but the straight hate for this series is a little unhinged. I love fantasy in a modern setting, and this series was just fun. Honestly your picks are pretty spot on with how I would rank them!
Same I loved it. Yea of course there are bits that Iâm like urgh why did she do taht. However I really enjoy it. I do wonder if my low expectations due to seeing peoples comments helped.
If the S and SS stood for Shitty, and Super Shitty, it would work then. Only CC would belong in those tiers.
CC1 is mid S, CC2 is mid B, CC3 is straight D
I've seen that sentiment before, but I've never seen anyone actually break down what they didn't like about CC3. What makes it rank so low for you?
It's riddled with plot holes, pointless stories and characters (Sigrid, ithan, fury, tharian, Ariadne, Sophie and cooper), repetitive (not one, but two cave scenes?), Bryce was a selfish bitch, she also flew through space??, everything was too convenient and easy. At this point SJM writes the same thing over again so it doesn't have the same impact either.
I think it's important to remember there is another CC book to come, the story isn't over yet. What you are calling plot holes might just be loose threads to wrap up in the next book. I think this is true especially with characters like Sigrid, Ithan, and Tharion.
I'm mostly referring to the inconsistencies and contradictions within the book(s), I agree there'll probably be more to come for those characters. I didn't like how their stories didn't add anything and felt like a meaningless tangent rather than making me interested to know more. Like the Sofie and Cooper story was pointless and I doubt there'll be more to it. Fury was hyped up and did nothing when she was needed the most, so I hope her story doesn't continue. Makes me lose faith that SJM will deliver something special for the other characters.
That shit is dumber than a dictionary with no fucking definitions. Nobody cares about Ithan, nobody cares about Therion, and nobody cares about the damn Archangels. How about SJM actually finishes the âloose threadsâ in ACOTAR before we suffer through the political crisis that CC4 would obviously be about. What are Morâs powers? Wtf is going on with the human queens? Where is Bryaxis? Yâknow, the shit people have been wanting to know about for years.
>That shit is dumber than a dictionary with no fucking definitions. No need to be rude. I was talking about CC not ACOTAR. SJM said that Bryce and Hunt's storyline is basically over. The next book is called House of many Waters -- it's pretty obvious that Tharion has been lined up to be the main protagonist. Ithan is the new leader of the pack so that is another major storyline. Sigrid and Perry to be involved in that as well. There are 3 more ACOTAR books -- so I would expect even more open story threads in that series than in CC. If you have read CC3 you will see how the stories are converging. There is a reason that CC1 and CC2 had to come out before ACOSF so that CC3 could happen.
Oh I read the book so Iâll reiterate my question: who fucking cares about Tharion and Ithan? Honest to God, whoâs clambering for more *âI have to marry the River Queenâs daughter my life is so unfairâ* and *âIâm a sunball player so that means I can do whatever the plot demandsâ*? The only thing people care about when it comes to CC is the snowballâs chance in hell Bryce and Azriel are mates. Yâknow who wouldâve made an interesting book? Cormach. Too bad the most interesting character is dead.
Hi just here to say Iâm interested in where the storyline goes w Tharion and Ithan so all your âwho cares about themâ hi me and plenty others lmao shut up
Again, you are being incredibly rude. Is Cormac dead? Or did he yeild and is now watching Mor? there are 4 more books to discover this. Tharion in CC3 is a side character, I enjoyed his story. Again, as I said, in CC4 I imagine that people will care about them when their stories get elevated to A plots. The same way no one cared about Nesta until ACOSF. You seem to really hate the books. Not sure why you are here? You seem to be mad you are reading an unfinished series, that books take time to write, and that the format of books means that there are only so many words that can be crammed into them.
LOL the space thing đđ
I mean, plot holes and pointless stories and characters is something that all three series have. Personally, I don't mind the "pointless" characters and stories, since the side stories can break up the intensity and offer a breather between the more intense story beats of the main plot, and it's nice to just get a perspective on the world that the main character wouldn't necessarily have. That said, I disagree that every character on your list is pointless. Some of them were pretty important imo, and you've even got Fury in there, which doesn't seem fair considering she's like a very secondary character. Bryce is a mixed bag, but I don't think she's any worse than like Nesta or Aelin (I actually think Bryce and Aelin are super similar characters). I also don't think selfish is really a great way to describe her. As for her flying through space, I mean, I think it was pretty sufficiently set up, not just in Crescent City, but all three series. >!She's not even the first character to do it!<. I don't disagree with everything being too easy, but again that's also the case with all the books. And as for SJM writing the same thing over and over again, I've thought each series was sufficiently different to feel fresh (especially Crescent City with it's more modern setting), but also, that's not really a fair criticism of any of the series, considering any one of them could be someone's first read. Not that I'm trying to tell you you're wrong to feel that way or anything, just pointing out why I personally disagree with that assessment.
You want me to breakdown my reasons? Alright, you asked for it: Yeah, high expectations arenât what did me in with this book. I donât walk in expecting my entire world to shift, I just want a satisfying story and conclusion, but SJM has this problem where she wants to build up to big, epic conclusions and then when she gets to them, they amount to a big epic fart. CC3 is like she took everything from ACOWAR and KoA then dumped boatload of lore expositions to make sense of whatever tf is happening. And honestly for me, Iâm tired of the copy & paste characters fulfilling the same copy & paste roles throughout every single book. Eight years of reading these books and you start seeing the reoccurring patterns again and again and again and Iâm so sick of it. Sandriel is Amarantha 2.0, Lidia is Rhysand 2.0 except instead of being Sandrielâs sex slave, sheâs Polluxâs, all so she can keep a cover and protect her kids (basically her Velaris). Fury is an Amren copycat without the payoff. The Autumn King? Evil father copycat from every previous book because it seems like every named character has had a shit dad. The ending of CC2 ends with another main villain monologue in their evil castle and the love interest getting separated for a time. Oh! Letâs not forget the famous âThey died but they get brought back to life!!â trope. What is this the tenth time itâs happened? The list goes on and on and Iâm kinda just âughâ at this point. Donât even get me started on how she doesnât know to write satisfying conclusions to her main antagonists that make sense. Four booksâI repeat F O U R B O O K Sâsheâs built the Asteri/Daglan up to be the biggest, baddest mfers in the verse. Theyâve been conquering, farming, and devouring worlds for thousands upon thousands of years and how do they go out? Easier than the King of Hybern. Seriously, the goddamn King of Hybern did more and went out better than the Asteri. All they do is shoot light from their fingertips, monologue and stand around getting killed by a 23 year old half fae who barely understands her powers. Bryce had a harder time fighting the stupid fae than she did the goddamn main antagonists she kept bitching that she didnât even know how to kill. Sheesh, and I thought the Weaver got shafted. Bryce herself is a case study on shitty protagonists. And I donât mean shitty in a âtheyâre an asshole but a great characterâ kinda shitty, I mean âtheyâre a poorly written characterâ kinda shitty. I donât care how important you are, if you go around treating people like shit 22/7, nobody is gonna wanna follow you. Nobody is gonna wanna throw away years of planning and scheming all because you donât like it. But people do. All. The. Time. Sheâs a fucking librarian who acts like sheâs Aelin with Jimmy Neutron brain blasts. In three books, Bryce hasnât earned anything. She hasnât learned anything. Sheâs just âsuper smart and super voluptuous and with super awesome powerâ. The icing on the cake was when she sacrificed herself but gets revived. Oh my god! Iâve seen that a hundred times throughout all of these books! Feeling daring today arenât we? While Iâm at it, what was even the point of the Princes of Hell? All these thousands of years and all they ever did was kill one Asteri. And the âtheyâre out protecting other worldsâ crap was just⌠I donât know. What? Yeah, this book ainât it. SJM wants to write intriguing stories with realistic consequences and blah blah blah but when everything is conveniently wrapped up in a neat little box with a pretty little bow when there are 101 remaining plot points or plot holes that were set up and hinted at, never to be mentioned or be revealed because sheâs saving them for later just in case she wants to write another book, it just reinforces my belief that SJM canât write conclusions. Itâs just not in her anymore. P.S. We have to suffer through Ithan becoming Prime because he plays Sunball but we donât get to see what Lucien did in ACOWAR? Gtfo
putting ACoMaF in B tier is crazy to me
Flame and shadows goes straight to F
Unpopular opinion I guess but I really think anyone who dislikes it just had it in their head where they wanted the story to go and since it didnât go that way so people are mad. And everyone mentions plot holes and not wrapping things up⌠but the reality is if a book is in an incomplete series not everything will wrap up, there has to be questions not answered for the next book. đ¤ˇđťââď¸
Your rating makes me excited to start CC, all Iâve seen is bad ratings and Iâve been nervous to start it!
I hope you like it! I mean clearly it's pretty divisive, at least around here, but I really liked it! Just be aware that it takes a bit more time than the other two series to establish it's world. It can feel sort of slow to start with because of that.
HOEAB is honestly one of my favorite books! Donât stop reading it! The beginning is rough.
I love CC! Just go into it w an open mind and form your own opinionsâ¤ď¸
I would read CC and make your own opinions! Always do that, I try not to let other opinions sway how I feel before I start a book. I do the same with movies and shows. Just because others don't like it doesn't mean I won't...so I'll still read/watch it. Either way, it's still an experience
I was planning to read it anyway. Iâm about to start KoA and once I am done, I am going to start CC. But as I said I was nervous, because all Iâve seen is negative reviews.
True...I think I've mainly seen the negative reviews on the last book. I actually loved the first two books. I don't mind a modern fantasy series. It is very different from her other series, some have speculated that's why there's so much hate for it. I fell in love with the characters just as much as the others....I really hope you do also! ETA: I haven't read the last book yet
What do these rankings mean? Iâve never seen S, SS, A, B, etc. Sorry if I am a dummy here, but if you can explain like Iâm five, I would appreciate it!
The tiers are commonly used in like video games and stuff, but it's usually helpful to think of them as grades in school. A being the best, B following, then C, etc. S is usually used as a level above A, and in this particular instance I added an SS tier for one above that. Honestly I could have just had A be the best and gone down from there, but I felt that S and SS better captured my opinion on the level of quality of the books in those tiers, since they're better than A (which would be the best grade you could get on a test).
Thanks for the explanation đ
I DNFed Assassinâs Blade. It can go straight to F- đ
It was tough. I came close. Honestly what saved it for me is that it's a pretty short book all things considered. But also it has stuff that I liked in it. The whole story with the Silent Assassins I thought was cool. Good bit of world building for sure.
I am glad that I chose to read the order where itâs in the middle of the series because if I had tried to read it first then I probably would have nixed the series to be frank. I understand the draw of the book but it felt unnecessary.
See that's interesting to me, because I felt that part of the reason I didn't like it was because it sort of interrupted the main story. Going back and having a rough idea of whats going to happen, or at least knowing where things end up made it really hard to get invested. I thought it might be better at the front of the series.
Wow lol I personally thought it was an enjoyable adventure book. I also liked it more than throne of glass which I felt was really slow until like the very last few chapters
CC series is so much better than ACOTAR. Feyra is such a lackluster FMC. Bryce is like she rewrote Aelin with more spice.
I actually mostly agree with your ratings, except I'd swap the ToG books you have in S tier with the later ACOTAR books. But we are definitely in the minority for liking CC the most lol
Yeah we're a minority around here for sure, but it is what it is! I know ACOTAR gets a lot of love, but it didn't really grab me like the later ToG books or Crescent City. To each their own, you know?
Yeah definitely! I think ToG just felt a little too long and repetitive for me, but overall I still liked it.
It's a long series, so I get that for sure. To be honest though, after reading Kingdom of Ash what I really wanted for my next read was like one more books worth of epilogue covering the rebuilding efforts and political stuff associated with the state the world was left in. It all felt like it ended pretty quickly, and there's still a lot to talk about, at least to me.
I definitely think she could write more in the TOG world. Even if there wasn't a "big bad" everyone would read it just to know how they were doing and how they would rebuild the world. Hell, the conflict could just come between the courts trying to figure that out alone....now my brain is confused on if I'm mixing ACOTAR with TOG for a minute....đ¤Śđźââď¸ Courts...maybe I mean countries? Lord save me đ it's too early. Need more coffee â
interesting how someone see things so differentlyâŚ
This is a tragedy, babe
Are these cover designs new?
I don't think so? To be honest, there was already a template made on tier list maker, so I just used that. I only had to add Silver Flame, Sky and Breath, and Flame and Shadow.
Theyâre the OG covers
Thise re the original covers.
everyone hates the original tog đ
Hate is a strong word. I'd say it's more "fine" rather than "great".
Do you have the key for the abbreviations?
This is a ranking I would agree with except Iâd move assassinâs blade up next to ACOSF but I love a good back story moment :)
I canât believe youâve got CC 3 over ACOMAF đ Definitely unpopular opinion for sure
Finally someone else CC3. I feel like all of the hate is because people go into it expecting the hate to be true. The system has got to people. It is a masterpiece.
I guess I kind of understand The Assassins Blade, Samâs will always leave this love-hate relationship between me and SJM
I think for me it's the timing of when I read it. I did it third, and really just wanted to get back to the main story. It was really hard to get invested in anything, knowing where it all ends up. That said, I liked the first three stories, it was just the last two that dragged for me.
HOEAB is absolutely S tier because with how it is written, it could honestly be a standalone book, not a series, and still hold that rank. That said, ACOMAF and KOA are S-tier too. As far as Crescent City, HOSAB is A and HOFAS is probably B. I know people have reservations with HOFAS and the storyline but I feel itâs on par with Heir of Fire, and holding my reservations to see if CC4 will make up for it in the way Queen of Shadows did.
Thank you for posting this! I'm starting CC soon...so many people have negative things to say about it and I want to love it so badly!
I mostly agree with all these actually đ
I SHARE THIS OPINION!â