For the love of Huntryce; Speculation on Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, by Sarah J. Maas

Crescent City, Sarah J. Maas’s newest book, is an overwhelming read, but it’s also incredibly cathartic. To all of you who are social distancing, I hope that at least this time might be allowing you to do more reading, and I’d like to suggest House of Earth of Blood(Crescent City).

I plan to post a full review later, but for now I have a snippet to share, along with a plea. (Mildly spoilery, as I talk about my new otp, but no plot spoilers).

In the words of Nova @afangirlsinsights , who created this epic nailart, “Ship Huntryce, not Brunt, or else the ghosts of authors past will rise up out of their graves and get their vengeance.”

Crescent City is purely about love, in all forms, not just fantasy-romance. Readers watch Bryce mourn and teeter on the boundary between grief and vengeance and madness, and discover with her that anger is often an easy way out, and that answers most often lie in the painful memories Sarah displays the different ways of expressing love in Lehabah, a tiny flame sprite who knows more about love than the most powerful Archangels of the city, and in Bryce as she puts the life of a whiny chimera above those of the world rulers. Through it all, Sarah reminds us it is not our duty to love those who have given us no reason to, as love not a responsibility but a choice; a beautiful one.

With all of that in mind, I ship Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar, as many do, which means that the fandom is going to give them a ship name. I’d like to encourage everyone to refer to them as Huntryce, like huntress, rather than as Brunt. Partially because it sounds so much nicer, but also because Huntryce actually has a beautiful, and kind of sad, symbolic meaning related to an unbreakable friendship from the book.

Even if you aren’t a fan of the Throne of Glass and ACOTAR series’, I’d like to encourage you all to read House of Earth and Blood(Crescent City). It’s one of those books that will break your heart into millions of tiny pieces, and yet it will be worth it, in a strange way. This book also brings with it a sense of immutable hope, which is important for us all right now.

Even if you can’t go out and buy books, there are indie bookstores that will drop them off for you, or where you can pick books up at the curb.

Please stay safe!

-Luna

 

A Court of Feels and Fangirling

Do you aspire to be a true fangirl? (Or a fanboy).

A Picture I Stole from Amazon

I thought I’d get this mug as a gift, for my friend Nova, a huge fan of Sarah J, Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses Series.

In hindsight, I really wish I hadn’t bought it.

When the mug arrived, I took it out of the box and was at first content with it; I planned to wrap it up and bring it to her. Then I looked closer and noticed that the mug said “fandirling.” (If any you know what a fandirl is, please tell me, because I still have no idea.)

What Actually Arrived

I emailed the company, and they apologized and offered to send me another mug with the correct printing. But when the mug came, it also said “fandirling.”

This happened again until I had four misprinted mugs and decided that I really didn’t need any more. But hey, I was refunded and got four mugs for the price of zero, which I consider to be a pretty good deal.

This left me a couple of days before Christmas with no great present for my friend. Luckily, Nova is a sweetheart and thought my story was hilarious, and I got her something better after Christmas.

Moral of the story is…it’s good to be fandirl? One day, I hope I can look back on this story and laugh, without remembering my utter feeling of dismay when I opened the fourth wrong mug.

 

What book merchandise do you guys own? How did you come by it?

-Luna