The third Crescent City book is here and you can read all about it in my House of Flame and Shadow review with both spoiler-free and spoiler sections. But before that, a House of Sky and Breath summary for those that need a recap.
In House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas confirmed that her novels all take place in the same universe with an epic crossover conclusion. The way the book ends promises more appearances from beloved ACOTAR characters in the upcoming book. There have already been references to the TOG world too.
So much took place, but this House of Sky and Breath summary will remind you of the major plot points. This way everything will be top of mind when you dive into House of Flame and Shadow.
House of Sky and Breath Summary
If you haven’t already read our House of Earth and Blood summary, make sure you read that article first.
To be clear, everything in that article and in this House of Sky and Breath summary will be a massive spoiler if you haven’t already read the books.
You should only continue reading if you’ve already read the series or don’t mind spoilers.
The crux of House of Blood and Earth revolved around Danika’s murder. This gave it the essence of a murder mystery. The main crux of House of Sky and Breath revolves around the human rebellion on Midgard. However, the mystery and investigation elements remain strong.
We’ve divided our House of Sky and Breath summary into smaller sections by grouping chapters together. Even in condensing the information there is still a lot to convey to understand the machinations of Maas’s universe. So, let’s dive right into our spoiler-filled recap.
Prologue – Chapter 3: The Beginning
The second Crescent City book opens with a prologue about Sofie Renast and other key players for our House of Sky and Breath summary. Sofie is a member of the human rebellion: Ophion. She is currently in a prison camp trying to escape with her brother Emile and other children prisoners.
Sofie knows vital information that could end the Asteri’s rule. But as she is meeting with Agent Silverbow to escape the camp, the Hind arrives with dreadwolves. Sofie uses the magic of her Thunderbird ancestry to fight, but the Hind captures her.
Meanwhile, Agent Silverbow — Silver — is shot with a bullet made of gorisian stone. This limits his magic. Silver is also in love with Sofie. The boat he is on with the children heads towards another boat of rebels including Pippa Spetsos.
Thus begins Part One.
It begins three months after House of Earth and Blood. While at the Crescent City Ballet, where Juniper is performing, Bryce and her examine and remark upon a statue that reminds them of Hunt. In the Old Language of the Fae it explains that it is The Making of the Sword.
Hunt, meanwhile, is working as second-in-command for the 33rd. Archangel Celestina is now the leader of Crescent City, replacing Micah, and Ephraim has replaced Sandriel in Pangera. Bryce is working for the Fae Archives.
Both of them have agreed to take their relationship slow. This means they won’t be physically intimate until after the Winter Solstice, giving them two seasons to get to know each other.
In terms of other pairings, Juniper and Fury are living together and Declan is dating a leopard shifter, Marc Rosarin. Ruhn is bethrothed to Hypaxia Enador, but that doesn’t stop him from hooking up with a faun at a party.
Chapters 4 – 10: More Betrothals
Cormac Domnall, the son of the King of Avallen Fae, interrupts Ruhn’s good time at said party. He says that the two Fae kings have declared that Bryce and Cormac must wed, which infuriates Bryce.
Tharion is a key character in this book as well. That’s because the River Queen has ordered him to find Sofie’s body. It is also revealed that he is betrothed to her daughter because they spent one night together a decade ago.
Another important character from the first book is Ithan Holstrom. Sabine kicked him out of the pack when he defended Bryce, so he was brought broken, battered, and bruised to Bryce’s apartment where he stays to recover.
Maas also uses these first few chapters to explain what mate means on Midgard for the different species. For a shifter it means a love that was predestined by Urd, while for a Fae it is a deep connection beyond their control. Finally, for angels it is more similar to common marriage.
The Autumn King is the first to mention the Hind outside of the prologue. He explains to Ruhn that she is Hypaxia’s half-sister. The Hind does not have any witch powers whereas Hypaxia is a necromancer.
It also becomes clear that the star on Bryce’s chest glows when she is in Cormac’s presence, which he says the Oracle foretold. According to him the Oracle said their union would bring prosperity.
Celestina also arrives, bringing with her Pollux Antonius, the Hammer, and Baxian Argos, the Helhound. This brings back horrible memories of Hunt’s torture and imprisonment, which leads him to get into a fight with Pollux.
Chapters 11 – 15: Sofie Renast and Secrets
Tharion is the one who finds emails linking Sofie to Dusk’s Truth, Project Thurr, and Danika. Dusk’s Truth and Project Thurr will come back up much later in our House of Sky and Breath summary. These two details become very important.
He finds out that Sofie and Danika had been communicating via email. Tharion also finds a link between Emile and Pippa Spetsos.
After finding the Danika connection, Tharion goes to see Bryce and Hunt, which leads Bryce to want to help. She begins asking questions even though Hunt warns her against involving herself with the rebels. This leads to an enlightening conversation with Fury.
Fury tells Bryce that Ithan has always been romantically interested in her (Bryce) and also that Danika was a bloodhound. This means that she could scent bloodlines. Fury also says that Danika knew something equally dangerous about her.
Ithan, meanwhile, tells Tharion that Danika was researching something that she knew could get her into trouble.
Bryce arrives homes to her apartment with Ruhn where Aidas is with Ithan and Tharion in his feline form. Aidas tells Bryce that she hasn’t been using the full extent of her powers yet and that her Light is the same as the last Starborn Queen: Theia.
He also says that Pelias was not really a prince. He forcibly married Queen Theia’s daughter Helena after murdering Theia and stealing her sword. Aidas says the current war is identical to the one 15,000 years ago and that the Asteri have rewritten history to suit their own needs.
While Bryce still thinks of Hel as the enemy, Aidas tells her that Hel will support her in opposing the Asteri. He reveals that Cormac Donnall is Agent Silverbow.
Chapters 16 – 19: Agent Silverbow and Ophion
Cormac has also been looking for Sofie since she went missing and teams up with them, continuing the betrothal farce for a little while longer. He tells them how Pippa will do anything and that the attack on Sofie was because she had revealing information about the Asteri.
He says that it was initially Danika who was suspicious about the Asteri. But she needed someone to prove it, which is how she and Sofie became accomplices.
Since Sofie’s body still has not been found, everyone is hoping that she’s still alive.
Hunt doesn’t want Bryce to be involving herself with Ophion, the human resistance, but she convinces him to let her try. Bryce wants to do her own investigations separate from the alliances they’ve formed.
Ithan and Bryce discover Danika’s old college research papers hidden in the apartment. It is all about Firstlight, the origin of the worlds, and the Asteri. They also find Dusk’s Truth on a blank piece of paper.
Cormac tells Ruhn that the most important spy for the human rebellion is Agent Daybright. Sofie communicated with Daybright via a crystal-fueled radio. Cormac wants Ruhn to mindspeak with Daybright to continue accessing their information.
Chapters 20 – 24: A Reaper Attack
Bryce and Hunt are toeing the line of their previous Winter Solstice agreement and her fake engagement. They keep having almost moments before being interrupted, furthering the taut sexual tension between them.
Meanwhile, the Asteri have ordered Celestina to mate Ephraim on the Autumnal Equinox. The timing is to distract the media from a video circulating of Pollux sexually assaulting a woman.
As Ruhn and Bryce are going to the Auxiliary Training Center, a Reaper attacks them. It knocks Ruhn unconscious and then drags him into the sewer where he is roused by Daybright’s voice in his head telling him to get up.
In this moment Ruhn feels like he recognizes Agent Daybright.
When Bryce rushes after Ruhn more Reapers appear and say they have been sent by the Prince of the Pit. They say that Apollion is ready to strike but requires a worthy opponent so she needs to train harder.
Cormac arrives to help Bryce fight off the Reapers and gives her the Starsword. It emits Starlight when she uses it and kills a Reaper, which is strange when they are usually unkillable.
Chapters 25 – 27: Declarations of Love
This brings our House of Sky and Breath summary into Part Two of the book. The second part begins with a meeting between the River Queen and Tharion, who is still under her orders to find Emile.
Maas also explains a little bit more about the River Queen, because there are four Queens each corresponding to a River Court in one of the rivers. Those are Istros, Melanthos, Niveus, and Rubellus.
The Autumn King also tells Ruhn that the Starsword is made from a meteorite.
Despite their ongoing search for Emile, Bryce and Hunt finally get intimate, although it is in the gym.
This is also when Bryce allegedly tells Hunt she loves him for the first time, leading to numerous different fan theories about what the elusive and secretive three words were that she whispered to him while he was dying in House of Earth and Blood.
They also agree to refer to each other as mates.
Chapters 28 – 35: Fight with the Under-King
Daybright tells Ruhn that there is going to be a hit on the Spine, which is a railway that runs north-to-south and is the main artery for supplies, in three days. There will be a large amount of guns and ammunition in addition to the samples of the mech-suits.
Then Bryce and Hunt go to see the Under-King.
The Under-King denies having sent the Reapers to attack Ruhn and then tells them the truth about The Sleeping City. While the souls of the dead remain in his necropolis for a few centuries, they then go through the Dead Gate and become Secondlight to fuel the City with their energy.
With that reveal the Under-King sets the Shepherd — a blind, ten-foot demon dog from the First Wars — on them. In fighting the beast Hunt draws energy from the Dead Gate and Bryce channels the power through the Starsword.
They manage to escape with Tharion’s help.
Ithan also tells Ruhn about Danika’s parentage. Danika’s father is Mordoc, who is a bloodhound too but also a dreadwolf and the Hind’s second-in-command.
When Hunt is at Celestina and Ephraim’s first meeting as mates Sabine shows up at Bryce’s apartment insulting her, so Hunt sneaks out to go to Bryce’s side. Baxian also shows up and Sabine finally leaves.
This prompts Ithan to move in with Ruhn and the boys.
Chapters 36 – 42: A Meeting with the Mystics
As punishment for leaving the meeting, Hunt must live in the barracks for two weeks, separating him and Bryce.
But Tharion, Ithan, and Bryce go to visit three mystics because Ithan wants to learn more about Connor. One of the mystics is communicating with Thanatos, Prince of the Ravine, and when he learns who is asking about Connor, Thanatos inhabits the mystic’s body and nearly kills all three.
The man who let them in, the Astronomer, was wearing four rings, each with a bright flame.
Meanwhile, Declan found video footage of Danika taking photos of a book in the library two months before her murder. The book was Wolves Through Time: Lineage of the Shifters.
Bryce gets a copy through Jesiba and the family tree traces from the opening of the Northern Rift until the Prime’s father, Gunthar Fendry. But much of the information about the family no longer exists and the Prime tells Bryce it is because of what they did during the First Wars and how they allow the Asteri to rule them.
Following this the Prime offers to make Ithan an alpha of his own pack. Then Ithan returns to the mystics. The Astronomer is not there and two of the mystics are back in their tanks, but the female mystic is not.
Ithan recognizes that she is a wolf. She doesn’t know her name and was sold to the Astronomer as a toddler, but Ithan offers her help if she ever wants to escape. As he is leaving, he steals the Astronomer’s rings.
Chapters 43 – 46: The Ophion Attack and Ithan’s Theft
At the scene of the Spine siege, Ydra, Hunt realizes that the mech-suits are made of a metal similar to gorsian stones. Therefore, the suits can draw Firstlight and become weapons that would never weaken.
Pippa denies committing the murders like the gang thinks she has, but then she orders their execution. Hunt destroys the suit he was examining as well as the trucks with guns and ammunition, but Cormac is hit with a gorsian bullet before he can teleport them out.
In addition to Ophion, the Hind is also tracking them with the Harpy and Pollux.
They’re in the water trying to escape when the Hind drops a white stone into water. Just then, a mer-submarine rescues them and takes them aboard.
While the gang is getting their bearings aboard the submarine — which includes a brief sexual interlude between Bryce and Hunt to calm Hunt down from seeing his mate in danger — Ithan takes a closer look at the rings he stole.
Inside each of the rings are four sprites. Three look like Lehabah, while the fourth appears altogether different. Ithan breaks the rings, releasing the sprites, and reveals that the fourth is a dragon who is currently in her human female form.
The sprites turn out to be triplets descended from Persina Falath, who is the Lady of Cinders. Their names are Rithi, Malana, and Sasa. The dragon, meanwhile, is Ariadne.
She tells Ithan that the Astronomer is an ancient sorcerer who tortures the mystics and that he will never let her go. He controls her shifting through a tattoo and can track her.
Ariadne also tells Ithan that if he wants to know more about Connor then he will have to consult with a necromancer.
Chapters 47 – 50: Sofie’s Corpse and Finding Emile
During sex, Bryce and Hunt’s powers merged and she teleported them. However, after this, Commander Sendes finds them to say that they were sent to rescue Sofie Renast but were too late.
They visit the morgue to see her body and notice a series of numbers and letters carved into her bicep.
Meanwhile, Ruhn and Day connect to discuss the attacks and Ruhn tells her about the Oracle’s foretelling from the last book: That Ruhn would be the last of his bloodline.
To settle him, Day tells Ruhn a story and then they fall asleep together, which ends Part Two and leads us into Part Three of our House of Sky and Breath summary.
Baxian says he wants to join them in supporting the rebels, but obviously Bryce and Hunt don’t believe him. Then it comes to light that Bryce has been working with the Viper Queen to find Emile and didn’t tell Hunt.
He follows her through the Meat Market as he realizes that it was never Ophion killing to find Emile, but rather the Viper Queen.
They finally see Emile and talk to him alone to confirm that he does not share Sofie’s powers. She thought it was the only way to protect her brother, so she spread the lie.
Bryce’s parents adopt Emile and create a new identity for him to keep him safe.
However, Bryce and Hunt still fight because she lied to him, and then she goes to Ruhn’s where she learns about the sprites and the dragon.
They plan to buy all four from the Astronomer, but Ariadne doubts they will be able to afford her price since she was a gift from an Archangel. Jesiba informs Bryce that dragon fire is one of the few things that can hurt the Princes of Hel.
Chapters 51 – 57: Princess Bryce Danaan
The Hind has not revealed that she saw them at the Spine siege and is keeping their association with Ophion a secret.
Hypaxia seeks out Ruhn to ask him to provide her with an escort to the mating celebration because she does not trust her coven. She is nervous that they might try to swap her with the Hind, so Ruhn plans to have Ithan be her protection.
This puts him in the perfect position to ask Hypaxia for a favor: Contacting Connor. Hypaxia agrees to this but says she has to perform the ritual during the Autumnal Equinox.
Bryce and Hunt then make up — and do more than make out — in the library.
Then the Autumn King visits Bryce. He can tell that she has become mates with Hunt, and declares that since she has been using her title of Princess Bryce Danaan, he will make it official and she will be a Fae Princess.
He also recognizes what was on Sofie’s arm. The Autumn King says that he has been searching for the truth for a long time too.
A demon attacks Ithan where he is guarding Bryce and Hypaxia during a meeting. More approach as Bryce and Hypaxia fend off the deathstalkers, quickly joined by Isaiah and Hunt. During this Ariadne was on guard too, but she has escaped.
After he wakes up from his injuries, Ithan asks Hypaxia to prevent Connor from going to the sleeping realms, which she did for her own mother.
When they get back to their apartment, Bryce breaks down to Hunt about her father forcing the official title on her, since it means he can control her now.
Chapters 58 – 63: Autumnal Equinox
Next in our House of Sky and Breath summary comes the Autumnal Equinox.
Cormac is Bryce’s official escort to the party, while Ruhn is attending with Hypaxia. But Hunt attends alongside Bryce and Cormac. Shortly after arriving Bryce says that Hunt is her mate, which makes him a Fae Prince, and that Cormac is only her friend.
This makes Cormac angry since they had a deal to continue the farce until he had accomplished his Ophion tasks.
Meanwhile, Hypaxia has never met her half-sister the Hind before, so she is nervous. But she declines Ruhn’s offer to go with her. This works in Ruhn’s favor since he had made plans with Day to meet in person.
When he gets to the agreed-upon location, however, he finds the Harpy. Fortunately, the Harpy does not understand the code word.
Then Hunt and Bryce find Celestina and Hypaxia having sex. They had been together, but Celestina had to end things when she was mated to Ephraim.
Hypaxia then meets up with Ithan to perform the ritual to contact Connor, but the Under-King responds to her summons instead. He says that whether Connor remains well is up to Ithan.
Apollion also used the Equinox to contact Bryce through her dreams since the veil between realms is at its thinnest.
When Bryce is practicing teleportation they deduce that her power is similar to a Gate in that it needs to be powered up. Then Cormac threatens her when he suspects she is hiding more from him. Bryce tells him about Emile, but not where he is in hiding.
Then Ithan and Hypaxia arrive having finally escaped the Under-King’s hounds. They say that the Under-King insists that Bryce meet him at Urd’s Temple and if she doesn’t go that he will turn the Pack into Secondlight.
Chapters 64 – 65: Urd’s Temple
Tharion discovers that Ariadne sought the Viper Queen’s protection and finds her and the Harpy in the Queen’s lair. Tharion agrees to help the Viper Queen keep Ariadne.
Meanwhile, Bryce, Ruhn, Hunt, and Hypaxia are on their way to Urd’s Temple. Once there the Under-King tells them that the Eternal City sent the Reapers. Then Pippa and Lightfall soldiers storm the temple courtyard.
The Under-King tells the gang that he made a deal which allows Pippa to kill them.
Bryce begins teleporting them out of the temple, but then her power reaches its limits and she collapses. At this point, Pollux, Mordoc, dreadwolves, and the Hind have also arrived at the temple and are killing rebels.
Baxian then appears and helps them escape through a secret passageway. Bryce had put out a broadcast about Ophion attacking the temple, which Baxian heard.
Bryce doesn’t trust Baxian and threatens him, when he reveals that Danika was his mate. He has a tattoo of her handwriting that says, “Through love, all is possible.”
Bryce doesn’t want to believe him, but she realizes the timelines match up for what he is saying. Baxian believes Danika’s murder was because of the ancestry research she was doing.
He also says the numbers and letters on Sofie’s arm are from the Asteri Archives. He gave the sequence to Danika because Sandriel was suspiciously pale when she left that room.
Declan finds video evidence of Sofie going into that room just before she went to the Kavalla Death Camps. They decide that they need to get into the Archives too.
Chapters 66 – 69: Preparing to Raid the Archives
Meanwhile, Tharion breaks off his engagement to the River Queen’s daughter. He previously told Ithan the betrothal only took place because he wanted to have sex with her and thought he could undo it afterwards.
The River Queen already knew he was going to end things and Tharion needs to escape before she drags him Beneath. He goes to the Viper Queen.
Ithan also goes to see the Prime about the wolf mystic that the Astronomer has and the Prime tells him that the mystic is a Fendyr, just like Sabine who had left the room. This frightens Ithan into thinking Sabine will attack the mystic, so he goes to guard her.
Ruhn and Day, meanwhile, meet up on their mind bridge and have sex. Afterwards, Ruhn begins to tell her about the attack on the Archives but Day is pulled out of the vision before she can fully warn Ruhn.
She mentioned something about the dungeons, which leads Ruhn to think that she is in the dungeons at the Palace and he wants to rescue her.
The crew then go through the motions of getting ready to infiltrate the Archives. These moments include final phone calls and conversations just in case some of them don’t make it out.
Chapters 70 – 72: The Raid and the Truth
Now things in our summary of House and Sky and Breath begin to crescendo.
Finally, the journey to the Archives begins. Cormac and Tharion are travelling together in one of Sendes’s submarines. If Tharion doesn’t go underwater in five hours he will be stuck human.
When they arrive, Pippa and other Ophion members are already lurking, ready to retaliate. Declan had spread rumors that those who destroyed the suits and ammunition would be making a move on the Asteri lab.
Cormac teleports Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn into the palace, then Bryce teleports herself into the Archives.
Bryce finds seven pipes each bearing the name of one of the Asteri, with six full of Firstlight and a screen reading the power level percentage. She realizes that the Asteri are fueled by Firstlight. The palace is also made out of the same crystal as the city gates.
She begins to leave, but then sees a door named Dusk.
Meanwhile, Ruhn heads towards the dungeons to save Day, where Mordoc captures him. Cormac and Tharion enter the lab and Cormac begins killing everyone inside, unlike their agreement. Tharion realizes that Cormac never planned to live through the raid.
In the room Dusk, Bryce finds a map of solar systems.
The solar systems are labelled with notes about how the Asteri conquered the planets and what remains of each planet now. Then Bryce finds Midgard and learns the different species were imported onto the planet by the Asteri.
She finds more notes including that Hel was lost two years before Midgard was conquered. Hel found the Asteri and tried to warn Midgard, but they were defeated and the planet conquered in A.E. 17,003.
As Bryce is trying to find out more information about the Asteri, Rigelus enters the room and tells her she will not find it as they have forgotten where their home planet is.
Chapters 73 – 74: Revelations from Rigelus
Rigelus says the reason they conquer and survive off Firstlight is because they are higher beings. He wants Bryce to reopen the Rifts. He also says that her ancestors allowed them to travel to this world via portals with the Horn and another Fae object.
Multiple portals were opened on Midgard to other worlds, but when Queen Theia and her daughters realized that the Asteri were conquering them, they closed the doors and trapped the Asteri on Midgard.
Rigelus says that Danika realized Shifters are also Fae, but a different kind. He says the two Faes came from different planets — which is when Maas explicitly describes her A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass worlds — and the Asteri lied to keep the balance of power in their favor.
Project Thurr was the last time someone got as close as Danika to revealing their secrets. Rigelus says he orchestrated Danika’s death through Micah and synth.
When Bryce finally transports back to Hunt, she finds him in gorsian manacles. The Harpy quickly captures her too.
Tharion tries to escape the lab when the remaining five Asteri arrive. But then Cormac sacrifices himself by erupting into flame, allowing Tharion to escape, and then exploding the building.
Bryce and Hunt are brought into the same cell that Mordoc brought Ruhn into. At this point Mordoc says that Hunt’s scent is wrong, which is not the first time someone has mentioned that Hunt does not smell like a normal angel.
As the Harpy moves to torture Ruhn, the Hind appears and attacks the Harpy.
Chapters 74 – 75: Agent Daybright is the Hind
Ruhn realizes that the reason he recognized Day’s smell on the bridge is because she is Hypaxia’s half-sister. Her real name is Lidia Cervos. A brawl ensues between the Hind and the Harpy, but Lidia manages to kill the Harpy.
She unlocks Ruhn’s manacles and tells them that she did not kill Sofie. She explains that the white stones are calling stones which the Ocean Queen enchanted.
The stone summons whatever city-ship is closest to the rescue, which is why she dropped it in the water at Ydra. Lidia dropped the stone in the water to save Sofie too.
Then they hear Pollux getting closer to the cell and Lidia tells Bryce that her betrayal cannot be revealed, they need to make it look real. Bryce punches her, but in the scuffle Lidia whispers something to Bryce.
All of them are led out of the cell, which is when Hunt realizes the Hind didn’t lock Bryce’s chains. During the march, Ruhn also realizes that Pollux is the one who sexually assaults Lidia.
Then they enter the throne room where Rigelus sits.
Chapters 76 – 77: Through the Gate
The penultimate chapters of our House of Sky and Breath summary take place in the throne room. There the gang sees Hunt’s severed wings are mounted on the wall behind the thrones alongside Shahar’s. Baxian and Mordoc also enter the room and join the Hind and the Hammer.
Bryce then begins recounting everything she has just learned about the Asteri so that Declan, who is watching through the surveillance camera, can understand. She says that she will open the portal for Rigelus if he promises to let Hunt and Ruhn go and never hurt them.
Rigelus reveals that he was the one who convinced them to help the rebels, but he was disguised as Aidas, and he sent the Reapers. Celestina has also been reporting to Rigelus.
He tells Bryce that the star on her chest is a beacon to her homeworld. It glows when it is near Fae with undiluted bloodlines that also hail from the world, which was true for Cormac.
Rigelus agrees to let Hunt and Ruhn go, but as Bryce is hugging them goodbye she unlocks their chains with the key that Lidia gave her. The plan is that Bryce will travel to Hel through a Gate and return with armies.
She grabs the Starsword and blasts Rigelus with her Starlight as Hunt aims his power at him too. Bryce then makes a run for it and blasts her power into the Gate, but from the star tattoo on her chest, and passes through the Gate.
Hunt is recaptured and we see him on his knees with a gorsian stone gag and gorsian stone chains around his wrists and neck. Baxian and Ruhn are also in chains. Then Rigelus brands Hunt with a new halo tattoo, taking away his powers.
Chapter 78 and Epilogue: Pyrthian
Finally the last chapter in our House of Sky and Breath summary begins with Bryce waking up.
She is in an unfamiliar city and a man with wings and scarred hands — Azriel, from ACOTAR — is speaking a language she doesn’t understand. At this point, Bryce still thinks she’s in Hel so she asks to see Aidas.
But when Azriel recognizes her Starsword, he blindfolds her and flies her someplace else. Bryce finally pulls off her blindfold when he continues talking and she cannot understand him, then more strangers walk into the room.
That is when Bryce begins talking in the ancient language of the Fae. Then Azriel draws his knife which is a twin to the Starsword. Both weapons begin to glow, the sword white and the knife dark, which confirms the Starsword is Gwydion.
Amren then tells Bryce that no one has spoken that language there in 15,000 years and she doesn’t know who Aidas is. Feyre and Rhysand then arrive and Bryce realizes that Ruhn looks incredibly similar to Rhysand.
Bryce is trying to explain that her mate is in danger and she needs to get back to her world when Rhysand introduces himself to her, ending the book on an intense cliffhanger.
Maas then dives into the Epilogue which picks back up with Ithan’s perspective. He is lurking outside the Astronomer’s building when Flynn calls him and says that the Asteri have Ruhn and Hunt.
Tharion managed to escape, but when Ithan asks about Bryce, all Flynn says is that she disappeared and Declan needs to be the one to explain it. All of this prompts Ithan to break into the building and rescue the wolf mystic. The epilogue ends as she opens her eyes.
Final Thoughts
As intense as House of Earth and Blood was, House of Sky and Breath turned the dial up past 10. There are an incredible amount of moving parts in the novel, which we’ve tried to include in our House of Sky and Breath summary.
Throughout the series so far there have been small Easter eggs that allude to something much grander, which finally came to the forefront in this novel. Maas’s worlds from ACOTAR and TOG are colliding with CC, which will result in an epic third novel.
Maas is under contract for four more books with Bloomsbury, and we recently learned that one of them is indeed a fourth Crescent City book.
If you’d like to see what we thought about Book 2 in particular, check out our House of Sky and Breath Review.
If you’d like to read my review of House of Flame and Shadow, it’s live already on my blog.