House of Flame and Shadow

House of Flame and Shadow (2024) is the third installment in Crescent City, a New York Times bestselling adult urban fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas. Previous novels in the series, which follows the investigative efforts of half-human, half-Fae protagonist Bryce Quinlan to survive in a world where humans must coexist with more powerful demons, angels, and other magical creatures, are House of Earth and Blood (2020) and House of Sky and Breath (2022). In House of Flame and Shadow, Bryce Quinlan allies with the Night Court to defend her world and her friends against the despotic conquerors, the Asteri.

Sarah J. Maas is a worldwide bestselling author of the Throne of Glass (2012) and A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015). The Crescent City series has been translated into over 38 languages. Maas often includes themes of friendship, loss, mental and emotional well-being, and love and empowerment in her books.

This guide refers to the hardback edition published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2024.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of oppression, discrimination, and graphic death and violence.

Plot Summary

House of Flame and Shadow is told through the third-person limited perspectives of half-human, half-Fae Bryce Quinlan, who is the heir to the royal line of Starborn Fae; her mate, the Fallen angel with lightning power Hunt Athalar; her full-Fae half-brother Ruhn Danaan, who is the Prince of the Valbaran Fae; Ithan Holstrom, a wolf shapeshifter; Tharion Ketos, an exiled merfolk and former Captain of Intelligence for the River Queen; and Lidia Cervos, an undercover Ophion rebel serving as an infamous spy-hunter for the Asteri.

When attempting to portal to Hel, one of the worlds previously conquered by the Asteri and the place of origin for the world’s demons, Bryce instead lands in the original world of the Starborn Fae and is interrogated by the Night Court—one of the seven courts on the Fae world of Prythian. There, she meets Azriel, a Fae with the power to control shadows; they discover that they wield matching daggers—Bryce has Starsword, while Azriel has Truth-Teller. Bryce and Azriel traverse the uncharted tunnel systems far beneath the Night Court and discover the shared 15,000-year-old history of Midgard (Bryce’s home) and Prythian. Both worlds were conquered by the Asteri—a race of near-immortal vampiric conquerors—who fed off the Fae’s magic. Bryce’s ancient ancestor, Theia, was originally the High Queen of Prythian alongside High King Fionn.

After exiling the Asteri, Theia and Fionn settled down on an island they called the Dusk Court, where they had two daughters: Silene and Helena. However, Theia eventually became greedy for more power and killed Fionn, claiming Fionn’s two magical daggers, Starsword and Truth-Teller. Theia then traveled to Midgard to conquer it—but on Midgard, she was once again enslaved by the Asteri, who again began absorbing Fae immortality and magic. Theia allied with Hel against the Asteri, but ultimately lost. She split her power, giving one third to each of her daughters, and then sent Silene back to Prythian with Truth-Teller, while Helena stayed on Midgard with Starsword. Silene married into the Night Court; her latest descendant is Night Court ruler Rhysand, who is unaware of this past.

Bryce summons Silene’s power into herself, revealing a hidden sarcophagus containing Vesperus—an Asteri whom Bryce and her allies defeat. Bryce then opens a portal back to Midgard with her new magic, bringing both daggers with her. There, she pretends to allow her father, the Autumn King, to capture her as a way of testing his loyalties. The Autumn King reveals that the blades can open a black hole portal if they’re imbued with enough Starborn power, but also makes it clear that he is self-serving and would betray her to his own benefit.

Meanwhile, in Midgard, Ithan and his friends search a part of Crescent City known as the Meat Market for whispers of Ruhn and Hunt, who’ve been imprisoned and tortured by the Asteri. When Ithan discovers that the merman Tharion has bound himself as a pit-fighter in service to the Viper Queen—the ruler of the Meat Market and a snake-shifter—as protection against the River Queen’s wrath, Ithan strikes a deal with the Viper Queen: one fight in exchange for Tharion’s freedom. The fight is unfair, but Ithan wins, gaining the support of the House of Flame and Shadow—one of the four houses that rule Midgard.

At the same time, Lidia works behind the scenes with various allies to rescue Hunt and Ruhn. Afterward, they seek refuge on the Depth Charger—a high-defense military ship. Bryce meets up with her friends on the Depth Charger; they travel to the sacred Fae island Avallen, where Bryce acquires the last third of Theia’s Starborn power. Doing so releases the pressure on the area’s ley lines, bringing lush greenery and powerful magic back to the barren land, and new islands rise from the sea. As a result, Bryce is officially crowned Queen of the Valbaran Fae and Avallen.

However, Bryce and her friends learn that the Asteri have launched an attack on the humans of Asphodel Meadows, another district in Crescent City. The group divides to take action. Lidia takes a contingent to rescue her twin sons. Ithan and another group create an antidote to the Midgard water parasite that hampers Fae power; it works, heightening Ithan’s power exponentially and enabling him to becomes the new Prime—the leader of the shifters. The spirit of Ithan’s brother offers Ithan a bullet filled with secondlight (a form of magic)—Bryce should shoot it into Midgard’s firstlight core, destroying the Asteri’s magical food source.

Bryce and Hunt open a portal to Hel, whose armies have agreed to ally with them. Blazing a path to the firstlight core, Bryce shoots it with the bullet and then charges herself up with enough magical power to create a massive black hole that swallows all the Asteri and herself. With the aid of their friends, Hunt manages to enter the black hole and pull Bryce back to Midgard before the portal closes. Bryce is presumed dead from the lack of oxygen, but her former boss Jesiba Roga sacrifices her life to transfer her immortality curse to Bryce, reviving her.

Newly freed from the Asteri, Bryce abolishes the Fae monarchy and instills a democratic Senate, turns the Autumn King’s many homes into orphanages, and opens a gallery in Jesiba’s memory. Ruhn and Lidia buy an apartment near Bryce and Hunt with an extra bedroom for her sons. Ithan brings order to the wolves. Tharion is sought out by a dragon shifter named Ariadne. Scientists rush to find a solution for powering the world’s technology without firstlight.