Summary
WhileCrescent Cityseries protagonist Bryce Quinlan is a fun and vivacious character, she’s missing one key thing that other Sarah J. Maas protagonists have. TheCrescent Cityseries, first started with2020’sHouse of Earth and Blood, tells the story ofBryce Quinlan, a half-fae living in Crescent City, who gets caught up in a sinister and far-reaching plan after she discovers her best friend and friend group brutally murdered. The fallen angel Hunt Athalar is enlisted to help her and as they are forced together, their attraction grows.
TheCrescent Cityseries is, at times, a lot of fun. Those who love seeing all manner of supernatural creatures living together and interacting, with all the complications that come with that, will love seeing fae interact with demons, merpeople, shifters, and more. The slow-burn romance also puts it firmly in the romantasy camp, and the buildup to Bryce and Hunt’s relationship is earned. That said,Bryce herself is a hard character to get behind thanks to her nature.
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Crescent City’s Heroine Isn’t As Popular As Sarah J. Maas' Other Fantasy Heroines
Bryce Is A Really Hard Character To Like
While all of Sarah J. Maas' heroines are well-liked by readers, Bryce isn’t quite as beloved as other protagonists. Maas is somewhat known for prickly characters. At the very least, they wear armor that makes it hard for them to open up to others, and even then, they tend to be stubborn or secretive. The problem is,Bryce, at times, is downright unlikable.Bryce is incredibly secretive when it comes to her feelings, can be rude for no reason, and holds grudges after a single fight or offense well past the point of being reasonable.
This tendency is really shown in her fractured relationship with her cousin/secret half-brother, Ruhn. They had a fight years ago and, as with any fight, it can be assumed that harsh things were said on both sides. However, while Ruhn clearly misses Bryce, Bryce shut Ruhn out and immediately cut him out of her life, and continues to hold a grudge years later. She’s also incredibly arrogant for little reason. With this and other instances,Bryce shows emotional stuntedness and immaturity, making it hard to root for her.
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There’s 1 Reason Bryce Is So Much Harder To Follow Than Aelin, Feyre, & Nesta
There’s No Reason For Her To Be The Way She Is
The problem is thatthere’s not really a reason for Bryce’s aggressively stubborn and abrasive nature, or her rampant arrogance.She certainly has experienced tragedy - anyone who came home to witness their best friend and companions literally torn apart would be traumatized. But she absolutely refuses to deal with her pain and grow in any meaningful way. It makes for an incredibly frustrating read. Even before that, though, Bryce had these abrasive and unlikable tendencies.
In contrast,Sarah J. Maas' other heroines have understandable reasons for being the way they are.A Court of Thorns and Rose’s Feyreis at first secretive and closed off, but it makes sense considering she’s spent her entire life trying to survive and living in fear of the Fae. It’s understandable that she wouldn’t immediately want to open up to the High Fae who essentially kidnaps her. Her icy sister, Nesta, is also given a complex reason for her severe nature, first raised by their equally icy mother, then intense, complicated grieving over their father’s death. AndThrone of Glass’s Caelena/Aelin also has heaps of trauma on top of needing to hide things to survive.
Bryce, by contrast, had a loving and stable upbringing with her mother and stepfather, who loved her like his own daughter. Her parents were protective and supportive, and she grew up in a safe area in the country. She didn’t have any amount of trauma in her life, and she was protected from the war, which ended before she was born. Her birth father is a dismissive jerk, butthere’s nothing in Bryce’s upbringing that should have made her so closed-off or prone to carrying such intense grudges.Outside of the fight she had with Ruhn – and fights happen – no one in her life has ever betrayed her.
Bryce’s Crescent City Arc Would Make More Sense With A Better Backstory
She Needs More Development In The Next Book
As such, Bryce’s arc in theCrescent Cityseries really, really would make more sense, and make her character more likable overall,if she had a backstory to explain why she is the way she is.Right now, there’s nothing to justify what an enormous jerk she is to just about every single human she comes across save for her few remaining friends. Nothing about her down-to-earth, stable, loving upbringing translates into the dismissive, rude party girl she was before Danika’s death or how intensely unlikable she is after. At least not yet. Hopefully, the nextCrescent Citybook will shed some light on Bryce’s personality and why she became who she is.
House of Earth and Blood
2020
House of Sky and Breath
2022
House of Flame and Shadow
2024
