What to remember about the 'Crescent City' series before reading 'House of Flame and Shadow'

• Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the "Crescent City" and "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series.
• Sarah J. Maas is releasing the third installment in the "Crescent City" series on January 30.

Welcome back, faerie lovers.

On January 30, the third book in Sarah J. Maas' "Crescent City" series, "House of Flame and Shadow," will finally hit bookshelves.

It's been nearly two years since "House of Sky and Breath," the second book in the series about Bryce Quinlan, a half-fae living on the planet Midgard, was released.

Readers have been anxiously anticipating the third book after Maas revealed the "Crescent City" world was connected to her popular "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series at the end of "House of Sky and Breath."

Luckily, fans only have to wait until the end of January to see what will happen to Bryce. But both "House of Sky and Breath" and the first book in the series, "House of Earth and Blood," are massive and feature a huge cast of characters, so fans may need a reminder of what's happened in the "Crescent City" series before inhaling "House of Flame and Shadow."

The rest of this article is full of spoilers for the series.

'Crescent City' takes place on Midgard, a planet home to four houses of creatures

Midgard has the largest variety of supernatural creatures in a Maas series, from faeries and merpeople to fauns and vampyrs. The non-human creatures are referred to as Vanir, and they develop powers such as centuries-long lifespans and super-hearing after they make the "Drop," a burst of pure magic that helps power the planet's grid system.

The planet is organized into four houses, and they're all home to multiple creatures: the House of Earth and Blood, the House of Sky and Breath, the House of Flame and Shadow, and the House of Many Waters. Humans belong to the House of Earth and Blood, while fae are members of the House of Sky and Breath.

Creatures called the Asteri rule over all of the Houses on Midgard, and the Archangels on the Imperial Senate do much of their day-to-day ruling as governors. Humans have historically been at the bottom of Midgard's ranks, serving as slaves for other creatures, though they have gained a degree of freedom by the time the plot of the "Crescent City" series begins.

Much of Maas' story takes place in Crescent City, which is on a continent called Valbara, though the Asteri live in the Eternal City on Pangera.

In addition, "Crescent City" features modern technology alongside magic, unlike Maas' other series. The characters have cellphones, play modern sports like baseball, and attend universities.

Protagonist Bryce Quinlan is heir to the Starborn fae

In "House of Earth and Blood," Bryce reveals that she inherited the powers of the Starborn fae, so she can harness literal starlight, which is even more impressive considering her mother is human. She has an eight-pointed star on her chest to prove it.

But when she made the Drop, Bryce also gained power from everyone who had offered a drop of theirs to Crescent City in a fountain, giving her access to even more magic. She became more powerful than her brother, Prince Ruhn Danaan, and her father, the Autumn King, during her Drop, making her the heir to all the Starborn fae on Midgard.

As Bryce explores her power in "House of Sky and Breath," she discovers that she can teleport thanks to her Starborn lineage, and she can harness other fae's power, using her mate Hunt Athalar's lightning in the text.

Bryce also has a magical horn on her back, as her friend Danika Fendyr had it turned into tattoo ink and placed on her skin without her knowledge when Bryce was drunk. The horn allows Bryce to open portals to other worlds — which becomes critical to the plot.

Bryce's mate, Hunt Athalar, has a history of rebelling against the Archangels

Bryce meets Hunt in "House of Earth and Blood," when the archangel Micah — who is later killed by Bryce — forces them to investigate a murder together.

Hunt, whose real name is Orion, is a fallen angel with feathered wings and the power to control lightning. He fought against the Imperial Senate in a rebellion with his then-lover Shahar about 200 years before the plot of "House of Earth and Blood." They lost, Shahar died, and Hunt was forced into slavery.

He was serving out his time as an assassin for Micah when the archangel forced him to work with Bryce. However, Micah sells him to Shahar's evil sister, Sandriel, after Hunt is caught trying to bolster the human rebel movement with other fallen angels. Hunt is freed at the end of "House of Earth and Blood" by the head of the Asteri, Rigelus, after Bryce saves Crescent City from demons.

Bryce also publicly names Hunt as her mate at a ball during "House of Sky and Breath."

Bryce's brother, Ruhn Danaan, had an affair with a rebel spy, and he's keeping a prophecy about himself secret

Ruhn is the Crown Prince of the Valbaran Fae, as his mother is married to the Autumn King. He can control light and shadows and speak telepathically, and he is considered the "Chosen One" among the fae, as he pulled the famed Starsword from a cave during a battle.

As the crown prince, Ruhn is expected to carry on his father's bloodline, but he fears for his future because the Oracle told him, "The royal bloodline shall end with you."

He is working on repairing his relationship with Bryce throughout the series after the pair had a falling out when he was a teenager, and Ruhn joins the rebel movement with Bryce and Hunt in "House of Sky and Breath." Ruhn uses his telepathy to connect to a spy known as Agent Daybright (he calls the spy Day) after a rebel named Sofie dies and loses touch with her.

The pair start swapping information, and they develop a romantic connection without knowing who the other is, eventually becoming intimate through their minds. When he gets caught breaking into the Asteri's palace with Bryce, Ruhn discovers that Day is Lidia Cervos, known as the Hind, a spy-hunter for the Asteri. Though she is a double agent trying to overthrow them, Ruhn sees her true identity as a betrayal.

Ruhn helps Bryce escape the Asteri, giving her the Starsword and telling her about the Oracle's prophecy at the end of "HOSAB." But he is taken prisoner by the Asteri — and Lidia.

Bryce discovered the Asteri are parasites at the climax of 'House of Sky and Breath' — and fled to another world

Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn break into the Asteri Archives at their palace in the Eternal City after seeing a video of Sofie going into them before her death.

During the mission, Bryce discovers the Asteri are not gods like everyone thinks. They're parasitic aliens who have conquered hundreds of planets, stealing magic from the beings that inhabit them, and they have been stuck on Midgard after trying and failing to conquer Hel.

In addition, the Vanir are not a different species. Instead, they are all types of fae from different planets that the Asteri brought to Midgard. They brainwashed them into thinking they originated there to give themselves a food source, using the first and second light the fae offer as sustenance.

Rigelus, the head of the Asteri, then reveals he wanted Bryce to discover the truth so she would open a portal to the planet her species of fae originally came from, as the Asteri were overthrown on the unnamed world and want to taste the planet's magic again.

Rather than acquiescing, Bryce flees and tries to open a portal to Hel, hoping her friend Aidas, one of the seven princes of Hel, can help her. She ends up in Prythian, the land from "A Court of Thorns and Roses," with Rhysand, the High Lord of the Night Court, introducing himself to her in the novel's final scene in the language of the ancient fae as his Inner Circle looks on.

The fae from 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' look familiar to Bryce — especially Rhysand

When Bryce arrives in Prythian, she notes several similarities between the fae she meets and those she knows at home.

She describes Amren as having "angular eyes like Fury's," her close friend in Crescent City with a classified Vanir category. She also notes that characters who seem to be Feyre, the High Lady of the Night Court, and her sister Nesta to "ACOTAR" fans have pointed ears like the fae she is familiar with.

But it's Rhysand's appearance that startles her most, as he looks exactly like Ruhn.

"His eyes were the same shade of violet blue as Ruhn's," she says. "His short hair the same gleaming black. This male's skin was browner, but the face, the posture…it was her brother's."

Maas has yet to detail the significance of Ruhn and Rhysand's similar appearances, but she did reveal that Bryce's Starsword is Gwydion, a weapon long lost in Prythian.

As Amren explains to Nesta in "A Court of Silver Flames," Gwydion was dipped in the cauldron as it was welded, giving it special powers. It's also a companion to Truth Teller, a blade Azriel carries, and the two weapons light up when they're placed next to each other at the end of "HOSAB."

Tharion Ketos made it out of the confrontation with the Asteri alive

Though the Asteri took Ruhn and Hunt prisoner after they broke into the archives, Tharion, a mer, managed to escape after he and Cormac Donnall, the Crown Prince of the Avallen Fae and a rebel fighter, distracted the Asteri during the break-in.

Cormac sacrificed himself to let Tharion escape, making Tharion the only person who physically went to the palace with Bryce's team to make it out alive.

Tharion had also made a deal to serve the Viper Queen before joining the mission to save himself after he told the River Princess he didn't want to marry her, as he feared her mother, the River Queen, would take revenge on him.

Ithan Holstrom, a wolf shifter, saved a mystic who could shake up the pack rankings at the end of the book

Ithan, a wolf shifter, is Connor Holstrom's younger brother. Connor was Danika's second in command, and he and Bryce were about to start dating before he died in "House of Earth and Blood."

Ithan and Bryce were close friends before the pack's murder — and he harbored secret romantic feelings for her — but when he saw texts that revealed she hooked up with someone else the night Connor died, Ithan cut Bryce off completely.

But they're reunited in "House of Sky and Breath" after Ithan is kicked out of his pack for defending Bryce, and he starts working with her group.

Ithan later stumbles upon a wolf when he and Bryce visit the mystics in search of information about the afterlife.

When Ithan tells the leader of the wolves about it, he implies that she is the lost Fendyr heir who could unite the wolf packs. In the epilogue of "HOSAB," Ithan steals the unnamed mystic away in hopes of protecting her and saving the wolf shifters.