A Soul of ASH and Blood: A Blood and ASH Novel: 5

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After the final battle at the end of A War of Two Queens, Poppy falls into a stasis and will remain in it until she completes the culling. Nektas remembers Nyktos’ consort going through the same thing and suggests that Cas talks to her while she is in stasis to make sure that she remembers who she is, and who Cas is, once she wakes up. Cas decides to take Nektas’ advice and tells Poppy about when he first met her and learned to know her. So this is mostly a retelling of From Blood and Ash but from Cas’ point of view. Casteel’s POV was my favorite so far. The fan favorite scenes like the Blood Forest and the Willow tree were amazing. However, in my opinion, the true bright part of this book was reading about Casteel and Kieran’s conversations and friendship before Poppy and Cas were truly together. Kieran and Casteel’s interactions were the best part. Their friendship is just so normal, relatable, and sweet, and their banter had me laughing out loud. There was also a spicy Kieran scene where Kieran is having sex with a descenter at the Red Pearl while Casteel is just casually in the same room having a conversation with him. Not sure if others are against that, but I personally loved it and thought it was hot because Kieran is my sweetie. I thought Kieran and Casteel's personalities both really shone in this book. this book brought absolutely nothing new to the table. A Soul of Ash and Blood is basically 98% the retelling of the events of book 1 from Cas' POV with a handful of Present chapters where he talks to Poppy while she is asleep/in a coma. it was cute to see Cas' devotion to Poppy and how he started to fall in love with her tho.

A Soul of Ash and Blood - Thalia A Soul of Ash and Blood - Thalia

A great primal power has risen. The Queen of Flesh and Fire has become the Primal of Blood and Bone—the true Primal of Life and Death. And the battle Casteel, Poppy, and their allies have been fighting has only just begun. Gods are awakening across Iliseeum and the mortal realm, readying for the war to come. But when Poppy falls into stasis, Cas faces the very real possibility that the dire, unexpected consequences of what she is becoming could take her away from him. Cas is given some advice, though — something he plans to cling to as he waits to see her beautiful eyes open once more: In addition, their relationship is still as magical from Casteel's point of view as it is from Poppy's. Experiencing the beginning of their relationship again left me with the same warm feelings I had when I read it the first time. Also, it isn't like we hadn't already known that Casteel falling in love with Poppy was inevitable, but reading it firsthand makes it all the more special. It is nice to know that Casteel's physical reactions to Poppy have always been as uncontrollable as he makes them out to be, even though one has to wonder if the guy has some sort of medical issue. It's just not normal to have so many erections so often. I understand that Poppy is beautiful inside and out, but damn.The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden. New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout revisits Poppy and Casteel’s epic love story in the next installment of the Blood and Ash series. But this time, Hawke gets to tell the tale. Buy The Book: If that had been the beginning of the book that would’ve been one thing, but I just feel so let down that it was the entire book. The past scenes were great, getting to see Poppy through Cas’ eyes from the beginning, finding out what Cas was up to during the periods he was away from Poppy, and it was a really great way of fleshing out his character. I admit that I was worried going into this, because Cas seemed like a very 2d character during his POV in TWOTQ if I’m honest, mostly just talking about his obsession with Poppy and his constant risky boners, but Cas really feels like a much more fleshed out character after this. We find out a bit more of how he coped with his trauma, how he was still very much in a confused state during the start of FBAA, and, with the help of the present day sections, how much he’s grown over the series. Really top notch, and I feel like the next book will really benefit from the attention Cas has had in this one.

A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Waterstones

Getting to hear Cas' explanations for the whys he did something was absolutely phenomenal! His dark, humorous thoughts were addictive! And watching him do things I had no clue he was doing, ohhhhhh be prepared to be surprised again and again by this story! But one of my favorite things was seeing Poppy through Cas' eyes. How she affected him. How she seeped into his thoughts. And how his progression of thoughts towards her changed. It was consuming and will fill your heart with joy! You know how in FBAA we got to learn the world right along with Poppy? I felt that all over again with Cas. Yes he has knowledge for what is truly going on, but he was in the dark for other things. And watching as light was shown on certain aspects to Cas, it blew my mind. We got to see so many different sides of Cas. How he could be his own worst enemy. How he could be someone's savior. How he could be their demise. And most of all, how he was able to enchant Poppy's heart and soul. But when Poppy falls into stasis, Cas faces the very real possibility that the dire, unexpected consequences of what she is becoming could take her away from him. Cas is given some advice, though-something he plans to cling to as he waits to see her beautiful eyes open once more: Talk to her. The fact that we all thought this would be a complete retelling of the first book only to find out it's actually going to be Cas telling Poppy stories about his life before her and recounting their time together in the beginning BECAUSE HE WAS ADVISED BY SOMEONE to talk to her in her current state. If you are familiar with the series, then you know all about his captivity, but we never truly got to experience first-hand just how much those years he has been held got to him and how deep they ran within him. Those moments really made my heart shatter into a million pieces. How he spoke about what he did to dull the pain, even if temporarily, touched some part of me that I never knew could be reached and what he did to silence the voices, to turn it off.. there are truly no words, or maybe there are too many, but it just hit close. Hearing him talk about how he thought of himself, even still to this day... how they still find him in the silence… But that is the thing with trauma, isn’t it? It creeps up on you, no matter how much time has passed, no matter how much you want to forget. That broke me. This easily could've been a novella rather than a full fledged book but this revisitation was required as the fandom was slowly but surely losing interest. Am now looking forward to the next book, thanks to this one. Although I still do not know where the story is heading, JLA should wrap this up soon otherwise it becomes a Zodiac Academy like situation.

Lastly, Kieran Contou is obviously just as delightful as Poppy and Casteel. I especially loved his presence in this book as he doesn't have much of it in the first one. Unsurprisingly, he is as wonderful as he has ever been. He is so supportive and understanding of Casteel, even though he doesn't agree with his crazy schemes and tries to advise him against them. He is also a calming force and an anchor, especially after Casteel's imprisonment. Furthermore, I also loved reading about Poppy and the way Cas sees her. As he gets to know her he sees her as the wonderful, beautiful badass that she is and falls helplessly in love with her, even though he can't bring himself to admit it. Poppy is such a powerful driving force in his life, affecting his every decision from the moment they met in The Red Pearl until the present, and she didn't even know it. Also, it was interesting to experience her presence from someone else's point of view, especially someone who loves her as passionately and unconditionally as Casteel.

Blood and Ash Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Goodreads

Essentially, ASoAaB does replay all of Poppy and Hawke's interactions from Hawke's perspective, but there is so much more in between. We get to see scenes that were alluded to, but never downright explained, like Hawke killing the duke. We also get to see so many scenes of Hawke and Kieran scheming, and discussing how said schemes change as Hawke starts to develop feelings for Poppy. It becomes clear very early on that this isn't the story of the Maiden from a different perspective. This is the story of the broken prince that tries to abduct her for leverage, and falls in love with her instead. It also gives us the whole story from his POV about how he fell in love with Poppy and how all the plans he had for years went right out the window along with the gradual realization that she was his and he was madly in love.It also had to do with the fact that something happened when I spent time with her. Something damn near magical. I was…I was just me. Cas." The first chapter of the book was hands down the best start JLA has written in this series. It gave me chills. I hate waiting because I'm impatient, and I need the next book in this series like three weeks ago. So now I have to wait (not very patiently) for the next one. So I dislike that I now have to wait for the next book. A great primal power has risen. The Queen of Flesh and Fire has become the Primal of Blood and Bone—the true Primal of Life and Death. And the battle Casteel, Poppy, and their allies have been fighting has only just begun. Gods are awakening across Iliseeum and the mortal realm, readying for the war to come.