The War of Two Queens
Blood and Ash #4
By Jennifer L. Armentrout
*Read after the Flesh and Fire series (the prequel series to Blood and Ash)*
TheStory
After being captured by the Blood Queen in The Crown of Gilded Bones, Cas discovers shocking revelations that he was not remotely prepared to learn. During his capture, Poppy seeks to free him, destroy the Blood Crown, and rally the Atlantians to war to bring peace to the kingdoms. In order to do everything she wants, Poppy might have to fulfill the ancient prophesy and become what she most fears - The Harbinger of Death and Destruction. But it’s not just a war… ancient, primal forces are stirring that have been dormant for ages.
Told from the perspectives of both Cas and Poppy, this journey takes us through Cas’ captivity and his discoveries made during this time as well as Poppy’s plans to rescue him while simultaneously working to save the entirety of two kingdoms. Oh and as a side note, Poppy has Drakens with her now - dragon shifters… she has dragon shifters.
While separated, Cas and Poppy are able to communicate through their dreams (that aren’t really dreams, clearly).
This story is where we get some background information on how Poppy and Cas relate to Nyktos and Sera from the Flesh and Fire series, which is a prequel to this one (see those reviews in the BookReviews section of this site). JLA also brings Tawny and Vikter back into this book and they have extremely important information that they try to get to Poppy. Meanwhile, during a rescue attempt Kieran’s life is put at risk and the group is forced to dig up Malec (a divine being the Blood Queen wants for her own disturbing purposes.
Battles, death, and chaos are everywhere. Everyone is learning everything is lies. Truths are revealed that will change the course of everyone’s lives and the universe as a whole.
TheReview
Overall, this book has been my least favorite in the series. The other ones were just sooooo good. It was a lot to take in. At this point, there are so many lies and needs and truths revealed that it’s hard to even tell what’s going on anymore. I read the ending twice and repeated a bunch of pages more than once and I’m still confused about some of it. There’s some things happening that I don’t even understand. I feel like once I get to the end of the series, I’m just gonna know everything is all good but not even how it happened or how it all worked to get there.
Mainly, I don’t really get how the Primal/god/not god stuff works and why Poppy. How is Poppy even the one to solve all the problems? It’s just confusing. Too much.
With Cas having been captured in the last book, it lasts over half of this book. Oh and UGH! The communicating through their dreams thing? That’s a convenient way to try to make us okay with the fact that the MCs are separated for the largest chunk of this book. During this time, Kieran and Poppy’s relationship develops more, which I still stand by is leading to a throuple situation.
This is the first book where we get a glimpse into Cas’ POV, which seems to serve the sole purpose of giving the reader more information than we would have with only Poppy’s POV.
The first half of the book, while mildly interesting, was highly irritating. Cas was being held captive the entire time but maybe that’s just my personal issue with the “main-characters-being-captured-and-separted” trope. Is that a real trope? It’s common enough that I think so! And it irritates me.
Now on a very specific note, given that I’ve mentioned it now in two reviews, there IS a threesome. HA! I knew it! Thank you… Now, the good/bad view on this is all preference but it just isn’t my yum. And I would like to know that it’s a thing before investing in the main love story. That being said, it was well done, not weird at all. I did like seeing Poppy releasing herself from the restraints that she never chose but were forced on her for her entire life.
The ending wrapped the story up well and set up the plot for the next book.
This whole book just felt completely different from the rest of the series. It was not even close to the best in the series but I think it’s a great prelude to the next book. I’m just not impressed with this one.
TheRating
Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 3/5
World Building: 3/5
Spice: 1/5
Writing: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Blood and Ash Series
From Blood and Ash
Blood and Ash #1
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
Blood and Ash #2
The Crown of Gilded Bones
Blood and Ash #3
The War of Two Queens
Blood and Ash #4
A Soul of Ash and Blood
Blood and Ash #5
The Primal of Blood and Bone
Blood and Ash #6