I say spoilers, but are they really? Nothing new really happens that didn’t already take place in From Blood and Ash. But there are moments in the present that I’ll be discussing as well, so I figured I give the warning. Though I’m not going to go into too much detail regarding the final chapter. I honestly found this baffling. I understand that people deal with trauma differently, but I really would have preferred if Jennifer would have come at this from a different angle and really got into the nitty gritty of his trauma. I think it would have made for a darker read and given us better look at Casteel's character. 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 Soul of Ash and Blood: A Blood and Ash Novel (Blood And Ash

I wanted more activity during the present or even an appearance of Ash/Sera or even them mentioned of them a bit more, but we got nothing 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. And so, he does. He reminds Poppy how their journey began, revealing things about himself that only Kieran knows in the process. But it’s anybody’s guess what she’ll wake to or exactly how much of the realm and Cas will have changed when she does. Nothing is ever simple.” I pressed my forehead to hers. “And when it is, it’s rarely ever worth it.” 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.The first chapter of the book was hands down the best start JLA has written in this series. It gave me chills. 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. 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.

A Soul of Ash and Blood - Jennifer L. Armentrout

I knew this was real. What was between us. What she felt for me. What I felt for her. This. It was real." i love Casteel Da'Neer and he ist one of JLA's best male lead for sure, but unfortunately this series has run it's course. if JLA would've published this book after A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire or The ​Crown of Gilded Bones, i would've gobbled it down cuz Casteel supremacy and all. but after The War of Two Queens and the drama surrounding it, my excitement for this series is not how it used to be. i'll keep reading this series bc i want to see how it all ends, but JLA should've ended this series as a trilogy... We do get to see Millie and Malik in present time, and they have returned to Cas. We find out WHY Millie ran, and the truth is she was scared that when the battle happened that her grandmother would be there, and she would kill her as Sera is known for hating Revenants. Malik left obviously because she was gone, and she is his heartmate...something that Malik says she does not know, and he won't say anything because she hates him. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THEIR BOOK. The characters are going to be separated for a long period of time with different things happening in each of their locations. We got the latter in the last book and the former in this book. Poppy is in stasis completing her Culling after becoming the Primal of Blood and Bone (Life and Death). Nektas recommends that Cas talks to her so when she wakes up she remembers who she is as well as those around her. This is what starts off the retelling of From Blood and Ash from Cas’s POV. He doesn’t go into the events of the other books. Just the first one as they wait for her to wake up, which takes around two days if my understanding of time passing through the present chapters is accurate.

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According to both Cas and Kieran (multiple times in this book) - Cas never truly told the story of what happened to Shea and there are things that he opted out when telling her the story. He says he will finally tell her when she awakens. WHAT IS IT? Shea is dead because he talks about her death and even JLa said she is dead just recently. This annoyed me because we got 4 books of them building trust and always being honest with each other and this is not revealed?? and we have to wait until next summer to find out? I am in distress.

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

AHH THAT CLIFFHANGER!!!!! There are some spoilers below, but I tried to avoid anything major. If you liked book 1 of this series, I think you will like this! It's so sweet. Yes, it's a retelling of book 1 from Casteel's POV, but there are a ton of new scenes in it too that are worth reading, in my opinion.This book was so good! This was an intriguing and magical fantasy romance about love, power, family, sacrifice, and revenge. A Soul of Ash and Blood follows Cas as he revisits when he first met Poppy and the events in the first book. During this book there are a few new revelations of the earlier events and Cas' thoughts and feelings come to light. Poppy awakens right at the last sentence, and she is officially a primal (her eyes are no longer green)