About this deal
The š¶ were not over the top and were written well. There was a loooot of tension between Poppy and Hawke which I loved. Except for the first chapter and last chapter, nothing new of substance takes place. There are no major additions to the plot except for Poppy going into statis (which is not a spoiler as it is mentioned in the blurb) and a new discovery made by Cas at the end. To answer your first question: no, this is not just a retelling of the same scenes we saw from Hawke's perspective. To answer your next question: yes, this reads like its own independent story with brief present day interludes. I want to do everything imaginable, and things no one has ever thought of with you,ā he said. āBut I only need you, Poppy. Now. Always.ā
In this book, JLA increased the tension and sexuality of their scenes together. And this scene is a perfect example. In the previous book, Cas fed from Poppy while Kieran held her. In this book, Poppy feeds from Cas while they have sex and Kieras holds her, too.
Armentrout is also writing a prequel series to 'From Blood and Ash'
If I had turned to Casteel in my sleep, Kieran had also turned, as if Casteel were a magnet that drew both of us.ā
Emotions clogged my throat, and I didnāt know if it belonged to them, me, or if it was a combination of all of us. Poppy becomes even more confident in this book. The stakes are higher than ever before, and she tries her best to win a war without killing innocents or destroying cities. She also has to deal with the Atlantian generals who are doubtful about her and her ability to rule, and we can see how she hurt and how the weight on her shoulders was slowly becoming too much. Cas, as usual, was a perfect supporting husband. Never try to stop her or tell her that she couldnāt do what she wanted to do. He trusts her completely and gives her the power over her life that she didnāt have in all of her years as The Maiden. Their love is inspiring and beautifulā¦ And itās also full of passion and sexy moments. š I fought the urge to ask him what kind of love he felt for Casteel. For me. I knew it wasnāt a familial one and that it went beyond what one felt for friends. I also thought that it wasnāt the same as what heād felt for Elashya or what Casteel and I felt for each other. But I also knew that what I felt for Kieran wasnāt the same as what I felt for Delano or Vonetta or Tawny. It wasā¦more.āThis 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. 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. Casteel DaāNeer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, couldāve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable. Iām trying to hold off my judgement for now, cause we donāt know where this is going and JLA is getting enough hate as it is and I donāt need to add more to it. But when Iām reading Book 5 and itās going to be a poly relationship, then Iām going to write a (respectfully š) rant review for sure, but until then letās wait and see where this story will take us. Even though this book already got spoiled thanks to half of GR and twt users who didnāt bother to put a spoiler tag in their rage about certain things.