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

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what i appreciated from this book was being able to see Cas vulnerable side as well as his inner struggle and conflicted feelings about Poppy (saving his brother vs. falling in love with the “enemy”) at the beginning of their relationship. i’d always seen him as someone who was decisive, confident, and powerful. however, in this book he was more melancholic. he served the tortured hero image pretty well while still managing to be playful, sexy, and dark/violent (especially when he was being possessive, protective over Poppy and acting all touch her you die-like). Now with every book, there are going to be some things that I don't like, so here is what I didn't like about this one: A clear money grab straight away. We wait over a year for the next book and it’s just simply the first book in a Cas’s perspective. This could be done as a .5 book don’t make us wait for something that provides zero continuation in a series. 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 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.

From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout

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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. 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. This was so much more than being just another instalment of From Blood and Ash series or a straight up retelling of the events from book 1. It is raw and real. Something that I know I will turn to time and time again. This book also truly made me realise just how much I missed Hawke and one thing is for clear I will never ever fall out of love when it comes to Casteel Da’Neer. The characters are going to be separated for a long period of time with different things happening in each of their locations.

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

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... From the teasers and other posts that Jennifer released on her FB group about ASOAAB, it seemed like this book wasn't going to simply be a rehashing of events from Book 1, it would also deal with the trauma Casteel went through during his time as Isbeth's captive.As we got none of that in this book as Cas holes himself in the room with Poppy waiting for her to wake up as he recounts the first book. Which makes me feel like this book is a bit of cash grab… which I hate saying. But it kind of is, I could also do a tandem reading guide between this book and From Blood and Ash. Though that would also be a bad idea as there are major spoilers for what happens in the rest of the books. I don’t know, let me know in the comments if you think I should make one. 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. 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.