Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Crown of Gilded Bones

*looks back at the notes I sent my friend while reading* Aha! Yes, here we go...

This has been my favorite book of the series so far. There's a kind of comfort that's settled in between Casteel and Poppy now that they're married - and despite the insane cliffhanger that book two left us on, things were cleared up relatively quickly at the beginning of this book.

Okay, so "cleared up" is maybe the wrong term considering the insanity that followed - and that's where I got a little revved up. Not because I was disliking the story so much as I was constantly confused. There was a lot of information overload in this installation. I found myself constantly looking up the terms because I lost track of the differences between "deities" and "gods" or I lost track of the character names because it seems like someone new is always being introduced. In addition to that, there was a lot of back-and-forth with who the characters were, who they were related to, what they were spawns of, whether they were Ascended, Descenters, masked, Wolven, vamprys, etc. I literally couldn't keep up.

At a certain point, I just decided to kind of say "screw it" and enjoy the story for what it was rather than trying to piece together every little bit of information because, let's be real, JLA is totally gonna throw half of it out the window in the next novel and we'll have to relearn it all again. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just the style she's chosen for this series. Everything can be undone or retold and you have to get used to never really knowing for sure whether something is set in stone.

Just like the other two books, there were some irritants for me, such as the repetition:
1) Poppy likes violence
2) Poppy has a lot of questions
We get it. Can Kieren or Casteel acknowledge anything else? Thanks.

There was a lot of sexual content - maybe even more than the others, but at this point it's not as appealing to me. Not that it was "appealing" before, so much as it was new. Now it's not and it felt like she was reaching a lot of the time. I found myself just flipping through pages until those scenes ended because I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

I love Kieren. Honestly, if we could get some books just about him, I think I'd be happy. He's sarcastic and caring - and even though he pretty much only ribs Poppy about how inquisitive she is, he's probably the most likable character in the books.

While I can't say these are my favorite books ever or anything, I definitely stay interested throughout the entire time I'm reading, which encourages me to continue the series. So far, I haven't had anything really make me think I need to stop where I am. I'm not bored and I'm not disinterested, so even though I'm not obsessed, I'll be picking up the next book.

Content Warnings

camipuchta's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

heyymishh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Still loving this series, the lore is fantastic and I love Poppy and Casteel’s relationship. Casteel always strives to provide Poppy her freedom and ensure she has a choice in all her decisions in life. I loved his way of encouraging her throughout the book. She’s such a strong character and the author writes all the female characters in a similar fashion.

I also loved the relationship/friendship that builds between Poppy and Kieran 🥺. Kieran has become one of my favorite characters. Rating 4 stars because some of the writing felt like filler and repetitive. Poppy’s inner monologue and constant questions became a bit tiresome - I wanted the plot to just move forward instead of her constant “thinking”. The book would have been about 100 pages shorter cutting some of the filler out.

However, when the plot moves - it’s so addicting to read and Armentrout loves to leave us on a cliffhanger! I can’t wait for the next addition to release in March and see more of Poppy’s growth.

Content Warnings

vladtheimpaler's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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brynn_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I can't believe I actually managed to finish this book.

These books are so confusing. This is the third book and I still have no idea what's happening. The beginning part of the book was very slow. Honestly, I feel like some thing's happened very fast while others happened slowly. Yeah. I still have no idea what's going on.

I'm only reading this book for the romance aspect. The romance didn't disappoint. I love these two characters and their relationship has to be my favorite thing about this series.

Content Warnings

zeebookdragon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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michellemaas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

First read: 5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Second read: 4.5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

No thoughts, just a few incoherent sentences.

Poppy being a morally gray badass gives me life.

Casteel losing her and freaking on the battlefield tugged at my stone cold heart.

Poppy, Casteel, Kieran is the trio to end all trios and if there is not a threesome soon I will burst.

The plot finally came together (and it has been a LONG time coming).

I liked that neither the Atlantians nor the Ascended were innocent. Oftentimes authors pick a side when really no one is innocent during a war. There are quite a few things that Jennifer L. Armentrout does that sets her apart from others (that I already discussed in previous reviews so I won't repeat it) but just know that she's really good at her job.

Book 4: The War of Two Queens cannot come soon enough!

Content Warnings

sierraechobravo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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