Reviews with content warning for Cursing - A Fire in the Flesh

Daddy Nyktos is back! I loved ASITE but felt let down by ALITF as that book barely moved the plot. This book made up for it in a big way. Sera and Nyktos’ love story is beautifully written and feels real. It is complex, sad, and inspiring and a beautiful representation of love. Nyktos is THE one and only shadow daddy. He deserves all that is good. We get so many new tidbits that I am looking forward to continuing the series to see how it all comes together. Attes is my favorite character in this book, we get to learn more about him and knowing him in this timeline, makes me love his descendant in the current timeline more. Spoilers with my burning questions to follow.

Ok so regarding Ash’s kardia, he and Sera are heartmates which trumps all. He successfully ascends Sera and we see her becoming the queen of the gods and true primal of life. We learn Ash had a vision of Sera when she was born & knew she would become his weakness and had his kardia removed right before he finally brought her to the Shadowlands in an attempt to save her. Also, Sera was never Sotoria, she was a vessel with her soul and Sotoria’s both living inside her. It’s deeply hinted Attes loved Sotoria and it’s this that makes him pledge himself to Sera. The book ends by successfully releasing Nyktos’ dad’s soul from the star so they can use it to hold Sotoria’s soul instead, as ultimately she is the only one who can truly defeat Kolis. Kolis is a creep and I cannot wait for his death. The twist and surprises were learning Callum is actually Sotoria’s brother and the first revenant. And that Sotoria means pretty poppy and based on what we learn, I assume Poppy is Sotoria reborn and the one who can truly kill Kolis. How that will happen when Cas is her mate… I am curious to see play out in the next book.

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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zg0612's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

3.75

This book was really good, besides the times when i had figured stuff out before the characters had,

like the whole Star Diamond being in her cage the whole time. That was obvious since day 1.

But i liked how we got to see more of Kolis’s personality and why is the way he is. I now LOVE Rhain. He’s my bff now. Elias is totally gay. I’m just going to call that rn.

And what on earth is giving on w Attes and Lilah??

Attes is the best btw. And i love how he doesn’t give a fuck abt how people interpret him. And his sarcasm?! Chef’s kiss. He’s Awesome.

And i love Ash FINALYY saying ily 🥰🥰.

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kaydie96's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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stardust_heidi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

Well. Some of the characters are lovable. Others can rot in the Abyss for eternity.

I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this book. I think I'd struggle to reread it again, and I hate to say that. However, this book was such a trauma fest. Only the last 15% was somewhat palatable, to be honest.

We deserved that smut fest, tbh.

I really struggled with the fact that it took about 60% of the book for Sera and Ash

to reunite. At least in TWOTQ when they were separated for about half the book, Kieran was with Poppy and we also got Cas's POV on the side. This was just never ending trauma, built again and again on Sera, and that was......rough.

There was also SO much info dumping. Like....SO MUCH. I feel like this series is just solid info dumping, so much so that it gets fatiguing after a while. I definitely felt that in this book, and I think the simultaneous trauma Sera endured just made it harder to get through. I really hope someone on insta makes a nice summary infographic on this book, because uuuffffffff.

MAJOR SPOILER:

The smut fest at the end, though. HOT DAMN. And ASH AND HIS LOVE FOR SERA. I FUCKING KNEW IT. I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT. The best thing about this book is her ascension and Ash loving Sera. (And Sera hacking Solis to pieces, but who's asking...)

Content Warnings

dani_reis's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

The 40-50 pages of straight smut was too much. The first 70% was so fast paced, and then things got sad and smutty. It did prove that what was done for Soul of Ash and Blood can be done in approximately 3 chapters.

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