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adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Did I hate this? No. Was it the worst out of the series, including the FBAA books? Yes. 1000%. Which is unfortunate. Let’s just say this book did not need to be 723 pages. Itcould have been cut by more than half. There is very little action- it’s really mostly Sera understanding her role and trying to deal with her trauma. And I fully support a book about finding yourself and healing, but I don’t feel JLA did a great job with it. THAT BEING SAID- I am SO ready to pick up where we left off with The War of Two Queens. Give me the Primal of Blood and Bone!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
Ok first I’m going to talk about the book, then the series, and I’ve tried to avoid any and all spoliers:
This book was SO GOOD! The tension throughout the book was really nice. I don’t know how many times I yelled, “that a**hole” in agreement with Sera, Nyktos, Attes, or Nyktas. The spicy scenes were just as good as they were in the first book and I can’t believe this part is over 🥲.
Plot:
Overarching and ties together very nicely. There were a few times when I got confused with the prophecy, but then again- is it truly a prophecy if not confusing?
Characters:
I felt a deep emotional connection with each of these characters at least once. A book hasn’t made me start balling in a while but Sera’s stages of trauma really got to me.
(My fav characters are Saion, Nyktas, Sera, Nytos, Attes - in that order)
Romance:
I think the main thing I loved about this series and this author is that she doesn’t fully romanticize romance. She gives us the struggles and the hardships that come with it, as well as the fun times.
Rocking the Steamboat Scenes:
Holy- mother of everything- if you want spicy scenes you’ve come to the right place!
The author overall does an amazing job with human emotions and intentions, writing the fine line of when they can get blurred.
I can’t wait to read the next series!! 🤩🤩
This book was SO GOOD! The tension throughout the book was really nice. I don’t know how many times I yelled, “that a**hole” in agreement with Sera, Nyktos, Attes, or Nyktas. The spicy scenes were just as good as they were in the first book and I can’t believe this part is over 🥲.
Plot:
Overarching and ties together very nicely. There were a few times when I got confused with the prophecy, but then again- is it truly a prophecy if not confusing?
Characters:
I felt a deep emotional connection with each of these characters at least once. A book hasn’t made me start balling in a while but Sera’s stages of trauma really got to me.
(My fav characters are Saion, Nyktas, Sera, Nytos, Attes - in that order)
Romance:
I think the main thing I loved about this series and this author is that she doesn’t fully romanticize romance. She gives us the struggles and the hardships that come with it, as well as the fun times.
Rocking the Steamboat Scenes:
Holy- mother of everything- if you want spicy scenes you’ve come to the right place!
The author overall does an amazing job with human emotions and intentions, writing the fine line of when they can get blurred.
I can’t wait to read the next series!! 🤩🤩
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment
Minor: Genocide, Alcohol
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, War
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This was the final book of the Flesh and Fire series. I felt a lot of the book was meetings - and although the politics of the world were intriguing, I found the book pretty slow. It was annoying that Kolis got away with so much but yet Fates couldn't make it fair (even though this point was brought up by Sera/Ash the majority of the book) it just felt a bit meh. Which is annoying because I really enjoyed Ash and Sera, along with all the other characters of the Shadowlands. It felt everything kinda happened the last 20% of the book and would have been good to have the final battle in the middle of the book and had more development of the story after the battle i.e. once Ash and Sera's children are born, the ascension of Attes, the reconstruction of the realms in the aftermath .
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
adventurous
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:
Complicated
Once again, JLA did wonders with her book. Sera and Ash's relationship growing stronger through trauma is beautiful. One could wish for more scenes with Jadis and Reaver that are so loveable, and hopefully there'll be a book that gets into them further as well as a book that shows Ires and Malec grow with the two drake, and would go over details as to why they picked these names for the babies, how did Malec's leaving happen, and the main events in between Sera's and Poppy's times. JLA also took her sweet time to have Sera realise she is pregnant, maybe too much time as it was strongly hinted since the previous book already.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
That was a SLOG! Really struggled to get through this and keep with the story.
Armentrout made Sera’s anxiety a character in the story who repeated the same lines through...concentrate on my breathing...hold...breath went no where. YAWN it made this such a hard read and it lacked the pace and action the rest of the series has had. I would say 85% of this book is talking over the same thing again and again alongside the character of anxiety. I get what Armentrout is trying to say that anxiety can and is consuming, it robs you of being able to function but it lost it's power with how repetitive she made it.
The last 10% of the book is where all the action happens (maybe a spattering half way). Actually disappointed as I loved Sera and Ash over Poppy and Casteel...let's hope the next book has more pace and action than this one.
Armentrout made Sera’s anxiety a character in the story who repeated the same lines through...concentrate on my breathing...hold...breath went no where. YAWN it made this such a hard read and it lacked the pace and action the rest of the series has had. I would say 85% of this book is talking over the same thing again and again alongside the character of anxiety. I get what Armentrout is trying to say that anxiety can and is consuming, it robs you of being able to function but it lost it's power with how repetitive she made it.
The last 10% of the book is where all the action happens (maybe a spattering half way). Actually disappointed as I loved Sera and Ash over Poppy and Casteel...let's hope the next book has more pace and action than this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Blood
adventurous
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship
Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Alcohol
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book makes me excited for the main series and the rest of its story, but also I’m DEVASTATED to not be able to read more of Sera and Ash’s love 😔
Seeing them take down Kolis and discover more of the true order of the prophecy and what that means is so satisfying.
My only complaint is, the plot is SOOOOOO interesting and fascinating, and there is just WAYYYYYY too much fucking. I get it in some ways. Like in book 3 she was away from ash for the majority of the book, so they’ve got some things to catch up on 😉. And it’s also a part of her process of healing and surviving that trauma that kolis caused. But oh my goddnessssssssssssss it just was a lot and I usually just kinda skipped over it.
Like I’d say a good 50% of this book (probably more) was just them going to town. No shame if that’s your thing, I was just really excited about the plot and it kinda got lost, a lot in this book. That is why I can’t give it 5 stars. Like I was kinda hoping we’d even see the birth of their sons, or maybe how she ended up going to ground, but we got none of that. I did like the fates (ancients) chapter/perspective at the end. It does make me look forward to the rest of the books in the main series.
Otherwise, great read. I’ll probably re-read the series before the last couple books come out for the main series… boy I am not ready for that day 🥹
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment