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Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Born of Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

18 reviews

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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 🥹


Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense slow-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I am a HUGE fan of the blood and ash / flesh in the fire series. The prequels have by far been my favorites so I went into this book with high expectations. What I thought would happen: huge plot points about lore, questions answered on how things came to be for the future story, a big war. 

What most of the story was: Sera dealing with the trauma of being captured by Kolis and adjusting to her new role. 

Now I didn't have an issue with this for the most part I thought the trauma was handled incredibly well and gave so much love to survivors. It just wasn't what I was expecting. Which I think skews my reading experience. 

The lore dumps were few and far between and didn't really start happening until 65% through the book (a book that is almost 800 pages).  For that reason I think there was a pacing issue. That made it hard for me to stay engaged. Especially since I knew where so much had to go because of the ending of the original series. Unfortunately this led to feeling disappointed in where and how the story ended. I didn't feel like we the readers, got the pay off of what the prequels were building too. The tension just fell flat. 

And speaking of falling flat my biggest complaint and area I have the most problems with is the assination of Ash's character. Ash has always been one of my favorites. He was complex and beautifully written. By the end of this book he felt truly like a Cass copy and paste. Horny and 2 dimensional. There is a time and place for spice and this book missed everytime. It honestly felt like the editors told her to hit a quota of sex scenes. 

Overall though I thought the story was good, the writing was gorgeous--especially with how she dealt with victim-survivior trauma-- and I'm so excited to read Poppy's next installment! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous 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

Potential spoilers in content warnings!! Only look at warnings if you're willing to be spoiled. They're there to prevent someone being harmed from the content of the book. 

There aren't many books that have torn my soul out so hard that it caused me to sob uncontrollably but this book can be added to that list. 

I had my doubts about how JLA was going to be able to wrap up such a complicated and convoluted story while maintaining the beauty of the relationships in these books. As usual though, she pulled through and it was done beautifully.

My only complaint with the book was just how spice heavy it was. I love spice as much as the next emotionally stunted millennial, but it was so much it almost detracted from the plot. This was the first Flesh and Fire book that I caught myself, like in the Blood and Ash world, actually thinking 'OMG. We're really fucking again?' Past that, I had a fabulous time. Even when sobbing my head off..


Some of the new characters and creatures absolutely stole a bit of the show and I love love love more lore. I don't mind plot holes and unanswered questions as long as the rest of the book is still a good time. This book was a wonderful send off for Sera and Ash, as much as I wish this wasn't goodbye and we got to spend another 8 books with them. It reignited my interest in the next Blood and Ash book, which I haven't really cared about since TWOTQ first came out. Now, I absolutely cannot wait.

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