Reviews with content warning for Sexism - A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

9 reviews

itmakessenseincontext's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'll be honest, it gets and extra half star for that ending (and the battle scene). Just wow. I have a feelings that if the 'romance' wasn't the man focus this could be an amazing epic fantasy series. The bones of it are there, and JLA uses some amazing descriptive language in the more typically epic fantasy scenes. But it gets really undercut by the romance being the focus I feel.

On the romance, it feels kinda juvenile at times? Despite the ammount of sex being had? I guess I'm just not convinced that Poppy and Casteel are in love and not just infatuated and the

heartmates

thing is being used to speed relationship development, rather than letting them fall in love naturally. Which is great if you like the trope! I tend to find it contrived and lazy writing.

I'll probably keep reading the books though, because that *ending* oh my god. That is how you drop a plot point to keep me engaged

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abicaro17's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.25

Again the banter in this book is incredible!! The chemistry between Casteel and Poppy is incredible and their connection never once seems forced or fake. My issues stem from the world building/plot. It seems like every other chapter something contradictory is introduced and changes everything. I just wish there was some consistency to follow the relationship building thats so strong.

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cait's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious 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

4.5

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vr_alyssa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

While slightly less problematic than the first book in the series, this instalment had other issues. Jennifer L. Armentrout is trying to create an intricate fantasy world, but does so through 'tell' rather than 'show', with a lot of repetition. This is not the only way in which the novel is repetitive. She has carried over the heavy sex scenes from the first novel into the sequel, but here too the repetition bothered me. That is not to say that the sex scenes themselves were repetitive, as she has clearly done her best to make each and every one different, but rather the long descriptions of what the main character is thinking and feeling as the sex occurs. At times I had the feeling I was reading fan-fiction rather than a bestselling YA/NA novel.

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daisy2050's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

Honestly, this book was a bit of a let down following Blood and Ash. It was slow and repetitive at parts. However, I did read the entire thing and intend to read the next... So take that for what it's worth.

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thecatconstellation's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first one, but I did still enjoy it. There are certain parts that felt a bit too drawn out and there are certain things that get repeated too often (gee I wonder what Cas smells like?). But I do mostly like the characters (many more than Poppy and Cas) and I do enjoy the plot. Medium pace fantasy novel with a decent spice level. Interested to see if the third one bounces back for me.

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reggid13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This book seemed to repeat the same few words continuously that I just got annoyed by half of it. I could listen to it fast enough. Armentrout needs to invest in a Thesaurus to help her mix things up a bit.

Plus those dimples. Seriously, enough with the dimples. I'm over them. We get it, Poppy likes when Casteel smiles, which seems to be about once every 10 minutes or sooner. And the word "britches." I've never been so annoyed by hearing a word, but with the number of times it's used between the first two books, if I never heard or saw the word again would be a miracle.

As I've stated in previous reviews my listening skills aren't the greatest. The introduction of new characters over the course of this book threw me off. I'm at a point where I have no idea where half of the characters came from and why. That doesn't help with my view on some of the plot which is unfortunate for writing this review.

Other than my annoyance of the word repeat and wondering what I actually missed out on I did get some enjoyment from listening to this book. Eventually I will try listening again, maybe even just get printed copies to not miss so much. Oh well, on to book three.

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hannalizzy's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Half the book I was screaming at the main character in my head to get over herself and fall in love, and the other half I spent relishing in the SWEET GOODNESS OF HER ADMITTING IT! We get SO much world building in this book that give the characters and relationships so much depth and complexity. Because it’s so freaking long too, I feel like I know every thought that goes through their heads. I fell in love with each character so much more in this book because of that depth we get. And the ending? Jaw. Dropping. The best fantasy book I’ve read so far.

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samchase112's review

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I have so many feelings. Let's put them in a list, because I don't think I can form coherent sentences or a coherent review right now.

This book was so. damn. slow. I wanted to jump into the pages, shake every character, shakes JLA, and force them to TAKE SOME ACTION. Each conversation took 10 pages, each issue was gone over again and again, each day was streeeeetched out to be fifteen chapters. It was excruciating. Maybe it's because I came off of reading The Poppy War, where things happen super quickly, but this was extra difficult to slog through for most of it. I just got so freaking frustrated with JLA and all her characters. JUST DO SOMETHING.
If I thought the info dumping was bad in the first book, this one was even worse? Why??? At one point Poppy gets mad because Casteel didn't share some information with her, and all I could think was I wish he had never told her anything at all, because this series' world building was absolutely excruciating.
MY THREESOME THEORY FROM BOOK ONE WAS WAY WAY TOO REAL. But also...why not?
There were sooooooo many sex scenes. So so many. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good sex scene, but I think all Casteel and Poppy did was have sex and go over all the Ascended's lies??? And, um, one of those scenes was a bit too much for me. Not the content but...the circumstances?! I just...if you know you know.
The fight scenes were epic, I love a good fight scene. Less so when vampires are ripping into each other's necks, but ce la vie.
I want to know more about the Dead Bones Clan, and now we never will. They were so freaking cool, so fascinating!
"Heartmates"? Just call them soulmates, I swear with this naming thing.
Okay Poppy is pretty cool, I like her. I actually don't mind any of the characters, but I'm not in love with any of them, either.
The revelation of Shea and Casteel's backstory with her was honestly anticlimactic. She thinks and thinks about it for so long, and then when he tells her they just kinda brushes over it. Okay then.
The ending was pretty dang epic, and I'm excited to see where it goes, but it just left me wondering why these powers didn't materialize before? Real convenient timing, Poppy's powers.

Contrary to what the above list may suggest, I'm actually excited to read the next book. It's probably going to be a wild ride, and I want to see what happens. Although I'm assuming it will probably be the same info dumping, lethargic slog these last two were. Ah well, let's just hope there's at least a threesome to spice things up.

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