A review by beckyyreadss
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I have seen it all over the book community and everyone has been raving about it. I don’t usually struggle with fantasy, but I didn’t connect with this book.  

This book is based on Poppy, she is a maiden chosen from birth to usher in a new era, she has never been on her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience life. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. The entire kingdom’s future rests of Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because the Maiden has a heart and a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honour bound to ensure her Ascension enters her life, destiny and duty becomes tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she ever believed in and tempts her with the forbidden. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel. 

I found with any fantasy series that the first book is always the toughest one, because you are learning a new world and new creatures and everything is confusing. The way I rate fantasy book is how quickly it takes for me to pick up on things and how the storyline manages to carry on with it. I feel like the first 40% is a struggle and a mountain to climb, the only think I wanted to do was smack the shit out of the duke. I found it a bit predictable that I actually thought it was a young adult book at first and then it got to the spicy scenes and realized it an adult book. Like this mysterious dark one has a double identity and it’s the love interest. It was like if Harry Potter was a girl and fell in love with Voldemort.  

However, just because I thought it was predictable didn’t mean I didn’t love Hawke and how it just doesn’t give a shit about ranks and how sassy he is. I loved Tawny as well and wanted to see more of her which hopefully we will do in the upcoming series.  

Hopefully now that the world and characters and creatures have been built, we will be able to see more action in the next book. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings