A review by beckyyreadss
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I had 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 could have been about 300 pages and be better. 

This book is still following Poppy, who we met in the last book. Poppy has found out everything is a lie including the man she was falling in love with. She has been thrust among those who see her as a symbol of a monstrous kingdom, she barely knows who she is without the veil of the Maiden. Ut what she does know is that nothing is as dangerous to her as him. The Dark One and the Prince of Atlantia. He wants her to fight him, and that’s one order she’s more than happy to obey. He may have taken her, but he will never have her. Casteel’s lies are as seductive as his touch and his truths are as sensual as his bite. Poppy knows better than to trust him. He needs her alive and healthy to achieve his goal of getting his brother back. She wants to get her brother back and see for herself if he has become a soulless Ascended. But working with Casteel instead of against him presents its own risks. He still tempts her with every breath, offering up all she’s ever wanted. But unrest has grown in Atlantia as they await the return of their Prince and whispers of war are becoming stronger and Poppy is at the heart of it all. The King wants to use her to send a message and The Descenters want her dead. Poppy needs to find a way to get to her brother without causing a war. 
 
This book drove me nuts. It was so slow, and I just wanted some solid answers - I get why the author did it this way of making sure we only know what Poppy knows but it drove me up the wall. One of my issues was the lack of action, I wanted the war or the fights to stop the war and yet there was none until the 80% mark and up until that point the impending war had been mentioned almost every chapter. The storyline wasn’t gripping, and I was so bored of them just moving from place to place to be betrayed and had to move again. Casteel drove me nuts in this book and now I know why Poppy wanted to stab him several times. I say that but I was also sick of Casteel mentioning every chapter how much Poppy being violent and stabbing him was turning him on, like do we get it you’ve got a knife kink – you don’t have to tell us every freaking chapter. Casteel and Kieran also saying that Poppy asking questions is her personality trait just pissed me off as well, like if you didn’t keep her (or us) in the dark for the whole book maybe she wouldn’t be asking so many questions, but she’s been sheltered her whole life like she’s gonna have questioned and yet every time she asks a question she gets some stick for it.  

The only reason why this didn’t get a lower rating was because of the last chapter and the mystery about why Poppy is the way she is. This author does have a way of making you want to read the next book, which right now I slightly hate because I was about to give up on this series and then the ending happened, and the next book is in my amazon basket. I hate it.  
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