Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Soul of Ash and Blood: A Blood and Ash Novel by Jennifer L. Armentrout

11 reviews

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Gore, Sexual content, Classism, Gaslighting, Blood, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Cursing

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

moonybritney's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful tense fast-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? No

5.0

I devour the books in the Blood and Ash series as soon as I get my hands on them and this one was no different. When reading the first book, I thought it would be nice to get one from Cas' perspective and I'm glad we did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Cursing, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, and Kidnapping

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

I really enjoyed seeing things from Cas’s perspective. Especially after knowing everything we know. I kind of liked this one better than the first.  It was nice to see what he was going through and a little bit into why he made the decisions he did. The ending really surprised me and I did not see it coming.

I love the bond the three of them have. I wasn’t expecting Cas to shift and I just want to know if she recognized them! I will be heartbroken if she doesn’t

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Grief, Torture, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, and Stalking

taryn_g's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Child death, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Minor: Misogyny

kdez's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

From Blood and Ash is my favourite of this series, so getting to relive it through Hawke’s POV was such a delight! I loved getting to see his take on events and the feelings he had while going through it all. Especially my favourite scenes. Each of those felt like a little treat ❤️

I also appreciate how it was a bit of a breather. There’s so much that happens in this series CONSTANTLY so just getting to experience this walk down memory lane was much needed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Cursing, Torture, Blood, Child death, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, War, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Body shaming, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

hbae's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse and Self harm

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

First of all, I am screaming at the last chapter. S C R E A M I N G. Both at the chapter and at JLA, because how DARE, lmao. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I feel even more unsettled now than I did after TWOTQ. Rude. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I did find a lot of the repeated scenes quite tedious, even if they were from Casteel's POV. We already know most of those scenes intimately, and while yes, they were all from Poppy's perspective before, I don't know that ALL of them needed to be from Cas's POV. I did enjoy a few of the big ones, like the craven attack/night on the rise and then after Poppy stabs him in New Haven. Those were great. 

The moments I enjoyed the most were the new scenes, especially those with Kieran. I loved experiencing their bond from Casteel's perspective and how Kieran just kind of *knew* things were different about Poppy from the beginning. It also opened up a whole avenue of questions I'd silently pondered to myself before and blew them out in the open -- especially during the explicit scenes with Cas and Kieran. Hot damn. 

But that last chapter. Holy. Fuck. I think Emil said it best: "What in the fuckity fuck?" Lmao. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Death, Grief, Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Self harm and Sexual assault

thirdeyeangel23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD)



First things first, while A Soul of Ash & Blood is Hawke’s pov for FBAA you cannot read this in place of FBAA and you will need to read this to continue the series. I was pretty impressed with how this book was organized. This book switches between the present plot line (events following War of Two Queens) and Hawke’s recounting of the events of FBAA. As always, it’s fun to read the story from the pov of the other love interest/villain. There were questions answered and added scenes that gave more depth to the characters. This does end on a cliffhanger and leave us with so many questions for the next book. I think this may be the most organized, concise, and well edited book in the entire series. If you weren’t a fan of TWOTQ, I think this book will be a welcome change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Grief, and Confinement

Moderate: War, Torture, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

crinkledmochi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I hope we can get more pov’s from Cas in the last couple books, I love learning more about him and some of the things he’s gone through. 

The ending tho?!?? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Grief

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective 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

5.0

Excuse me, what the fuck? Literally I was gonna give this 4.5 stars until the last chapter, holy fucking shit. JLA knew exactly what she was doing and therefore must be evil

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Torture, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Kidnapping, Self harm, Grief, Sexual assault, and Body horror

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Stalking