driv11's review against another edition
4.0
Update 18/3 :
It's 3.35 Am here and I just completed this book and I- ......
My brain is still processing what the fuck happened.
I'll post my review shortly.
16/3:
I think I have had enough and I cannot control myself right now. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME ? THIS BOOK DOES NOT DESERVE THIS HATE! JLA DOES NOT DESERVE THIS HATE ! DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT YOU'RE HAVING ON AUTHOR?? AND JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LIKE AND AGREE WITH THE CERTAIN PART OF THE BOOK DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU GIVE BOOK 1 FUCKING STAR.
1 star? I mean , if I publish my book which will be an absolute trash , people won't give the 1 star either. Let me give you some advice on how to rate the fucking book. When book is absolute trash , like there is no world building, no character personality, no chemistry between character, no flow of the story, zero plot , then one would consider giving the book 1 start and I would still don't give it one star. I'm so outraged right now. I can barely type.
I'm not fan of the thing which happened in the book either , which lead to this hate. But just think about it , we can not judge the whole fucking 650 pages book based on 10 or so pages. Just fucking pretend it didn't happened or for fuck's sake give it 3 start! Don't fucking give the 1 star.
And I also saw someone mentioning that there is so much sex in the book. Well I want to say all that people to read ACOSF and then you'll understand what SO MUCH SEX exactly means. And people were okay with any thing That SJM write then why this hate to JLA ? Just fucking why!!
That being said I'll give this book 5 fucking stars because this book , this character and JLA deserves it! JLA is the queen and I'll read anything she decides to write !
Thank you.
It's 3.35 Am here and I just completed this book and I- ......
My brain is still processing what the fuck happened.
I'll post my review shortly.
16/3:
I think I have had enough and I cannot control myself right now. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME ? THIS BOOK DOES NOT DESERVE THIS HATE! JLA DOES NOT DESERVE THIS HATE ! DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT YOU'RE HAVING ON AUTHOR?? AND JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LIKE AND AGREE WITH THE CERTAIN PART OF THE BOOK DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU GIVE BOOK 1 FUCKING STAR.
1 star? I mean , if I publish my book which will be an absolute trash , people won't give the 1 star either. Let me give you some advice on how to rate the fucking book. When book is absolute trash , like there is no world building, no character personality, no chemistry between character, no flow of the story, zero plot , then one would consider giving the book 1 start and I would still don't give it one star. I'm so outraged right now. I can barely type.
I'm not fan of the thing which happened in the book either , which lead to this hate. But just think about it , we can not judge the whole fucking 650 pages book based on 10 or so pages. Just fucking pretend it didn't happened or for fuck's sake give it 3 start! Don't fucking give the 1 star.
And I also saw someone mentioning that there is so much sex in the book. Well I want to say all that people to read ACOSF and then you'll understand what SO MUCH SEX exactly means. And people were okay with any thing That SJM write then why this hate to JLA ? Just fucking why!!
That being said I'll give this book 5 fucking stars because this book , this character and JLA deserves it! JLA is the queen and I'll read anything she decides to write !
Thank you.
burgey_ashie's review against another edition
4.0
Good book! Really hard to get into in the beginning but about half way though it got faster and lots of good details. Good plot and the ending shook meeee. I need the next book immediately!
tartbarbie's review against another edition
5.0
My bestie and I have been budding reading this series together as we are both huge fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout. This is the 4th installment in the Blood and Ash series featuring Poppy and Casteel. After Losing Cas in the last book she's setting out for full on war against the blood queen determined to bring her love home at any cost. Poppy sets on an epic adventure with Kieran by her side to rescue her king and end the rein of the Blood Crown.
Along the way her abilities continue to grow causing her to question if she was be the Harbinger of Death and Destruction as it's been told in the Prophecy. Forcing her to make tough choices that if it came down to her destroying the realm that she would be stopped before it's to late.
I've loved the whole series up to this point, and it just keeps getting better and better with each book. This one may just be my favorite as we get to see Poppy really blossom which I love as she is one of my all time favorite characters. The characters are amazing easy to connect with you can't help falling in love with them. Plus Cas and Kieran are perfect book boyfriend you can't help falling in love with. The author did another amazing job creating a captivating story that I've found hard to put down. I highly recommend a must read series.
Along the way her abilities continue to grow causing her to question if she was be the Harbinger of Death and Destruction as it's been told in the Prophecy. Forcing her to make tough choices that if it came down to her destroying the realm that she would be stopped before it's to late.
I've loved the whole series up to this point, and it just keeps getting better and better with each book. This one may just be my favorite as we get to see Poppy really blossom which I love as she is one of my all time favorite characters. The characters are amazing easy to connect with you can't help falling in love with them. Plus Cas and Kieran are perfect book boyfriend you can't help falling in love with. The author did another amazing job creating a captivating story that I've found hard to put down. I highly recommend a must read series.
mackenziedyll's review against another edition
3.0
Full length review and thoughts incoming…. I avoided Booktok for a full day while reading it and come back to my fyp in utter chaos over this book…
UPDATE: It's been a good 6 hrs since I've finished the book and now that I've had more time to think about The War of Two Queens, here are my thoughts.
For reference, immediately after reading I gave this book 4 Stars However, after stewing over everything for a bit I've decided to bump it down to 3 Stars .
First off, I'll start off by saying that this is still one of my favorite series. I gave the first 2 in the series 5 stars. I absolutely love the characters and the world, it's unlike anything I have ever read. That being said, I feel like everything is spiraling out of control. JLA has started out with a really interesting premise and has created a fascinating gods/magic system. But, it feels like there is too much happening and JLA is just throwing new world building details at a wall and crossing her fingers that something is going to stick. I've read hundreds of Fantasy books and I'm no stranger to complex world building (Heck I'm an extensive note taker/annotator) and I found The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash #3) to be very confusing. Facts about the Gods, Ascended and all the other details revealed in Book #3 were A LOT and they felt very conflicting. It honestly feels like JLA, and by extension, her characters do a lot of telling and not showing, which does the world building a HUGE disservice (queue Poppy's millions of questions for a very annoyed Kieran). The War of Two Queens does a slightly better job at explaining things than it's previous book, but I think the credit has to go to the fact that JLA had to start an entire prequel series in order for the main series to make sense. I will say that the pacing in the 4th instalment is MUCH better than the 3rd. This 4th addition to the series has reconfirmed my belief that this series should have been a duology or trilogy.
So, lets unpack the Joining shall we. I feel like people who've reading the series are either pro-joining or anti-joining. Personally, I'm on the side of the it not being necessary. JLA called out fans on the Facebook group page saying that there is no such thing as fan service in regards to the hate over the Joining. Fan service is totally a thing and now I feel inclined to add the Joining as an example on the "Fan Service" Wikipedia page. I'm totally for Poly- relationship representation in books but, what is happening here is a terrible example of it. Why have the fated mates trope in a book if you're going have one character be a third wheel. At this point Kieran just feels like a plot device for making the Joining a thing. I love him, don't get me wrong, but he has had no character development since the beginning. I've seen many people mention that Poppy is emotionally cheating on Casteel with Kieran, all while Cas is being tortured. Honestly, I did not get that impression but I can totally understand why people feel that way. I was under the impression that Poppy and Kieran were growing to be close friends and were bonding over their mutual grief of Cas being captured and tortured. Boy was I wrong!! I feel like Poppy's growing complicated feelings developing for Kieran totally came outta nowhere. Thinking back to the beach scene in The Crown of Gilded Bones, Casteel mentioned that he was didn't want to include anyone else in their sexual relationship and he was more than happy with it just being him and Poppy forever. I though that was the end of a suspected Joining. Plus, it has been hinted sooo many times that the Joining did not have to become anything 'more' and it could just be as simple as the ceremony to connect Cas, Poppy and Kieran's lifespans. The Joining feels like it completely undermined the fact that Poppy and Casteel are Heartmates and all the progress they have made in their relationship so far. I honestly can't tell where this little threesome is going for the next book. It could be that Kieran is making a permanent appearance in their relationship or it was just a one time thing. I am seriously hoping its not permanent cause it honestly kind of blowing holes in one of my favorite ships.
Overall, am I a little disappointed? Yes. Am I still heavily invested in the characters and world? Yes absolutely! I think I am just going into the final half of the series with much lower expectations in order to spare my feelings and frustrations
UPDATE: It's been a good 6 hrs since I've finished the book and now that I've had more time to think about The War of Two Queens, here are my thoughts.
For reference, immediately after reading I gave this book 4 Stars However, after stewing over everything for a bit I've decided to bump it down to 3 Stars .
First off, I'll start off by saying that this is still one of my favorite series. I gave the first 2 in the series 5 stars. I absolutely love the characters and the world, it's unlike anything I have ever read. That being said, I feel like everything is spiraling out of control. JLA has started out with a really interesting premise and has created a fascinating gods/magic system. But, it feels like there is too much happening and JLA is just throwing new world building details at a wall and crossing her fingers that something is going to stick. I've read hundreds of Fantasy books and I'm no stranger to complex world building (Heck I'm an extensive note taker/annotator) and I found The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash #3) to be very confusing. Facts about the Gods, Ascended and all the other details revealed in Book #3 were A LOT and they felt very conflicting. It honestly feels like JLA, and by extension, her characters do a lot of telling and not showing, which does the world building a HUGE disservice (queue Poppy's millions of questions for a very annoyed Kieran). The War of Two Queens does a slightly better job at explaining things than it's previous book, but I think the credit has to go to the fact that JLA had to start an entire prequel series in order for the main series to make sense. I will say that the pacing in the 4th instalment is MUCH better than the 3rd. This 4th addition to the series has reconfirmed my belief that this series should have been a duology or trilogy.
So, lets unpack the Joining shall we. I feel like people who've reading the series are either pro-joining or anti-joining. Personally, I'm on the side of the it not being necessary. JLA called out fans on the Facebook group page saying that there is no such thing as fan service in regards to the hate over the Joining. Fan service is totally a thing and now I feel inclined to add the Joining as an example on the "Fan Service" Wikipedia page. I'm totally for Poly- relationship representation in books but, what is happening here is a terrible example of it. Why have the fated mates trope in a book if you're going have one character be a third wheel. At this point Kieran just feels like a plot device for making the Joining a thing. I love him, don't get me wrong, but he has had no character development since the beginning. I've seen many people mention that Poppy is emotionally cheating on Casteel with Kieran, all while Cas is being tortured. Honestly, I did not get that impression but I can totally understand why people feel that way. I was under the impression that Poppy and Kieran were growing to be close friends and were bonding over their mutual grief of Cas being captured and tortured. Boy was I wrong!! I feel like Poppy's growing complicated feelings developing for Kieran totally came outta nowhere. Thinking back to the beach scene in The Crown of Gilded Bones, Casteel mentioned that he was didn't want to include anyone else in their sexual relationship and he was more than happy with it just being him and Poppy forever. I though that was the end of a suspected Joining. Plus, it has been hinted sooo many times that the Joining did not have to become anything 'more' and it could just be as simple as the ceremony to connect Cas, Poppy and Kieran's lifespans. The Joining feels like it completely undermined the fact that Poppy and Casteel are Heartmates and all the progress they have made in their relationship so far. I honestly can't tell where this little threesome is going for the next book. It could be that Kieran is making a permanent appearance in their relationship or it was just a one time thing. I am seriously hoping its not permanent cause it honestly kind of blowing holes in one of my favorite ships.
Overall, am I a little disappointed? Yes. Am I still heavily invested in the characters and world? Yes absolutely! I think I am just going into the final half of the series with much lower expectations in order to spare my feelings and frustrations
cyon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
3.75
Way too slow for most of the book, then picks up to be really exciting at the end. I think the book was a couple hundred pages too long…
lindsayleigh27's review against another edition
3.0
Ok! So I am going to be super fair in my review here. To preface, I loved books 1 and 2 but book 3 was just ok. This is another just okay one for me but I still think I liked book 3 better.
The non spoilery parts first. I did like that we got more information in this book and Poppy seems to be much more self confident. I was getting tired of all of the "you ask a lot of questions" and "so inappropriate" jokes. They were still there but not near as much as in prior books. Poppy seems to be comfortable in her skin and is assertive which I loved to see. The pacing was a little slow at first but after 200 pages or so I felt like it picked up and I enjoyed it more. Even with my complaints below, I'd say this was an average book. It's not her best but it was still entertaining and had story development.
Now for the spoiler part and what everyone is talking about:
But, I did think the interactions between Kieran and Poppy were a bit too close for comfort. There was a lot of Kieran touching Poppy's neck, grasping her head in her hair, forehead and brow kisses, etc. A forehead kiss here and there as a sign of familial affection I think is fine but when combined with the other actions and Poppy sleeping in his shirt, it's weird. It gave me the ick. But, Cas seemed to find it normal upon his return so....whatever I guess.
Now the Joining. I assumed this would happen especially since fans latched on to it. I don't really mind the joining and I don't even necessarily mind the three-way. Blood sharing in this series is depicted as being hot and sexy so in the heat of the moment, I can see it happening and it doesn't bother me. But, the way it was written was confusing and weird. It's written as if Poppy's eyes are closed the whole time or she is blind because she doesn't know WHAT is going on. JLA, if you're gonna write a three-way then commit sis!
And after the joining, it was also weird and gave me the ick. Kieran is now spooning with Poppy and Cas when they sleep and Cas made a joke of Kieran possibly wanting to have sex with Poppy in her armor with him? So clearly, the joining changed the dynamic and made it an even weirder grey area. Poppy and Cas can't even decipher was Kieran is to them at this point so how can we as the readers understand?
I have no qualms with poly relationships or having threesomes in books or otherwise. But, it is weird to put this dynamic in book 4 of a series and for it to not even be well defined. Also, Cas gets pissy when someone even looks at Poppy for too long so this just doesn't line up with his previous possessiveness for me. JLA can do whatever she wants with this series: its her books, her characters, her fantasy world. But, I as a reader am not picking up what she's putting down with this dynamic. Will I read book 5? Probably. Do I hope she steers this ship in a better direction? Yes.
The non spoilery parts first. I did like that we got more information in this book and Poppy seems to be much more self confident. I was getting tired of all of the "you ask a lot of questions" and "so inappropriate" jokes. They were still there but not near as much as in prior books. Poppy seems to be comfortable in her skin and is assertive which I loved to see. The pacing was a little slow at first but after 200 pages or so I felt like it picked up and I enjoyed it more. Even with my complaints below, I'd say this was an average book. It's not her best but it was still entertaining and had story development.
Now for the spoiler part and what everyone is talking about:
Spoiler
Ok for the whole Kieran/Poppy/Cas relationship and emotional cheating thing. Do I think Poppy was emotionally cheating? Not really. It seemed like Poppy and Kieran were bonded by their love of Cas and working to bring him back. That I was totally fine with.But, I did think the interactions between Kieran and Poppy were a bit too close for comfort. There was a lot of Kieran touching Poppy's neck, grasping her head in her hair, forehead and brow kisses, etc. A forehead kiss here and there as a sign of familial affection I think is fine but when combined with the other actions and Poppy sleeping in his shirt, it's weird. It gave me the ick. But, Cas seemed to find it normal upon his return so....whatever I guess.
Now the Joining. I assumed this would happen especially since fans latched on to it. I don't really mind the joining and I don't even necessarily mind the three-way. Blood sharing in this series is depicted as being hot and sexy so in the heat of the moment, I can see it happening and it doesn't bother me. But, the way it was written was confusing and weird. It's written as if Poppy's eyes are closed the whole time or she is blind because she doesn't know WHAT is going on. JLA, if you're gonna write a three-way then commit sis!
And after the joining, it was also weird and gave me the ick. Kieran is now spooning with Poppy and Cas when they sleep and Cas made a joke of Kieran possibly wanting to have sex with Poppy in her armor with him? So clearly, the joining changed the dynamic and made it an even weirder grey area. Poppy and Cas can't even decipher was Kieran is to them at this point so how can we as the readers understand?
I have no qualms with poly relationships or having threesomes in books or otherwise. But, it is weird to put this dynamic in book 4 of a series and for it to not even be well defined. Also, Cas gets pissy when someone even looks at Poppy for too long so this just doesn't line up with his previous possessiveness for me. JLA can do whatever she wants with this series: its her books, her characters, her fantasy world. But, I as a reader am not picking up what she's putting down with this dynamic. Will I read book 5? Probably. Do I hope she steers this ship in a better direction? Yes.
kimberly_b's review against another edition
3.0
I'll try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible:
This 4th book in the Blood and Ash series is my least favorite so far. Books 1 and 2 were 4.5/5 star books, book 3 was 4 stars, but this was a 3 star read for me.
Way too much of this book was devoted to separation. I felt like the main plot of The War of Two Queens dealt with resolving a separation, more so than a war which is actually in the title of the book!
Can the real Cas please stand up? Because the Cas here is a shadow of his former self and not because of *events* that happened; it seems like his sole function at this point in the series is to worship Poppy.
Speaking of Poppy, I rarely use this term because I think it is overused in the literary world, but, as much as it pains me to say, Poppy has become a Mary Sue. She continually develops more powers and becomes even more flawless. The Poppy of book 4 isn't even remotely related to the Poppy of book 1. I don't feel emotionally connected to Poppy at this point, because she isn't relatable in any way. The powers she develops are increasingly convenient to the point of incredulity, especially at the end of The War of Two Queens.
*sigh* I'm totally going to continue with this series, because I'm invested in it at this point. But, I really hope Armentrout brings some heart, soul, and flaws back into her characters.
This 4th book in the Blood and Ash series is my least favorite so far. Books 1 and 2 were 4.5/5 star books, book 3 was 4 stars, but this was a 3 star read for me.
Way too much of this book was devoted to separation. I felt like the main plot of The War of Two Queens dealt with resolving a separation, more so than a war which is actually in the title of the book!
Can the real Cas please stand up? Because the Cas here is a shadow of his former self and not because of *events* that happened; it seems like his sole function at this point in the series is to worship Poppy.
Speaking of Poppy, I rarely use this term because I think it is overused in the literary world, but, as much as it pains me to say, Poppy has become a Mary Sue. She continually develops more powers and becomes even more flawless. The Poppy of book 4 isn't even remotely related to the Poppy of book 1. I don't feel emotionally connected to Poppy at this point, because she isn't relatable in any way. The powers she develops are increasingly convenient to the point of incredulity, especially at the end of The War of Two Queens.
*sigh* I'm totally going to continue with this series, because I'm invested in it at this point. But, I really hope Armentrout brings some heart, soul, and flaws back into her characters.