kat_tay's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
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.
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
maccloud's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
miranda11's review against another edition
5.0
“When I was around her, I didn’t think of the past or the future. I simply lived.” - Jennifer L. Armentrout
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book and I enjoyed it so much. Maybe there not being lots of expectations helped me to just enjoy it. There are so many new things revealed and that ending!!!!!!! It made me remember why I fell in love with this series in the first place.
Even though there are the flashbacks you can’t skip this book because plenty happens during the present day scenes.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book and I enjoyed it so much. Maybe there not being lots of expectations helped me to just enjoy it. There are so many new things revealed and that ending!!!!!!! It made me remember why I fell in love with this series in the first place.
Even though there are the flashbacks you can’t skip this book because plenty happens during the present day scenes.
arandle1212's review against another edition
emotional
medium-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
3.75
morgan_ec's review against another edition
2.0
I am honestly just a little disappointed tbh. There are so many things that could have been done from Cas' perspective and I felt like I was just rereading the first book. I see the value from an author's perspective, I just think there could have been more there to make a re-read like this worth it. And for Poppy to wake up in the last few pages is sick and twisted after going through that whole journey like girl give us something now I'm just sad
shn808's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-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
4.0
booklybrittany's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: This world is one of my all time favorites and I don't think JLA could really write anything I didn't like at this point, so keep that in mind when reading this review as I *try* my hardest to be as objective as possible.
This book will likely be considered the Tower of Dawn of the FBAA world, if you understand what I mean (except I'd read from Casteel's POV over Chaol's any damn day). Was it completely necessary? No. Did it pick up after a pretty big ending of the previous book, leaving us on our seats until the next one, without really giving us anything new? Yes. However, it was fun and I think pretty important to see many of the scenes from the first book through Cas's POV (the night of the Red Pearl, the attack during the Rite, the death of Duke Teerman, all of the events at New Haven, and his journey falling in love with Poppy). It was well paced and gave a lot of missing information that I think helps understand the story much better.
The last chapter was probably the most exciting, and in typical JLA fashion, she left us hanging off a very dramatic cliff. I'll be waiting at the edge of my seat again for the next book. We've spent a majority of these books processing Poppy's ancestry, but this book left me theorizing over Casteel's ancestry in a very unexpected way. To say I'm excited for where this is going is a huge understatement.
This book will likely be considered the Tower of Dawn of the FBAA world, if you understand what I mean (except I'd read from Casteel's POV over Chaol's any damn day). Was it completely necessary? No. Did it pick up after a pretty big ending of the previous book, leaving us on our seats until the next one, without really giving us anything new? Yes. However, it was fun and I think pretty important to see many of the scenes from the first book through Cas's POV (the night of the Red Pearl, the attack during the Rite, the death of Duke Teerman, all of the events at New Haven, and his journey falling in love with Poppy). It was well paced and gave a lot of missing information that I think helps understand the story much better.
The last chapter was probably the most exciting, and in typical JLA fashion, she left us hanging off a very dramatic cliff. I'll be waiting at the edge of my seat again for the next book. We've spent a majority of these books processing Poppy's ancestry, but this book left me theorizing over Casteel's ancestry in a very unexpected way. To say I'm excited for where this is going is a huge understatement.
byurka's review against another edition
4.0
While I did enjoy reading this much more than the first book, I felt like this was a bit of a filler book. Maybe there’s a reason why we revisited the first book in Castille’s perspective. I really wanted to see more of what happens next, but I guess I’ll have to wait until book six!