poppybos109's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Cursing, Torture, Violence, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, and War
midnacine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
This was so fun to return to as an audiobook! I'm excited to re-read A Shadow in the Ember with Stina narrating next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Classism, Genocide, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Vomit
immdanii's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Child death
jessannderson's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Definitely my favourite book of the series, poppy actually stopped asking questions every line. The ending is such a cliffhanger but I love poppy’s character development.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and War
sierraechobravo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
thevietvegan's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Ok I’m invested in the plot and the characters but a lot of this seemed REALLY forced. A lot of really random sex scenes full of “shattering” and “shuddering” which was exciting and hyperbolic during the first two books but it’s getting repetitive.
The writing style is a bit jarring sometimes, it’s very modern in dialogue but set in a period where running water and electricity exists but only in this magical kingdom of equality. It’s sometimes weird to hear like, Gossip Girl vocabulary level flirting and banter set in hard fantasy.
Everyone keeps dunking on Poppy for having questions after living an extremely sheltered life. And teased for naturally reacting with self-defense and a need for control after being kept in a gilded cage. LET HER BE MAN. SHE’S COPING. Also Casteel needs to chill the F out with his peen anytime Poppy does something cool. The arousal and resulting makeouts with clashing teeth from her being powerful is confusing, weird, and distracting from her badassery. I dunno about other people but I prefer kissing with minimal teeth breaking and bashing tyvm. Sounds expensive and painful.
Also the freaking hubris, lack of open communication and straight up LIES from so many people are so frustrating in the book. I understand how she feels but Eleona. GIRL. You literally started a cold war over a god who was truly not worth it and then continued to destroy your family and had a ton of people murdered because you were embarrassed. Like damn. Also Poppy keeps getting gaslit and I’m super over it.
Maybe the first two also had a lot of these stylistic issues but I was so enthralled with the world and characters that I didn’t really care as much. But I definitely noticed during this book. 2 stars.
The writing style is a bit jarring sometimes, it’s very modern in dialogue but set in a period where running water and electricity exists but only in this magical kingdom of equality. It’s sometimes weird to hear like, Gossip Girl vocabulary level flirting and banter set in hard fantasy.
Everyone keeps dunking on Poppy for having questions after living an extremely sheltered life. And teased for naturally reacting with self-defense and a need for control after being kept in a gilded cage. LET HER BE MAN. SHE’S COPING. Also Casteel needs to chill the F out with his peen anytime Poppy does something cool. The arousal and resulting makeouts with clashing teeth from her being powerful is confusing, weird, and distracting from her badassery. I dunno about other people but I prefer kissing with minimal teeth breaking and bashing tyvm. Sounds expensive and painful.
Spoiler
The plot twists towards the end kind of come from out of left field and are kiiiind of alluded to but not really. There is a lot of setup for the 4th book and now I have to wait until next year for it to come out to resolve everything. I am impatient lol.Also the freaking hubris, lack of open communication and straight up LIES from so many people are so frustrating in the book. I understand how she feels but Eleona. GIRL. You literally started a cold war over a god who was truly not worth it and then continued to destroy your family and had a ton of people murdered because you were embarrassed. Like damn. Also Poppy keeps getting gaslit and I’m super over it.
Maybe the first two also had a lot of these stylistic issues but I was so enthralled with the world and characters that I didn’t really care as much. But I definitely noticed during this book. 2 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Kidnapping
coldbrewbookreviews's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Let me preface this review with this: I am a huge JLA fan. Bury me with her books. So this review could be a little biased.
However this book is my favorite book of all time. I have never quite had such a connection with a book before. I just finished it a few hours ago, and I haven't though about much else. I am ready to reread it, and maybe I will when it releases in 26 hours since I received an early copy (this did not affect my review) so I can read with everyone else.
I love this series, and I thought FBAA was by far the stronger book out of the first two. KOFAF was very much a second book. I still loved it because JLA, but it dragged and didn't reveal as much as I was hoping. That is because JLA was waiting to hit us with this third book. WHOA. She lets it all out in this book, and now I see why she had to extend the series. Not only did she answer so many of our questions, but she brought in new characters and new fantasy races. I'm dying for everyone else to see what shapeshifters we get the in the next however many books. They are going to be better than the wolves (sorry Kieran). The only thing (and it's so minor) that I didn't love about this book is that Kieran got on my nerves. He needs better jokes basically, and I don't fault JLA for this because I think that's just his character. He is definitely the comic relief in these books, but he needs to step up his game or get laid.
One thing I noticed is that we got a lot more fantasy in this book than the previous two books. The romance was as good as ever, but I guess since the chase was gone there was more time for fantasy and A LOT OF POLITICS which honestly I love in a fantasy novel. Give me kingdoms fighting over politics and kingdoms fighting internally over politics and I am in. Sign me up. The politics in this series have always been there, but they were ramped up in this third book.
I thought I would be sad if I didn't get that one thing I wanted out of this book, but honestly it was too good the way it was to notice. I would not change a thing about it, and I am just praying that JLA is almost done with the next book because the ending took my breath away. Literally no breath was left.
"Bow before your queen or you will bleed before her."
However this book is my favorite book of all time. I have never quite had such a connection with a book before. I just finished it a few hours ago, and I haven't though about much else. I am ready to reread it, and maybe I will when it releases in 26 hours since I received an early copy (this did not affect my review) so I can read with everyone else.
I love this series, and I thought FBAA was by far the stronger book out of the first two. KOFAF was very much a second book. I still loved it because JLA, but it dragged and didn't reveal as much as I was hoping. That is because JLA was waiting to hit us with this third book. WHOA. She lets it all out in this book, and now I see why she had to extend the series. Not only did she answer so many of our questions, but she brought in new characters and new fantasy races. I'm dying for everyone else to see what shapeshifters we get the in the next however many books. They are going to be better than the wolves (sorry Kieran). The only thing (and it's so minor) that I didn't love about this book is that Kieran got on my nerves. He needs better jokes basically, and I don't fault JLA for this because I think that's just his character. He is definitely the comic relief in these books, but he needs to step up his game or get laid.
One thing I noticed is that we got a lot more fantasy in this book than the previous two books. The romance was as good as ever, but I guess since the chase was gone there was more time for fantasy and A LOT OF POLITICS which honestly I love in a fantasy novel. Give me kingdoms fighting over politics and kingdoms fighting internally over politics and I am in. Sign me up. The politics in this series have always been there, but they were ramped up in this third book.
I thought I would be sad if I didn't get that one thing I wanted out of this book, but honestly it was too good the way it was to notice. I would not change a thing about it, and I am just praying that JLA is almost done with the next book because the ending took my breath away. Literally no breath was left.
"Bow before your queen or you will bleed before her."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Car accident, Murder, Animal death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Torture, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse
Car accident = carriage accident
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