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Flesh and Fire #4
Born of Blood and Ash
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes the thrilling conclusion to her beloved Flesh and Fire series…
The line between love and obsession has never been wider.
While Sera is finally free of Kolis and back with those she loves, not everything is calm. Memories of all she’s endured still haunt her, but Sera finally has hope for a future with the other half of her heart and soul. Nyktos desires, loves, and accepts every part of her—even the monstrous bits she still battles.
More than ever, Sera and Ash have everything under the realms to fight for, and Nyktos has no doubt Sera is fit to be the Queen of the Gods. But she must find that faith within herself if they hope to convince the other Courts to support them against Kolis and make Iliseeum and the mortal realm better, safer places for all.
But as Sera begins to piece together the importance of her bloodline and the true meaning behind the foreboding prophecy, it becomes clear that everything that has happened and is yet to come is much bigger than Kolis and his dark obsessions.
They cannot help but wonder exactly how much influence the Fates have had and what their ultimate goal is. What Sera does know for sure is that they can trust very few—including her.
A battle between the gods is brewing, and heartbreaking losses are imminent with the true Primal of Death strengthening. With a family of the heart willing to battle by their side, can Sera and Nyktos stop Kolis before he destroys the realms, or will it all disappear in a fiery inferno of blood and ash?
And the line between justice and vengeance has never been so thin.
The line between love and obsession has never been wider.
While Sera is finally free of Kolis and back with those she loves, not everything is calm. Memories of all she’s endured still haunt her, but Sera finally has hope for a future with the other half of her heart and soul. Nyktos desires, loves, and accepts every part of her—even the monstrous bits she still battles.
More than ever, Sera and Ash have everything under the realms to fight for, and Nyktos has no doubt Sera is fit to be the Queen of the Gods. But she must find that faith within herself if they hope to convince the other Courts to support them against Kolis and make Iliseeum and the mortal realm better, safer places for all.
But as Sera begins to piece together the importance of her bloodline and the true meaning behind the foreboding prophecy, it becomes clear that everything that has happened and is yet to come is much bigger than Kolis and his dark obsessions.
They cannot help but wonder exactly how much influence the Fates have had and what their ultimate goal is. What Sera does know for sure is that they can trust very few—including her.
A battle between the gods is brewing, and heartbreaking losses are imminent with the true Primal of Death strengthening. With a family of the heart willing to battle by their side, can Sera and Nyktos stop Kolis before he destroys the realms, or will it all disappear in a fiery inferno of blood and ash?
And the line between justice and vengeance has never been so thin.
768 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2024
About the author
Jennifer L. Armentrout
148 books144k followersHey Guys! Please note: I don't send out ARCs for review. If you're interested in reviewing a book of mine before release date, please contact the appropriate publisher. I also do NOT check my Goodreads email.
To email me, please use the below addy.
jenniferlarmentrout@live.com
# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Charles Town, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.
To email me, please use the below addy.
jenniferlarmentrout@live.com
# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Charles Town, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.
Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Tor, HarperCollins Avon and William Morrow, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.
She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,022 reviews
September 4, 2024
✅ Last 35%
✅ Not too much smut
✅ Romance
✅ Drakens (still in love with Nektas' daddy vibe)
✅ Secondary characters
✅🆗 Pace
✅🆗 Plot
🆗 Sera (she annoyed me in this book tbh)
🆗❌ First 65%
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: mentions of past sexual abuse and captivity, death and death of loved ones, gore, decapitation
I swear, they just pick the same 6 or 7 words for their titles. It’s getting confusing with all the Ash, Blood, Fire, Flesh and Bone…
The last 35% were really good, probably worth 4.5 stars, but the first 65% felt so long and pointless, that I can't give a higher rating than 3 stars for the book overall. I was bored for most of the first half, and it took me forever to finish it.
It saddens me so much to give this book a low rating, but this book felt so long! I had to force myself to read a few chapters every day because I kept being distracted or wanting to read something else or do something else. This book couldn’t keep my interest.
Where was the plot? This book is over 700 pages long, and the plot makes up less than 25% of it. There are a few interesting chapters here and there because Sera interacts with other characters like Veses, Callum, Kyn, or Kolis, but even those interactions don’t really make the plot progress. It’s mostly plotting against Kolis, without being able to act, and repetitive conversations and inner monologues for over 60% of the book. This book could easily have been 300 pages shorter without having any impact on the plot.
There are still info dumps and shocking revelations, new characters are dumped into the story, and new powers are explained despite this being the fourth and last book of the series. Why add so many new things and create info dumps right before the end? There were so many descriptions and explanations of everything! The damn prophecy also gets longer and more complicated, and at that point, I don’t even care anymore. I know that Sera and Ash need to deal with Kolis, but the prophecy is just annoying me at that point.
Thanks to her ascension, Sera also developed a new intuition gift, which allowed her to master new skills quickly and, sadly, a little too easily for my taste. Because of that, she instantly gets answers to many of her questions or instinctively knows how to use her new powers.
Sadly, as is the case with a few couples I love in romantasies, it annoys me how they can't seem to resist their lust for each other, even in the least appropriate moments. I love it when characters have deep feelings for each other, or when there is so much sexual tension, everyone can feel it, but there is a fine line to walk there. Having intense sexual tension is good, letting go of control and jumping each other is good, and doing it when there are crucial things to plan and talk about, or when people are waiting for them right next door, or when one of them hasn’t washed for months (#CasAndPoppy). Maybe it's just me being picky and a cranky reader, or not having enough libido to understand what it’s like to be unable to stop and think when your significant other looks at you or touches you, but I don't find this sexy or hot. I find it illogical and annoying.
***I hope the next part makes sense and that I do not appear to be an insensitive monster.***
Sera’s trauma following her time in captivity at Kolis’ palace takes a huge place in the book, and I am not the biggest fan of it. There were so many inner monologues about how Sera was traumatized because of it that it started to lose its impact after a while. Now, I am not saying that her trauma is not justified. I can only imagine how horrible what happened to her felt, and I don’t want to appear as if I am invalidating her feelings and trauma. I just feel that it takes too much room in the book and Sera’s personality, and the fact that she keeps on having those inner monologues, but also tells everyone that nothing happened and refused to talk about it made the whole trauma part less impactful after a while. Sera’s feelings are more than justified, I just feel that the author made such a big deal of it and brought it up again and again and again until it felt like Sera’s only defining trait in the first half of the book was her trauma. I got annoyed with it instead of feeling empathetic and hurt for Sera.
Then, once Sera finally started talking about it with Ash, we learned that something more happened?! Something that we didn’t read about in the previous book?! Why add this extra trauma now? It would have made more sense to me how badly she dealt with everything if I’d known from the start everything Kolis did, instead of thinking I knew (you know, because I read the previous book), only to learn that there was more when I was at 75% of the book already and frustrated with Sera already. Again, I am not saying it was nothing and that Sera shouldn’t have trauma (especially in the light of the new revelation she dropped on us), but this “new extra added trauma” feels like a last-minute addition to the list of Sera’s trauma because the author just felt like making her even more scarred by her time with Kolis.
The drakens have held a piece of my heart since the very beginning of this series, and they continue to do so. Sera’s relationship with Reaver and Jadis is so cute and wholesome, and Nektas’ daddy vibes were just perfect. I love daddy Nektas.
While this book was not my favorite of the series, it did get me excited for the final book in Poppy and Casteel’s adventure (I know there is another book planned after, but I heard it will follow Millie and Malek..?). I hope that Poppy and Cas will get to spend time with Ash, Sera, and Attes in the next book.
1. A Shadow in the Ember ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. A Light in the Flame ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. A Fire in the Flesh ⭐⭐⭐
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✅ Not too much smut
✅ Romance
✅ Drakens (still in love with Nektas' daddy vibe)
✅ Secondary characters
✅🆗 Pace
✅🆗 Plot
🆗 Sera (she annoyed me in this book tbh)
🆗❌ First 65%
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: mentions of past sexual abuse and captivity, death and death of loved ones, gore, decapitation
I swear, they just pick the same 6 or 7 words for their titles. It’s getting confusing with all the Ash, Blood, Fire, Flesh and Bone…
The last 35% were really good, probably worth 4.5 stars, but the first 65% felt so long and pointless, that I can't give a higher rating than 3 stars for the book overall. I was bored for most of the first half, and it took me forever to finish it.
It saddens me so much to give this book a low rating, but this book felt so long! I had to force myself to read a few chapters every day because I kept being distracted or wanting to read something else or do something else. This book couldn’t keep my interest.
Where was the plot? This book is over 700 pages long, and the plot makes up less than 25% of it. There are a few interesting chapters here and there because Sera interacts with other characters like Veses, Callum, Kyn, or Kolis, but even those interactions don’t really make the plot progress. It’s mostly plotting against Kolis, without being able to act, and repetitive conversations and inner monologues for over 60% of the book. This book could easily have been 300 pages shorter without having any impact on the plot.
There are still info dumps and shocking revelations, new characters are dumped into the story, and new powers are explained despite this being the fourth and last book of the series. Why add so many new things and create info dumps right before the end? There were so many descriptions and explanations of everything! The damn prophecy also gets longer and more complicated, and at that point, I don’t even care anymore. I know that Sera and Ash need to deal with Kolis, but the prophecy is just annoying me at that point.
Thanks to her ascension, Sera also developed a new intuition gift, which allowed her to master new skills quickly and, sadly, a little too easily for my taste. Because of that, she instantly gets answers to many of her questions or instinctively knows how to use her new powers.
Sadly, as is the case with a few couples I love in romantasies, it annoys me how they can't seem to resist their lust for each other, even in the least appropriate moments. I love it when characters have deep feelings for each other, or when there is so much sexual tension, everyone can feel it, but there is a fine line to walk there. Having intense sexual tension is good, letting go of control and jumping each other is good, and doing it when there are crucial things to plan and talk about, or when people are waiting for them right next door, or when one of them hasn’t washed for months (#CasAndPoppy). Maybe it's just me being picky and a cranky reader, or not having enough libido to understand what it’s like to be unable to stop and think when your significant other looks at you or touches you, but I don't find this sexy or hot. I find it illogical and annoying.
***I hope the next part makes sense and that I do not appear to be an insensitive monster.***
Sera’s trauma following her time in captivity at Kolis’ palace takes a huge place in the book, and I am not the biggest fan of it. There were so many inner monologues about how Sera was traumatized because of it that it started to lose its impact after a while. Now, I am not saying that her trauma is not justified. I can only imagine how horrible what happened to her felt, and I don’t want to appear as if I am invalidating her feelings and trauma. I just feel that it takes too much room in the book and Sera’s personality, and the fact that she keeps on having those inner monologues, but also tells everyone that nothing happened and refused to talk about it made the whole trauma part less impactful after a while. Sera’s feelings are more than justified, I just feel that the author made such a big deal of it and brought it up again and again and again until it felt like Sera’s only defining trait in the first half of the book was her trauma. I got annoyed with it instead of feeling empathetic and hurt for Sera.
Then, once Sera finally started talking about it with Ash, we learned that something more happened?! Something that we didn’t read about in the previous book?! Why add this extra trauma now? It would have made more sense to me how badly she dealt with everything if I’d known from the start everything Kolis did, instead of thinking I knew (you know, because I read the previous book), only to learn that there was more when I was at 75% of the book already and frustrated with Sera already. Again, I am not saying it was nothing and that Sera shouldn’t have trauma (especially in the light of the new revelation she dropped on us), but this “new extra added trauma” feels like a last-minute addition to the list of Sera’s trauma because the author just felt like making her even more scarred by her time with Kolis.
The drakens have held a piece of my heart since the very beginning of this series, and they continue to do so. Sera’s relationship with Reaver and Jadis is so cute and wholesome, and Nektas’ daddy vibes were just perfect. I love daddy Nektas.
While this book was not my favorite of the series, it did get me excited for the final book in Poppy and Casteel’s adventure (I know there is another book planned after, but I heard it will follow Millie and Malek..?). I hope that Poppy and Cas will get to spend time with Ash, Sera, and Attes in the next book.
1. A Shadow in the Ember ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. A Light in the Flame ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. A Fire in the Flesh ⭐⭐⭐
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August 23, 2024
I found this book exceptionally challenging to read. I was a HUGE fan of the series the first time I read it; then I spent a lot of time reading hundreds of different authors and really found my groove of what I like to see in a book.
Previously, the large blocks of text and dialogue weren’t as draining to read. But I really just found myself not caring about all the dialogue. Easily 50-60% of this book could have been culled without it impacting the story at all.
A lot of the banter was just cringe and unnecessary, e.g.
My breath caught as my emotions swelled. His features blurred. "I think I'm going to cry."
"That is not the response I was going for."
Concern filled his tone as he rose slightly.
"It's because you're being sweet!" I exclaimed, blinking tears from my eyes. "And I don't know why I'm so damn emotional. I was never this way until I met you. It's an-noying."
Ash chuckled, relief easing into his features. "It's cute."
"I completely disagree with that statement,"
There were so many examples of dialogue throughout which just felt tedious and extremely YA to read.
Virtually nothing happens for 50-60% of the book, and the fact that this the whole build up and conclusion to what needed to happen with kolis happens over one chapter? Well, it was just underwhelming.
We obviously know that Sera and Nyktos have twins, but the fact that she was pregnant so soon is just bizarre to me. The missed opportunity to have this book split into a part 1 and part 2, where you have the whole kolis conclusion and then a part 2 focussing on the pregnancy/jadis leaving/the sons growing/the plea for extending the heart mates life/the capture of the second twin (I don’t remember their names right now, sue me lol) - god it just feels like such a missed opportunity.
I do love Sera and Ash, and JLA’s world building and lore/tie in with Blood and Ash is really wonderful. But thats about all I can really praise from this book. I think some authors get too hung up on needing to write a long book with a lot of pages, and it just feels like this could have been done so much better for me.
also, edit: we still don’t know how Sera came to be known just as Nyktos’ consort, we still don’t know how they went into their stasis, we still don’t know how the gods got separated from what ends up becoming Solis (formerly Lasania). Which means, we’ll be told this through dialogue in Poppy and Casteel’s book 😩🙄
Previously, the large blocks of text and dialogue weren’t as draining to read. But I really just found myself not caring about all the dialogue. Easily 50-60% of this book could have been culled without it impacting the story at all.
A lot of the banter was just cringe and unnecessary, e.g.
My breath caught as my emotions swelled. His features blurred. "I think I'm going to cry."
"That is not the response I was going for."
Concern filled his tone as he rose slightly.
"It's because you're being sweet!" I exclaimed, blinking tears from my eyes. "And I don't know why I'm so damn emotional. I was never this way until I met you. It's an-noying."
Ash chuckled, relief easing into his features. "It's cute."
"I completely disagree with that statement,"
There were so many examples of dialogue throughout which just felt tedious and extremely YA to read.
Virtually nothing happens for 50-60% of the book, and the fact that this the whole build up and conclusion to what needed to happen with kolis happens over one chapter? Well, it was just underwhelming.
We obviously know that Sera and Nyktos have twins, but the fact that she was pregnant so soon is just bizarre to me. The missed opportunity to have this book split into a part 1 and part 2, where you have the whole kolis conclusion and then a part 2 focussing on the pregnancy/jadis leaving/the sons growing/the plea for extending the heart mates life/the capture of the second twin (I don’t remember their names right now, sue me lol) - god it just feels like such a missed opportunity.
I do love Sera and Ash, and JLA’s world building and lore/tie in with Blood and Ash is really wonderful. But thats about all I can really praise from this book. I think some authors get too hung up on needing to write a long book with a lot of pages, and it just feels like this could have been done so much better for me.
also, edit: we still don’t know how Sera came to be known just as Nyktos’ consort, we still don’t know how they went into their stasis, we still don’t know how the gods got separated from what ends up becoming Solis (formerly Lasania). Which means, we’ll be told this through dialogue in Poppy and Casteel’s book 😩🙄
Want to read
August 17, 2023FOR THE LOVE OF GOD please don't milk yet another series that was going absolutely amazing so far. I love Sera and Nyktos. Praying this doesn't end up like the FBAA shitshow.
October 13, 2023
I think they are throwing the same 5 words in a bowl and randomly picking out 2 for the titles of these books.
September 5, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
''And I knew there would always be us. Together. Always''
Safety warnings:
- No cheating
- No OW/OM drama
- PTSD/Trauma
- Mention of assault
- Mention of abuse
- Mention of loss of loved ones
- Mention of parental neglect
- HEA (but cliffhanger for the main plot points - FBAA endgame)
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
Tbh I thought about why it took me so long to write my review and I am not over the fact that their series is over. This was my favorite series by Jla and Ash/Sera have become my ultimate book couple.
Saying goodbye is bittersweet and not necessary in a way since they will be in the last FBAA book, and I bet you they also show up in Millie's book and who knows maybe Jla will give us a few short stories about them.
We get a lot, and I mean A LOT of answers in this book. Mostly everything is explained but there are obviously some things that will need to wait for the last Poppy/Cas book before we find out.
Ash and Sera thankfully spend the entire time in this book together and not separated. Seeing Ash be so open about his love for her and not only with her but with everyone else was such a massive contrast to what we were used to from him and how he was in the first book. He has grown and is allowing himself the happiness and pleasures he truly deserves.
Sera, however, my heart broke for her. She was in denial and in a state of constant trauma induced moments from her time with Kolis. We find out more about what truly happened to him, and we now know he assaulted her with his hand. Jla did an amazing job showing us how Sera was dealing and how long it lasted before she was able to accept what happened and find peace. I am glad it was not swept under the rug and pushed aside, I wanted to see her truly overcome and understand that it happened and even if it was not as bad as it was for many others, it still happened and it still harmed her.
We meet a few new characters in this book: Aydun the ancient who is answering the summons since we now know Ancients are Arae and Holland can no longer show favoritism towards Sera so he cannot answer her summons.
We also get confirmation that Holland and Penellaphe are together, in love and she is pregnant.....WILLA???? It was not confirmed but I am hoping it is her.
Veses and Kyn die, and it was great to see those two fuckers get what they deserve.
Attes being the one to kill his twin brother was sad for HIM, but it needed to be done, and he knew it too and accepted his brothers fate. While Sera kills Veses even though we see how Veses truly never thought Sera would do it...which was crazy cause sweetie you know Sera does not give a fuck.
Sera is obviously pregnant but it takes her forever to realize that and I knew because it took that long (almost towards the end of the book) that we won’t be seeing the twins being born and seeing them with their parents which was one of the only things I truly truly wanted but I hope she writes a few short stories about all that (as she mentioned she might in a Zoom live chat).
I loved Ash's reaction to her pregnancy; he truly was amazed and happy. Something neither of them thought would ever occur for them so it really sucks to know their sons are the reasons for so many things in the FBAA timeline.
''Sera, I don't think I've ever wanted something more''
''I know we will love them just as fiercely as we love each other''
''We're going to be parents''
Honestly this whole entire conversation and chapter made me cry with them. You could feel how joyful this moment was and how damn happy they were.
There is an explanation as to why the twins were born in the mortal realm and it was not at all what I expected but it makes sense.
We get to see how the primals change and how Ash and Sera's group of friends become the new primals of those courts.
Attes has decided to go into stasis after the death of his brother and Kolis's entombment. He is passing off his court to Lailah which he reveals to Sera he is in love with but he also lets her know he loved Sotoria too but he never pursued that ever because it was never the right thing to do.....so my money is on the fact Laylah and him finally get together later when he wakes up and live happy ever after because Jla said that Attes is the descendant of Cas and how could he had kids when he was in stasis and when he woke up who was it??? LAILAH it must be.
We also have clear confirmation that Poppy is Sotoria reborn - Jla revealed that she is Sotoria reborn but she is also just Poppy so it is not like she is just Sotoria which would have made things super awkward with Attes and Cas lol
I should mention that if you have gotten this fat into the review that there is a lot that happens in this book and writing it all down would have me spend days on here, so I am just writing whatever comes to my mind.
Sera and Ash's planning to not bow to Kolis and eventually entomb Kolis came at a massive price, and we saw firsthand what it was....
Kolis gave the order to kill Sera's entire family and her town. Everyone is dead. Her stepsister and wife, mother, her people are all gone which causes Sera to lose control and destroy more of it herself and kill without thought. It's heartbreaking and I was crying during the chapters. I hate how Ezra had to die, and they had just reunited after Sera came back to see her, we also got a small, tiny bit of redemption for her mother who wanted to have a relationship with Sera, and it never happened.
Ash, however, lets her know that he made sure her mother's soul was with her father once again. A small reprieve for the pain, I guess.
The final battle before Kolis is locked away for good was intense and I am glad we did not lose anything more of the people we have come to love. Though the star which had Sotoria's soul was stolen, and you know damn well who it was.
That last chapter where we are seeing what happens in the upcoming centuries after Kolis is entombed is ominous. Calum is the one who stole the star and went off and hid away, abiding his time before he could set things in motion. He is the reason for many of the things that also happen in the future, it was not just Malec's stupidity, but Calum was the one who told EVERYTHING to Isbitch. (Jla once again confirms this).
The one thing that shocked me because it means what we truly believed in FBAA was even a lie to us was that the Primals and gods went to sleep BEFORE Malec was in the mortal realms but it is not true….so you see when Sera goes apeshit and kills everyone, losing control she makes Ash promise her that he would stop her next time something like this happens so she will be stopped and cannot cause any harm. She makes him promise he will force her into stasis which he does only because she demands it out of sheer fear.
So, we find out that Sera went to sleep BECAUSE of what happens to Malec and/or Ires and if left awake would cause absolute destruction to the world that harmed her children which means Ash forced her into stasis and as she is the true primal of life, her stasis caused the other gods and primals to follow suit. Which is why Nektas tells Poppy that the only way to wake her up is by bringing back Ires because then she would be controlled in her emotions and be able to not destroy.
Ash was forced to place her so she would not seek vengeance. Absolute HEARTBREAK.
A few other things that happened or were revealed:
- We find out that the first ever human created is Sotoria's ancestor and that Sera is related to Sotoria through a long line of ancestors.
- Aios and Belle's relationship is explored further, and we find out more about how they got together and how in love they are
- Jadis and Reaver being adorable
- Kolis's arm band does not have a horse like Ash's but a fucking DRAGON (which makes me think so does Sera’s, but we did not get to see that)
- Sera transforms into her cave cat notam
- An Ancient is deliberately doing things to allow for the Ancients to wake up and return but we do not know who
AND ANOTHER THING THAT MADE ME GASP SO DAMN LOUDLY
Sera makes Viktor promise to protect Sotoria when she is reborn, for him specifically the first and original Viktor to be her guard. And since Sotoria was reborn in Poppy that means that Viktor was the ORIGINAL and his last words to her before he died about failing were even deeper than we ever knew. Holy shit.
Oh, and we also get a lot more backstory to him and how he came to be and wow the connection!
Overall, I loved this, I loved this series. It was a hell of a ride, and we are not even in the endgame.
————————————————-
The cover!!!! So beautiful 😭
—————————————————
Sera and Ash are superior and I always wanted more of them!
The fact that we get another one to truly wrap things up properly makes me beyond happy 🎉
Daddy Nyktos 🔥❤️🔥
''And I knew there would always be us. Together. Always''
Safety warnings:
- No cheating
- No OW/OM drama
- PTSD/Trauma
- Mention of assault
- Mention of abuse
- Mention of loss of loved ones
- Mention of parental neglect
- HEA (but cliffhanger for the main plot points - FBAA endgame)
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
SPOILERS BELOW ⬇️
Tbh I thought about why it took me so long to write my review and I am not over the fact that their series is over. This was my favorite series by Jla and Ash/Sera have become my ultimate book couple.
Saying goodbye is bittersweet and not necessary in a way since they will be in the last FBAA book, and I bet you they also show up in Millie's book and who knows maybe Jla will give us a few short stories about them.
We get a lot, and I mean A LOT of answers in this book. Mostly everything is explained but there are obviously some things that will need to wait for the last Poppy/Cas book before we find out.
Ash and Sera thankfully spend the entire time in this book together and not separated. Seeing Ash be so open about his love for her and not only with her but with everyone else was such a massive contrast to what we were used to from him and how he was in the first book. He has grown and is allowing himself the happiness and pleasures he truly deserves.
Sera, however, my heart broke for her. She was in denial and in a state of constant trauma induced moments from her time with Kolis. We find out more about what truly happened to him, and we now know he assaulted her with his hand. Jla did an amazing job showing us how Sera was dealing and how long it lasted before she was able to accept what happened and find peace. I am glad it was not swept under the rug and pushed aside, I wanted to see her truly overcome and understand that it happened and even if it was not as bad as it was for many others, it still happened and it still harmed her.
We meet a few new characters in this book: Aydun the ancient who is answering the summons since we now know Ancients are Arae and Holland can no longer show favoritism towards Sera so he cannot answer her summons.
We also get confirmation that Holland and Penellaphe are together, in love and she is pregnant.....WILLA???? It was not confirmed but I am hoping it is her.
Veses and Kyn die, and it was great to see those two fuckers get what they deserve.
Attes being the one to kill his twin brother was sad for HIM, but it needed to be done, and he knew it too and accepted his brothers fate. While Sera kills Veses even though we see how Veses truly never thought Sera would do it...which was crazy cause sweetie you know Sera does not give a fuck.
Sera is obviously pregnant but it takes her forever to realize that and I knew because it took that long (almost towards the end of the book) that we won’t be seeing the twins being born and seeing them with their parents which was one of the only things I truly truly wanted but I hope she writes a few short stories about all that (as she mentioned she might in a Zoom live chat).
I loved Ash's reaction to her pregnancy; he truly was amazed and happy. Something neither of them thought would ever occur for them so it really sucks to know their sons are the reasons for so many things in the FBAA timeline.
''Sera, I don't think I've ever wanted something more''
''I know we will love them just as fiercely as we love each other''
''We're going to be parents''
Honestly this whole entire conversation and chapter made me cry with them. You could feel how joyful this moment was and how damn happy they were.
There is an explanation as to why the twins were born in the mortal realm and it was not at all what I expected but it makes sense.
We get to see how the primals change and how Ash and Sera's group of friends become the new primals of those courts.
Attes has decided to go into stasis after the death of his brother and Kolis's entombment. He is passing off his court to Lailah which he reveals to Sera he is in love with but he also lets her know he loved Sotoria too but he never pursued that ever because it was never the right thing to do.....so my money is on the fact Laylah and him finally get together later when he wakes up and live happy ever after because Jla said that Attes is the descendant of Cas and how could he had kids when he was in stasis and when he woke up who was it??? LAILAH it must be.
We also have clear confirmation that Poppy is Sotoria reborn - Jla revealed that she is Sotoria reborn but she is also just Poppy so it is not like she is just Sotoria which would have made things super awkward with Attes and Cas lol
I should mention that if you have gotten this fat into the review that there is a lot that happens in this book and writing it all down would have me spend days on here, so I am just writing whatever comes to my mind.
Sera and Ash's planning to not bow to Kolis and eventually entomb Kolis came at a massive price, and we saw firsthand what it was....
Kolis gave the order to kill Sera's entire family and her town. Everyone is dead. Her stepsister and wife, mother, her people are all gone which causes Sera to lose control and destroy more of it herself and kill without thought. It's heartbreaking and I was crying during the chapters. I hate how Ezra had to die, and they had just reunited after Sera came back to see her, we also got a small, tiny bit of redemption for her mother who wanted to have a relationship with Sera, and it never happened.
Ash, however, lets her know that he made sure her mother's soul was with her father once again. A small reprieve for the pain, I guess.
The final battle before Kolis is locked away for good was intense and I am glad we did not lose anything more of the people we have come to love. Though the star which had Sotoria's soul was stolen, and you know damn well who it was.
That last chapter where we are seeing what happens in the upcoming centuries after Kolis is entombed is ominous. Calum is the one who stole the star and went off and hid away, abiding his time before he could set things in motion. He is the reason for many of the things that also happen in the future, it was not just Malec's stupidity, but Calum was the one who told EVERYTHING to Isbitch. (Jla once again confirms this).
The one thing that shocked me because it means what we truly believed in FBAA was even a lie to us was that the Primals and gods went to sleep BEFORE Malec was in the mortal realms but it is not true….so you see when Sera goes apeshit and kills everyone, losing control she makes Ash promise her that he would stop her next time something like this happens so she will be stopped and cannot cause any harm. She makes him promise he will force her into stasis which he does only because she demands it out of sheer fear.
So, we find out that Sera went to sleep BECAUSE of what happens to Malec and/or Ires and if left awake would cause absolute destruction to the world that harmed her children which means Ash forced her into stasis and as she is the true primal of life, her stasis caused the other gods and primals to follow suit. Which is why Nektas tells Poppy that the only way to wake her up is by bringing back Ires because then she would be controlled in her emotions and be able to not destroy.
Ash was forced to place her so she would not seek vengeance. Absolute HEARTBREAK.
A few other things that happened or were revealed:
- We find out that the first ever human created is Sotoria's ancestor and that Sera is related to Sotoria through a long line of ancestors.
- Aios and Belle's relationship is explored further, and we find out more about how they got together and how in love they are
- Jadis and Reaver being adorable
- Kolis's arm band does not have a horse like Ash's but a fucking DRAGON (which makes me think so does Sera’s, but we did not get to see that)
- Sera transforms into her cave cat notam
- An Ancient is deliberately doing things to allow for the Ancients to wake up and return but we do not know who
AND ANOTHER THING THAT MADE ME GASP SO DAMN LOUDLY
Sera makes Viktor promise to protect Sotoria when she is reborn, for him specifically the first and original Viktor to be her guard. And since Sotoria was reborn in Poppy that means that Viktor was the ORIGINAL and his last words to her before he died about failing were even deeper than we ever knew. Holy shit.
Oh, and we also get a lot more backstory to him and how he came to be and wow the connection!
Overall, I loved this, I loved this series. It was a hell of a ride, and we are not even in the endgame.
————————————————-
The cover!!!! So beautiful 😭
—————————————————
Sera and Ash are superior and I always wanted more of them!
The fact that we get another one to truly wrap things up properly makes me beyond happy 🎉
Daddy Nyktos 🔥❤️🔥
October 6, 2024
4.5 ⭐️ You could never make me hate this book series… I love you Nyktos & Sera (& the drakkens)🖤
September 27, 2024
“You are my wife. My fucking everything. I’ve told you this before, and it remains the same. There is nothing you could do that would ever change what I see or how I feel when I look at you.”
Spice: ⭐⭐⭐⭐,5
I know that not a lot of people like this series (or the original), but to me these books are amazing. Sure, they’re not perfect, by any means, but I still love them so much. To begin with, Born of Blood and Ash has a fantastic plot. I admit that the whole prophecy thing and the way the prequel story and the original come together is a bit of a headache, but I had a ton of fun trying to figure everything out. I really liked the foreshadowing and parallels to Poppy’s story. In the previous books, particularly the first one, there had been an overwhelming number of parallels which made me feel almost as if I was reading the same story just with different characters. Thankfully, there was much less in this book. What’s more, I admit the plot was a little predictable at times, but there were moments I did not see coming at all as well. In my opinion, that’s a pretty well-thought-out story.
What’s also very well thought out is the world-building and lore. The world had such an intricate political system, with a lot of conflict between courts. There were a lot of rules that needed to be followed. It was very interesting seeing the way the characters tried to work around them, and find loopholes. It was even more interesting to see the consequences of their actions after a bad call. Besides, the lore is one of my favorite things about both the series. It takes the basic essence of vampire lore and mixes it with godly rules and powers. It’s such a simple yet fascinating idea. I loved it while I was reading Poppy’s story, and I loved it with Sera’s.
Moreover, as wonderful as this book is, there is sadly something I didn’t like. The writing of this series has never been the best. There was always something off, usually when it came to the dialogue. Sometimes it was a little cringe (but nothing too bad), and others a tad unrealistic. It was as if it’d be unlikely that a person would say a sentence in the way the author had written it. Plainly, the dialogue felt awkward. There was a lot more of it in this book than any other. Not to mention that the way the author blended the old way of speaking with the modern one was not entirely successful either. Fortunately, that was the only thing that stood out to me in a negative way.
In addition, Sera and Nyktos will live in my head rent free forever. I love them, their relationship, and their character arcs so much. Sera is as amazing as she has ever been. I will never get tired of beautiful, badass, and violent women. Never. Sera is no exception. Her character arc in this book especially blew my mind as easily as it broke my heart. After what she’d experienced at the hands of disgusting pervert Kolis, she was left deeply traumatized. I was so inspired by her healing journey, which, in many ways, was even more difficult to accomplish than defeating her foes.
As for Nyktos, he deserves an award for the perfect fictional male lead. Just like I will never get tired of female characters like Sera, I also will never get tired of fictional love interests like Nyktos. I don’t care how many times I read about a male character being supportive, protective, and feral over their girl, it will always be my cup of tea. On top of that, Nyktos had his own healing addressed in this book. He was also deeply traumatized by what Kolis had done to him. He had never been comfortable with the touch of another or even feeding from someone until Sera came along. He had to face these fears for Sera’s sake, and if that’s not the sweetest, bravest thing ever I don’t know what is.
Lastly, I loved so many of the secondary characters, but as I’ve said before the best one will always be Reaver, and that applies to Poppy’s series as well. I’m not known to be fond of kids in general (except my niece and nephews), but there’s a special place in my heart for lovable fictional kids. Reaver is the cutest boy, he is too smart and perceptive for his age, he is loyal, and he loves Sera and Nyktos more than anyone else. Every time I saw his name appear on the page I wanted to pinch his cheeks. Nektas is a close second, he’s literally everyone’s dragon daddy and I love him for it. That being said, as much as I hate Kolis with everything I have, the man is absolutely revolting, I must admit that his villain origin story is on point. You have to appreciate a character that started out as benevolent only to end up a violent creep. The same goes for Kyn and Veses, although they both disgust me as much as Kolis does.
Spice: ⭐⭐⭐⭐,5
I know that not a lot of people like this series (or the original), but to me these books are amazing. Sure, they’re not perfect, by any means, but I still love them so much. To begin with, Born of Blood and Ash has a fantastic plot. I admit that the whole prophecy thing and the way the prequel story and the original come together is a bit of a headache, but I had a ton of fun trying to figure everything out. I really liked the foreshadowing and parallels to Poppy’s story. In the previous books, particularly the first one, there had been an overwhelming number of parallels which made me feel almost as if I was reading the same story just with different characters. Thankfully, there was much less in this book. What’s more, I admit the plot was a little predictable at times, but there were moments I did not see coming at all as well. In my opinion, that’s a pretty well-thought-out story.
What’s also very well thought out is the world-building and lore. The world had such an intricate political system, with a lot of conflict between courts. There were a lot of rules that needed to be followed. It was very interesting seeing the way the characters tried to work around them, and find loopholes. It was even more interesting to see the consequences of their actions after a bad call. Besides, the lore is one of my favorite things about both the series. It takes the basic essence of vampire lore and mixes it with godly rules and powers. It’s such a simple yet fascinating idea. I loved it while I was reading Poppy’s story, and I loved it with Sera’s.
Moreover, as wonderful as this book is, there is sadly something I didn’t like. The writing of this series has never been the best. There was always something off, usually when it came to the dialogue. Sometimes it was a little cringe (but nothing too bad), and others a tad unrealistic. It was as if it’d be unlikely that a person would say a sentence in the way the author had written it. Plainly, the dialogue felt awkward. There was a lot more of it in this book than any other. Not to mention that the way the author blended the old way of speaking with the modern one was not entirely successful either. Fortunately, that was the only thing that stood out to me in a negative way.
In addition, Sera and Nyktos will live in my head rent free forever. I love them, their relationship, and their character arcs so much. Sera is as amazing as she has ever been. I will never get tired of beautiful, badass, and violent women. Never. Sera is no exception. Her character arc in this book especially blew my mind as easily as it broke my heart. After what she’d experienced at the hands of disgusting pervert Kolis, she was left deeply traumatized. I was so inspired by her healing journey, which, in many ways, was even more difficult to accomplish than defeating her foes.
As for Nyktos, he deserves an award for the perfect fictional male lead. Just like I will never get tired of female characters like Sera, I also will never get tired of fictional love interests like Nyktos. I don’t care how many times I read about a male character being supportive, protective, and feral over their girl, it will always be my cup of tea. On top of that, Nyktos had his own healing addressed in this book. He was also deeply traumatized by what Kolis had done to him. He had never been comfortable with the touch of another or even feeding from someone until Sera came along. He had to face these fears for Sera’s sake, and if that’s not the sweetest, bravest thing ever I don’t know what is.
Lastly, I loved so many of the secondary characters, but as I’ve said before the best one will always be Reaver, and that applies to Poppy’s series as well. I’m not known to be fond of kids in general (except my niece and nephews), but there’s a special place in my heart for lovable fictional kids. Reaver is the cutest boy, he is too smart and perceptive for his age, he is loyal, and he loves Sera and Nyktos more than anyone else. Every time I saw his name appear on the page I wanted to pinch his cheeks. Nektas is a close second, he’s literally everyone’s dragon daddy and I love him for it. That being said, as much as I hate Kolis with everything I have, the man is absolutely revolting, I must admit that his villain origin story is on point. You have to appreciate a character that started out as benevolent only to end up a violent creep. The same goes for Kyn and Veses, although they both disgust me as much as Kolis does.
August 15, 2024
DNF’ed at 17% 😷
y’all, i can’t deal with JLA’s writing anymore. tell me why i got over 100 pages into this book, and literally nothing has happened. i’m so fucking bored!
the writing is so cyclical and repetitive, it makes me want to yank my hair out. i’m truly just reading the same shit over and over again. i’m convinced that JLA’s books are so long simply because she fills them with a thousand variations of the exact same sentence.
it sucks, because i really hate DNF’ing books, but this novel is over 700 pages long and the idea of suffering through another 600 of them makes me want to jump off a bridge. quite frankly, i love myself way too much to put myself through any more of this torture.
good fucking riddance!
y’all, i can’t deal with JLA’s writing anymore. tell me why i got over 100 pages into this book, and literally nothing has happened. i’m so fucking bored!
the writing is so cyclical and repetitive, it makes me want to yank my hair out. i’m truly just reading the same shit over and over again. i’m convinced that JLA’s books are so long simply because she fills them with a thousand variations of the exact same sentence.
it sucks, because i really hate DNF’ing books, but this novel is over 700 pages long and the idea of suffering through another 600 of them makes me want to jump off a bridge. quite frankly, i love myself way too much to put myself through any more of this torture.
good fucking riddance!
August 17, 2024
DNF @ 11% - A new low.
I want to start by saying that once upon a time, the 1st and 2nd Flesh and Fire books were my all time faves. I was beyond excited for the 3rd that was supposed to end the series.
But JLA took a money grab and produced the wreck that was book 3 so she could stretch out into 4 books.
Now I finally have the conclusion to the series and I can’t even get through it. Yet more paragraphs and paragraphs of Sera overthinking. Nyktos’ entire personality is missing? I’ve read almost 100 pages, nothing has happened AND WHERE ARE ALL THE OTHER, VIBRANT CHARACTERS. It’s basically been a conversation between Nyktos and Sera that recaps everything of the last few books- just include a damn recap if you want that.
Also, the writing is so so poor. JLA used to be one of my favourite authors but this is so bland and ramble-y.
I genuinely don’t even think I’ll finish the FBAA series now, I’m just over it and I don’t think I’d be able to approach it fairly anymore.
I want to start by saying that once upon a time, the 1st and 2nd Flesh and Fire books were my all time faves. I was beyond excited for the 3rd that was supposed to end the series.
But JLA took a money grab and produced the wreck that was book 3 so she could stretch out into 4 books.
Now I finally have the conclusion to the series and I can’t even get through it. Yet more paragraphs and paragraphs of Sera overthinking. Nyktos’ entire personality is missing? I’ve read almost 100 pages, nothing has happened AND WHERE ARE ALL THE OTHER, VIBRANT CHARACTERS. It’s basically been a conversation between Nyktos and Sera that recaps everything of the last few books- just include a damn recap if you want that.
Also, the writing is so so poor. JLA used to be one of my favourite authors but this is so bland and ramble-y.
I genuinely don’t even think I’ll finish the FBAA series now, I’m just over it and I don’t think I’d be able to approach it fairly anymore.
October 31, 2024
"How did I get so lucky to have your love?"
"You weren't lucky, liessa." Ash's lips brushed mine. "I was."
4.25 stars
This was a pretty good conclusion to this prequel series, and it's getting me even more pumped up for the remainder of the Blood and Ash series ❤️🔥 Fantasizing about Endgame level conclusion 😍
As always, JLA's writing is so easy to read and makes her stories a level up from most imo. The sequences that she writes are so realistic and so easy to picture, it just makes the impact of what's happening that much greater.
I will say I had a couple smaller issues with this one. I didn't have the pace that I felt the first two books had, and it had some characteristics of the third book I didn't like. The middle was a little slower and a lot of what was happening was very repetitive. She'd have a nightmare, wake up screaming, Ash would practically beg her to talk to him, and she's say nothing's wrong. Obviously she went through something very traumatic, and I love reading about characters navigating their way back to a better mental health state, but her refusal to deal with what happened and confide in Ash really starting to get irritating, probably because it happened several times.
There's a portion in the middle that really rips your heart out. It was a heartbreaking twist and really lined up the rest of the book and it took off from there. And I definitely teared up a bit, especially with a certain scene with Sera, Nektas, Reaver, and Jadis 😭
And then the ending wasn't quite what I was hoping for. JLA geared us up for a pretty explosive ending, and there were explosive qualities, but the ending fight didn't take up much time, but I'm thinking the Blood and Ash series is probably going to turn into quite the war epic with everything coming back.
PS I'm also a huge fan of Attes and just want to give him the biggest hug 🥺
I'm sticking with my original assessment. Hawke is superior in every way and I can't wait to get back to their story once Kolis comes back and is trying to get to Poppy. Because we know Hawke will absolutely destroy that motherfucker for so much as looking at her 🫠
"You weren't lucky, liessa." Ash's lips brushed mine. "I was."
4.25 stars
This was a pretty good conclusion to this prequel series, and it's getting me even more pumped up for the remainder of the Blood and Ash series ❤️🔥 Fantasizing about Endgame level conclusion 😍
As always, JLA's writing is so easy to read and makes her stories a level up from most imo. The sequences that she writes are so realistic and so easy to picture, it just makes the impact of what's happening that much greater.
I will say I had a couple smaller issues with this one. I didn't have the pace that I felt the first two books had, and it had some characteristics of the third book I didn't like. The middle was a little slower and a lot of what was happening was very repetitive. She'd have a nightmare, wake up screaming, Ash would practically beg her to talk to him, and she's say nothing's wrong. Obviously she went through something very traumatic, and I love reading about characters navigating their way back to a better mental health state, but her refusal to deal with what happened and confide in Ash really starting to get irritating, probably because it happened several times.
There's a portion in the middle that really rips your heart out. It was a heartbreaking twist and really lined up the rest of the book and it took off from there. And I definitely teared up a bit, especially with a certain scene with Sera, Nektas, Reaver, and Jadis 😭
And then the ending wasn't quite what I was hoping for. JLA geared us up for a pretty explosive ending, and there were explosive qualities, but the ending fight didn't take up much time, but I'm thinking the Blood and Ash series is probably going to turn into quite the war epic with everything coming back.
PS I'm also a huge fan of Attes and just want to give him the biggest hug 🥺
I'm sticking with my original assessment. Hawke is superior in every way and I can't wait to get back to their story once Kolis comes back and is trying to get to Poppy. Because we know Hawke will absolutely destroy that motherfucker for so much as looking at her 🫠
September 5, 2024
⊹ ⁺ ₊ ✧
Born of Blood and Ash
┊
4 stars
✧ ₊ ⁺ ⊹
☆₊⋆ → thoughts┊I knew what I was getting myself into but I HAD to finish the series for my own closure😭
☆₊⋆ → writing┊Repetitive. I don’t know if I started picking up on it now or if it’s more prevalent in this book, but the quality of writing is mediocre. I usually don’t mind sloppy writing but it kept catching me off guard and distracting me from the plotand that’s coming from someone who rated a few of the zodiac academy books 5 stars (if you know you know).
⋆╰┈✩ The dialogue and back-and-forth is awful. So boring, cringe and pointless.
⋆╰┈✩ They just had to use the p word 🐱
☆₊⋆ → plot┊Every time something slightly interesting was happening they got so horny and just had to fuck. Like pls can we focus on the topic at hand for once.
⋆╰┈✩ I dreaded reading the last 10% cause everything was building up to that point, and I already knew it would disappoint as it was only 10% of the book.
☆₊⋆ → characters┊I didn’t expect Sera to be so emotionally vulnerable. Her character development throughout the series is amazing. It’s what changed my rating from a 3 star to a 4 star for this book.
✧⋄⋆ pre-read notes ⋆⋄✧
⤷ 24/08/24 ┊I’ve been putting off reading this book because I ate the first 2 books up but… idk if this book is going to be for me. I’ve gotten really sick of the repetitiveness and recycled plot. We’ll see🫡
౨ৎ happy reading ౨ৎ
☆₊⋆ → thoughts┊I knew what I was getting myself into but I HAD to finish the series for my own closure😭
☆₊⋆ → writing┊Repetitive. I don’t know if I started picking up on it now or if it’s more prevalent in this book, but the quality of writing is mediocre. I usually don’t mind sloppy writing but it kept catching me off guard and distracting me from the plot
⋆╰┈✩ The dialogue and back-and-forth is awful. So boring, cringe and pointless.
⋆╰┈✩ They just had to use the p word 🐱
☆₊⋆ → plot┊Every time something slightly interesting was happening they got so horny and just had to fuck. Like pls can we focus on the topic at hand for once.
⋆╰┈✩ I dreaded reading the last 10% cause everything was building up to that point, and I already knew it would disappoint as it was only 10% of the book.
☆₊⋆ → characters┊I didn’t expect Sera to be so emotionally vulnerable. Her character development throughout the series is amazing. It’s what changed my rating from a 3 star to a 4 star for this book.
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄☆⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
✧⋄⋆ pre-read notes ⋆⋄✧
⤷ 24/08/24 ┊I’ve been putting off reading this book because I ate the first 2 books up but… idk if this book is going to be for me. I’ve gotten really sick of the repetitiveness and recycled plot. We’ll see🫡
౨ৎ happy reading ౨ৎ
August 20, 2024
4.5/5⭐
Well, this was a wild, long-winded emotional ride and I enjoyed every second. I will write something close to a review later but I just needed to say that I love Sera, Nyktos, and everyone in their inner circle so much and this series is an all-time fave 🥹💖
Well, this was a wild, long-winded emotional ride and I enjoyed every second. I will write something close to a review later but I just needed to say that I love Sera, Nyktos, and everyone in their inner circle so much and this series is an all-time fave 🥹💖
August 11, 2024
3.5/5 ⭐️
As much as I like Nyktos and Sera, I never loved them as much as I do Cas and Poppy. With that being said, I just couldn’t get into this. It felt like a large majority of this one was iust explaining how everything worked. There were so many descriptions all the time. I really think it would’ve been better combined with the last book. It was too dragged out sadly. I liked certain parts for sure and I do love the relationship that Sera and Nyktos have but it wasn’t enough to keep me hooked and interested. I enjoyed the ending but I am even more excited for the next Cas and Poppy book!
As much as I like Nyktos and Sera, I never loved them as much as I do Cas and Poppy. With that being said, I just couldn’t get into this. It felt like a large majority of this one was iust explaining how everything worked. There were so many descriptions all the time. I really think it would’ve been better combined with the last book. It was too dragged out sadly. I liked certain parts for sure and I do love the relationship that Sera and Nyktos have but it wasn’t enough to keep me hooked and interested. I enjoyed the ending but I am even more excited for the next Cas and Poppy book!
August 14, 2024
This is the worst blood and ash universe book yet. I’m 200 pages in and the dialogue is so cringey idk if I can finish it and it’s been a LONG time since I wasn’t able to finish a book. PLEASE stop using modern vernacular in these ancient text seeming books. Also, the extensive descriptions of food/coffee orders (and clothing choices from the bonded books) are also a deterrent. That’s all.
Want to read
February 26, 2024I told myself ill start this series when the final book comes out but does anyone one know how many more book there are? because i was told it was a trilogy 😩
August 19, 2024
IF you’re reading this review to decide if you’d like to read this book, I would strongly advise you to do a heavy refresher in FBAA before proceeding. There’s a ton of info here that’s hugely important….if you can remember who these people are and why it matters.
*im going to start this by saying that JLA was one of my favorite authors.
It took probably 30% of the book before I could finally sink into this story.
The last book was another 2 start rating for me, almost for the same reason.
But to stick to this book, I’ll say that it was the most drawn out, confusing, info-dumped read I’ve ever experienced.
The story of nyktos and sera was one of my absolute favs, but this book was a train wreck.
It goes on FOR. EVER.
Just mindless chatter.
Constant unimportant dialogue.
The language doesn’t match some of the characters. There is so much focus on world building and plot building that the plot actually becomes lost entirely and you’re stuck scratching your head trying to figure out
1- why is this relevant?
And 2- wtf is even happening right now?
Maybe it’s just me, but if you wanted to be utterly confused about family lines and fantasy lands, this is the book for you.
Things FINALLY pick up at 60%, if you’ve managed to stay the course for that long.
But even then, it’s a constant battle where people are running all over the place and nothing makes sense. It’s stressful AF. We have like, CHAOS then *NOTHING* then CHAOS then *NOTHING* and it just keeps going on and on and on and on.
Then there’s the *thing* that WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR between the two main characters and it’s kind of just glossed over. It’s not given the detail or attention that I would have anticipated because HELLO…this is the backstory to FBAA.
This whole book is like.
Imagine you pay $50 for a movie ticket and then you get there and watch 2 hours of trailers, and then they turn the movie on at the 60% mark and you have no idea what’s happening and then they hit fast forward and zoom through the end.
That’s what happened.
The best part about this book is that it’s so big it could also double as a weapon. 🤷🏽♀️
But honestly it makes me so sad.
I LOVE this series and FBAA and this book answers questions but not in the way I would’ve dreamed. 😔
And it’s such a wordy read that I can’t bring myself to reread it right now, despite the fact that I really want to because I really want to understand.
I skimmed like, the entire book.
I couldn’t bring myself to DNF it because I have so much love for these two series, but I just kept hoping it was going to get better.
To a degree, it did, but not before I’d basically lost all hope.
*im going to start this by saying that JLA was one of my favorite authors.
It took probably 30% of the book before I could finally sink into this story.
The last book was another 2 start rating for me, almost for the same reason.
But to stick to this book, I’ll say that it was the most drawn out, confusing, info-dumped read I’ve ever experienced.
The story of nyktos and sera was one of my absolute favs, but this book was a train wreck.
It goes on FOR. EVER.
Just mindless chatter.
Constant unimportant dialogue.
The language doesn’t match some of the characters. There is so much focus on world building and plot building that the plot actually becomes lost entirely and you’re stuck scratching your head trying to figure out
1- why is this relevant?
And 2- wtf is even happening right now?
Maybe it’s just me, but if you wanted to be utterly confused about family lines and fantasy lands, this is the book for you.
Things FINALLY pick up at 60%, if you’ve managed to stay the course for that long.
But even then, it’s a constant battle where people are running all over the place and nothing makes sense. It’s stressful AF. We have like, CHAOS then *NOTHING* then CHAOS then *NOTHING* and it just keeps going on and on and on and on.
Then there’s the *thing* that WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR between the two main characters and it’s kind of just glossed over. It’s not given the detail or attention that I would have anticipated because HELLO…this is the backstory to FBAA.
This whole book is like.
Imagine you pay $50 for a movie ticket and then you get there and watch 2 hours of trailers, and then they turn the movie on at the 60% mark and you have no idea what’s happening and then they hit fast forward and zoom through the end.
That’s what happened.
The best part about this book is that it’s so big it could also double as a weapon. 🤷🏽♀️
But honestly it makes me so sad.
I LOVE this series and FBAA and this book answers questions but not in the way I would’ve dreamed. 😔
And it’s such a wordy read that I can’t bring myself to reread it right now, despite the fact that I really want to because I really want to understand.
I skimmed like, the entire book.
I couldn’t bring myself to DNF it because I have so much love for these two series, but I just kept hoping it was going to get better.
To a degree, it did, but not before I’d basically lost all hope.
August 15, 2024
Such a cash grab publication, there’s no substance to it, it should just have ended at the book 3 after she ascended and killed Kilos. But nooooo, you wanted to dive into the trauma but the she’s failing at capturing the trauma in the book and rather downplay things and resort to sex when things gets tough? Not a book to recommend. The sex is repetitive.
Shelved as 'kindle-tbr'
August 16, 2023Here come the dumbass complaining haters...
Shelved as 'unreleased'
November 3, 2023ok i need book 4 stat!!
but please god. don't let her be pregnant already. please please i CANNOT do the pregnancy trope right now.
(not loving the title though because i keep getting it confused with the from blood and ash series.)
but please god. don't let her be pregnant already. please please i CANNOT do the pregnancy trope right now.
(not loving the title though because i keep getting it confused with the from blood and ash series.)
August 9, 2024
this was everything i needed the final book to be
August 26, 2024
I have no words. As soon as I get over how amazing this was for me, I’ll write a review.
-------
TOMORROW IS THE DAY!!!!!
Pre-read:
The first 6 chapters set the tone for the rest of the book. If it continues on this way, then I’ll say Ms. JLA would have done this series justice in the end.
If I don’t like this, then Ms. JLA will have pissed me off for the LAST time…. But I’ll still wait on the last book of FBAA. And FORAW. Alright, so maybe I won’t be done, but I will be upset.
-------
TOMORROW IS THE DAY!!!!!
Pre-read:
The first 6 chapters set the tone for the rest of the book. If it continues on this way, then I’ll say Ms. JLA would have done this series justice in the end.
If I don’t like this, then Ms. JLA will have pissed me off for the LAST time…. But I’ll still wait on the last book of FBAA. And FORAW. Alright, so maybe I won’t be done, but I will be upset.
August 21, 2024
I don’t think I will ever love anyone as much as I love Sera and Nyktos. I can’t handle their series being over.
Also I need The Primal of Blood and Bone now more than ever 😭
✨✨✨
8.16.23: ARE YOU KIDDING ME a fourth Sera and Nyktos book?! I don't know what I did to deserve something this good but I'm glad for it.
Also I need The Primal of Blood and Bone now more than ever 😭
✨✨✨
8.16.23: ARE YOU KIDDING ME a fourth Sera and Nyktos book?! I don't know what I did to deserve something this good but I'm glad for it.
August 14, 2024
This book could’ve easily cut out at least 1/3 of the content without having any effect on the story. Way too many pages of absolutely nothing happening. Typical JLA novel with mediocre writing and too much filler. This book didn’t need to exist. The third could’ve been cut to half its size and combined with maybe 2/3 of the content from this book and the series would’ve ended neatly as a trilogy. But this is JLA so we have to drag everything out as much as possible to keep churning out mediocre content. My thoughts about this book can be summed up in one word: meh.
Read
August 16, 2023Anything with more Nyktos and Sera will be stellar ✨
September 10, 2024
There’s no real words for the feeling that comes with finally finishing a series. I feel equally content, happy, awe-struck… but at the same time there’s always this hole a series leaves once it’s done. Thankfully I am even more excited than ever to see our girl Poppy meet all these wonderful and insane characters.
This finale was truly a bit unlike any other series finale I’ve read. The first 200 pages were DENSE. and evaluating this just as “a book” I was bored. But would I change it? Absolutely not. Some stories NEED to be told regardless of their entertainment value. Because those 200 pages will probably save lives. Sera is and always will be the character I relate to most. And JLA writes about her PTSD and her own challenges with her complicated emotions regarding her trauma so beautifully and so… real. It felt like looking in a window to my own past in parts of this book. And through sera’s own complex self journey I felt understood, as i understood her.
Then things picked up and WOW it was nothing but action and insane plot twists and mind bending truths till the end! A beautiful finale. And I’m eagerly awaiting to see how Poppy’s love concludes things for good 👀
This finale was truly a bit unlike any other series finale I’ve read. The first 200 pages were DENSE. and evaluating this just as “a book” I was bored. But would I change it? Absolutely not. Some stories NEED to be told regardless of their entertainment value. Because those 200 pages will probably save lives. Sera is and always will be the character I relate to most. And JLA writes about her PTSD and her own challenges with her complicated emotions regarding her trauma so beautifully and so… real. It felt like looking in a window to my own past in parts of this book. And through sera’s own complex self journey I felt understood, as i understood her.
Then things picked up and WOW it was nothing but action and insane plot twists and mind bending truths till the end! A beautiful finale. And I’m eagerly awaiting to see how Poppy’s love concludes things for good 👀
July 19, 2024
The epic conclusion to Sera and Ash’s story has arrived! And it is everything we could have asked for. So many questions we had are finally answered when it comes to their books and how they affected the future of Poppy and Casteel. Everything is finally making sense. It was just a great way to end their arc and I now I’m even more excited for the next book for Poppy and Casteel! But back to Sera and Ash. The story picks up where the last one left off. So if you haven’t caught up, definitely don’t spoil yourself! Sera and Ash are together again and they know the time has come to find a way to kick Kolis out of power. Sera is now the true Primal of Life and with that comes all the responsibilities as Queen of the Gods. But she isn’t alone. Not when she makes Ash the King. And certainly not when there are other Primals who are ready to end Kolis’s madness. It will take everyone working together to finally defeat him. At least for now. We’ll learn so many new things when it comes to just about literally everything. The Fates, the Ancients, the Prophecy, the other Primals, Sera’s family, and just so much more. It was so nice to get some much needed answers. All the while they’re are preparing, that isn’t the only thing going on. Sera has been through some pretty rough and terrible things. This story is also about her acknowledging and beginning the healing process and honestly just finding herself all over again as she changed into something even more. I loved her journey and how she had those she loves there to support her. Overall, this story had it all. The romance, adventure, humor, and everything we have come to love about this world. You definitely do not want to miss this epic conclusion to their story before we enter the final books of Blood and Ash!
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 25, 2024
2.5 stars. I’m so disappointed. I struggled to finish this book. I even sat it down mid battle at 90% through, to go clean.
So much potential for the last 2 books and this one I was hoping would redeem this series but most of the book fell flat with Sera being so off putting most the book. And I used to love her. The last 2 installments changed her character.
Nothing happened for 60% of this book. There’s so much that could have taken place and more layers of *actual* world building through action explaining the plot better, she missed out on. I’m still a but confused on all of it honestly.
We didn’t even get to see the birth of her children which was a huge subplot or figure out the connection between Attes and Catseel and how that line formed.
So much potential for the last 2 books and this one I was hoping would redeem this series but most of the book fell flat with Sera being so off putting most the book. And I used to love her. The last 2 installments changed her character.
Nothing happened for 60% of this book. There’s so much that could have taken place and more layers of *actual* world building through action explaining the plot better, she missed out on. I’m still a but confused on all of it honestly.
We didn’t even get to see the birth of her children which was a huge subplot or figure out the connection between Attes and Catseel and how that line formed.
August 22, 2024
I truthfully thought this book was so freaking amazing. From the topics that were addressed the never ending yearning and love between ash and sera. Not to mention they beautiful growth not just between them as they grew with their relationship especially experiencing so much turmoil’s but as individuals. The character development between many characters was amazing. I may be biased cause I will always love her writing and this series as well as the universe, but this book was 5 stars. Chief’s kiss!! Cannot wait for the story to continue as I have many unanswered questions!
September 14, 2024
3.75⭐️
Still one of my favorite series but the book was unnecessarily long. I found myself uninterested at the end and skimming just so I could be done.
Still one of my favorite series but the book was unnecessarily long. I found myself uninterested at the end and skimming just so I could be done.
August 31, 2024
This was genuinely one of the worst books I have ever read. Possibly the worst.
I have read all of the From Blood and Ash and Flesh and Fire books. This is not something I am proud of. I don't think any of them are good. Some are fine at best. But they have generally at least been fun to read. They have been my version of trashy television - so bad it is fun.
The two most recent books in these two series (other than this one) marked a decline in the fun level. The War of Two Queens was pretty bad, as was A Fire in the Flesh. Both were 2 star reads.
But this book has taken it to new levels. I find it absolutely insane that at the time of writing this review it has a 4.29 star average. This book made me wish I didn't know how to read.
The plot was non-existent for large chunks of the book. The first like 25% all took place over just a few days. And then all of a sudden there was rapid plot movement - so rapid it was confusing to follow and/or felt extremely rushed. I actually do not understand why both this book and A Fire in the Flesh needed to be 2 books. JLA said they were originally supposed to be one but she just couldn't cut it down enough so it had to be 2. The amount of completely unnecessary filler in both of these books is absurd. Almost none of the contents were important. This could have all been one book.
Because this is a prequel series, you do have an understanding of what the inevitable endpoint is if you have read the main series. This was true here. But it was done in such a stupid way that it all felt useless. The final 15% or so of the book was just repeating things we already knew from FBAA. This was so incredibly boring it felt pointless to read. It added nothing new or interesting.
Sera was a terrible lead character in this book. We are supposed to believe that she is incredibly smart, except she is so stupid throughout. She just decided to trust her instinct that the ultimate evil bad guy really wasn't that bad and wouldn't do anything very evil despite there being no evidence to suggest this and having literally every other character tell her she was wrong. And guess what? She was! And as a result many people died. But not just because of the bad guy! No, Sera also killed a bunch of innocent people! What a girlboss queen Primal of Life! She felt bad about this but within about 2 chapters everyone has pretty much entirely moved on. That! Is! Insane! She was genuinely so stupid and gave me no reason to root for her. She made the wrong decision at pretty much every given opportunity.
Ash/Nyktos was just another generic horny love interest/wannabe shadow daddy. He was almost single-mindedly focused on having sex. It was so boring and pathetic. He had two modes - horny and out-of-control violent. That was pretty much it. He had some character in the previous books - it was nowhere to be found here.
Kolis was an incredibly boring villain, as were his rotating cast of lackeys. At every opportunity, he and his sidekicks would just call Sera a whore in different ways and threaten to rape/SA her. There was no sense at all of Kolis being intelligent, making it even more insane that Sera struggled to defeat him. He behaved in entirely predictable violent ways, except when he was being predictably stupid. Kyn was basically a carbon copy of Kolis. And Veses was the worst stereotype of an evil woman - stupid, mean, and only interested in her own appearance. During the final encounter with her, Sera literally 'tricked' Veses into looking into a mirror because Sera said her hair or makeup was messed up and that was all Veses really cared about. She was so incredibly stupid that it again made Sera and Ash look stupid for having been troubled by her. What terrible villains.
Pretty much every other character was difficult to differentiate from each other. This is a constant problem with JLA's books. She loves to have a 'found family' except none of the members of that family are distinct. I could not tell you anything about either Rhain or Rhahar and could never tell who was who. Bad writing.
There was a pregnancy of course. It was obvious the whole book she was pregnant and she only figured it out like 80% in. More evidence about how stupid she is. There was of course the whole 'we have fantasy abortions and it's always your choice' speech but she was always going to keep the babies so what was the point? I am very pro-choice but I never see the point in adding this kind of thing to these books. I don't mean adding the idea of abortion, but rather having the whole spiel about it when the FMC is never going to choose it. It feels like virtue signaling.
And then there was the smut. Dear G-d this was probably the worst smut I have ever read. I am just going to insert a few quotes:
"'My promise to eviscerate whoever you used to satisfy your needs made you...' His lips brushed mine. 'Wet.'"
"A wave of wanton desire flooded me. 'Will you fuck my pussy?'
'Fucking gods,' he snarled, his hips jerking.
Then, he did."
"'One would also think having such a hungry pussy is also inappropriate,' he replied.
A shocked giggle burst from my lips. 'Naughty Ash.'
'Naughty pussy, more like.'" (This one truly takes the cake)
"'You're levitating again,' he said, his silvery gaze full of heat. 'And you're burning as brightly as the sun. It's fucking making my dick hard.'"
I think anyone reading this gets the picture.
I think I have said all there is to say about this book. I can't believe how much time I have wasted on these stupid books. And I can't believe that I am indeed still going to read the next FBAA book. This series is the definition of a sunk-cost fallacy. I feel ashamed to have read them when this is how it ended.
I have read all of the From Blood and Ash and Flesh and Fire books. This is not something I am proud of. I don't think any of them are good. Some are fine at best. But they have generally at least been fun to read. They have been my version of trashy television - so bad it is fun.
The two most recent books in these two series (other than this one) marked a decline in the fun level. The War of Two Queens was pretty bad, as was A Fire in the Flesh. Both were 2 star reads.
But this book has taken it to new levels. I find it absolutely insane that at the time of writing this review it has a 4.29 star average. This book made me wish I didn't know how to read.
The plot was non-existent for large chunks of the book. The first like 25% all took place over just a few days. And then all of a sudden there was rapid plot movement - so rapid it was confusing to follow and/or felt extremely rushed. I actually do not understand why both this book and A Fire in the Flesh needed to be 2 books. JLA said they were originally supposed to be one but she just couldn't cut it down enough so it had to be 2. The amount of completely unnecessary filler in both of these books is absurd. Almost none of the contents were important. This could have all been one book.
Because this is a prequel series, you do have an understanding of what the inevitable endpoint is if you have read the main series. This was true here. But it was done in such a stupid way that it all felt useless. The final 15% or so of the book was just repeating things we already knew from FBAA. This was so incredibly boring it felt pointless to read. It added nothing new or interesting.
Sera was a terrible lead character in this book. We are supposed to believe that she is incredibly smart, except she is so stupid throughout. She just decided to trust her instinct that the ultimate evil bad guy really wasn't that bad and wouldn't do anything very evil despite there being no evidence to suggest this and having literally every other character tell her she was wrong. And guess what? She was! And as a result many people died. But not just because of the bad guy! No, Sera also killed a bunch of innocent people! What a girlboss queen Primal of Life! She felt bad about this but within about 2 chapters everyone has pretty much entirely moved on. That! Is! Insane! She was genuinely so stupid and gave me no reason to root for her. She made the wrong decision at pretty much every given opportunity.
Ash/Nyktos was just another generic horny love interest/wannabe shadow daddy. He was almost single-mindedly focused on having sex. It was so boring and pathetic. He had two modes - horny and out-of-control violent. That was pretty much it. He had some character in the previous books - it was nowhere to be found here.
Kolis was an incredibly boring villain, as were his rotating cast of lackeys. At every opportunity, he and his sidekicks would just call Sera a whore in different ways and threaten to rape/SA her. There was no sense at all of Kolis being intelligent, making it even more insane that Sera struggled to defeat him. He behaved in entirely predictable violent ways, except when he was being predictably stupid. Kyn was basically a carbon copy of Kolis. And Veses was the worst stereotype of an evil woman - stupid, mean, and only interested in her own appearance. During the final encounter with her, Sera literally 'tricked' Veses into looking into a mirror because Sera said her hair or makeup was messed up and that was all Veses really cared about. She was so incredibly stupid that it again made Sera and Ash look stupid for having been troubled by her. What terrible villains.
Pretty much every other character was difficult to differentiate from each other. This is a constant problem with JLA's books. She loves to have a 'found family' except none of the members of that family are distinct. I could not tell you anything about either Rhain or Rhahar and could never tell who was who. Bad writing.
There was a pregnancy of course. It was obvious the whole book she was pregnant and she only figured it out like 80% in. More evidence about how stupid she is. There was of course the whole 'we have fantasy abortions and it's always your choice' speech but she was always going to keep the babies so what was the point? I am very pro-choice but I never see the point in adding this kind of thing to these books. I don't mean adding the idea of abortion, but rather having the whole spiel about it when the FMC is never going to choose it. It feels like virtue signaling.
And then there was the smut. Dear G-d this was probably the worst smut I have ever read. I am just going to insert a few quotes:
"'My promise to eviscerate whoever you used to satisfy your needs made you...' His lips brushed mine. 'Wet.'"
"A wave of wanton desire flooded me. 'Will you fuck my pussy?'
'Fucking gods,' he snarled, his hips jerking.
Then, he did."
"'One would also think having such a hungry pussy is also inappropriate,' he replied.
A shocked giggle burst from my lips. 'Naughty Ash.'
'Naughty pussy, more like.'" (This one truly takes the cake)
"'You're levitating again,' he said, his silvery gaze full of heat. 'And you're burning as brightly as the sun. It's fucking making my dick hard.'"
I think anyone reading this gets the picture.
I think I have said all there is to say about this book. I can't believe how much time I have wasted on these stupid books. And I can't believe that I am indeed still going to read the next FBAA book. This series is the definition of a sunk-cost fallacy. I feel ashamed to have read them when this is how it ended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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