A Soul of ASH and Blood: A Blood and ASH Novel: 5

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Overall, an enjoyable read. I would have rated it 5 stars had more things of substance happened. Two chapters of substance in the present are not enough for me to rate it higher than 4. I would like to believe it's a fair rating considering I am usually very harsh on JLA's books. Casteel’s POV was my favorite so far. The fan favorite scenes like the Blood Forest and the Willow tree were amazing. However, in my opinion, the true bright part of this book was reading about Casteel and Kieran’s conversations and friendship before Poppy and Cas were truly together. Kieran and Casteel’s interactions were the best part. Their friendship is just so normal, relatable, and sweet, and their banter had me laughing out loud. There was also a spicy Kieran scene where Kieran is having sex with a descenter at the Red Pearl while Casteel is just casually in the same room having a conversation with him. Not sure if others are against that, but I personally loved it and thought it was hot because Kieran is my sweetie. I thought Kieran and Casteel's personalities both really shone in this book.

A Soul of Ash and Blood (Blood and Ash, Book 5 My Thoughts on A Soul of Ash and Blood (Blood and Ash, Book 5

To be brutally honest, it was rinse and repeat throughout this book; a complete regurgitation of what happened in book 1; it was both monotonous and fatiguing to read.Nothing is ever simple.” I pressed my forehead to hers. “And when it is, it’s rarely ever worth it.” As I mentioned, this book is like reuniting with an old friend. To see Kieran through his eyes was incredible. How much he has continuously been there for him and will always be there for him and not just because of the bond truly did something to my eyes. How he was always able to centre him and ground him even when there were no words spoken was beyond. I want to end by saying, I’m not really sure why or when it became ~cool~ or “funny” for people to be needlessly cruel about this series. If you don’t like it or were mad about the Joining or are weirdly angry that it’s popular, that’s fine and you’re entitled to that,…but what is the obsession with talking shit about it and tearing down others who do like it? I’ve seen several people on this app with some sort of status like “I am reading this book so that I can absolutely rip it to shreds” …just like, why? You have no other books to read? Nothing better to do with your time then tear down an author and bully any readers who do enjoy it? I don’t really get it…I also saw one reader give 1 star and write a review about how mad they were that they read this book because they didn’t realize it was Book 1 but from Casteel’s POV. I truly don’t understand how you cannot have realized that. This book has been so heavily marketed as Cas’ POV book for years...not sure if that rationale deserves 1 star. There were a few chapters set in the present, meaning right after the events of The War of Two Queens, and I was happy to know what happened to Ires, Millie, and Malik. It was also good that Cas and Malik finally got some time to sit and talk, they needed it so much because there were so many conflicted feelings and so much tension and unease between them in The War of Two Queens. Overall though, those chapters represent only about 15% of the book: 10% at the beginning, and 5% here and there in between Cas’ remembering the events from the first book.

A Soul of Ash and Blood (5)_RO JENNIFER L ARMENTROUT A Soul of Ash and Blood (5)_RO

Well, this review is going to be short, because I do not have much to say about this book sadly… I just want to clarify that I do not think this is a bad book, simply that it’s too long, and it should have been a novella instead of book #5 of the series. It is a complete recap of FBAA through Cas' POV and it is extremely well written. We got to see a side of Cas that was long forgotten by JLA and I missed him. Cas deserves to be in the limelight as much as Poppy and I hope JLA seriously considers writing the next book in Cas' pov, it was chef's kiss 🤌 But when Poppy falls into stasis, Cas faces the very real possibility that the dire, unexpected consequences of what she is becoming could take her away from him. Cas is given some advice, though-something he plans to cling to as he waits to see her beautiful eyes open once more: Talk to her. I knew this was real. What was between us. What she felt for me. What I felt for her. This. It was real." Except for the first chapter and last chapter, nothing new of substance takes place. There are no major additions to the plot except for Poppy going into statis (which is not a spoiler as it is mentioned in the blurb) and a new discovery made by Cas at the end.

Customer reviews

Why did I just now read this book? I really wish I would have gotten it sooner, but at the same time, it was perfection, so I'm not really sure if I'm okay that I had to wait for it. ASOAAB is all from Cas's POV. We a few ''present'' chapters that are concerning the current situation after TWOTQ but most of this book mainly focuses on FBAA finding out what he was up to while he is away from Poppy and how his plans and plots came to be. Along with many reveals.