Book Review: The War of Two Queens
- Series: Blood and Ash Book #4
- Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
- 628 pages, ebook
- First published March 15, 2022
The War of Two Queens
A strong ending to book 3 and a solid start to the final book…
The ending Armentrout gave us in The Crown of Gilded Bones was promising and left me with the impression that I hadn’t seen everything from the author yet. “The War of Two Queens” started well. Casteel has once again fallen into the hands of the Bloody Crown and all the nightmares he experienced the first time around return with renewed vigor. Darkness, misery, torture and the constant agony of separation from Poppy.
Things don’t look rosy for the protagonist either. She needs to strengthen her position with her subordinates and get out of the image of the virgin that everyone associates with the enemy. Poppy desperately searches for a way to save her betrothed heart and take revenge on her mother.
All good so far
The story was good while Casteel was in captivity. There was a decent amount of suspense and the plot had a direction. And it all ended with Poppy’s decision to rescue him. This was followed by endless erotic episodes that developed to new limits beyond my tolerance. It’s almost as if the eroticism wasn’t there at all in the previous books and Armentraut decided to indulge herself in every way imaginable…
I liked the image of big bad wolf Kieran, but I don’t think I’ve warm feelings for any character in the series anymore.
For me, Poppy’s story gave up the ghost at some point. Armentrout is an author with a great imagination, but she chose to fill the pages with “filler”, to put it mildly. We’re talking about an 800-page book with brothers, sisters, gods and all sorts of characters that the author didn’t have time to build up, let alone set the stage for such twists and turns.
I’d describe the book as one big mess
At the beginning I thought the plot was logical, but that quickly changed. I felt like the book was one big jumble of ideas. Armentrout just wanted to put everything she could think of in one place. And as much as I’d like to say something positive about The War of Two Queens, I just can’t find it.
Reading it was absolute torture, masochism even. I wanted to throw it into the fire and forget I’d ever thought of starting this series. I read the last 200 pages at an angle. I didn’t enjoy reading it at all and I fervently pray I forget about it.
The rating I gave War of Two Queens is one star and that’s a lot. I rarely come out and rate a book so negatively, but book 4 of Blood and Ashes has reached the low point of my ratings for this year.
“А Kingdom of Flesh and Fire” Book #2
“The Crown of Gilded Bones” Book #3
Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.
And born of mortal flesh…
Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way—because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.
A great primal power rises…
Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear—to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be—what she fears the most.
As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.
