A Soul of Ash and Blood: A Blood and Ash Novel (5)

ASOAAB is all from Cas's POV. We get in between chapters that are concerning the present situation after TWOTQ but most of this book is basically everything that happened in the first book and also, we know what he was up to while he away from Poppy and how his plans and plots came to be. It also gives us the whole story from his POV about how he fell in love with Poppy and how all the plans he had for years went right out the window along with the gradual realization that she was his. There is a lot to unpack about the ending but it's also so vague that you don't know what could be happening in the final book (for Poppy and Cas). We won't know the conclusion to FBAA (Poppy/Cas) until spring/summer 2024 but we will get the compendium in February so that should hold me over after F&F 3!

DIOS MÍO DIOS MÍO DIOS MÍO DIOS MÍO NONONONONO PERO QUÉ. ESE FINAL NO. ASÍ NO LO PUEDE DEJAR. NO

****possible spoilers**** I honestly was very hesitant about reading A Soul of Ash and Blood because I just wanted to know what was going to happen after the events of war of two queens and I wasn't really caring about Cas's POV. BUT I am SO FREAKING GLAD that I just sucked it up and read it! It was like reading FBAA for the 1st time ever. It honestly turned out way better then I could have even imagined, and to see the things that drove Cas to the events of FBAA was everything I didn't know I needed. It hurt seeing Vikter die all over again, but to see how Cas ended the Duke was just 🤌 I do wish there were a bit more of the present day chapters, but the last chapter really made up for it, and I can't wait to see how much more of a badass Poppy is going to be in The Primal of Blood and Bone!!

"My heartmate. My Queen. Not a goddess but a Primal- the Primal of Blood and Bone. Of Life and Death." "She had... the maiden had a dirty mind." "It was her boldness. Her bravery. Her skill. Her utter recklessness and the fire that burned so bright in her." "Seduction was a need. And it was also a want." "If anyone didn't see her for the beauty she was, then they were irrelevant." I am in love with this series, but this was probably my least favorite book so far. Don't get me wrong, it was still a really good book. However, it felt very repetitive from blood and ash. Maybe it was because I had just done a reread of FBAA, but it fell a little flat. I loved being able to see Cas's POV and see some of the things that happened behind the scenes. I loved seeing his connection with Poppy and with Kieran from his eyes. I loved the snippets of the present time, even though they were really brief and only left me craving the next book even more. The ending has a great revelation that I cannot wait to see them all discover in more depth. Some of the scenes were just... too verbatim of book 1 and I found myself skimming a lot of it. All in all, still a good book, and still mostly necessary to continue on in the series, but realistically you could just read the present tense moments and get all of the necessary info needed to continue on without feeling like you're missing anything.

A Soul of Ash and Blood wove an enchanting tale between the past and the present. It was a phenomenal addition to the From Blood and Ash Series! I thought I was prepared for this story, I was so wrong. New light was shone on scenes we thought we knew, things arose that left us with burning questions, and those final pages cumulated into a heart stopping ending! Cas' story will capture your heart! A Soul of Ash and Blood was intoxicating, gritty, smile inducing and absolutely impossible to put down! The story started out in the present and within those first few pages my heart was already in my chest. I shouldn't have been surprised that it was emotionally intense, or that I cried within that first chapter. Because while some of those tears were happy, there were others filled with sadness and scared of the unknown. Something wasn't right with Poppy. Cas and Kieran knew it, and Nektas seemed to possessive knowledge that I wanted to pry out of his brain. That draken could be so blunt, but he cracked me up time and again! So as Poppy went into stasis, Cas took us back to before he met Poppy. I loved how JLA skillfully immersed us in a world we already loved, but through Cas' eyes it was unique, addictive and so much more than I ever could have hoped and dreamed! As we alternated between the past and the present, this book turned out to be EVERYTHING I didn't realize I needed! Cas took us back to before he met Poppy and was a guard. I loved his moments with Vikter, oh how I have missed him. Their interactions were phenomenal! But most of all I loved getting to hear Cas' preconceived notions about Poppy, even as he got clues of who the Maiden truly was from others around him. And when he got to meet her in person, his reactions were all consuming and I always had to know how he would handle the next moment they were together! I could not stop smiling, I could not stop my shouts and screams of happiness, and it was impossible not to laugh at the most inappropriate things. Seeing violence through Cas' eyes, well it was hard not to think how he thought haha. His anger and vengeance were electrifying and it seemed to bubble under the surface at times. I loved when things would get violent and each time I fell even harder for him. One thing that hurt so much though, was getting to see deeper into who Cas was. His past. The horrors. And how it haunted him in the present. It literally ripped me apart and I felt like I was drowning at times. I know Poppy said in FBAA what she had felt from him, but I didn't realize how much it truly consumed him. Getting to hear Cas' explanations for the whys he did something was absolutely phenomenal! His dark, humorous thoughts were addictive! And watching him do things I had no clue he was doing, ohhhhhh be prepared to be surprised again and again by this story! But one of my f...