Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout. The second book in the Blood and ash series.

And the plot thickens.

Warning Spoiler alert. If you haven’t read the first book.

“Never once did those little-girl dreams include a proposal that wasn’t remotely an actual proposal. Nor did they incorporate it being announced at a table full of strangers, half of which wanted me dead. And those dreams surely hadn’t involved what had to be the kingdom’s worst—and possibly most insane—non-proposal of marriage to a man currently holding me captive.”

In the first book we meet poppy and Hawke and slowly but surely, we read about how they fell in love and the problems they faced whilst Poppy was the Maiden. We (Okay I don’t know about you, but,) I cheered when it finally happened and poppy and Hawke made sure she could never bee the maiden again. But all that was before we found out who Hawke really was (okay I already knew, I had guessed it early in the first book, I mean all the signs were there.) but also a revelation of who poppy is.

In the second book poppy is once again caught in a gilded cage. where the bars is not only physical but mental as well. She is furious, heartbroken, and devastated by the lies and deceits, Hawk spewed to get close to her and yet, she can’t help the feelings that still flows free in her heart for Hawk, or prince Casteel, The Dark One. But her powers are growing, and all signs point to the fact that Atlantia might be the only place she can get some answers. And Casteel might be the only one who can help her find her brother.

““Disbelief thundered through me. “Maybe I wasn’t clear, so I will try to be more explicit now. I don’t know why you’d think, in a million years, that I’d marry you.” I tipped toward him. “Is that clear enough?””

Poppy is evolving, it feels like she left the maiden behind quickly, she is still a force to be reckoned with, in her own right, fighting not only for what she believes is right, but now, she also fights for her own freedom. She might be less jaded, but she is still just as suspicious, if not more, she finds herself in an unfamiliar environment. Where many people hate her not because they know her, or because she has done something to them. But because she was the maiden and raised by the ascended. She becomes self-conscious around strangers, especially as her gift grows, and she feels the hatred, fear, and suspicion rolling of the people who meet her.

“The mortals and Atlantians who sat at the table before us. The wolven interspersed throughout the rest of the tables. They all stared. Not that I could blame them. I had glowed silver, and I had healed someone with my touch. I’d be staring at someone who I’d heard or seen do that, too. But it was what was behind those stares that unnerved me. The air fairly vibrated with emotion, and like before, I hadn’t needed to concentrate, to open myself to feel the near hostility of most around me.”

Casteel has become even more layered, we begin to take notice of the many masks he wears, and I understand why Poppy has difficulty figuring out what is truly going on with him. I don’t really like him in the beginning. The inability of him to be real and truly open with Poppy. But when he finally begins to show his true self, I begin to like him again. He is not sure if he is worthy of Poppys love, but he’s not willing to let her go.

“It was because he made me feel seen, and he made me feel alive even when I genuinely wanted to cause physical harm to him. I kept falling when he never once told me not to pick up a sword or bow and instead handed one to me. I fell and fell when I realized that Casteel wore many masks for many reasons. What I felt only grew when I realized that he would, in fact, kill whoever insulted me, no matter how wrong that was. And that love…it entrenched itself deeply when I realized the kind of strength, and will he had within him to survive what he had and to still find the pieces of who he used to be.”

The book is a bit slow but there is a lot of points to cover, so it’s necessary to slow time a little so we can get all of the facts straight. The storyline and plot continue, the main goal remains the same to life happy and free, but there have been small changes as to how she’s going too get there. Before she put all her faith into the fairness of the queen of the ascended, but now she knows she has to cease her own happiness. The enemies have changed to, she believed the Atlantians were the enemies that created the Craven that killed her mother and father. But now she knows it was the ascended. She is determined to find her brother, because sha has a hard time believing he could be a heartless vampry.

“Did that mean that all Ascended were evil? Every last one of them, including my brother? I believed in what I saw proof of. But Casteel… I couldn’t trust more than half of what left his mouth, and it wasn’t like all Atlantians were utterly innocent.”

I liked the second book in this series although it was a bit slow to get started and felt a bit repetitive, it felt like it was necessary to create opportunities not only to have vital information revealed, but also for us to get a chance to get to know new characters, and to get to know other characters better, to delve deeper into who they are.

4 out of 5 stars form me and I can’t wait to get started with book nr. Three.