The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout the fourth book in the Blood and Ash series.

 

I’m speechless!

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

“Thirteen days had passed since the first time the Handmaidens swarmed this cell, dressed in black and as quiet as a tomb. They came once a day to cut into my flesh, siphoning my blood as if I were a damn barrel of fine wine.”

In the last book poppy found out she was not just a mortal with Atlantean blood, or a deity, no she was a God, and not only that, Queen Ileana of Solis was her mother and that she was also Isbeth, purportedly the first Vampry and the start off all this mess. So basically, a LOT of information dumped on Poppy, ad to it all Casteel her husband, volunteered to be taken capture by the evil Queen to save poppy. So not a good day.

In this book, poppy will stop at nothing to get her husband back, so when she and her army travels into Solis and begin to liberate Cities, she is not at all surprised by the reception she receives from the ascended. But the fear coming from the mortals are surprising, they believe she is the harbinger of death and destruction, and poppy has to work hard to prove them Wrong.

“A wave of surprise fell like freezing rain, rippling over those before me. “I am not the Harbinger. I carry the blood of the King of Gods in me, and those who reside in these walls do not speak to any god—or for them. They are your enemy. Not us.””

Okay so I have a small confession, I feel like the books have declined a little in quality from book one, and it kind of irritates me. It hasn’t declined to a point where I don’t think it can be saved, but honestly, I shouted at my book during the second to last Chapter. I felt like Jennifer made Poppy more irrational and more emotional than she was in the first book, and it pissed me off. I also feel like the books have basically digressed into Porn with a Plot, and even though smut can be entertaining, when the stakes are this high, you shouldn’t have to read a ten-page long love scene, that keeps starting over. I mean at a certain point you just skip it because its too much.

“Seventy-one that must have been taken in the unexpected last Rite and the one before. That number had to include the second and third sons and daughters. Which meant none had been given over to the Court as was normal for the second-born. It also meant that those who carried that not-so-dormant ember of life had been slaughtered.”

I feel like Poppys character has devolved in this book, in the first, she was this great fighter, ready to fight and take charge, when people were I trouble, now I feel like she’s bumbling around, I also feel like the sexual tension between her and Kieran is a little weird, not unlikely, but it feels very sudden. I really hope the character starts to develop again.

“I couldn’t believe I was staring at the Blood King’s head. A slow smile spread across my face. I laughed—deep and hard. Gods, Poppy was…damn, she was vicious in the most magnificent way, and I could not wait to show her just how much I approved of it. “That’s…gods, that’s my Queen.””

Casteel got his own chapters this time, and it gives a whole new insight into who Casteel is.

I feel like the book could have been better, it felt a little bit repetitive. And I had a hard time concentrating. And I really just wanted it to end.

2 out of 1 stars from me.