Title: A Soul of Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash #5)
Author: Jennifer Armentrout
Genre: Fantasy, romantasy
Publisher: Blue Box Press
Publication Date: 2023
Format: Paperback
Length: 600 pages

Read if you like: the original Blood and Ash book, enemies to lovers, the chosen one trope, shifter romances, grey and black morality

Rating: 

The Blood and Ash series is one of the first fantasy series that I got into when I first came back to reading a couple of years ago, but over time, I’ve struggled to stay as into the books as I initially was. I remember being so gripped by the first book that I immediately went out and bought the subsequent two in the series that were available, but by the time I hit book four, The War of Two Queens, it didn’t live up to the high expectations I’d had for it. I think, to some degree, this is my fault for setting the bar too high, but I also think over time I just haven’t enjoyed the story as much as I originally did. 

When I saw that A Soul of Blood and Ash would revisit the original story from Casteel’s perspective, I was so excited to immerse myself back into that original storyline that hooked me. While I did enjoy this novel and the opportunity to explore the love story and fantasy world I originally fell in love with, for me, it felt like too much detail. I didn’t necessarily feel I needed an exact revisitation of every scene, but that’s what this book was, so it tended to drag on a little for me.

While I would have been satisfied with a novella-length perspective on the original story, I do think there’s an audience for this book, namely the die-hard Blood and Ash fans. I think if this series is your Roman empire, there’s a heavy likelihood that you’re going to enjoy it a lot more than I did.

The Book: A Soul of Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout

A Soul of Blood and Ash opens where The War of Two Queens left off: with Poppy, Casteel, Keiron, Delano, and Nektas all searching for both Jadis and Poppy’s father in the Queen’s dungeons. Poppy has just accomplished seriously mind-boggling magic, having brought all her friends and family back to life, and to their great surprise, quickly slips into a deep sleep known as stasis to complete her culling.

Nektas informs Casteel that it’s possible Poppy will wake up and won’t know who she is due to the trauma of the culling. To combat this, he suggests that Casteel speak to her while she sleeps in the hopes it might penetrate her stasis enough to help her hold onto who she is.

Casteel then spends the rest of the novel recounting the events of the Blood and Ash book from his perspective, adding in many details about his past that have not been shared in great detail in other novels. 

The Review

This book was a beast. It took me nearly a week to finish of concentrated effort, which is on the longer side of how long a book this length would typically take me.

I did enjoy seeing more of Casteel’s perspective and learning how all of the events and the trauma of his past shaped him into who he was. It lent a lot of meaning to his actions in the first book that simply wouldn’t have been there without this extra exploration.

I also liked the way that the plot rotated between Casteel’s retelling and the “present day”, giving glimpses into events that were happening while Poppy slept. I won’t say that a huge amount of movement happens in those glimpses, but there are a couple of core events, particularly towards the end, that leave breadcrumbs about what I suspect will be major reveals in the next novel.

My primary issue with this book was mostly just the length. I enjoyed revisiting a lot of major moments between Casteel and Poppy from that first book, but I didn’t feel like I needed a detailed play-by-play of every single event. I think I could have enjoyed this book if it had been in the form of a novella and if it was about half the length.

That said, as I mentioned before, there is an audience for this book. If the Blood and Ash series is your absolute favourite and all of the books have been knockouts for you, I can’t imagine a world where this one doesn’t deliver similarly. It’s very textbook Armentrout in its delivery and the romance is truly enjoyable from a new perspective. 

Since I rate my books based on my enjoyment, I only gave this book 3 stars, but I can imagine there are many for whom this was a 5. If you’re a big Blood and Ash fan, I’d still recommend giving this one a read, especially since there are some new developments sprinkled through that I think will impact the next book in a big way.