Complete ‘Blood and Ash’ series ranked worst to best
A Ranking of Worst and Best.
Blood and Ash. What is it about linking two mysterious yet unrelated nouns together that makes for romantasy title greatness? Or at least, orthodoxy? Thorns and Roses. Blood and Ash. The Serpent and the Wings of Night. I’m starting to see a trend here. While the Blood and Ash series isn’t exactly breaking the mold, Jennifer L. Armentrout’s books have been a gateway drug into the romantasy genre for many readers. Here it is, the complete Blood and Ash series ranked from worst to best.
9. A Soul of Blood and Ash
Alright, so you know those mid-season anime episodes where a side character sums up the plot so far over fireside conversations or letters to their mom or some other epistolary-esque trope? A Soul of Blood and Ash is basically that. It’s essentially a spin-off rehashing of the narrative we know from Casteel’s perspective. If you’re a Casteel stan, you might appreciate a little extra time spent with the Atlantian Prince. If you’re not, you might want to let this novel go the way of Atlantis—tossed into the sea, forgotten.
8. The War of Two Queens
The title of The War of Two Queens suggests actions and thrills, but the prose betrays the promise. The book’s cardinal sin comes from the misuse of a hallmark of the fantasy genre: worldbuilding. We love worldbuilding, but there’s a limit to how much we can take. This book is a deluge of new information. New side characters. New places. New titles. The only war present in this novel is the one you have to wage against your brain to remember all the superfluous facts about this ever-expanding fantasy world. This series so desperately needs editing.
7. A Fire in the Flesh
Speaking of “Fire,” the editor of this book needs to fire-d. It’s 650 pages, and 500 of them are filled with Sera’s nervous internal monologue. Not. Every. Thought. This. Character. Has. Is. Important. Please. God. Someone. Listen. This book is about as fun is a Naruto filler episode. Another shot of baby Naruto sad on the swing while that song plays. If you know, you know (and I’m sorry you do). Fans of hot and heavy romance will be similarly dejected by this book, as most of the story’s couples spend the novel apart from each other. Yearning is great when the yearning comes to an end. When it doesn’t, I don’t want to read to the end. A Fire In The Flesh makes me want to set my flesh on fire.
6. Born of Blood and Ash
Oof. Another spin-off. For a series that already struggles with a fair share of pacing problems, this book isn’t exactly a welcome addition. 100 pages into Born of Blood and Ash and you’ll be gasping for air, and not in a sexy “I can’t believe how hot that was” way. More of an “I’m drowning in a flood of boring prose” kind of way. This book is slow. It’s essentially just Sera pulling a Hamlet and overthinking everything but with fewer swordfights, curtain stabbings, and Oedipal yearning. Skip.
5. The Crown of Gilded Bones
Now we’re getting somewhere. The Crown of Gilded Bones gives the people what they want: plot and smut, sometimes simultaneously! Poppy and Prince Casteel’s romance is in full swing in this novel, and it’s filled with both tenderness and heat. Speaking of heat, the book finally shows us Poppy coming into her own in her attempt to claim the crown and rule as the Queen of Flesh and Fire. Hell yeah. Poppy and Casteel are fighting for control of a kingdom while thwarting the plans of a faction that wants to make sure that the former’s crowning never occurs.
4. A Light in the Flame
If A Fire in the Flesh was Sera at her worst, A Light In The Flame finds her at her best. We get to see Sera do things rather than just think about things. Granted, we still get repetitive, unending inner monologues, but blessedly less. As for what Sera does, her budding relationship with Nyktos is one of the series’ best. It takes quite a while for the fire of love to kindle (again, this series desperately needs a better editor) but when it does, the flames are beautiful and bright.
3. A Shadow in the Ember
Most of the Blood and Ash spin-off novels are abysmal. A Shadow in the Ember is the exception to the rule. Unlike the rest of the spin-off books, which take place during the main novels and spend hundreds of pages telling us what we already know, A Shadow in the Ember takes place years before the first main novel in the series. It centers around Sera, showing how she started on her path to become the consort of the Primal of Death. More importantly, it introduces the fan-favorite character Nyktos (aka Daddy Nyktos, as he is known in the fandom). Why do they call him Daddy? By the end of this book, you’ll see. Oh, you’ll see.
2. A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
The Maiden, The Chosen, The Blessed, Ascended, Queen of Flesh and Fire—just how many titles is this series going to throw at Poppy? A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire fits our heroine with more honorifics than a Westerosi king. If her newfound powers weren’t hard enough to deal with, she’s still reeling from the reveal that Hawke Flynn was actually Casteel Da’Neer, Prince of Atlantia, all along. The plot gets thicker than a bowl of oatmeal when we find out that Cat is just using Poppy as a political bargaining chip to save his brother. The first book was friends-to-lovers but Houdini’d into an enemies-to-lovers plot arc through a wild reveal! Now that is the emotional rollercoaster fantasy romance fans want to ride.
1. From Blood and Ash
It doesn’t get more classic than this. An imprisoned maiden chosen by the fates is set free by a guard willing to throw away everything for love. From Blood and Ash doesn’t reinvent the romance fantasy wheel, but rather provides a familiar, almost archetypal love story that feels straight out of a fairy tale. A Princess Bride-esque fable for a new generation. The torch has been passed, and its glow is just as warm and romantic. With the beginning as strong as this, it’s not hard to see why fans are willing to slog through endless late-series spin-off Sera monologuing. From Blood and Ash makes it easy to want more.
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