A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout: A Book Review
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Contemporary Romance
The sequel to From Blood and Ash, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire matches its predecessor in unbelievable ways. While a full 40/40 could be given to the book, I took a point away from the editor section because of how confusing the middle got with the names, mainly because it made it seemed to not be reader-friendly and I feel that part of the editing job is to make sure everything is friendly for the reader (seamless transitions, patched plot holes, enough development in the world and characters, etc.). On a star scale, it would be 5 stars no problem.
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire starts us off right where its predecessor abandoned us. Casteel just announced his proposal to Poppy and she’s just like “wait, what?”. The story continues to unfold by discovering different truths: the truth about the Ascended, the truth about Poppy, the truth about relationships, the truth about how Poppy and Casteel feel about each other. Armentrout gives beautiful speeches to Poppy and Casteel to showcase their full emotions while also having the narrator of Poppy live each feeling as she progresses through her story – making everything feel natural and full.
One of my favorite parts about it, though, was that I keep getting hints that Armentrout was making fun of Twilight in a way. The best example would be when Poppy catches Casteel watching her sleep and she tells him that that is extremely weird, but I also caught hints when the story was discussing the Ascended and such. I haven’t thought about Twilight this much since I was a teenager! But, what makes everything so much better, is that Armentrout doesn’t shy away from acknowledging her characters’ awkwardness; rather she makes them laugh through it – showing a real, beautiful, and strong relationship blossoming.
Who would most enjoy the work and who should stay clear (if necessary):
I would say that those who enjoyed Twilight would enjoy this book, especially if they read the first book. (I wouldn’t read this book before the first.) However, if you are a little sensitive about having the whole sex scene situation in books, I would just stick with the first book. While it does seem natural with how Armentrout put it, there is a lot of sex.
| Plot: | 10 / 10 |
| Characters: | 10 / 10 |
| Writing: | 10 / 10 |
| Editor: | 9 / 10 |
| Total | 39 / 40 |
Title: A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Edition: Hardcover
Published: September 1, 2020
Publisher: Blue Box Press
ISBN: 9781952457135
If you want to get it: Amazon; Barnes&Noble
Rosey Reviews 