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Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer Armentrout Book Review
- Savannah Boone
- Jun 16, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 29, 2022
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Ratings
Content Warning: Blood, Violence, Smut, Death, Grief, Death
Review
Even though this book was slower than the first one, I still enjoyed it more. I'm loving this series and the characters it has. The world-building is strong and it feels like JLA has tied everything perfectly together. Especially that damn book! But I digress.
Pros
>A map!
>Kieran and the side characters
>The romance
>Imagery/scenery of the land
Cons
>Slow as hell and stationary for 75% of the book
>Info-dumping...again
Plot
Plot? What plot? I don't see one. Nothing happened in this book except about a 1/4 of the way through and then again at the very end. Everything in between was pointless. HOWEVER. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I like to see characters in their environments and during slow portions. It provides a better sense of the character and who they are.
It was an endless cycle of Poppy's thoughts, Poppy stabbing someone or talking about it, how much violence turns Casteel on, and yeah, that's pretty much it. Oh, there were also oddly timed sex scenes, like seriously? In the middle of a battle in a carriage? Do these characters not care that others can hear them? That has to be the cringiest thing for me.
Characters
Poppy
Poppy is making choices now and taking names later. She finally gets a little control over her life and what she wants to experience, something Casteel is all too willing to show her. We see her breaking out of the veiled Maiden and into the kickass she is. However, her main trait throughout the book is how violent she is, which gets old fast.
Casteel
We finally delve into Casteel's trauma, how he copes, what he's done, and how it changed him. And honestly? I love him even more for it. He is not fully right in the head, especially with his love of being stabbed by Poppy, but it makes sense. There's a comfort in knowing he trusts Poppy as much as he does with that kind of vulnerable information. He's also very accepting of Poppy, in her wishes, needs, and general self. He doesn't dismiss her, but instead teases her and wants a challenge, and both of them do. He's rough around the edges and raw, but you don't have to question where his loyalties lie.
Side Characters
The wolven isof a great asspect of this series. I started loving Kieran and his up-front personality; I love Netta and Jasper. Honestly, that little family is great. They seem so genuine and kind. But besides these three, I'm not really getting a connection with the others, like Emil, Delano, and Alister-- although Alister is pretty cool. His character is very comforting and I love that for Poppy.
Writing
Since this book felt more like an elongated filler, there was definitely a lot of repetition, such as Poppy asking questions and going round-in-round with the same thought. In almost every chapter. So, that was pretty annoying to read at times and honestly, I did zone out at parts. If the writing/internal monologue was cleaned up a bit, then this book could have been shorter by like 200-300 pages.
Conclusion
This felt more like a filler book than anything. I know the JLA probably has a plan for why we didn't get to Atlantia in this book, but damn, at least make the book 300 pages instead of 600. But, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it and it was nice to slow down a bit and take in more of the environment and characters.
Cover Art
A beautiful cover! I love the incorporation of the golden leaves and the ivory background. From what I've seen, this is the only non-black cover, which is interesting. The cover fits the light-hearted feel of the book, but also ties into the plot twist at the end of the first, showing it's going in a different direction by being a lighter cover. That and they get married in this one, so the ivory makes sense, too.
What did you think of the book? Do you have anything to add, good or bad? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
If you want a more brief review, view my "to-read" list, or what I’ve read before 2022, you can follow my Goodreads page by clicking the link below.
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