Caroline's Reviews > A Soul of Ash and Blood

AHH THAT CLIFFHANGER!!!!! There are some spoilers below, but I tried to avoid anything major. If you liked book 1 of this series, I think you will like this! It's so sweet. Yes, it's a retelling of book 1 from Casteel's POV, but there are a ton of new scenes in it too that are worth reading, in my opinion.

I loved this book. This is Casteel’s POV throughout the story of From Blood and Ash (book 1 of the series), however, it flashed back and forth between the present following the ending of The War of Two Queens. In this book, Poppy & friends start the story in the present right after defeating The Blood Queen Isbeth. They free Poppy’s father from his cave cat form and imprisonment, and there’s a sweet father & daughter introduction/reunion. However, right after this, Poppy collapses. It turns out, for her final stage of the culling, before she’s a full Primal, she needs to fall into stasis (a deep slumber). We learn that it’s unclear how long the stasis will last and when she wakes up, it’s possible that she will not remember any of them. To try to combat this, Nektas advises Casteel to talk to Poppy to make sure she remembers. This leads to Casteel lying down and telling a slumbering Poppy for the 1st time his own POV about their first time they met and basically everything that happened in From Blood and Ash (book 1).

Casteel’s POV was my favorite so far. The fan favorite scenes like the Blood Forest and the Willow tree were amazing. However, in my opinion, the true bright part of this book was reading about Casteel and Kieran’s conversations and friendship before Poppy and Cas were truly together. Kieran and Casteel’s interactions were the best part. Their friendship is just so normal, relatable, and sweet, and their banter had me laughing out loud. There was also a spicy Kieran scene where Kieran is having sex with a descenter at the Red Pearl while Casteel is just casually in the same room having a conversation with him. Not sure if others are against that, but I personally loved it and thought it was hot because Kieran is my sweetie. I thought Kieran and Casteel's personalities both really shone in this book.

While some of the scenes were a bit TOO much like Poppy’s POV scenes from From Blood and Ash to the point where they probably didn’t need to be included in this from Casteel’s POV because they were basically the same, those were few and far between. These scenes were mostly scenes between Poppy and Cas that heavily relied on dialogue (i.e. Cas telling Poppy the truth about and history of Atlantians/Ascended, a few of their conversations in Macedonia, etc.). However, for the most part, the POVs were different or satisfying to read. I loved reading Casteel’s inner monologue of him being absolutely obsessed with Poppy but then being like, but I have to betray her, but I can’t, etc. etc. There were also plenty of new scenes that we didn’t get to read in Poppy’s POV (Casteel killing the Duke, Casteel giving cursed guards dignity in death in Macedonia, Casteel and Viktor interactions, meetings between Kieran and Casteel at the Red Pearl, Casteel rushing back to New Haven after Poppy is attacked, Casteel killing Jericho and staking him to the wall, etc.). Some of my favorite scenes of the ones that we already know and love, but from Casteel’s POV this time include: Casteel listening to Tawny & Poppy talk about him, Poppy giving Airrick peace when he’s dying, Casteel following Poppy through the streets when she snuck out, Poppy and Cas fighting on the Rise during the Craven attack and in the stables in New Haven when Poppy finds out the truth, etc.

So, as Casteel has been telling this story to sleeping Poppy, there are also chapters in the present. While Poppy is in stasis, her sleeping form is constantly accompanied in her bedroom by Kieran, Delano, and Casteel. These “Present” chapters were great because Kieran and Casteel would banter back and forth about the story with Kieran weighing in sometimes with his POV (how he knew Cas was in love with her even then, etc.). There’s also a really great brother scene between Casteel & Malik and then a sweet sister moment between Millicent & sleeping Poppy. The ending chapter is a “present” chapter, and there are several PLOT TWISTS. I cannot tell you enough…I did NOT see this shift coming. If you have any desire to continue reading this series, you have to at least read the ending chapter of this book because there is a major thing that happens to one of the main characters.

I want to end by saying, I’m not really sure why or when it became ~cool~ or “funny” for people to be needlessly cruel about this series. If you don’t like it or were mad about the Joining or are weirdly angry that it’s popular, that’s fine and you’re entitled to that,…but what is the obsession with talking shit about it and tearing down others who do like it? I’ve seen several people on this app with some sort of status like “I am reading this book so that I can absolutely rip it to shreds” …just like, why? You have no other books to read? Nothing better to do with your time then tear down an author and bully any readers who do enjoy it? I don’t really get it…I also saw one reader give 1 star and write a review about how mad they were that they read this book because they didn’t realize it was Book 1 but from Casteel’s POV. I truly don’t understand how you cannot have realized that. This book has been so heavily marketed as Cas’ POV book for years...not sure if that rationale deserves 1 star.

I know people are mad about the emotional intimacy between Kieran and Poppy, as well as the Joining. Personally, I'm not really sure why the Joining was surprising for anyone...why would JLA introduce the concept in book 2 unless she planned for it to happen? It would've been weird if it didn't. I think Kieran and Poppy's relationship makes sense. There's just so much love there. Casteel and Kieran have been bonded for literal centures, closer than any 2 people can be; seeing Poppy and Kieran develop an unbreakable bond like that too now that they're both bonded and love Casteel just makes everything feel complete to me. But I know people will yell at me for having that opinion, I guess.

Anyways, I’d recommend this book. I enjoyed it immensely. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. Kieran, Casteel, and Poppy have my whole entire heart (in that order).