REVIEW: A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Jasleen
Aug 23, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Nov 16, 2021

I have never found open-heart surgery more attractive. You're gonna want to grab some honeydew after reading this...

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire features an addictive, enemies-to-lovers romance filled with tension and angst. Despite the underdeveloped world-building and general writing style, I am looking forward to reading the sequel!

BOOK OVERVIEW

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: From Blood and Ash #2

Genres: New Adult Fantasy, Romance, Vampires, Werewolves

Content Warnings: Violence, Death, Assault, Mature Content, Child Abuse (Mention), Kidnapping/Abduction, Rape (Mention), Suicide (Mention), More

Suggested Age Rating: 18+

Published: September 1, 2020, by Blue Box Press

Page Count: 637

Synopsis:

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire begins right from the end of the first novel of the series, From Blood and Ash. It is narrated from Poppy's perspective as she deals with the lies told to her by those she trusted. She must protect her betrayed heart while navigating through her new hostile circumstances that brim with whispers of war. As her abilities grow and strengthen, Poppy starts to uncover the dark secrets of the two blood-drenched kingdoms. But when the earth begins to shake, and the skies start to bleed, it may already be too late.

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"Sometimes, the heartbreak that comes with loving someone is worth it, even if loving that person means eventually saying goodbye to them."

INITIAL THOUGHTS

I picked this book up immediately after finishing From Blood and Ash and thankfully it was already released otherwise I would have lost my mind from waiting that long! On a side note: how amazing is that cover?!

MY REVIEW

Having fear wasn't a weakness. Only the foolish and the false claimed to feel no fear, but that emotion could spread like a plague if given too much thought."

As I explained in my review of From Blood and Ash, Jennifer's writing style was still easy to grasp and I followed along with no problem. However, it still had annoying ellipses and repetitiveness. For example, Poppy would often think of something and then say that exact same thought out loud to someone. She also asks a lot of questions, so much that other characters have to mentally prepare themselves when talking with her. Most of the time it's understandable because she's been isolated all her life and doesn't know much of the world. But at the same time, JLA uses this as a way to info-dump the world-building. Personally, I would like to "see" the world, rather than just learning about it through dialogue. The urban fantasy elements, such as electricity and plumbing, are also included, but there is no explanation of how this works, especially since the rest of the book is more medieval. I understand that fictional worlds will not necessarily operate the same way ours does, but it should be explained more thoroughly.

Like the first book, the writing is still very much upper-YA (with the exception of the NA romance scenes), which throws me off since this series is marketed as New Adult. The questions I had after reading From Blood and Ash either went unanswered or were explained vaguely, which is something that really irked me!

However, JLA does write exciting action scenes with great detail (something I wish she did more!). As a romance-driven novel, the tension and angst between Poppy and Cas is very well-written and engaging, and I will admit that the romance is what made me finish this book in 3 days.

"The most beautiful things in all the kingdom often have jagged and uneven lines, scars which intensify the beauty in intricate ways our eyes nor our minds can detect or even begin to understand."

There's not too much plot development, however, the unexpected twists from the first novel are only amplified in A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. Sometimes, I thought that I could predict where the plot was going, and then suddenly I was left very much shocked and dumbfounded, a feeling that I love experiencing when I'm reading plot twists.

Poppy is definitely still in the beginning stages of her character arc, and I'm interested to see how she will be in the sequel. I like her empathetic nature to those around her, and how she is flexible enough to become ruthless as well! I also love how skilled she is with various weapons and is able to hold her own in a fight. #strongwomen

I also liked how the side characters are getting to be more diverse (it's not as diverse as I would like, but I can see an improvement). Kieran is a very interesting character, and I would love to learn more about him! There are other POC characters introduced as well, which I am also excited to learn more about in the third book.

The addictive, enemies-to-lovers romance is undeniably the highlight of this book. Both Poppy and Cas are great characters individually, but they are simply amazing when they are together! They have great banter and Cas is so charismatic and swoon-worthy that I just cannot wait to read more of him in the sequel! The scenes are quite steamy (literally, at one point), and are worthy of the NA rating.

"You are..."

"Devilishly handsome? Wickedly clever? Stunningly charismatic?"

"That wasn't what I was going for," I told him, "More like ridiculous."

"Endearingly ridiculous," he corrected.

Pros: amazing enemies-to-lovers romance, captivating action, unexpected plot twists

Cons: info-dump writing and world-building, could improve on diversity

The writing and world-building are what reduced my rating for this. However, the steamy romance and awesome characters bump the rating to 4.5 stars. If JLA can be just as descriptive of the world as she is with the romance and action, this could easily be a 5-star read!