Review – Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash, Book 3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (2/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 659 pages
Publisher: Blue Box Press
Release Date: April 20, 2021
ASIN : B08NS24X2T
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Blood and Ash series
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 2/5 stars
“She’s been the victim and the survivor…
Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she’s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It’s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.
The enemy and the warrior…
Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms’ dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy’s head.
A lover and heartmate…
But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible—travel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people—and each other.
And now she will become Queen…”
Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the Blood and Ash series. I have heard that there are supposed to be 5-6 books in this series. I bought this for my Kindle.
Story (2/5): I ended up stopping this at about 60% of the way through. I have so many complaints. The previous books in this series just grabbed me and pulled me right through them. They left me breathless at the heart pounding action and fast-moving plot and endearing romance…this book was so not any of those things.
It started out pretty good, almost too hectic because of everything that was going on. Then things just stopped. I don’t even know what the plot of this book was supposed to be. Is this an info dump about the whole history of the gods in this kingdom? Is this a book about Poppy’s sexual awakening? Is it about how unworthy Cas is to be her husband? Is it about Poppy being constantly confused and worried she’s not doing things right? Are we just supposed to saunter through Poppy’s day to day life with her while she wanders around doing very little?
The action scenes are few and far between. Instead we wander by Poppy’s side as she is dragged from place to place unconscious and then wanders through cities in awe of how people worship her powers. In between those portions are huge info dumps on the whole history of a world we’ve been reading about a long time now. It’s like Armentrout suddenly decided, “Hey, I should make this an epic fantasy!!!!”, but made the decision last minute in the middle of the series.
Characters (2/5): Before I stopped reading this, I started skimming it and some of that was because of both pacing and characterization. There are literally multiple chapters of Poppy and Cas just sitting in their bedroom with Poppy talking about how uncertain she is about everything and Cas talking about how he is unworthy of her and worships her. Cas has turned into the most boring character ever. He basically wants to have sex with Poppy and be her lap dog; he doesn’t seem to have an actual opinion about anything ever. Yes, we know they are in love but it is so gooey sweet and overdone that it made me want to gag…and I enjoy some romance in my stories!!! That brings me to the other huge complaint, is there anything Poppy can’t do at this point? Let me just say I have never met a more overpowered heroine, like ever.
Setting (3/5): There is some pretty decent world-building here. I enjoyed that we get to see more of the Atlantean kingdom. However, Poppy is unconscious for most of the trips between places and that leaves the world feeling a bit fractured to the reader. We get a good idea of how certain cities are once we are there, but then very little idea of how the broader world is.
Writing Style (2/5): This book needed a very serious amount of editing. Things get very repetitive and a good portion of the story wasn’t necessary. I’ve been trying to fight through this book for nearly a week now and I just flat out give up. I am so sad because this was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I LOVED the first two books. This book is a disaster and I am so, so disappointed. I won’t be reading anymore of this series and it breaks my heart to say that. I am not sure what happened here but I feel very let down.
My Summary (2/5): Overall what was one of my most anticipated reads of the year ended up being one of my most (if not the most) disappointing. This book was a mess. If you haven’t started the series, please don’t start it now. If you have started the series, I am sorry. I won’t be reading anymore of this series.
