Malik also tells Cas why he stayed for so long and again it's all because of Millie and he would never leave her no matter what but again she hates him because of the things he has done (which we don't know what he is referring to).

A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Waterstones

Honestly, I was so excited for this book! I couldn't wait to read Cas's POV, and it was everything I dreamt it to be.Overall, this book was well paced, solidly built, highly entertaining, and a new member on my favorites shelf. In all transparency, I feel like it is the Tower of Dawn of the Blood and Ash series, where we really could have had the important plot points added in to the prior book, and nothing would change besides not having Hawke's retelling. And let's be clear, Hawke's retelling isn't necessary. Did I enjoy it, though? Hell yeah. The first chapter of the book was hands down the best start JLA has written in this series. It gave me chills. Poppy awakens right at the last sentence, and she is officially a primal (her eyes are no longer green) I wanted more activity during the present or even an appearance of Ash/Sera or even them mentioned of them a bit more, but we got nothing And all the unseen Vikter, Tawny, Emil, Niall, Delano and of course Elijah content was truly what I needed. And his interaction with Malik, gosh it just goes to show that even though they have a very long road ahead of them, there is always a way to fix things. To act where it is needed. I am sure there is a metaphor in there somewhere.

A Soul of Ash and Blood (Blood and Ash, Book 5 My Thoughts on A Soul of Ash and Blood (Blood and Ash, Book 5

A great primal power has risen. The Queen of Flesh and Fire has become the Primal of Blood and Bone—the true Primal of Life and Death. And the battle Casteel, Poppy, and their allies have been fighting has only just begun. Gods are awakening across Iliseeum and the mortal realm, readying for the war to come.From the teasers and other posts that Jennifer released on her FB group about ASOAAB, it seemed like this book wasn't going to simply be a rehashing of events from Book 1, it would also deal with the trauma Casteel went through during his time as Isbeth's captive. We do get to see Millie and Malik in present time, and they have returned to Cas. We find out WHY Millie ran, and the truth is she was scared that when the battle happened that her grandmother would be there, and she would kill her as Sera is known for hating Revenants. Malik left obviously because she was gone, and she is his heartmate...something that Malik says she does not know, and he won't say anything because she hates him. I CANNOT WAIT FOR THEIR BOOK. And so, he does. He reminds Poppy how their journey began, revealing things about himself that only Kieran knows in the process. But it’s anybody’s guess what she’ll wake to or exactly how much of the realm and Cas will have changed when she does.

A Soul of Ash and Blood | Book by Jennifer L. Armentrout

We won't know the conclusion to FBAA (Poppy/Cas) until spring/summer 2024 but we will get the compendium in February so that should hold me over after F&F 3! If you are familiar with the series, then you know all about his captivity, but we never truly got to experience first-hand just how much those years he has been held got to him and how deep they ran within him. Those moments really made my heart shatter into a million pieces. How he spoke about what he did to dull the pain, even if temporarily, touched some part of me that I never knew could be reached and what he did to silence the voices, to turn it off.. there are truly no words, or maybe there are too many, but it just hit close. Hearing him talk about how he thought of himself, even still to this day... how they still find him in the silence… But that is the thing with trauma, isn’t it? It creeps up on you, no matter how much time has passed, no matter how much you want to forget. That broke me. Except for the first chapter and last chapter, nothing new of substance takes place. There are no major additions to the plot except for Poppy going into statis (which is not a spoiler as it is mentioned in the blurb) and a new discovery made by Cas at the end.Now, that ending. THAT ENDING. My gosh it has made me so excited for the next one. Cas being able to syphon off some of Poppy’s primal power? The shifting??? Ah, brilliant. I hope Poppy learns to shift swiftly otherwise Cas is never gonna hear the end of it, I’m sure. BUT ALSO, I have a feeling that there’s more to Cas than we realise too, and maybe it’s not just syphoning Poppy’s power?? Because at the start Nektas seemed to be hinting that Cas’ ancestor is still around, possibly waking up along with everyone else so, maybe he’s actually got a god in his line or something? Ah I’m not sure, but there’s definitely more to it than we’ve been lead to believe so far I think!

A Soul of Ash and Blood | Book by Jennifer L. Armentrout A Soul of Ash and Blood | Book by Jennifer L. Armentrout

As we got none of that in this book as Cas holes himself in the room with Poppy waiting for her to wake up as he recounts the first book. Which makes me feel like this book is a bit of cash grab… which I hate saying. But it kind of is, I could also do a tandem reading guide between this book and From Blood and Ash. Though that would also be a bad idea as there are major spoilers for what happens in the rest of the books. I don’t know, let me know in the comments if you think I should make one. This book was amazing! I loved ever single second of it. I loved the characters. I loved that it had past and present chapters. This was pretty much everything I didn't know I needed after reading From Blood and Ash, but more. For fans of the series, this book will not disappoint. This is honestly my favorite book so far this year, and I wish I could give it more than five stars because it deserves a million. A great primal power has risen. The Queen of Flesh and Fire has become the Primal of Blood and Bone—the true Primal of Life and Death. And the battle Casteel, Poppy, and their allies have been fighting has only just begun. Gods are awakening across Iliseeum and the mortal realm, readying for the war to come. But when Poppy falls into stasis, Cas faces the very real possibility that the dire, unexpected consequences of what she is becoming could take her away from him. Cas is given some advice, though — something he plans to cling to as he waits to see her beautiful eyes open once more: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 cannot wait for F&F book 3 - I need Sera and Ash like I need my next breath. These two are THE COUPLE for me and I have a feeling it will as epic as I want it to be.