Jennifer L. Armentrout

To me, THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS, book four in Jennifer L. Armentrout's Blood and Ash series, is the crucial middle book of any series. Without this book, the rest of the series would fall apart. It is the one where our heroes finally take action, where we get some resolution and many answers, only to realize there is another, deeper mystery still to resolve.

Answers are plenty in THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS. We learn about the gods versus the primals and the ascended versus the Atlantians versus show more humans. Poppy learns about her parents, her powers, and her mother's goals for her. Casteel learns about his brother's actions over the last 100 years. There are so many answers coming at you so fast and so often that it is overwhelming. It is a case of too much too fast, so that you have no chance of not just absorbing the information but of understanding what you learned.

Still, I feel like THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS finally made some progress regarding Poppy's and Casteel's futures. The first book is all about Poppy trusting Hawk and learning the lie behind the Blood Queen's reign. The second book is the love story between Poppy and Casteel coming to fruition, and the third is Poppy finding her place among her people. This fourth book, however, is the first time we see Poppy initiating action and acting as the queen she is. Instead of reacting or constantly playing defense, Poppy acts. Gone is the naive, insecure Maiden. The Poppy we see in THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS knows her role and acts accordingly.

The story isn't all action, however. Much like in the first three books, Ms. Armentrout affords our young couple a few opportunities for quiet and love during all the tumult. THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS is a little sexier, as Poppy learns to shed her inhibitions and follow what feels right versus always putting things into "indecent" and "decent" categories. This is also the first novel in which we get to see directly into Casteel's point of view, a view I enjoyed, if only because I adore how much he finds Poppy's more violent tendencies so arousing. I also liked confirming how much he admires his wife, respects her, and refuses to take away any of her agency. He might find spilling blood a sexy pastime, but his devotion to his partner is beyond admirable.

Given all that happens and all that we learn, I finished THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS more than a little breathless and a whole lot confused. I enjoyed it immensely, but I sincerely hope Ms. Armentrout summarizes pretty much the last quarter of the novel in book five so that I can finally make sense of what is now happening, who the players are, and why. With what I was able to understand, however, I know that the series is far from over, and that Poppy and Casteel's problems have only just begun. I can't wait! show less

I don’t think I‘ve ever been actively mad at a book. But I am really angry at this one. And very glad I didn’t waste any money on it, because I got it from my library. This was basically just book 1 of the series with some very minor alterations. That must have been the laziest bit of writing I have ever seen. I guess once you’re this famous you can just re-release a whole book just written from another perspective and call it a day? What a waste of time spent reading this, hoping at show more some point something new would actually happen. show less

Here’s the thing: I was told that Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Covenant series was “Vampire Academy with Greek mythology” or “Vampire Academy meets Percy Jackson,” which interested me enough to make this the next series of Armentrout’s that I read. I was not expecting how similar this was to Vampire Academy though, all the way down to its premise and plot.

Let’s compare, shall we?

• We have our pure-bloods/Moroi, half-bloods/Dhampir, and daimons/Strigoi.
• Daimons/Strigoi are show more made by biting and consuming the blood of pure-bloods/Moroi.
• The half-bloods/Dhampir are looked down upon by the pure-bloods/Moroi, and are made to spend their lives serving and protecting them.
• Our story opens up with the female main character having run away from her school with another female character.
• Said female main character is saved by her love interest and brought back to the school.
• Female main character is accepted back at the school if she behaves, because female main character is a known rebel/party girl.
• Female main character’s (who is an underage teenager) love interest is her adult mentor.
• Female main character is *super special* because she’s an Apollyon/Shadowkissed.

…shall I go on?

Even with all of the similarities, I was hoping that maybe the mythological aspect might save it, but nope. The topic of the gods/Hematoi and their mythology are barely approached in this book, at least not enough to influence the overall plot. One of the characters even says that the pure-bloods can’t get in contact with the Gods anymore.

Am I still going to continue with this series? Probably. Partially because I want to see if the next books copy the rest of the Vampire Academy series, and partially because this was entertaining just enough— but I don’t mind calling out Jennifer L. Armentrout on this copycat book.

And my enemies-to-lovers dark romantasy loving heart really, really wants Alex and Seth to end up together but I think we all know she’s gonna end up with Aiden bye. show less

My Review:

The Prophecy is the finale in the Titan series and what a FINALE!!! I swear this author just delivers. I know some readers weren't super satisfied with how this ended but to be honest I was all about this ending and how it all turned out with one exception. One aspect of it really made me sad as I was hoping that Josie would build that relationship and see them finally make it. But seeing what he was willing to do for her was so poignant and tore me up inside. But I loved seeing show more what Seth and Josie overcome in this story and find their happy ending. I am curious to see what happens with son and I am curious if the author ever did his book. I will have to do some research. If not, that is totally fine. But if so I know what I am reading next. There is so much that captures the heart within this one...high stakes, deep devotion and sacrifice, and the power of true love and the little tidbits of information that will surprise you when everything comes together. I truly am becoming more and more hooked into this author's writing and I am really seeing why so many readers are obsessed with her work because its worth the praise. I am eager to expore more of this author. show less