The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.
Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way - because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace.
Together, Poppy Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear - to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be - what she fears the most.
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The latest release in the From Blood and Ash world, The War of Two Queens was…. interesting. My first thoughts were “wow this is so much better than the prequel” because it has it’s own original storyline, and we’re revisiting beloved characters. Throughout this book, I still absolutely love Poppy and Casteel and Kieran and all their other friends, and this reason alone is why I continued reading until the end. Overall, this series has never been my favourite, and I enjoyed the most recent book as much as I enjoyed the rest of the series. I like the plot, I like the characters, I just don’t vibe with the writing style. This book is most likely going to be the last in this series that I read… at least until it’s a finished series and my curiosity on how it ends wins out.
Let’s talk about the pacing. Not just in this book, but in the entire series. The first three books have a LOT of information dump yet very little progress through the plot itself. It takes us three massive books to get to any action/battles….and then in the fourth book there’s so much plot shoved in that it was hard to tell which direction was up. It was easy to get lost in due to the excitement but it also felt sooooo rushed due to so many plot elements occuring at once. None of the time it took for travels, battles, and decisions in this book made any sense and I feel it’s because the author didn’t want to leave a separation between Casteel and Poppy for too long. But if she didn’t want that, then she shouldn’t have separated them to begin with, it felt pointless.
The dialogue kills me. In every one of these books there is so much modern slang that rips me out of the world and it happens constantly that a lot of times when reading this series I don’t feel a part of that world at all. I’m pushed out too many times to really enjoy it. Ancient creatures from the time of the “first” Maiden should NOT be waking up from thousand year slumbers saying things like “holy shit dude” and “bitch queen”. They are ancient powerful deities… not college frat boys thanks. If you want that kind of characterization and dialogue, write a modern fantasy. It bugged me so much and it’s probably the main reason why I don’t think I can continue with these books.
Possible spoilers below:
As much as I complain, there were a few things I liked. Poppy didn’t ask as many questions, there was fewer info dumps and we actually got to SEE things play out instead of just getting it explained to us through Poppy’s questioning. The relationship growth between Poppy and those around her was fantastic to see, I especially enjoyed her and Kieran forming a deeper bond as opposed to the very surface level interactions they’d had before. Personally, THAT little plot point that happened near the end was perfectly fine to me and I think JLA did it justice and made it so trusting and consensual without blurring any lines. I know it’s a hot spot for some people but I think, given all the foreshadowing in past books, that scene was done very well.
Overall, I enjoyed myself enough to finish reading it. But I think I’ll be waiting until the series is finished to decide whether it’s worth carrying on to the end. If you liked the first three, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one. I just feel that I’ve finally come to the realization that this series so far hasn’t been as enjoyable for me as it seems to be for everyone else so I’m taking a pause. I gave it 3 stars because it’s a good book. I just felt a little underwhelmed.