From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout

 From Blood and Ash 

Jennifer L. Armentrout 

From Blood and Ash is definitely one of my favorite books this year! I read it back in March and let me tell you, I couldn’t be left any more shocked and speechless as I was and I was so caught up in the story, that I didn’t even realise there were vampires until it became official.

This book isn’t only Jennifer’s very first High Fantasy novel with a whole new world, characters and secrets, it’s a damn masterpiece.

It follows Poppy, the Maiden, the Choosen of her kingdom Masadonia, and Hawke who became one of Poppys guard, after her previous one was murdered.

I really didn’t expect that fast character development, given it was just the first of four books, but in my opinion it was totally plausible and really refreshing. Poppy is torn back and forth between fulfilling her duties as the Maiden and actually living and being adventurous, and it tore my heart apart at one scene especially because it became clear how much Poppy suffers which was just really heartbreaking. But she is also a very strong, brave and bad-ass character and it wasn’t hard for me to fall in love with her. 

At the beginning, I really liked Hawke, he was being described as the typical book boyfriend I always want to have in real life, but the closer I came to the end of the book, the more skeptical I became and at the very end I wasn’t sure how to feel about him.

We were also introduced in a few side characters, for example Poppy’s best friend Tawny, or Vikter who is the only one close enough for her to being considered as a father figure, or Hawke’s best friend Kieran, of whom I hope we will learn more about in the next books.

To sum it up: From Blood and Ash is an action- packed, stunning High Fantasy novel, that left me utterly shocked at the end and excited for the second book. It also evoked all the right and wrong feelings in me, it made me laugh, cry and giggle like a schoolgirl but has also plot twist that made my heart beating way too fast.

It was also a book I could’t put down until I was finished, hence I stayed up until 4 in the morning reading, and I was wide awake for another two hours because my heart was beating so fast and I couldn’t stop thinking about all the good and shocking developments. 

5 / 5 ★