The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Reviewed by Michelle

TheCrown of Gilded Bones | Jennifer L Armentrout | Blue BoxPress | Pub: 4/20/21

“Bravery is a fleeting beast, isn’t it? Always there to get you into trouble, but quick to disappear once you’re where you want to be.”

Well, here we are, book 3 of the Blood and Ash series. The Crown of Gilded Bones picks up right where we left off on our cliffhanger from A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. This book has lots of action from the very first page until the very end with our beloved smut mixed in.

Poppy finally gets to see more of Atlantia, she learns more about the wolven, she learns more about her background, and she has to make some really tough decisions in this book. We lose some characters. We meet some gods… truly loved it just as much as the first three books.

I really can’t go through what happened without there being spoilers and since the book is only 2 weeks old, I refuse to post spoilers knowing not everyone has gotten to this book yet.

We have to wait until 2022 for book four in the series BUT this October we get a prequel book called AShadow in the Ember. This book/duology will go over the gods, mainly Nyktos and his consort. I AM SO EXCITED! All books from the Blood & Ash and now the Flesh & Fire series should be read in pub date order:

1. From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash)
2. A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash)
3. The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and Ash)
4. A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire)
5. Untitled (Blood and Ash)

Also, if you read the first book in this series and didn’t like it so you wanted to try book two but you didn’t like that… don’t read book three just so you can continue to hate on this series. Not every book is for everybody and if you are simply reading a book just to write your hate reviews, STOP! You’re not a cool cat or kitten (yes that is a Tiger King reference) for disliking a book that lots of people loved. It actually makes you really annoying.

Synopsis (Credit: Goodreads)

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…