Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood And Ash Series Book 3)

Top positive review

A Rollercoaster of a Ride!

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2021

The Crown of Gilded Bones, Book 3 of the Blood and Ash series, starts off on a high note of what the heck just happened... and almost never lets up. Picking up right where AKOFAF ends, this book is a rollercoaster of emotion. Secrets are revealed. Betrayals abound. Loyalties are tested. Gods awaken.

The love between Cas and Poppy fed my soul and ripped my heart open, as they learn to navigate their marriage (and all that comes with it) and the truth about who and what Poppy is. I loved the moments of living in between the hard times. And the steam level is off the charts! I can't help but to hope for a long and happy future for these two. They deserve it.

Cas' love for Poppy oozes off the pages. His moments of quiet rage are powerful, but when he loses control in the moments when he is faced with the fear of losing her, his pain is suffocating. There is no doubt that he would walk through fire and to the ends of the earth for her. His loyalty is to Poppy first. Always. And I loved this shift in his mentality. We often think about how Cas saved Poppy, but we forget that she saved him, as well. She gave him a new reason to live, and she brought him out of the shadows.

Poppy really comes into her own in this one, as she grows in her confidence and abilities. Her lineage is mind blowing, and when she truly learns to accept and embrace it, her actions are Cas-level epic. She is a total badass. Her rage? It is like Damon, Roth, and Luc all rolled into one. And I'm so here for it.

There are so many moments of high adrenaline action, plot twists and pain, mixed with moments of living, loving, and laughing. There is a solidness in the friendships that are built. The comraderie between Poppy and the wolven is beautiful and touching, with Kieran and Delano being the best friends and protectors one can have. They offer sound advice, elements of humor, and unconditional loyalty.

JLA has built a fascinating world filled with Gods, deities, mortals, prophecies, ancient blood lines, war, vengeance, destruction, and hope. I just don't know where this will go next, but I'm excited about it!

Forget every theory. Forget everything you know or thought you knew. Forget everything you think you want to happen. Avoid the spoilers. Leave it all outside and just enjoy the experience. And hold on for the ride. You won't be disappointed!

45 people found this helpful

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Too long but good ending

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2021

After the big cliffhanger at the end of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, I was really looking forward to this book. However, by 400 pages in I was ready to tear my hair out. It's a slog filled with repetition and a lot of journeying around and going nowhere in the plot.
At that point, I was thinking that there's a lot to wrap up and I discovered that there is more book(s) after this (I'm not sure how many). Considering that I would have cut out about 2/3's of this book, I just about had enough of poor Poppy and her 'am I good enough' routine.
I toughed it out and I'm glad I did because the author really redeemed herself with the big cliffhanger ending again. I'm not sure if it's enough to make me continue the series, but it was much better action and plot movement. I wish more was given to Cas to do than have sex with Poppy and tease her about Miss Willa; he seemed to fade into the background in this book which was disappointing to me. I'm not all about THE CHOSEN ONE trope, and it was more than emphasized here. A tight edit cutting out the fat and repetition would have done a lot to make this book better.

197 people found this helpful

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From the United States

LaurenBurress

Brutally, Painfully Honest......

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2021

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This is a hard review to write. This is the most disappointing book I’ve read in a long time. I gave two stars- one because I have always loved this author and I feel I owe her. The second because this book does have a great beginning and a strong ending but what is in between was hard to read, frustrating and no where near what I expected and hoped for. I even stopped reading at one point because the plot and character responses, in my opinion, were just too stupid. When I read the first in this series I was beyond thrilled. JLA, my favorite author, had written an epic book in my favorite fantasy genre. The second in the series delivered a stellar ending that didn’t disappoint but this book dragged on forever. There was too much information, too many details, and too many distractions that only served to distract the reader from the important plot elements of the story. I’m not sure what happened but cheesy dialogue, silly innuendo and just poorly timed romance really took away from my ability to take this story seriously. I wanted to but couldn’t. All of this is the total opposite of what I have thought of other books she has written. I’ve always loved the witty dialogue, character interaction and plot twists in her other books but this just seemed forced and over the top for no reason. I’m not sure I’ll read the next in this series.

168 people found this helpful

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Melody C

Wish I had bought this on audible so I could return it

Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2021

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I loved the first 2 books in this series so much. This felt so forced. I don’t know if her effort to mature Poppy lost the core of her character or exactly where this book lost its way but I’m so relieved I’m done with it.

68 people found this helpful

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why?

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2021

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Another series that goes from I-can't-stop to I-can't-finish.
70% of this book consists of long boring conversations and inner monologues. The chats with Miss Willa were fine, that's how they should be, short and concise.
I also dislike how Cas was "erased" as a character, really old boy meets really young girl and stops being himself, is she a succubus? Poppy didn't really evolved, she just discovered sex. The relationship with the wolven was weak.

65 people found this helpful

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Haunna

JLA needs better editors or more plot ideas

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2021

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I had to force my way through this book. The first few chapters and last few chapters were all that was needed. The 300 pages in between was redundant dialog recycling the same 2 jokes (poppy’s love of questions and Willa’s diary) mixed with endless pointless discussion about Poppy’s parents, seriously that’s it. If I had to hear how SPECIAL poppy was or cringe at the weird out of time phrases (“go big or go home” really?) one more time I probably would have used this book to kill spiders rather than for entertainment. This series should not be 6 books good grief!

61 people found this helpful

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AngelaLHansenAuthor

Filler, little substance

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2021

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Let me start first by saying I absolutely LOVE this author. I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this book. This series, the characters and the world created is just astonishing and I am in awe of Jennifer Armentrout's talents.

Unfortunately, I think this book suffered from stagnation. After I finished it I believe I discovered why. Apparently this is to be a six book series. It seems book three acted solely as a pause in the storyline to ensure there would be enough material for the next books. I detest when authors elongate a book unnecessarily with filler because they have a wird count they need to meet. I get they have obligations to the publisher but this is how sales drop. Readers will lose interest when they are treated to material that is excessively repetitive, nauseatingly inconsequential and lacking depth.

I found my self skipping pages upon pages because the dialogue and story just kept repeating. If I had to read one more word about Ms. Willa's diary I was going to throw my kindle (figuratively of course). Cas/Hawke was pretty much relegated to an on call sex toy where the only conversation he was capable of having revolved around that stupid diary. The beginning of the book started off strong and the characters were in their element. Then the fluff happened. It wasnt until I was 85% done with the book that the story line kicked back into gear. We were left with a cliffhanger, not unexpected, but drawn out to the point of utter frustration. This book could easily have been 10 chapters at most. I equate it to The Hobbit movies. Just because you can make three movies out of one story doesn't mean you should. The same theory applies here, just because you can make 6 books out of this story doesn't mean you should. Jennifer Armentrout is better than this and her readers deserve her talents unbridled by unnecessary fillers.

The first 10% of the book and the last 15% of the book are a 5, no doubt. As for the rest, a 2 at best.

16 people found this helpful

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Very disappointing, slow moving and generally poorly written, I loved the first two books!

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021

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Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the Blood and Ash series. I have heard that there are supposed to be 5-6 books in this series. I bought this for my Kindle.

Story (2/5): I ended up stopping this at about 60% of the way through. I have so many complaints. The previous books in this series just grabbed me and pulled me right through them. They left me breathless at the heart pounding action and fast-moving plot and endearing romance...this book was so not any of those things.

It started out pretty good, almost too hectic because of everything that was going on. Then things just stopped. I don’t even know what the plot of this book was supposed to be. Is this an info dump about the whole history of the gods in this kingdom? Is this a book about Poppy’s sexual awakening? Is it about how unworthy Cas is to be her husband? Is it about Poppy being constantly confused and worried she’s not doing things right? Are we just supposed to saunter through Poppy’s day to day life with her while she wanders around doing very little?

The action scenes are few and far between. Instead we wander by Poppy’s side as she is dragged from place to place unconscious and then wanders through cities in awe of how people worship her powers. In between those portions are huge info dumps on the whole history of a world we’ve been reading about a long time now. It’s like Armentrout suddenly decided, “Hey, I should make this an epic fantasy!!!!”, but made the decision last minute in the middle of the series.

Characters (2/5): Before I stopped reading this, I started skimming it and some of that was because of both pacing and characterization. There are literally multiple chapters of Poppy and Cas just sitting in their bedroom with Poppy talking about how uncertain she is about everything and Cas talking about how he is unworthy of her and worships her. Cas has turned into the most boring character ever. He basically wants to have sex with Poppy and be her lap dog; he doesn’t seem to have an actual opinion about anything ever. Yes, we know they are in love but it is so gooey sweet and overdone that it made me want to gag...and I enjoy some romance in my stories!!! That brings me to the other huge complaint, is there anything Poppy can’t do at this point? Let me just say I have never met a more overpowered heroine, like ever.

Setting (3/5): There is some pretty decent world-building here. I enjoyed that we get to see more of the Atlantean kingdom. However, Poppy is unconscious for most of the trips between places and that leaves the world feeling a bit fractured to the reader. We get a good idea of how certain cities are once we are there, but then very little idea of how the broader world is.

Writing Style (2/5): This book needed a very serious amount of editing. Things get very repetitive and a good portion of the story wasn’t necessary. I’ve been trying to fight through this book for nearly a week now and I just flat out give up. I am so sad because this was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I LOVED the first two books. This book is a disaster and I am so, so disappointed. I won’t be reading anymore of this series and it breaks my heart to say that. I am not sure what happened here but I feel very let down.

My Summary (2/5): Overall what was one of my most anticipated reads of the year ended up being one of my most (if not the most) disappointing. This book was a mess. If you haven’t started the series, please don’t start it now. If you have started the series, I am sorry. I won’t be reading anymore of this series.

11 people found this helpful

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1MeanMomma

Very disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2021

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I would have rated the 1st 2 books 5, even with a major cliffhanger. This book was unnecessary long and had a terrible ending, because it didn't end! And no where can I find information an if there is going to be a book 4. Just a lead into a spin off series. This is my 1st series with this author, not sure if I will ever read another. And I really loved this story, but she ruined it by not ending it. Just dragging it out... I am so mad.

22 people found this helpful

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Jordan C.

Disappointing Fluff Book

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2021

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This book is such a disappointment after the first two. It is so repetitive, with all of the characters telling Poppy every moment how clever she is, how strong, she should be queen, she can do no wrong. I’m halfway through and trying to stay with it for the plot but there’s not as much of that as there was in the first two. Series started strong but from what I’m seeing, is ending super weak.

12 people found this helpful

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shoegal130

Read beginning chapters and last chapters.Cut out the middle

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2021

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So much of this book was filler. Could have easily skipped to who she is, land of gods trip, last chapter, then finished off the series.I actually skipped over pages of random inner diagligue that at one point literally was repeated over 50 times and the random let's have sex because all Cas is now is a support bitch for a main charter who didn't really seem to like herself. Be should have been more bad ass and had great ideas, control of what happened with the kingdom, and more of a time other then your prefect poppy... have sex with me. Cut out the middle fat call it a inbetween novella and end the series correctly.

8 people found this helpful

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Swendog Millionaire

So much boring with a good ending

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

10% of this book was so good. So good. The other 90% was very boring and grotesquely overwritten. I won’t go so far as to say it should’ve been a novella, but this book was over 650 pages and really should’ve been less that 500. There was way too much internal monologue, but not just that. There was way too much REPETITIVE internal monologue. I also thought Kieran and Casteel lost some of their personalities and a lot of the “banter” was forgettable.

Overall I liked the plot, but the time spent on everything should’ve been inverted. Spend most of your time on the good stuff!! Don’t tell me twelve times about how the main character has lived a bad childhood and now needs to make her own choices VERBOSELY, when the action parts are so captivating.

I normally don’t mind when series are stretched into more books - as long as they’re enjoyable. This book felt like the author didn’t have enough content to fill this planned installment, and so it was a huge step down from the previous two books fir me. I also was under the (obviously false) impression that this was a trilogy and thus this was the final book. So expectations were pretty crushed when I realized there were more books to come and the majority of this book felt like filler.

The ending was really great. Totally what I’d expected based on the first two books. But I’m so torn right now bout continuing with the series because of how BORING most of this book was. Do I really want to pay $7.99 for the next book assuming it will be more of the same: 10% amazing but 90% monotonously uninteresting.

I’m truly sorry for leaving a review like this but my expectations were SO HIGH and they were truly dashed. I suppose it’s too much to ask that the next book be a kick-ass novella?

5 people found this helpful

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The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood And Ash Series Book 3)

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