The War of Two Queens

Blood and Ash, Book 4

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Narrated by: Stina Nielsen, Tim Campbell

Length: 26 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

War is only the beginning...

From number one New York Times best-selling author Jennifer L. Armentrout comes book four in her Blood and Ash series.

From the desperation of golden crowns...

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.

And born of mortal flesh...

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.

A great primal power rises...

Together, Poppy and 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.

As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.

©2022 Jennifer L. Armentrout. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

REALLY!?!?!

This is my first time reading JLA book/series. I was enthralled until I got to this one. The story and most especially the narrator. She did an excellent job. The narrator change was disconcerting but not too bad I kind of liked it. But the story pace, the repetitiveness and a heroine that doesn’t learn anything from one experience to the next WTF! It was painful to finish. I kept waiting for the story to get better, to pick up. It felt like the author was free writing while listening to the other part of the series or something. I went from listening Non-Stop through the first part of the series to taking two weeks to finish this one. And that was only because my imaginary OCD wouldn't let me just delete it out of my library. This is their world, a world of magic where anything is possible except a character that can put together a kindergarten puzzle that the reader figured out a book and a half ago. After being completely and utterly captured by the first part of this series this last book was an utter disappointment. I was going to buy the rest of her books because I like this series so much but now I think I’ll move on.
But the narrator though, give her a raise!

Drag (spoiler alert)

Dont get me wrong, I really like the series but i thought that it dragged on too long esp. the parts with the blood queen and Poppy. Its was too unauthentic as far as choices. Like why cant she just kill her at her first chance and then problem solved. No more blood spilled no more issues. Its dragged on too much and the fact the reasoning behind it was because Poppy didnt want people to think she was the harbinger is complete and utter nonsense. Its unrealistic even for this series. Come on!

The eeeeeeather

It’s a good story.. but man. I have my audible sped up to 1.4x and it drives me insane how she pronounced eather.. otherwise good vibes

The Eeeether

Narration is good except for the over exaggeration of eeeether about 300 times. It was distracting.

Additional male narrator not needed- all else AMAZING!!

Please note, this is one person’s opinion, so take that for what it is…
First , my opinion on narration: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP this act of adding or changing narrators with POVs. Stina is AMAZING! Stina IS Poppy’s, Cas’s, and Kieran’s voices. She does ALL of the voices so incredibly well that she can carry the series through different POVs. Tim is fine and nothing negative towards him, it’s more that Stina is SO PHENOMENAL!!! We’re used to her character voices now. I can’t stand having multiple voices in a book…multiple Poppy’s…multiple Keiran’s, etc. And the more POVs the worse having multiple voices gets - it gets confusing and distracting. Plus a deep male voice doing Poppy’s voice-especially in intimate scenes was cringy.
Chapter 44: To JLA: well done. Hold strong. Ignore the haters. For any fans you may have lost you gained many more. I am fairly sure JLA wrote this intentionally as part of her planned story and did not put this in to cater to fans. Why I say that: not writing this would have been the easy way out. And come on, for those who REALLY READ all of the books, this was foreshadowed-it was coming. It had a reason…was explained…and in no way diminishes or damages Poppy and Casteel. This is a fantasy series! To those so shocked by this chapter, if this is too much for some readers skip the chapter or just don’t read the series, find a more modest book, and stop promoting hate towards the author who chose to write her story her way, and stop trying to destroy this for the fans who understand it.
Overall: loved it!! Well done! Another great addition to the series. Ended in a way I can live with but also can’t wait for book 5!!! Also can’t wait for continuing the Sera and Niktos story in the fall!!!

Well Done

I love everything about this book. A great continuation of the series. The author really pulls you in to the story and the characters lives. The narrator's do a fantastic job of bringing it all to life. I highly recommend this series.

Armentrout has done it again!

Nina is by far the best narrator. She makes the book even better! I cannot wait for the next book!

BEST BOOK SERIES!! Need the next one ASAP!!

Absolutely love this series!!
Now to wait for the next one, hopefully 🤞
The only con I have is... I wish this series was put out at one time with no wait time for the next.

Voice change..

Why did you change the voice actor. She made cass come alive with his accent and playfulness. I will obviously love this book but very sad about this change..

Absolutely breathtaking

I was on the edge of my seat for this entire book. There are so many negative reviews from closed-minded people but that shouldn’t deter you from reading this series! The series is great, this book included. It’s a beautiful web of emotion, valor, destiny, and humor.

10/10 highly recommend.