From Blood and Ash (2020) A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (2020) The Crown of Gilded Bones (2021) The War of Two Queens (2022) A Soul of Ash and Blood (2023) Born of Blood and Ash (2024)
⚡ Pace: medium · 🎭 Emotions: intense, passionate · 🚪 Entry threshold: medium · ⭐ Why read: spicy romance, rich lore
Poppy was raised to be The Maiden – veiled, untouched, destined for a future she never chose. Her life in the kingdom of Solis is a cage disguised as holiness: guarded every hour, forbidden to feel anger, desire, or anything that might reveal she is more than a symbol. The Ascended promise she will save the realm from the horrors beyond the wall. But salvation, she learns, has a cost paid in silence and blood.
Everything changes when she meets Hawke – a new guard with too many secrets and a gaze that sees the person beneath the veil. His presence cracks the rules meant to contain her. Why does he challenge her every belief? And why does danger seem to follow him like a shadow hungry for light? As monsters press in from the forbidden lands, and whispers of rebellion grow louder, Poppy begins to question not only her fate, but the truth of the Ascended’s power. Who decides what is sacred… and what is sacrificed?
“Blood and Ash” ignites a six-book saga where fantasy and intimacy collide. Armentrout builds a world of prophecy, politics and ancient hungers: a place where duty can be as cruel as any blade, and desire can be a spark strong enough to burn empires. Poppy’s courage isn’t about perfect bravery – it’s the refusal to stay silent while others decide who she is allowed to be.
Across the series, loyalty is tested, legends are rewritten, and Poppy must decide whether freedom is worth remaking the world itself. The stakes expand from locked rooms to kingdoms trembling on the edge of war. Readers are pulled into a story that balances razor-sharp tension with tenderness earned the hard way.
This is a journey about claiming a voice powerful enough to change destiny. And once Poppy steps out of the shadows, nothing – not even a crown – will stop her from deciding what she lives and loves for.
📚 Did you know 📖
The first instalment was meant as “a small experiment,” but grew into a sprawling fantasy saga.
Armentrout wrote the novel during the pandemic, which shaped its themes of “isolation and freedom.”
The series won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance.
It’s known for its distinctive balance between fantasy storytelling and a bold romantic thread.
There is a companion edition – “Visions of Flesh and Blood: A Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire Compendium” (2023).
There are spin-offs: the prequel series «Flesh and Fire».
Legend has it: the author admitted she originally named her characters using a “random name generator,” but grew so attached to them she never changed them.