The War of Two Queens

Blood and Ash, Book 4

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Narrated by: Stina Nielsen, Tim Campbell

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.

Don’t care for the narration.

As an avid audible listener, I can’t stand when they change narrators in the middle of the series. The female voice is the same and excellent, I do NOT care for the male voice. After listening to the first three books of the series with one voice in my head and then to have the voice and accent to completely change was startling. His voice is too dry and the lilt in the voice isn’t the same. I would have preferred the same voice throughout the entire book, even if the point of view switched between chapters.

Other than that, the book is excellent so far and I can’t wait to finish it!

AMAZING! But I have a couple complaints!

I absolutely adored the two part narration. But it bothers me that the climax and ending were so scrunched and fast paced. We needed more detail. I don't wanna give anything away so I'll just say that the LAST ten chapters are what we waited over a year for. and that is the only thing that bothers me. 😭 Other then that, the book was amazing and I'm doing a second read already.

edit: Second read is done and I am editing this to say that while yes, the climax and ending were scrunched and a bit to fast paced.. it was utterly insane and so worth the wait. all of JLAs books are phenomenal and this series is WORTH every read thru and re-listen. and trust me.. I've re listened to the first three books tons of times. I CANNOT WAIT for the next book. the two part narration is phenomenal! the action packed scenes were very detailed, the LOVE between our favorite three is tangible. and how Poppy steps up to her new position as queen is breathtaking. ❤️ I love this series so much and can't wait for more. ❤️

Big OOOOF …

At least I’m not alone in being utterly disappointed. This is not the casteel that’s been portrayed so far. I don’t think I’m against adding the male voice but his was not the move Jennifer (or her publisher or whoever) he is far too .. much. I’m sad I have been saving my credit for this and used it before my book showed up today. Cursing myself for not just being patient. Stina, im sorry you got ropped into being apart of this you are far too perfect to be attached to these bad reviews.

Wonderful! Awesome! 5 STARS!!!

As always, Stina did a FABULOUS job! She IS Poppy and Casteel as far as I’m concerned. I loved the addition of Casteel’s POV chapters and thought the narrator did a great job there. Jennifer utterly astonishes me with this wonderful world! I just love this series so much!

Loved this!!

I enjoyed this very much can’t wait for the next one, i’m glad this book tied everything together , This one gave me a clear understanding of who is what and how things went down!!!

The tension still builds wonderfully!

Tims voice as Cas is such a Wonderful unexpected surprise and I for one, LOVE IT so much! I'm so incredibly happy with what happened with Kieran. I secretly wanted a tiny bit more to have happened but fear what it would mean bc of the unknown pieces in their relationship. (Chapter 44 is definitely my favorite) Poppy and Cas are unbreakable so theres nothing to worry about in that regards. It just makes since with how natural the three of them are with each other. This book made me cry so many times I kept tissues in my pocket the entire time. It was not just tears of sadness either. This book captivated my heart. I hope Tim joins us in this journey in the next book. Stina, as always, Your extremely talented and I will be looking for your voice in other books as well.
Be careful but Brave in your next extraordinary book Jennifer.

honestly.....

listen, we all know this series is amazing. so we dont need to go on about what the series entails or what this book is about.
heres the main review geared towards Audio only, no spoilers at all about the book.

Stina does amazing voicing the entire series. female. male. wolven. draken. gods..... they all have their own voice.

so for the love of the gods, WHY did JLA pick a male narrorator for Casteels POV that sounds like a bored 80 year old reading a dictionary?!
Casteel is supposed to be this sensual, cocky, able to pass for his 20s guy. this narrorator sounds like he should be sitting in a smoke shop arguing about cigars and why the 1940s were the best decade.

I made it 2 hour in, hoping and praying it would get better. that maybe I would adjust to hearing him speak. I even sped up the reading to 1.80, which did help...minimally. it was more tolerable. but finally decided to return the audiobook and buy the Ebook to read.

don't get me wrong, I'm sure this guy reading other books would be wonderful...but for this series, absolutely not. takes you right out of the story every time he starts. *sigh*

Another great book in the Blood and Ash series

Narrators - Stina Nielsen did an excellent job. I was not a fan of Tim Campbell for this story as his voice did not flow with Stina and the change pulled me out of the story. The narrators voices just did not compliment each other. Mr. Campbell voice was good and I might enjoy in another story.

Book - I have been addicted to this series since book 1 and love the authors world building and how she ties things together. I was happy how this ended and while it's a cliffhanger it did give closer to a lot of things that built up in the previous books. I am impatiently waiting for the next in the series.

Wow

okay wow! I thought I could not like this story more than I already have, but I was wrong! This is getting so intriguing!!

Liked it a lot

I enjoyed this book but by far my least favorite in the series. I feel it did tie together well at the end though. I am excited for the next book!!