THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT READ “FROM BLOOD AND ASH”.

First off, if you’ve stumbled across this series, and are thinking “yes, YA!” STOP. Definitely NA. Very very NA, which I prefer. That’s all I’m going to say.

Devout Armentrout readers will no doubt fall in love with AKOFAF, fantasy readers doubly so. Concocted of the usual humor, cheesy one-liners, thought provoking quotes (I love a book where a sentence makes you stop, and you just have to write it down), action- lots, witty characters, and down-right scandalizing drama.

I had some issues, though. Very out of place scenes, a good bit of unnecessary scenes, and a lot of filler scenes of internal dialogue that didn’t hold my attention. I attribute this mostly to the length of the book. I’ve read that once again, publishers may ask authors to merge books- this might also be the culprit of why the pacing felt… off. Or not typical of earlier books of hers.

3.5 stars.

Opinion time: We all know Armentrout has amazing writing capabilities, we’ve seen it time and time again. But I want to see characters that feel new, and not recycled. I’ve been reading her books for years, and I’m waiting for THE book, you know? The one that screams “I just took my experience/talent, and brought it to its full potential and wrote this piece of flucking gold that will change your life forever.” But in order to do that, publishers restrictions will need to be dumped, and the status quo forgotten.

**ARC was provided in exchange for an HONEST review.**