A Soul of Ash and Blood

A Soul of Ash and Blood (2023) is the fifth book in Jennifer Armentrout’s fantasy romance Blood and Ash series. The novel reexamines Casteel Da’Neer and Penellaphe Balfour’s love story from Casteel’s perspective. Reflecting the plot of From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash Book One), A Soul of Ash and Blood explores themes of Love’s Influence on Identity, Understanding and Countering Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms, and Reconciling Contradictory Beliefs. A 2020 Goodreads Choice Award in Romance, the Blood and Ash series topped several bestseller lists, including USA Today.

This guide refers to the 2023 e-book edition published by Blue Box Press, an imprint of Evil Eye Concepts.

Content Warning: This guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of physical abuse, sexual assault, and self-harm.

Plot Summary

Opening in a newly liberated Solis, Casteel (Cas) Da’Neer, Penellaphe (Poppy) Balfour Da’Neer, and their comrades fight the Ascended, vampire-like creatures or vampry who are the former tyrannical rulers of Solis and remain loyal to the recently deceased Queen Ileana. Ileana is actually Isbeth, the first Ascended mortal, and she is Poppy’s biological mother. Poppy killed Isbeth in a recent battle only to discover her ultimate plan—to wake Kolis, a “Primal” god (the most powerful kind of god), and reshape the realms. Having just learned that she is the Primal God of Life and Death, Poppy searches for her biological father, the god Ires, whom Isbeth kept imprisoned for decades. Poppy also hopes to reunite with Millicent, her older sister and Solis’s first Maiden, or young woman thought to have special powers; she disappeared from the battlefield after Poppy killed Isbeth with Malik (Cas’s older brother and Millicent’s heartmate or soulmate). The search party finds Ires weakened and malnourished. Nektas, leader of the draken (human/dragon shapeshifters and guardians of the gods) insists on taking Ires to Iliseeum, the realm of the gods, to recover.

Poppy suddenly loses consciousness. Nektas explains that Poppy must enter into a stasis, or lengthy period of sleep, to complete her Culling (magical puberty). He warns that Primals can experience amnesia after stasis, and he encourages Cas and Kieran Contou (Cas’s best friend, “bonded” and “joined” with Poppy) to talk to Poppy while she rests. Cas decides to tell Poppy their love story, or how they met in Solis.

The narrative jumps back in time by several months, rehashing the plot of From Blood and Ash from Cas’s perspective. Cas, who is from the Kingdom of Atlantia, describes his undercover operations in Solis. There, he is known as Hawke Flynn, a guard working on the Rise, a security border in Masadonia, Solis’s second-largest city. He initially plans to capture Poppy, known then as “The Maiden,” and ransom her for Malik, Cas’s older brother and assumed captive of Queen Ileana. Cas plots with Commander Jansen, another Atlantian operative who infiltrates the Blood Crown’s royal guard, to kill one of the Maiden’s personal guards, promote Cas to the open position, and kidnap Poppy during a ceremony called the Rite. Kieran, Jericho, and several other Atlantians assist Cas, with help from rebel mortals known as the Descenters.

Cas hides his actions from his parents, King Valyn and Queen Eloana of Atlantia, who want to go to war with a corrupt and unchecked Solis. Queen Ileana rules Solis with lies and propaganda, manipulating mortals with a false religion. She created an army of uncontrollable Ascended that feed on mortals’ blood. The Ascended feed on children and babies during the Rite while telling parents that the children are admired by the gods. The Ascended also control the Craven, zombie-like creatures who infect mortals by biting them. The community lives under constant threat of Craven hordes breaching the Rise, which they incorrectly blame on Atlantians. The Ascended wall off the city into districts, living in larger, more neatly maintained manor houses while disease and poverty run rampant in the mortal districts. They turn select mortals into vampry by replacing the mortal’s blood with the blood of an Atlantian (Malik, and formerly Cas) in a process called Ascension. Having formerly been held captive and tortured by Ileana, Cas wants to end her reign of terror and expose the Ascended’s secrets. However, he wants to avoid a war and unnecessary Atlantian, wolven (a species of shapeshifters), and mortal bloodshed.

Cas’s life changes drastically when the Maiden enters his room at the Red Pearl, a nightclub often used for sexual rendezvous. Feeling genuinely intrigued for the first time in years, Cas realizes that the Maiden defies his expectations. He supports her desire to explore her body and live before her planned Ascension. Although their sexual encounter is interrupted, Cas soon becomes Poppy’s personal guard. He seeks more opportunities to grow close to the Maiden, eventually thinking of her as Poppy. Vikter Wardwell, Poppy’s other guard and father figure, grows suspicious of Cas and interferes with his plans. However, Tawny Lyon, Poppy’s closest friend, recognizes that Poppy is attracted to Cas, and she nudges Poppy to bond with her new guard.

Poppy uses silence as a form of control in her otherwise harshly structured existence. By teasing her and making sexual innuendos, Cas coaxes Poppy into a more trusting relationship. He admires Poppy’s rebellious side and is sexually attracted to her ability to fight physically. Still, he dislikes the restraints placed on Poppy, who cannot show her face to anyone, cannot speak to or touch most others, has few possessions, and has a limited, false education. Cas respects Poppy’s resilience, especially when he uncovers that Duke Teerman physically and emotionally abuses Poppy. Kieran recognizes that Cas is falling in love with Poppy before Cas knows himself. Cas’s feelings for Poppy interfere with his plans to kidnap her for ransom, especially when Vikter interferes during The Rite ceremony, and is killed by a Descenter.

Cas, Kieran, and several Royal Guards travel with Poppy through the Blood Forest (Craven-infested land in Solis) under the guise that they will deliver Poppy to Queen Ileana in Carsodonia, Solis’s capital city, for her Ascension. Instead, the group deviates to New Haven, a border town run by Descenters and Atlantians. Cas and Poppy have sex for the first time just before Cas reveals the truth about the Ascended and his intentions of kidnapping her. After his revelation, Cas tries to reassure Poppy that their romantic relationship is real. When Cas must travel to a neighboring town, Jericho and several other Atlantians and Descenters nearly kill Poppy. Cas saves her life by force-feeding her his Atlantian blood, which has healing properties. Poppy then stabs Cas in the heart and attempts to run away. Cas heals immediately, chases after Poppy, and feeds on her blood, tasting an ancient Atlantian bloodline. They have sex in the snow, and Poppy uses her magical abilities to soothe Cas’s lingering chest pain. Cas kills the group of traitors before declaring that he and Poppy will marry on Atlantian soil, knowing she will be better protected as a Princess of Atlantia.

While the majority of A Soul of Ash and Blood retells the plot of From Blood and Ash from Cas’s first-person perspective, Cas also narrates a “present” timeline across 12 chapters intermittently dispersed throughout the novel. In these chapters, Cas elaborates on changes to his identity after meeting and falling in love with Poppy. The present timeline also sees a building threat from the Revenant (creatures unable to die) army created by Isbeth. During a Revenant attack, Cas learns that he can shapeshift into a large cave cat. The Present timeline ends on a cliffhanger with Poppy opening her silver eyes.