The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer Armentrout Book Review

Ratings

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Content Warning: Blood, Violence, Smut, Death, Grief, Death

Introduction

By far my favorite book in the series! I loved this book so much. It hit everything right for me. The drama, the action, the emotion, the romance! It was a wonderful adventure and such a strong set up for the fin al book. I can’t wait to see where it ends in the next book. 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Plot

The desperation, the romance, the conflict, THE ENDING. My gods, I think I died and came back. This plot was more action-packed and heart-wrenching than the previous two books. The way these two came together to take on his parents and the events unfolding was everything! Everything started to connect in this book and make sense. I loved it.

The ending did blindside me, as I don’t pick up on context clues easily. So knowing the Blood Queen is actually Isbeth put a whole new sense of urgency to the series. Which I liked because damn that was a good twist.

Although this was my favorite book in the series so far, I did have a few qualms with it. There was also a lot of switching around Poppy’s heritage and family tree, which got annoying real quick. Everything changed so often, it was hard to keep up. Maybe that was the joint, but damn. Stick to something. Also, the plot with the Unseen and Gyrms as basically nonexistent and only seemed to be used to throw in action. Honestly, could have gone without that. 

And can we talk about the meeting with Blood Queen? Why did they decide to sneak it and arrive early? Like I understand the element of surprise, but they could have just arrived early and brought enough people to protect them. Like what was their plan once they got inside? Jump out and yell “surprise!”? It felt like the only reason they snuck through the castle was to see the cave cat/being. Besides that, there was no point. Casteel also didn’t need to sacrifice himself for Poppy because the Blood Queen wants her alive, not dead. It was pointless besides setting up the plot for the next book.

Characters

Kieran

Kieran is amazing. We see a soft, compassionate side to him in this book– towards his mother, Poppy, Casteel. He felt like a loving older brother who just wanted to protect his family. He is my favorite character. Hands down. I want to see more of him in the next book.

Poppy

We see a lot of growth in Poppy in this book. She becomes more solemn as the weight of what is going on around her finally hits. I hate the predicament she’s in with deciding if she wants the crown or not. Honestly, I wanted her to run off with Casteel and build their own life together. It would have been right for her. 

She is, however, over-powered in this book. Which I guess makes sense since she’s a god, but doesn’t she need practice or training for all of that?

Casteel

Casteel felt more like a side character in this book. Poppy is all powerful, but so is Cas and it wasn’t really shown. He was more her support through it all. Nothing much happened with him in this book that was worth noting. I would like to see more of him and his family because they genuinely felt like a healthy family. 

Side Characters

The side characters filled in the void of this book. They provided comfort, laughs, and overall support. However, I will say I don’t understand how some characters are so close because we didn’t see it nor was it shown. For example, Emil. He was with Alister, why wasn’t he questioned about Alister’s actions and motive? Why is he just walking around and flirting with Netta? I felt no real connection to him or Delano, because we weren’t shown anything. 

Writing

Besides the info-dumps, the writing was on par for the series. There was still some repetitiveness (like Poppy and asking questions– which I do enjoy), but for the most part that had subsided. The descriptions about storytelling were spot on and beautifully done. The whole book felt like a movie in my head. 

Conclusion

The passion between these two is everything! It warmed a place in my soul that I didn’t know was void. I love this series for the characters and PoppyCas and also Kieran. I feel ike JLA has the entire series outlined and is pulling in small things effectively, like Willa Colyns, but some of it feels like she’s making it up as she goes, i.e. Poppy’s lineage. 

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What did you think of the book? Did you like it or could you have done without it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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