A Shadow in the Ember: Flesh and Fire, Book 1

“𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣?” 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮. “𝙄𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚.” 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧. “𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡.”I’ve embarked on my re read of FAF. When I did my first read through of FBAA and FAF I did read it in the intended order (which is listed below AND also how I still recommend this to be read by first time readers) however I’ve just missed Nyktos so damn much that I started my reread of the FAF series on its own.Also, when I read this series last year, it was prior to me writing reviews — I would only star rate. So this is my opportunity to not only relive my favorite Fantasy MMC but put my thoughts out there that I never did the first go round.📖 𝗔 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿✍🏼 𝗝𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗟. 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦🩸 ᴍᴀɪᴅᴇɴ🩸 ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʟ ɢᴏᴅꜱ🩸 ʙᴀᴅᴀꜱꜱ ꜰᴍᴄ🩸 ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ🩸 ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ-ɪꜱʜ🩸 ꜰᴏʀᴄᴇᴅ ᴘʀᴏxɪᴍɪᴛʏ🩸 ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴀᴋᴇ𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦:🗡️𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 & 𝘈𝘴𝘩 | 🌙 𝘈 𝘍𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩 & 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 (𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸)🗡️ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀꜱʜ (ꜰʙᴀᴀ) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🗡️ ᴀ ᴋɪɴɢᴅᴏᴍ ᴏꜰ ꜰʟᴇꜱʜ ᴀɴᴅ ꜰɪʀᴇ (ꜰʙᴀᴀ)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🗡️ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴏᴡɴ ᴏꜰ ɢɪʟᴅᴇᴅ ʙᴏɴᴇꜱ (ꜰʙᴀᴀ)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌙 ᴀ ꜱʜᴀᴅᴏᴡ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴍʙᴇʀ (ꜰᴀꜰ)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♾️🗡️ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʀ ᴏꜰ ᴛᴡᴏ Qᴜᴇᴇɴꜱ (ꜰʙᴀᴀ)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌙 ᴀ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʟᴀᴍᴇ (ꜰᴀꜰ)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️♾️🗡️ ᴀ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ᴏꜰ ᴀꜱʜ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ (ꜰʙᴀᴀ)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌙 ᴀ ꜰɪʀᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰʟᴇꜱʜ (ꜰᴀꜰ) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌙 + 🗡️ᴠɪꜱɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜰʟᴇꜱʜ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ: ᴀ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀꜱʜ/ꜰʟᴇꜱʜ ᴀɴᴅ ꜰɪʀᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴇɴᴅɪᴜᴍ🌙 ʙᴏʀɴ ᴏꜰ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀꜱʜ — 𝟴.𝟭𝟯.𝟮𝟰🗡️ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʟ ᴏꜰ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴏɴᴇ — ᴛʙᴀ𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚. 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡. 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨, 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚.📖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 📖⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♾️🌶️🌶️🌶️This journey takes place prior to FBAA where we meet Nyktos and Sera.Sera has spent her entire life preparing to be the Consort to the Primal of Death. But when he rejects her as his Consort her life once again changes.Sera has never had much choice in how she lived her, and the same can be said of Nyktos as well. They both ultimately just want their people safe from harm and the Rot.When they find each other things do become a bit complicated. Where feelings weren’t supposed to be involved, but now are— this causes emotional confusion on both parts.But it’s when trust has been broken that the real trial to their arrangement happens.I love the banter in this so much. Nyktos will forever be my favorite Fantasy MMC. This story will forever be my top favorite fantasy series

It took a little while to really get into this book. Some parts are a bit frustrating, but mostly it's pretty confusing! I hope I'm not the only that upon finishing this first book thinks that as well. About to start reading the second one straight away! I could put this book down. Highly recommend

There are some similarities between Sera and Ash and Poppy and Cas from the first series. The biggest difference is that in A Shadow in the Ember, Sera is the one who's being deceitful about what her intentions are with Ash who's the Primal of Death, aka Nyktos. She's supposed to get him to fall in love with her, which will somehow make him weak (I'm not completely clear on how that works), and then she'll kill him. His death will supposedly save the Kingdom of Lasania from the Rot, which is slowly killing the land and the crops and starving the population. We find out toward the end of the book that Ash's death won't do anything that Sera has been told it would. His death would actually make everything 1000 times worse.Ash's father, Eythos, was the true Primal of Life before his brother Kolis, the Primal of Death, made them switch roles as an act of revenge. Before Kolis killed Eythos, he put an ember of his primal of life power in Sera's bloodline before she was conceived, which was activated at her birth. If Sera can successfully Ascend, she will become THE Primal of Life, and will have the power to save both the mortal realm and the Shadowlands, which have also been slowly dying. In order for Sera to successfully Ascend, she needs to have inside her the blood of the god who will help her Ascend (Ash's), which she already has, and she needs to have the love of the god who will help her Ascend, which is looking extremely unlikely.To no one's surprise, Ash eventually finds out that Sera was planning to kill him and he doesn't react well. They grew very friendly with each other before he found out, so his anger is justified. Sera tells him that she doesn't expect him to love her (because apparently as the Primal of Death he isn't capable of love?) but that she would like his friendship. Ash then tells Sera that if she didn't have an ember of life inside of her, she'd be nothing to him but an empty vessel. Ouch. HOWEVER, it's obvious that he still cares about her even though he doesn't want to. I can't wait to see how that drama plays out.The book ends with the goddess Penellaphe telling Sera, Ash, and one of the Fates the prophecy that's very popular in the Blood and Ash series. To be honest, the prophecy made absolutely no sense to me in the Blood and Ash series so I hope things are a little more clear in this series.

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS THAT THIS BOOK HAS... CONNECTIONS THAT MAKE SO MUCH SENSE AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS. LOVE THE STORY AND THE CHARACTERS!

Oh how I love this book. This is my 3rd reread and I still get excited like I don’t know what’s about to happen. Bas *ss FMC trained to kill THE DADDY NYKTOS, the VIRGIN 200+ year old primal of death. Draken aka dragons that can morph into their human form. Que the cutest 5 year old girl 🥹. “You dare to come for what is MINE!?” 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Ok, I can’t wait any longer on to the next book in the series.

Loved this book! I loved the tru enemies to lovers vibe and the twist and turns throughout! It was sooo good!

Jeeeeez I love Nyktos and Sera more than Poppy and Casteel.... The banter is 10/10, the spice is spicy. Unlike the ridiculous power creep in Poppy and the constant forgiveness of betrayal, the prequels are amazing. Armentrout took a world readers loved and said "hold my beer" because this backstory holds it's own.

Él libro está increíble, valió cada centavo.

The first book in the series Flesh and Fire introduces Seraphena to a young woman who was created with only one purpose, to seduce Nyktos and kill him so that her kingdom can be saved. What I like about Jennifer's books is that she's in no rush to get the story started. I love big books, but I can't deny that while I was reading, I wondered if all that at the beginning of the book was necessary, but then it became clear that it was, I came to understand along the way that some plots were appearing that if she hadn't shown all the precarious reality of that realm, maybe we couldn't understand the true weight of Sera's actions as well as everything she discovers later. Sera reminded me a lot of Poppy, although I think the first one was even crazier and will definitely get more development, I already love her as well as Poppy. Nyktos is wonderful, a lot of people are saying that they prefer him to Casteel, but I honestly came to love them both on the same level (if that's possible). Like Poppy and Casteel, the couple in this book don't resolve their differences in the first book, there's a lot of DR out there, but I know that with the plot we were shown at the end of the story, this could end up resolving faster than looks. I think that's what I like best about this author, she's in no hurry to solve everything in one book, I think that's why she's the queen of the cliffhangers. I think of the authors I read And I'm a fan, Jennifer is one of the most creative when we talk about a plot twist, and not just one, her books are crammed with smaller plots and at the end of the book you practice freaked out with so much revelation. In addition to revealing a lot about their history, we came to understand more about Poppy's powers that I almost had a heart attack reading. I hope the second book doesn't take long to come out. Because you can't finish a book like that and make us wait another year to know the result. Looking forward to The war of the two queens.

Once again, I am at lost as how to start my review and this is often the case when it comes to Jennifer L. Armentrout’s books. I’m going to try and make this review as spoiler free as possible.I knew that I was going to love this new series from the Blood and Ash world, but I wasn’t expecting to be as enthralled as I was with the Blood and Ash series.A lot happens throughout this book and even if sometimes it doesn’t seem like a lot is happening, you still can’t put the book down knowing just how unpredictable Sera’s mind can go and you never know what she will do next (when you wish you didn't need to work, sleep, eat or that you always had energy to read).Which brings me to the two main characters…Once again, Jen has cooked up characters that are so interesting and entertaining. She always has some awesome sassy heroines and Sera isn’t the exception. I loved how she isn’t afraid to speak her mind even if it can get her in trouble; more often than not. She also has such a beautiful heart even if sometimes she tends to forget that. Often, she finds herself questioning everything and that reminded me so much of another book character *cough* Poppy *cough*.The Primal of Death is… Wow… He’s honestly such an intense character. I always felt like even if he will protect at all costs the people that he cares about, he has a lot of trouble demonstrating what he’s feeling probably due to everything that has happened to him and because of what he is. But he was such an interesting character to discover throughout this book and I cannot wait for the next book and see more of him.But Sera and him together were such an amazing duo. Honestly, their chemistry was off the chart bringing any arguments between them to another level. But like for a lot of characters Jen has written, she has a way to find characters that will both bring the best and the worse out of each other but who also fit so perfectly together somehow.A lot of characters come and go in this book and so many of them you will love, and others will leave you with the envy of slapping them across the face (I’m actually just being nice because let’s be real, I would have done more sometimes).Overall, this was such an amazing book and even if the ending leaves your mind blown and in need to have the next book in your hands; you can’t resist the pull of this book. I honestly loved it from the beginning to the end and there are so many things I can’t wait to discover along the characters and see where their journey will continue next.Also be prepared to go through an eruption of feels with this book as you are more than likely to invest yourself in these characters and what they are going through. You will be pulled from one to another to another and back to the first feel before you know it.

Tyckte mycket om denna bok.

Après avoir dévoré tous les tomes Blood and Ash, ce sequel m'a scotché. C'est mon deuxième coup de coeur.On est entraînés dès le début, et on ne peut plus lâcher le livre. On s'attache très vite a Sera, qui a un tempérament de feu, et totalement différente de Poppy. Donc aucune redondance, pas d'inquiétude.Les réparties pleines d'esprits et les touches d'humour sont aussi présentes et m'ont fait m'attacher davantage aux personnages.Ce livre était un bonheur à lire. Il aurait pu faire 1500 pages, j'en aurai été que plus heureuse.Je pourrais le relire encore et encore.A masterpiece. Tout simplement. Je n'ai pas d'autres mots.