For the grand finale of my passion thread, I will analyze my favorite book series of all time: Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This series is everything I want and more, literally because this series isn’t finished yet and I’m already so in love with it. We have powerful women at the center, taking down corrupt governments, unknown bloodlines, unveiling lies, and groundbreaking realizations that could change the fate of the world.

Blood and Ash is a six book series that follows Poppy, the Maiden chosen to be the start of the new era upon her Ascension. Until then, she must live away from the public with a veil over her face, never seen or heard. But she doesn’t want to be the Maiden, and she would rather fight the growing evil of the Craven, decayed bloodthirsty beings that seem to expand in numbers every day. Poppy wants to live, not just be a symbol for a possible future. 

This is my favorite book series for many of Armentrout’s creative plot twists, world building, and character developments. AND she does a solid job of having POC representation! One of the main characters is Kieran, a wolven and best friend to Poppy. He is described as having dark skin and pale blue eyes. His family shares the same features and are also close to the main characters. They are very comfortably integrated into the story and Kieran is the support beam of the main characters. 

At the same time, paleness is seen as an evil in the form of the Ascended, the corrupt and bloodthirsty upper class of the Kingdom of Solis. The Ascended are selfish and abusive, both of their power and other people. This inherently makes the reader turn away from characters described as pale or with lighter complexions. 

This divergent take of how skin color is viewed throughout the series is refreshing and empowering. Poppy finds safety in POC rather than the white Ascended in Solis, relying on the warmth and support of POC characters to come to terms with what she thought she knew and who she is. 

However, there are no other races represented besides people of African descent. This is incredibly limiting to the complexity of the series, especially this late into the storyline. For now, I’ll hold out hope that Armentrout will introduce characters of other races in the last two books, although they will definitely feel like an afterthought. 

And as with every high fantasy series I’ve read that have POC, racism simply doesn’t exist here. But we do see notes of discrimination and stereotyping against people from other kingdoms on their perception of truth and behavior. 

I love this series, and although the POC representation here is a little underwhelming, I appreciate how Armentrout has important POC characters and displays of prejudice throughout the series. 

Blood and Ash: 5 stars

POC representation: 3.5 stars