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A review by rkitch
Visions of Flesh and Blood: A Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire Compendium by Jennifer L. Armentrout
2.0
What the heck did I just read? I'm not sure what I expected, but that wasn't it. I really enjoyed the vast majority of Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire so I assumed this would be a fun companion book. Because it's told by Willa who is a seer, I thought we'd get a high-level overview of the happenings and maybe a few extra scenes that told us a little more about the characters.
What we actually got? A character guide that felt more like the author's original, unrefined outline notes. It was the dryest retelling of the entire story (through both series) for EACH character—and there are a LOT of characters—for EACH scene they appear in. For example, this paragraph was in Delano's section, but something extremely similar appeared in Vonetta's section, Emil's section, and Poppy's section (probably Cas's section too, and Kieran's...):
"Vonetta falls through the tunnel floor on their trip to Iliseeum, and Delano uses a torch to illuminate the situation. His concern triples when he surveys the floor and sees that it won't hold much longer for any of them."
A character guide with traits, family, history, etc. would have been fine without all the scene-by-scene rehashing.
What would I have liked to see? Some high-level plot overview with accompanying analysis that ADDS something to the story we've already read. Delve deeper into the characters themselves instead of rehashing every tiny move they made. Also, a huge opportunity was wasted by having this written from Willa's point of view. She could have added more flavor and insight to the entire journey, but instead it's provided in boring detail. There wasn't even much additional content, just a few of Willa's trysts that frankly I didn't care about by that point and a few random other bits that I also could have done without. In fact, one of Willa's trysts actually confused me about something even more, but at this point I no longer care about figuring out the details.
Honestly, the only reason I read to the end (skimming a fair amount) was because I borrowed this book from my library so if I returned it without finishing I knew I'd never go back to it. I kept waiting for something to actually happen, some good analysis, but in the end I was completely disappointed.
What we actually got? A character guide that felt more like the author's original, unrefined outline notes. It was the dryest retelling of the entire story (through both series) for EACH character—and there are a LOT of characters—for EACH scene they appear in. For example, this paragraph was in Delano's section, but something extremely similar appeared in Vonetta's section, Emil's section, and Poppy's section (probably Cas's section too, and Kieran's...):
"Vonetta falls through the tunnel floor on their trip to Iliseeum, and Delano uses a torch to illuminate the situation. His concern triples when he surveys the floor and sees that it won't hold much longer for any of them."
A character guide with traits, family, history, etc. would have been fine without all the scene-by-scene rehashing.
What would I have liked to see? Some high-level plot overview with accompanying analysis that ADDS something to the story we've already read. Delve deeper into the characters themselves instead of rehashing every tiny move they made. Also, a huge opportunity was wasted by having this written from Willa's point of view. She could have added more flavor and insight to the entire journey, but instead it's provided in boring detail. There wasn't even much additional content, just a few of Willa's trysts that frankly I didn't care about by that point and a few random other bits that I also could have done without. In fact, one of Willa's trysts actually confused me about something even more, but at this point I no longer care about figuring out the details.
Honestly, the only reason I read to the end (skimming a fair amount) was because I borrowed this book from my library so if I returned it without finishing I knew I'd never go back to it. I kept waiting for something to actually happen, some good analysis, but in the end I was completely disappointed.