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A review by ailishni
Visions of Flesh and Blood: A Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire Compendium by Jennifer L. Armentrout
2.0
Rating: ⭐⭐
The main problem I had with VOFAB was the repetition.
Review
Visions of Flesh and Blood gives the reader an in-depth overview of the Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire world, complete with name pronunciations, place names, the different orders of species and their histories, character profiles, their portraits and a plethora of information that will be essential reading for fans of this series. There are also a few bonus scenes that were not included in previous books that the reader can enjoy while we are waiting for the next release.
What I didn't Like
❌ Art Work
I will be honest and say that I was not impressed with the calibre of art work that was included in the book. I found that a lot of the portraits lacked definition in areas other than the face and it made the overall image unfinished and sloppy.
There are plenty of artists out there that have shared some incredible artwork of the characters through the years that would have been better placed in this compendium than what we were given.
This is just my personal opinion of course, but I do think that Vikter was not drawn as described in the books at all, nor were some of the other characters. I understand that this will be subjective to some, but when an artist ignores the author's description of a character, what is the point?
❌ Black and White Artwork
I was also disappointed to find out that the physical copies of this book will be in black and white. Now, I have bought book bibles like this before over the years and they have always been these big, colourful tomes that I have absolutely adored.
I thought we would be getting something similar here, but JLA has stated that the costs associated with this would be astronomical... I think if it couldn't be done right, then it shouldn't have been done at all. JLA could have released something smaller just for fans to refer to like a digital file to download with all the information instead of this semi story like book with poor imitation artwork.
❌ Willa's Narration
I was not a fan of Miss Willa perving on PoppyCas sexy times as it just seemed really fucking invasive. The commentary about wanting to join Cas and Kieran for the joining and then after she witnessed them during the joining, in a private and vulnerable scene, she immediately goes to see one of her "paramours" to slake her hunger. It was too much and really off-putting to read!
But no, the weirdness continues when we find out which "King" Willa slept with. It was none other than King Elian Da'Neer, Casteel's great-grandfather. Willa clearly had no qualms perving on the great-grandson of the man she had a 3 day fling with. It was simply too cringe to read, so I did my best to skim it...
I wasn't interested in reading about Vikter giving Willa a good time tbh... I can't see him as anything other than Poppy's father figure.
Willa really gets around. That's the main take away I got from this book. The fates lead her to significant people throughout history to... fuck, basically. Idk it didn't make sense to me or the overall story that was being weaved in between the facts of the world.
❌ Repetition
The repetition on character profiles throughout the book was not needed and further added to the unnecessary page count. There was an awful lot of regurgitated information for each character in this. Example: For each character profile, you will read the same scenes over and over as they all relate to Poppy, albeit from the character's POV which would lead one to think there would be new information from their side but there is not, it is all from the books we have read already. It was an exercise in page filling, nothing else. If I read Alastair Davenwell's character profile once, I read it at least 4 times in this book!
Verdict: I think the "Compendium" should have been released after the series ended and been given the time and investment it deserved to give the fans something special. Instead, JLA produced a filler-type storybook that focused more on Willa's sexual escapades, her thoughts on events in the world (that did not give us new info) and unnecessarily long and extremely repetitive scenes littered throughout the book. The artwork was of a questionable standard for a book like this and I am glad I didn't pay for the physical copy. This book only garnered 2 stars from me in the end.
The main problem I had with VOFAB was the repetition.
Review
Visions of Flesh and Blood gives the reader an in-depth overview of the Blood and Ash/Flesh and Fire world, complete with name pronunciations, place names, the different orders of species and their histories, character profiles, their portraits and a plethora of information that will be essential reading for fans of this series. There are also a few bonus scenes that were not included in previous books that the reader can enjoy while we are waiting for the next release.
What I didn't Like
❌ Art Work
I will be honest and say that I was not impressed with the calibre of art work that was included in the book. I found that a lot of the portraits lacked definition in areas other than the face and it made the overall image unfinished and sloppy.
There are plenty of artists out there that have shared some incredible artwork of the characters through the years that would have been better placed in this compendium than what we were given.
This is just my personal opinion of course, but I do think that Vikter was not drawn as described in the books at all, nor were some of the other characters. I understand that this will be subjective to some, but when an artist ignores the author's description of a character, what is the point?
❌ Black and White Artwork
I was also disappointed to find out that the physical copies of this book will be in black and white. Now, I have bought book bibles like this before over the years and they have always been these big, colourful tomes that I have absolutely adored.
I thought we would be getting something similar here, but JLA has stated that the costs associated with this would be astronomical... I think if it couldn't be done right, then it shouldn't have been done at all. JLA could have released something smaller just for fans to refer to like a digital file to download with all the information instead of this semi story like book with poor imitation artwork.
❌ Willa's Narration
I was not a fan of Miss Willa perving on PoppyCas sexy times as it just seemed really fucking invasive. The commentary about wanting to join Cas and Kieran for the joining and then after she witnessed them during the joining, in a private and vulnerable scene, she immediately goes to see one of her "paramours" to slake her hunger. It was too much and really off-putting to read!
But no, the weirdness continues when we find out which "King" Willa slept with. It was none other than King Elian Da'Neer, Casteel's great-grandfather. Willa clearly had no qualms perving on the great-grandson of the man she had a 3 day fling with. It was simply too cringe to read, so I did my best to skim it...
I wasn't interested in reading about Vikter giving Willa a good time tbh... I can't see him as anything other than Poppy's father figure.
Willa really gets around. That's the main take away I got from this book. The fates lead her to significant people throughout history to... fuck, basically. Idk it didn't make sense to me or the overall story that was being weaved in between the facts of the world.
❌ Repetition
The repetition on character profiles throughout the book was not needed and further added to the unnecessary page count. There was an awful lot of regurgitated information for each character in this. Example: For each character profile, you will read the same scenes over and over as they all relate to Poppy, albeit from the character's POV which would lead one to think there would be new information from their side but there is not, it is all from the books we have read already. It was an exercise in page filling, nothing else. If I read Alastair Davenwell's character profile once, I read it at least 4 times in this book!
Verdict: I think the "Compendium" should have been released after the series ended and been given the time and investment it deserved to give the fans something special. Instead, JLA produced a filler-type storybook that focused more on Willa's sexual escapades, her thoughts on events in the world (that did not give us new info) and unnecessarily long and extremely repetitive scenes littered throughout the book. The artwork was of a questionable standard for a book like this and I am glad I didn't pay for the physical copy. This book only garnered 2 stars from me in the end.