Blood and Ash Reading Order: Every Book, Flesh and Fire & What’s Next (2026)
Blood and Ash reading order trips up more readers than any other romantasy series, because Jennifer L. Armentrout wrote two series in one world at the same time and meant them to be read together. From Blood and Ash follows Poppy; Flesh and Fire is a prequel set centuries earlier, and its books spoil, explain and eventually collide with hers. With The Primal of Blood and Bone out since September 2025, a seventh book still on the way and a Sony TV series in development, here is the recommended interleaved order, both series on their own, the full publication list, the heat curve and what’s next.
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Blood and Ash Reading Order: Where to Start
Start with From Blood and Ash, then read everything in release order. That is Armentrout’s own advice: her FAQ says the two series “are meant to be read together in release order for the reader’s maximum enjoyment.” Reading Flesh and Fire first is the most common mistake, because it was written to land after you know Poppy’s world, and it gives away what the first three Blood and Ash books are hiding.
The premise: Poppy is the Maiden, Chosen by the gods, veiled, untouchable and kept for an Ascension she never agreed to. Nobody is allowed to look at her, speak to her or want her. Then Hawke, a new guard with no respect for the rules, joins her protection detail and treats her like a person with a mind of her own. What he is actually doing there is the best reveal in modern romantasy, and the less you know going in, the better. Our books like From Blood and Ash list picks up from here when you need more.
The Recommended Interleaved Order (Release Order)
- From Blood and Ash (2020, Blood and Ash 1)
- A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (2020, Blood and Ash 2)
- The Crown of Gilded Bones (2021, Blood and Ash 3)
- A Shadow in the Ember (2021, Flesh and Fire 1)
- The War of Two Queens (2022, Blood and Ash 4)
- A Light in the Flame (2022, Flesh and Fire 2)
- A Soul of Ash and Blood (2023, Blood and Ash 5)
- A Fire in the Flesh (December 2023, Flesh and Fire 3)
- Visions of Flesh and Blood (2024, companion compendium, optional)
- Born of Blood and Ash (August 2024, Flesh and Fire 4)
- The Primal of Blood and Bone (September 23, 2025, Blood and Ash 6)
- A Crown of Ruin (2025, bridge novella between books six and seven)
- The Throne of Bone and Ash (Blood and Ash 7, no release date yet)
Why interleave? Flesh and Fire carries spoilers for Poppy’s story, The War of Two Queens is much harder to follow if you have not met the Flesh and Fire cast in A Shadow in the Ember, and the two timelines merge in the later books. Switching between Poppy and Sera also keeps a dense world from turning into homework.
The From Blood and Ash Series in Order
If you only want Poppy’s books, this is the main line. The heroine starts as the Maiden and becomes something the whole realm has to reckon with.
- From Blood and Ash (2020): the veiled Maiden, the guard who will not keep his distance and a kingdom built on a lie. Winner of the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance.
- A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (2020): after the reveal, Poppy has to decide what she believes and who she can trust, with everything she was taught about her world in question.
- The Crown of Gilded Bones (2021): a crown, a new kingdom and the history of the gods start to bear down on Poppy.
- The War of Two Queens (2022): the war of the title, and the book where Flesh and Fire knowledge starts to pay off.
- A Soul of Ash and Blood (2023): with Poppy in stasis, Casteel talks to her to bring her back, and much of the book revisits the first novel through his memories. Heavy on spoilers for everything before it.
- The Primal of Blood and Bone (2025): the penultimate book. Poppy and Casteel face their toughest challenges yet as old enemies return and ancient powers stir.
- The Throne of Bone and Ash (forthcoming): the seventh and final main book, announced with no English release date.
The Flesh and Fire Series in Order
Flesh and Fire goes back to the age of the Primals. Sera, Seraphena Mierel, was promised as Consort to the Primal of Death before she was born and raised in secret as an assassin to make him fall for her and then end him. Nyktos, the Primal in question, is not what she was told. It reads as a full four-book romance arc of its own, and it is the steamier of the two series.
- A Shadow in the Ember (2021)
- A Light in the Flame (2022)
- A Fire in the Flesh (2023)
- Born of Blood and Ash (2024)
Visions of Flesh and Blood, written with Rayvn Salvador, is a companion compendium of history, art, reference material and original short scenes, narrated as Miss Willa’s journal. It is optional, and Armentrout’s FAQ is explicit that it should not be read before A Fire in the Flesh because of spoilers.
How Spicy Is From Blood and Ash?
It is back-loaded, then it stays hot. From Blood and Ash is a long, forbidden slow burn whose explicit scenes, three full encounters between Poppy and Hawke, all land in the back third; from A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire onward the scenes are open door, frequent and explicit, around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️. Our From Blood and Ash spicy chapters guide shows exactly where the heat is. Flesh and Fire runs at the same level from early on. Expect possessive heroes, biting and blood that is very much part of the heat, plus war violence and captivity throughout. The series is generally recommended for readers 17 and up. Our romance spice levels guide explains the scale.
All Blood and Ash Books in Publication Order
- From Blood and Ash (2020)
- A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (2020)
- The Crown of Gilded Bones (2021)
- A Shadow in the Ember (2021)
- The War of Two Queens (2022)
- A Light in the Flame (2022)
- A Soul of Ash and Blood (2023)
- A Fire in the Flesh (2023)
- Visions of Flesh and Blood (2024)
- Born of Blood and Ash (2024)
- The Primal of Blood and Bone (2025)
- A Crown of Ruin (2025, novella)
- The Throne of Bone and Ash (TBA)
What’s Next: Book Seven and the TV Series
The Throne of Bone and Ash. The seventh Blood and Ash book was originally aimed at spring 2026 and has slipped. Speaking at the first Willa’s Ever After festival in Charles Town, West Virginia, on September 25, 2026, Armentrout said the book is actively being written, that running her bookstore, Miss Willa’s Bookshop, had taken a lot of her focus, and that she has already seen the cover: “It’s probably my favorite cover of the series.” As of October 2026 there is no English release date. A German edition is listed for March 2027; that is a translation date, not a sign the English book is coming first.
The TV adaptation. In December 2024, Deadline reported that Sony Pictures Television is developing From Blood and Ash as an ongoing series, with an initial focus on the first five books and room to expand the way Outlander did. No writer or network was attached at announcement, and as of October 2026 we could find no casting or premiere news. Until it moves, the books are the whole show.
See The Primal of Blood and Bone on Amazon →
Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma
Blood and Ash readers want the bite, the bodyguard with a secret, the heroine raised to be a weapon and a crown with blood on it. These Fractal Enigma reads keep all of that and take the heat to Inferno.
Bite the Hand That Feeds You — Isla Wilde
For three centuries Countess Vespera Saint-Clair has ruled the northern vampire province of Belladonne from a black-stone estate over the sea. Iris Morcant enters her bed as a blood courtesan with a contract, and a silver blade she has been sent to drive through the countess’s heart. Sera’s assassin-sent-to-seduce setup from A Shadow in the Ember, sapphic, with the feeding on the page.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Vampire/Courtesan, Hidden Assassin, Gothic Age Gap, Enemies to Lovers, Feeding Kink, Praise Kink, Touch Starved
Start reading Bite the Hand That Feeds You →
The Hollow Hunt — Lucian Gray
Elara Vance witnesses something she should not, and the organization sends its most dangerous man, Silas, to kill her. He gives her a head start instead, and then he becomes the only thing standing between her and the people who want her dead. The guard-with-a-hidden-agenda dynamic that made From Blood and Ash famous, as an MF dark thriller with no fade to black. Free with Kindle Unlimited.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Protector Romance, Morally Grey Hero, Captive Romance, Forced Proximity, Hurt/Comfort, Touch Her and Die, He Falls First
Start reading The Hollow Hunt →
Crown Him in Blood — Rafe Calder
A small-town innkeeper inherits his murdered father’s crime family and thirty days to claim it, and the family’s consigliere, Nikolai, is the one sworn to keep him alive long enough to do it. A reluctant heir, a crown he never asked for and a protector twelve years older who falls first. Poppy’s path to a throne, rewritten as a dark MM mafia romance.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Reluctant Heir, Inheritance with a Deadline, Consigliere x Heir, Bodyguard, Age Gap, He Falls First, Touch Him and Die
Start reading Crown Him in Blood →
The Vampire’s Private Detective — Maeve Hollow
Private detective Sloane Barrett has three rules for clients: no lies, no touching, no wanting them. Lucasta Vale, owner of Vesper, the most exclusive sapphic club in Saint Orison, breaks all three before she sits down, then hires Sloane to solve a murder. Her own, in 1798. An immortal-and-mortal vampire romance with explicit feeding and a power exchange that runs both ways.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Vampire x Private Detective, Noir Mystery, Cold Case, Immortal x Mortal, Ice Queen, Explicit Feeding, Power Exchange
Start reading The Vampire’s Private Detective →
FAQ: Blood and Ash Reading Order
Should I read Blood and Ash or Flesh and Fire first?
Blood and Ash. Read the first three Blood and Ash books, then alternate in release order starting with A Shadow in the Ember. Armentrout recommends release order for both series together.
Do you need to read Flesh and Fire at all?
For the later Blood and Ash books, yes. The two timelines merge, and The War of Two Queens onward assumes you know the Primals.
How spicy is From Blood and Ash?
Explicit, around 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️, but the first book makes you wait: its scenes all land after the 60 percent mark. From book two on, both series stay at that level. Every Fractal Enigma pick above is Inferno.
When is The Throne of Bone and Ash coming out, and is there a TV show?
No English release date yet; as of September 2026 Armentrout was still writing it. A TV series is in development at Sony Pictures Television, with no network or premiere date announced.
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