The Crown of Gilded Bones

What readers think

Readers who love the series tend to call this their favourite instalment, praising the major revelations about Poppy's heritage, the satisfying payoff to her relationship with Casteel, and the escalating mythological stakes that finally open up the wider world of Atlantia. The banter between Poppy and the wolven Kieran is a consistent crowd-pleaser, and the ending is widely considered one of the strongest in the series. On the critical side, the middle section is frequently cited as a significant pacing problem — long stretches of exposition-heavy dialogue and frequent sex scenes replace narrative momentum, leading some reviewers to call it 'filler.' Repetitive prose habits (Poppy's internal monologues, anachronistic dialogue) and a heroine who becomes overpowered without convincing in-world explanation are common frustrations. Readers new to the series or those who struggled with book two are most likely to bounce off this one.

In this series

Part of Blood and Ash — read in order:

1. 1From Blood and Ash
2. 2A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire
3. 3The Crown of Gilded Bonesyou’re here
4. 4The War of Two Queens
5. 5A Soul of Ash and Blood