The Primal of Blood and Bone

The Primal of Blood and Bone (2025) is the sixth book in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s romance fantasy series, Blood and Ash. The novel tracks Poppy Da’ Neer’s journey as she fulfils an ancient prophecy and enters full-blown godhood. However, Poppy’s ascension is fraught with peril as cosmic destruction threatens the realms and a malicious entity fights her, bent on destroying everyone she loves. Filled with revelations that change Poppy, Cas, and Kieran’s understanding of themselves, the book explores The Importance and Inevitability of Change, Prescribed Destiny Versus Personal Agency, and Love as Both Sanctuary and Burden Under Pressure.

This guide uses the Blue Box Press, 2025, Kindle version of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, explicit sex, cursing, emotional abuse, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, sexual violence, rape, and child death.

Plot Summary

The novel’s beginning overlaps with the ending of A Soul of Blood and Ash (2023), with a sign announcing that Penellaphe “Poppy” Da’Neer has Ascended to an unprecedented power, the Primal God of Life and Death. As Poppy’s husband, Casteel “Cas” Da’Neer, and their Joined wolven (a shifter between wolf and human states), Kieran, wait anxiously for her to stir from stasis, little do they know that Poppy is in grave danger. Kolis, the chief antagonist of the series and the True Primal of Death, has taken advantage of Poppy’s vulnerable condition to intrude upon her consciousness. Kolis shows Poppy nightmarish visions to blackmail her into letting him possess her. Though Poppy fights Kolis’s manipulation, the effort causes her to wake up and attack Cas in an altered state.

Finally discovering Kolis’s presence, Cas sends Reaver, a shape-shifting draken (dragon) to Ileesium, the home of the gods, for help. Reaver returns with an unexpected source of aid in Attes, the Primal God of War and Accord (he is a recurring character in the spin-off prequel series, Of Flesh and Fire). It is later revealed that Attes is the great-grandfather of Cas and his brother, Malik. Attes exorcizes Kolis from Poppy, the foul god disappearing as a crimson and black mist. Attes warns Cas that Kolis will return, as he has a deep connection with Poppy.

Poppy finally wakes up after Cas prays to Seraphena “Sera” Miriel, the Queen of the Gods and Poppy’s paternal grandmother, to save his wife and heartmate. However, before Poppy and Cas can reunite, Poppy senses distress in another realm and teleports to what is New York in the real world. The city is being rocked by cataclysmic earthquakes killing hundreds of thousands of people. Poppy learns that the prophecy around her rise is coming true, her Ascension waking up the Ancients—the oldest, first-generation male Gods sleeping under the earth—and ushering in an era of destruction.

Poppy wants to rescue the people of New York but is stopped by the Fate Holland, who tells her she cannot upset the universal balance. Holland whisks Poppy away to Ileesium, where she learns that her godhood has also turned Cas and Kieran into Primals, since the three of them are Joined (intimately bonded in body and soul). Cas, Poppy, and Kieran are now Deminyen Primals, an entirely new pantheon of gods. To save the realms from catastrophe, Poppy has to defeat Kolis, though the Fates cannot tell her the way to do so, since they do not interfere in the course of history.

When Poppy returns, she receives a visit from Sera, the Queen of the Gods. Sera tells Poppy that Kolis has nearly regained his corporeal form and is stationed in Pensdurth, a city in Solis. Sera finally reveals the reason for Kolis’s obsession with Poppy. Not only does Kolis want to steal Poppy’s essence so he can become the Primal of Life and Death, Kolis also wants Poppy’s soul. Poppy is none other than Sotoria, a legendary figure hunted by Kolis. Since Sotoria refused to give in to Kolis’s lust, he cursed her to be stuck in a cycle of rebirth till she submitted to him. Having Sotoria’s soul gives Poppy an advantage over Kolis, since Kolis can be killed by the person he loves. Poppy must be the one to vanquish Kolis, and she must carry out her mission without Cas and Kieran. Sera will send Attes to accompany Poppy to Pensdurth.

After Sera leaves, Cas tells Poppy she should not go to Pensdurth without him and Kieran. Cas believes Sera may be mistaken in thinking he and Kieran are powerless before Kolis; since they are a new class of gods, they may possess powers unknown even to Sera. Further, Cas does not think Kolis loves Sotoria, as Kolis does not behave like a man in love.

Matters come to a head when a resurrected Isbeth, Poppy’s biological mother, arrives in Carsodonia with an ultimatum from Kolis. Isbeth tells Poppy that Kolis has regained his corporeal form and wants to parlay with her. If Poppy refuses his offer, Kolis will kill everyone in Carsodonia by the next day. Poppy cannot believe that Isbeth is alive, since Poppy herself killed her mother, obliterating her body (in The War of Two Queens, 2022). However, she has no choice but to let Isbeth go.

Poppy decides to head to Pensdurth with Attes, against the wishes of Cas, promising him that she will return safely. In Pensdurth, she and Attes discover that the city has been turned into a butcher-house, with corpses of slaughtered mortals hung from pillars in Kolis’s usual style. Kolis, an exquisitely handsome, golden-haired man in his corporeal form, greets Poppy, calling her Sotoria. Poppy pretends to offer her submission to Kolis. As Kolis grabs Poppy and kisses her, Poppy stabs him through the heart with a dagger of Ancient bone. Things go horribly wrong as Kolis recovers from the blow. He tells Poppy that she cannot kill him, as he stopped loving Sotoria centuries ago. He is driven only by a lust for power and a sadistic desire to punish Sotoria. Poppy’s heart sinks as she realizes Cas’s hunch about Kolis was right.

Kolis shoots eather (divine energy) at Poppy. Attes pushes her out of the way to take most of the hit. As Attes collapses, Kolis rushes to Poppy and drinks her blood so he can take her essence. Poppy gathers her strength and stabs Kolis repeatedly, gravely injuring him. However, he gains the upper hand again. Poppy nearly dies before an unknown deity in a black stone helmet appears on the scene and teleports Poppy and Attes to Ileesium.

Back in Carsodonia, Cas is being watched by his father, Valyn; Malik; Kieran; and the wolven Delano to stop him from going to Pensdurth. When Cas notices his marriage imprint has dulled, he suspects something catastrophic happened to Poppy. Before he can react, Kolis arrives in the city, singing a hypnotic song of death that causes people to die by suicide. Cas knocks Kieran unconscious to keep him from stabbing himself. However, Valyn and Delano die before Cas’s horrified eyes.

Kolis tells Cas that he has drained Poppy and will now proceed to destroy Cas. Letting out a howl of grief, Cas transforms into his Primal form, his flesh turning to bones and wings erupting from his shoulders. He pulverizes Kolis and throws him from the palace’s balconies, but Kolis disappears. Meanwhile, Attes returns to Cas, telling him Poppy is still in Ileesium.

Kieran finally realizes the full meaning of the prophecy of the Ancients: It had always been about Cas, not Poppy. Poppy was the harbinger, Kolis the great conspirator, but the death and destruction that would follow were to be caused by Cas, now the Primal God of Death and Destruction. Snow covers the realm and Cas sequesters himself in the throne room, waiting to bring about the prophesized apocalypse. The story ends on this cliffhanger, to be continued in the next instalment of the Blood and Ash series.