With The Primal of Blood and Bone coming out on September 23, 2025, it’s time for a full recap of where we left off in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s From Blood and Ash universe. Whether you’re a longtime fan or just checking it out because the covers are everywhere, the From Blood and Ash series is a vampire fantasy romance that spans across three interconnected series.
I’m putting together this post as a hub of reminders, summaries, and chaos theories for From Blood and Ash, Flesh and Fire, and The Awakening series. You’ll find book-by-book breakdowns, character refreshers, timelines, spicy chapter guides, and some truly unhinged speculation about what could go down next.
This is your one-stop shop for everything that’s happened so far with Poppy, Casteel, Kieran, Seraphena, Nyktos, and even Kolis.
This post contains spoilers. You’ve been warned.
Looking for a full summary and explanation for the ending of The Primal of Blood and Bone? See our full summary and ending explained.
From Blood and Ash Series Order
The From Blood and Ash universe consists of three interconnected series:
From Blood and Ash
Poppy Balfour is the Chosen, the Second. After meeting her guard Hawke, Poppy begins experiencing freedom and discovering who she is. Realizing she’s at the center of a big prophecy, Poppy finds herself in the midst of an adventure full of vampires, gods, wolven and even dragons.
There are currently five books in the From Blood and Ash series, and the sixth book is The Primal of Blood and Bone which will be published on September 23, 2025.
Flesh and Fire
Taking place thousands of years before the events of From Blood and Ash, Seraphena Mierel is the first Maiden, the Chosen, destined to be the Consort of the Primal of Death, Nyktos.
Sera has a duty to her kingdom. She needs to make the Primal of Death fall in love with her and kill him to end the rot consuming her kingdom. However, the plan doesn’t go as expected, and Sera finds herself falling in love with the Primal. Better yet, she finds out that the Embers of Life are in her, making her a big target.
Sera, Nyktos, and their family fight against Kolis, the False King. Flesh and Fire has four books and is complete.
Awakening
Fall of Ruin and Wrath follows a world destroyed by the gods, with nine cities spared. Calista, blessed with the power of intuition, finds herself companion to Thorne, a prince.
Calista has to follow her intuition to stay alive in a world of monsters, knights, and rebellions.
A Complete Family Tree, Gods and Primals
Above is a complete family tree of From Blood and Ash and Flesh and Fire. There is a complete history recap, a list of primals and gods in the poll below.
Previously on FBAA…
We’ll start with the prequel series to keep it chronologically accurate and move onto the main series. Enjoy this FBAA series cliff notes recap to catch up before The Primal of Blood and Bone comes out.
A Shadow in the Ember Recap
The Kingdom of Lasania is dying from the Rot, and Princess Seraphena “Sera” Mierel, the Maiden, has been raised her entire life for one purpose: to become the Consort to the Primal of Death, Nyktos.
Sera’s real mission is to make him fall in love with her and kill him, the only way to stop the Rot destroying her kingdom.
On their wedding day, Nyktos rejects her and vanishes. Three years later, Sera is stripped of her titles and acts as her mother’s personal assassin.
Sera has a gift. She can heal wounds and bring mortals back to life.
When she’s investigating murders she runs into a silver eyed god named Ash who she is attracted to. Their paths keep crossing.
Her stepfather dies and her stepbrother tries to claim the throne. When he tries to have Sera whipped, the Primal of Death, Nyktos arrives to claim her as his Consort. Nyktos is also revealed to be Ash.
Sera arrives at the Shadowlands and begin meeting with gods and draken alive. She becomes close with Nyktos not because of her mission but the two begin to care for another.
Kolis fell in love with a mortal woman named Sotoria fell in love with a mortal woman named Sotoria, who panicked upon seeing him and fell to her death off a cliff. Kolis begged Eythos to revive her but he refused.
Kolis then stole Eythos’s embers of life which caused numerous natural disasters to occur and cause other gods to die. He brought Sotoria back who was distraught and angry from being pulled back from her peace. She died again, and Eythos, now the Primal of Death, marked her soul for reincarnation.
Sera realizing everything the mortals have been told is a lie, confesses her true mission. She learns that Nyktos could never love her as he had his cardia removed years ago to protect himself.
When Sera ascends Bele to a primal after being attacked Kolis feels her power and sieges the House of Haides.
They call for a meeting with the Fates who sends Sir Holland. They find out that Eythos has hidden the embers of life in the first female descendent of the Mierel bloodline. When Sera bit Nyktos’s finger and drank his blood she started her Culling.
Sera is the only person who carries true embers of her life, making her the True Primal of Life. She also however, cannot survive an Ascension unless the god who started her culling is in love with her, which Nyktos is incapable of.
A Light in the Flame Recap
Nyktos bows to Sera after Holland’s revelation, confirming she’s the True Primal of Life and all gods owe her deference. Penellaphe believes Sera is the queen from her vision, and Nyktos wants to crown her Consort for protection. Holland hints that Sera is his weakness, and Sera assumes it’s Kolis.
Sera can’t carry the embers of life fully unless she’s ascended by a god who loves her, but Nyktos reveals he had his kardia removed. Kolis is revealed to be the source of the Rot, and unless Sera kills him, it won’t end.
After an attack by entombed gods, Sera fights until injured. Nyktos arrives in primal form and feeds her his blood. They grow more intimate. Sera later tries to sacrifice herself by entering the Dying Woods but is saved by Nyktos. She lashes out with her power. Nektas protects her, and Nyktos makes her promise not to leave again.
Nyktos praises Sera publicly, building her image at court. She meets Nektas’s daughter Jadis, and they bond. Sera learns Kolis killed Jadis’s mother, Halayana.
Nyktos believes he can remove the embers from Sera before she ascends by visiting the Pools of Divanash, a place he cannot go. If he takes the embers, he will become the King of Gods.
Cimmerians arrive for Bele, and a fight breaks out. Nyktos and Sera argue, he’s angry she keeps risking herself, and she reveals she will no longer be told what to do.
Sera’s wounds heal on their own. She tells Nyktos she doesn’t want to be Consort in name only. He admits watching her the night before, and they grow closer.
Attes arrives from Kolis, demanding they request permission to marry. Nyktos is furious, and Sera kisses him to distract him. Nektas later reminds Sera that Nyktos is under constant threat and to give him grace.
Nyktos and Sera begin mending their relationship as Sera learns about Nyktos’s compassion towards others. Their chemistry grows and they begin forming a friendship.
Sera bonds with Jadis.
They visit mortal world and Nyktos reveals he had been watching Sera for years.
Nektas and Sera travel to the Pools of Divanash where Sera reveals she once took too much sleeping draft with the hopes of not waking up. They find out Kolis has used a diamond called Star to steal the embers from Ethyos.
Sera sees Veses feeding from Nyktos. Assuming they’ve been together she loses control of her power and nearly triggers her ascension.
Kolis summons them. He tricks Seraphena into reviving a draken. Attes pledges loyalty to her.
Seraphena is crowned as Nyktos’s consort.
They visit Delfai, an Oracle and find out they cannot remove the embers from Sera safely as it’s fused to her being. Seraphena asks Nyktos to be the one to kill her and do it in her lake when the time comes.
When they return to Shadowlands they find it under siege. Attes asks Sera to come with her in exchange for sparing everyone else’s life. Sera agrees.
Sera wakes up in a gilded cage, and finds Callum visiting her. Kolis arrives and reveals that King Lamont told her who she was accidentally and he was just waiting for the embers to mature. He bites Sera, but Sotoria’s soul awakens and tells Kolis she is her.
Kolis recoils. Seraphena sees Nyktos through the open doors in his wolf form as the vows to kill Kolis.
A Fire in in the Flesh Recap
Sera awakens in a gilded cage in Dalos after turning herself into Kolis. Nyktos arrives to rescue her, killling the Primal Hanan. Nyktos and Kolis begin fighting. Seraphena, realizing their fight will be to death, threatens to hurt herself.
It distracts Nyktos, giving Kolis an opening to stab him with shadowstone and Nyktos enters stasis.
Kolis takes Sera to Phanos. By using cereens’ essence he stabilizes the embers in Seraphena. Just as Kolis is about to take the embers, Sotoria’s soul speaks through Sera.
A silver hawk arrives, revealed to be Attes and makes an unbreakable vow to Seraphena. He also reveals to Seraphena that Sera is not Sotoria but her soul is stuck in her.
Callum guards Seraphena and also taunts her. Kolis displays Seraphena like a trophy, forces her to sleep in the same bed as him and even bites her. Sera, feeling violated and abused, plans her escape hoping to manipulate Kolis’s obsession with Sotoria.
Nyktos and Sera begin dreamwalking.
Her plan hinges on Kolis believing she is Sotoria which she is not. Callum, is revealed to be Sotoria’s brother who took his own life from the guilt of not being able save her, and he knows Sera isn’t Sotoria.
Sera pretends to begin warming to Kolis in exchange for Kolis releasing Nyktos. Kolis wants to desperately believe Sera is Sotoria.
Kolis begins parading Sera in Cor Palace. Sera finds out Kolis has to ascend something for balance as The Primal of Life needs to create Life. He has made the Revenants and the Ascended, which also resulted in the creation of Craven.
Seraphena also realizes they cannot kill kolis if they want to preserve the balance.
Seraphena finds the Star diamond in her cell and realizes Eythos’s soul is in the diamond.
She attacks Kolis melting her cage and releasing Nyktos from his stasis. Using the embers advances her Culling forward. She collapses as Nyktos arrives.
Nyktos gets Seraphena out as Kolis falls into stasis. Sera uses the embers to release Eythos’s soul, and puts Sotoria’s soul into the diamond so she can reincarnate when they can finally kill Kolis.
Using the embers to transfer the souls from the diamond triggers Sera’s ascension, and she asks Nyktos to take her to her lake so he can take embers.
At her lake, Nyktos decides to Ascend Sera instead of taking the embers instead risking everything. He confesses his love to her as she dies.
Sera dreams about the Ancients and the Prophecy. She wakes up, as the Primal of Life.
Nyktos tells her he loves her once more and his kardia has healed, because they are heartmates.
Husband and wife, finally in love, get ready to defeat Kolis.
Born of Blood and Ash Recap
In the last book of the prequel series, Seraphena and Nyktos are finally together, in love and enjoying each other’s company.
Sera’s tested by War, Pestilence and Hunger as the True Primal of Life can summon them, which she passes. Her powers continue growing.
Life returns to Shadowlands but not water. Seraphena brings water back and her use of power awakens Kolis.
The Court of Shadowlands begin gathering allies.
Kolis summons them via a fate to discuss a deal. He requests the Star diamond with Sotoria’s soul in it. In exchange, he’ll let Sera and Ash live and will not wage war.
Seraphena exhibits signs of PTSD, especially when intimate with Nyktos.
Penellaphe reveals taht this war will only end by a future King and Queen referring to Poppy and Casteel. She also reveals that two future sisters, Poppy and Millicent, will be instrumental in ending the conflict. She ends her revelations with telling Sera her and the other Primals will need to go to sleep and wait for this queen to be born.
Nyktos and Sera go to the mortal realm to warn her family. They find Callum, take him prisoner and interrogate him, only to release him to not break the truce period during the deal.
Sera and Nyktos discuss her trauma which triggers Sera’s notam and she shifts into a cave cat.
Kolis has Kyn murders everyone in Lasania, his response to Sera’s proposal. Sera kills Embris. She also loses control and levels Dalos. When she tries to bring those she killed back, Holland stops her.
Seraphena ascends Penellaphe after Embris. She realizes she’s pregnant.
They kill Veses and Sera absorbs her court. They also kill Kyn and ascend Lailah in his stead.
They lure Kolis into the Bonelands and entomb him with bones of ancient.
Sera tries to release Sotoria’s soul from the Star but finds that the fates have taken the diamond.
The fates reveal that Sotoria is part of Sera’s bloodline, it is why Sera was Chosen. However the prophesized daughter is a second daughter or bloodline and therefore Sotoria has to be reborn. This daughter will be capable of killing Kolis.
Sera and Ash get ready for their babies.
To prevent history from triggering her power, Seraphena decides to hide her identity much to Nyktos’s dismay.
In the epilogue, Callum seem to be wandering, for a thousand years with the Star diamond in his possession.
From Blood and Ash Recap
Penellaphe “Poppy” Balfour is the Chosen Maiden who has spent her life hidden away, awaiting her destiny to ascend and restore the Kingdom of Solis. Everything changes when, one night,
Poppy sneaks into The Red Pearl and meets Hawke, a mysterious Royal Guard. Their chemistry is immediate, and their attraction grows stronger as Hawke becomes her personal guard.
Poppy has a secret life where she fights the Craven, is an excellent shot with a bow, and is a trained fighter.
She also endures Duke Teerman’s abuse and struggles with her growing powers, namely the ability to ease others’ pain.
Meanwhile, her bond with Hawke continues deepening.
After a brutal Descenter attack at the Blood Rite and the death of Vikter, Poppy’s other personal guard and basically the only father figure she knows, Poppy is summoned to the Capital. On the road with Hawke and another guard, Kieran, her relationship with Hawke becomes more intimate.
Eventually, she learns that Hawke is actually Prince Casteel Da’Neer, the Dark One, and wants to kidnap her so he can ransom her in exchange for his brother Malik, who is kept captive in Solis.
At New Haven, Poppy is imprisoned, and when other Atlantians attack her because of her image as the Maiden, she’s brutally injured. Casteel compels her and makes her drink his blood. Poppy is healed, and she stabs
Hawke in the heart, running away. Casteel chases her down, and the two of them get intimate in their rage as Hawke bites Poppy, tasting eather in her soul and realizing she’s half-Atlantian.
Plans are changed, and Casteel announces their immediate departure for Atlantia, as two Atlantians can only marry on Atlantian soil.
A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire Recap
Casteel announces his intent to marry Poppy, the Maiden, and is met with resistance. Someone from his company insults Poppy, which he responds to by ripping out his heart.
Poppy tries to escape, but Kieran and Casteel chase her. Casteel makes a deal with her: if she can beat him in a one-on-one fight, he’ll let her go. Craven interrupt their fight.
Poppy and Casteel reach a temporary truce. In exchange for Poppy’s help negotiating with the Blood Crown, Casteel will help her get her brother Ian, an Ascended, out.
As they travel, Poppy uses her gifts more and more, and rumors about the second daughter from the prophecy begin to spread.
Poppy and Casteel’s relationship deepens and is tested. Poppy “hates” Casteel but is unable to stay away from him.
Casteel, an Atlantian who hasn’t fed since meeting Poppy, falls to bloodlust. Poppy uses her gifts to calm him, and he retreats.
Later, Kieran tells Poppy he thinks they’re Heartmates. She lets Casteel feed from her while Kieran is present.
Poppy’s abilities continue growing. She glows with light and heals a young wolven.
Alastair, advisor to Casteel’s parents, expresses discontent with the marriage and reveals The Joining, a ritual where two people can share a lifespan through a Wolven bond.
Poppy is hurt that Casteel never mentioned it, believing it means he sees their bond as temporary.
Poppy and Casteel get married. The skies go dark midday, a sign of Nyktos’s blessing.
Duchess Teerman arrives and reveals Queen Ileana is Poppy’s grandmother. A battle erupts.
The Wolven instinctively rush to Poppy’s side. Poppy kills the Duchess and learns Malik and Ian are still alive.
As they travel through the Skotos Mountains, Poppy hears voices in her dreams and nearly walks off a cliff. Aios, the goddess of love, stops her.
They arrive in Atlantia. When Poppy steps into Nyktos’s Temple, she’s ambushed and wounded.
Blood rain begins to fall. A tree erupts from beneath her, and Poppy kills her attackers by absorbing their hatred.
She stands glowing in the center of the temple. Queen Eloana, Casteel’s mother, arrives and commands everyone to bow to the last Descendant of Nyktos and the rightful Queen of Atlantia.
The Crown of Gilded Bones Recap
Poppy is at Nyktos’s temple being attacked by those who despise her because she is seemingly the Maiden.
The Wolven break their bonds with the Atlantians as Poppy is the descendant of Nyktos and the true Queen of Atlantia. They give deference to deities and gods.
The Wolven are aggressively protective over Poppy, even preventing Casteel from approaching her.
A fight breaks out, and Poppy is knocked out. Alastair is revealed to be leading a group alongside Jansen, a Changeling, against an ancient prophecy that marks Poppy as the Harbinger of the end times.
They want to exchange Poppy with the Blood Crown. During the exchange, Casteel and the others put a rescue operation in place, but Poppy gets struck in the chest with a crossbow.
Casteel ascends Poppy.
Poppy wakes up stronger and starving. She is not an Ascended, but a deity. She feeds on Casteel.
After her ascension, the Wolven and locals start calling her Meyaah Liessa. Her powers grow exponentially. She can now mentally communicate with the Wolven and resurrect people.
The Atlantian palace is attacked by Gyrms, zombie-like creatures from Iliseeum.
They journey to Iliseeum hoping to meet Nyktos, but instead find Nektas, his bonded draken. Nektas reveals that Ires, Nyktos and the Consort’s son and Malec’s twin brother, is Poppy’s father and is in captivity.
Poppy, having seen a cave cat in the tunnels below the palace, realizes her father has been captured this entire time.
Queen Ileana reveals herself as Isbeth and Poppy’s mother. She is also the mortal woman Malec tried to ascend.
Ian accompanies Isbeth, and to make a point, Isbeth kills Ian and begins hurting Poppy. She is joined by a peculiar Revenant.
Isbeth is not Ascended, but something more, thanks to Malec’s attempt to ascend her.
After realizing Isbeth might kill Poppy, Casteel surrenders himself and is taken.
Poppy returns to Iliseeum to ask for the draken. Instead of Nektas, she finds Nyktos awake.
After telling him about the Revenants, Nyktos is grim. Poppy realizes that, as Nyktos’s descendant, she has the right to call the draken and needs nobody’s permission.
Back in Atlantia, Poppy arranges a meeting with the Blood Crown.
Isbeth sends King Jalara. He taunts Poppy and asks for the message.
Poppy decapitates him and sends his head back as the message, she is ready to burn everything down between her and Casteel.
The War of Two Queens Recap
Casteel is imprisoned by Isbeth under the castle in Carsodonia, while Poppy and Kieran prepare to launch a rescue mission with the Draken and the Wolven.
When Poppy receives a box containing Casteel’s severed finger, her power overwhelmes and nearly consuming her.
Poppy and Casteel discover they can find each other via dreamwalking, but his condition is worse than she imagined.
Their forces move to Oak Ambler, discovering a wall of bodies and a destroyed temple filled with the remains of children.
Poppy unleashes her fury and orders the temple’s destruction. Vessa, an elder in Pinelands, is revealed to be working for Isbeth, and ancient magic kills majority of the Draken.
Tawny arrives at the camp, with knowledge of the prophecy and reveals that Vikter was one of the Fates.
The prophecy speaks of two daughters, one of fire and one of ash and ice, who will remake the realms.
Casteel learns Isbeth is a Demis, not a true god, and is working to restoring the True Primal of Death, Kolis to get revenge for losing Malec and their baby.
Millicent, a handmaiden who looks exactly like Poppy, is revealed to be her older sister and Isbeth’s daughter.
Poppy infiltrates Carsodonia and finds Casteel deep in bloodlust. She calms him with her power and escapes with him, Malik, Reaver, and Kieran. They take refuge with the Dissenters, where Malik is welcomed as the Dark One.
Callum curses Kieran with a bone blade, and Isbeth demands Malec be delivered in exchange for breaking it.
To save Kieran, Poppy and Casteel perform the Joining, tying all three of their lives together. The Joining becomes intimate.
They bring Malec to Isbeth, but she kills him to summon Kolis, the true Primal of Death.
Poppy unleashes her power but is overwhelmed until Seraphena, the Primal of Life and the Consort, appears and completes Poppy’s transformation into the Primal of both Life and Death.
With her full power awakened, Poppy kills Isbeth.
She faints and awakens to find Nyktos and Seraphena have resurrected the fallen.
Reaver takes Malec back to Iliseeum.
Millicent escapes, and Malik follows.
Nektas reveals Poppy’s birth fulfills a prophecy feared by the gods, that a primal with both life and death would rise.
Now that she has ascended, Kolis is awake, and the real war is about to begin.
A Soul of Ash and Blood Recap
Poppy, Casteel, and Kieran move through the chaos of Carsodonia, searching for Ires while the Ascended scramble. Poppy insists on giving them a chance to change, while Casteel and Kieran disagree.
Poppy’s health worsens, Nektas reveals his condition is worse than expected and that their Joining means more than they know.
They find Ires caged in cave cat form, weakened and trapped by shadowstone and ancient wards. Poppy calms him by touching him and he calms enough to turn back into his mortal form. Ires reveals Jadis is safe in the Willow Plains.
Poppy collapses, pale and cold. Nektas asks if she has not entered statis, and is shocked to hear she finished her calling but didn’t enter a deep sleep. He says there’s nothing they can do and there’s a risk she won’t remember who she is. He recommends Casteel should talk to her, something Nyktos did for Seraphena.
While she sleeps, Casteel, Kieran, and the others talk to her, hoping she can hear. Casteel reflects on their past, revealing his trauma, regrets, and how he came to love Poppy long before he admitted it. He opens up about Vikter and Shea.
Millicent and Malik arrive, sharing new truths about the prophecy, Revenants, and the draken blood stockpiled by Isbeth. Malik confirms that Revenants loyal to Isbeth were actually working for Kolis.
A Revenant sneaks into Poppy’s room with a blade made of ancient bone, burning Casteel and incapacitating him. As the Revenant moves toward Poppy, Casteel transforms into a cave cat, driven by instinct and power awakened by their Joining. He tears the Revenant apart.
Kieran finds him mid-shift and helps bring him back to his human form. They realize Casteel’s transformation, and Poppy’s potential to do the same is tied to the magic of the Joining.
As they process what happened, a circle of silvery eather carves itself into the stone around Poppy’s bed. The symbol of the Primal of Life and Death appears.
Kieran and Casteel hold her hands and pray she remembers who she is. Poppy stirs. When she opens her eyes are no longer green but molten siver.
She awakens as the Primal.
From Blood and Ash Prophecy Explained
In Born of Blood and Ash Chapter 28, we’re finally given the full prophecy. Although we’ve been drip fed the prophecy for 12 books or so, we have enough evidence to figure out what it means.
The first half of the prophecy refers to Seraphena, and the second half refers to Millicent and Poppy. Poppy as Sotoria has always been destined to lure Kolis into its doom.
Seraphena fulfilled the first part of the prophecy by ascending as the True Primal of Life.
Millicent is the first daughter, while Poppy, born from the line of life (Seraphena) and death (Nyktos) in the mortal land, is the Primal of Life and Death, a creature that has never existed before.
Therefore this puts us in the primal timeline to see how Kolis’s return will play out and how the final part of the prophecy will flesh out.
That’s everything you need to know (for now) before The Primal of Blood and Bone drops on September 23, 2025. I’ll be updating this post as we get new info, so feel free to bookmark and check back.
Got theories? Missing a detail? Drop a comment below!
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