A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

“‘A cell is a cell, no matter how comfortable it is,’ I told him.”

Poppy’s retort to Kieran is insightful and trenchant, and establishes the clarity of her view. While Kieran and Cas may believe they are harboring Poppy from danger by locking her in a comfortable room, Poppy sees the act as confinement because it robs her of freedom. The room may be plush, but amounts to a prison cell for Poppy.

“I believed everyone deserved dignity in death, even him, but I didn’t feel an iota of empathy for what he’d brought upon himself.

And Landell? Did I feel sorry for him? Not particularly. What did that say about me?”

Poppy is not beyond seeking vengeance and retribution, especially from those she deems evil and sinful. As she sees Jericho strung up on a wall of the New Haven keep, she pities him for his slow death, but does not regret that he must die for his attack on her in the previous book. Poppy’s questions show the schism between her “Maiden” side and her warrior side; as the Maiden, she was raised to be modest and self-effacing, but her emerging true nature believes violence is sometimes necessary and justified.

“A crucial part of their all-encompassing control is creating a rift between mortals who have and mortals who have not.”

Through its fantasy and romance tropes, the novel often offers important commentary on the mechanics of power in the real world. Cas tells Poppy about how the Ascended rule by making mortals fight amongst themselves, which is a thinly veiled allegory of how elites may work in the real world.