Book Review- Kingdom of Ash

Hello readers!

Today's post is a review of the final book in the Throne of Glass series, Kingdom of Ash.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

♥♥♥♥♥

Title: Kingdom of Ash

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Published: 2018

Publisher: Bloomsbury YA

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction

Plot: ♥♥♥♥♥
Characters: ♥♥♥♥♥
World Building: ♥♥♥♥♥
Flow: ♥♥♥♥♥♥

Synopsis:

Aelin has risked everything to save her people―but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. Aware that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, though her resolve begins to unravel with each passing day…

With Aelin captured, Aedion and Lysandra remain the last line of defense to protect Terrasen from utter destruction. Yet they soon realize that the many allies they’ve gathered to battle Erawan’s hordes might not be enough to save them. Scattered across the continent and racing against time, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian are forced to forge their own paths to meet their fates. Hanging in the balance is any hope of salvation―and a better world.

And across the sea, his companions unwavering beside him, Rowan hunts to find his captured wife and queen―before she is lost to him forever.

As the threads of fate weave together at last, all must fight, if they are to have a chance at a future. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever in the explosive final chapter of the Throne of Glass series.

Review*:

Where to even start. It's been a long ride through 8 books. So many divided opinions on the series in general. I'm glad it's come to an end and we can see Aelin happy.

I really liked Kingdom of ASh. I think through the entire series, this might be my favorite book. I was reading through some other reviews to collect my thoughts and I had some discussions on Instagram with others who were reading it and they helped me shed some perspective on what I did and didn't like. To lay this out without going on a rant, I'm going to utilize a pros and cons list to add some structure.

Cons:

• We can't die: Recently, Susan Dennard posted a Tweet that goes over this perfectly. If the tone of your book has death, then you should not be afraid to cut characters. This is something that Sarah does do, but I don't think she edits the correct characters sometimes. Far more evident in ACOWAR, however it is a slight issue here as well. Sure we're emotionally invested in characters, however we're also adult enough to understand death happens.
• Erawan's demise: For what the build up of the last.... 3 or 4 books was getting to, this was pretty anti-climactic. The final battle was more about Aelin vs. Maeve than Erawan, which was a twist, but at the same time I expected defeating him to be a bit more than him showing up with his SIL, getting pissed at some healers, and then going against Yrene. Also, why is Maeve so much more competent than Erawan? Through their entire history, she has tricked 3 male valg and hide from them for years. Ontop of that, we get this stupid bickering between Aelin, Maeve, and Erawan where the two ladies sound like children tattling to their father. 
• Maeve's control of Dorian: Girl, why did you even try? The first half of this book was us learning how much of a badass Dorian can be when he applies himself. So when she tries to trick him into slavery, I had a major eye roll. It's predictable. I expected more from her and it's tacky. 
• Portal between worlds: This is specifically talking about when Aelin joins the wyrd keys together and 100% my personal preference. I hate portals within stories. It gets messy and the story can get lost. I had to find a chapter summary online to understand what exactly happened. As Charnell mentioned, there was a TON of build up for this moment when either Aelin or Dorian sacrifice themselves to seal the gate and it was so anti-climatic. Other than sending the gods home, confronting Dorian's dad, and getting a glimpse of Feyre and Rhysand... what was the point?

Pros:

• Quick writing style: The pacing in the first half of this book was perfect. It's chapter after chapter of updates on each group of characters, Manon/Dorian's and Aedion's being the most compelling. However once we collect all three wyrdkeys and forge the gate the pacing goes back into an all-over the place mess. 
• The series of events leading to the end: This marries with the last topic, but the events happening up until the gate were very concise and made sense to the story line. It really left the last 1/3 of the book to go so many directions. However, we chose one that was all over the place. I've heard several people compare the writing to Lord of The Rings in so many ways.
• The flourish and details during coronation: Although the final battle was garbage, I did like the way that Aelin's coronation as Queen of Terrasen and Faerie Queen of the West. To me, you can tell what parts of the story Sarah really held dear to her heart while writing this final book and this was one of them. Through the descriptions and events, you could feel the author's heart on these pages.
• Relying on others: Miss Secrets from my companions FINALLY delegates to her friends. We have made growth within the series if only in this alone.

In The Middle:

• Strained relationships: As much as I love complex relationships, for each of our side relationships to go through the same "I can't talk or trust him, hmph!" moments is so cringy. Real relationships have communication and talking through problems. Between both the parallel's in Elide and Lysandra, Lysandra's beef with Aedion was the more believable. Elide just came off as a brat which I hate because Elide was such a cunning character. 
• Nameless for $100, Alex: You're seriously telling me Dorian's dad's name was Dorian? I get that people were creating conspiracies around the "nameless kings" in Maas's writing but to put in this weird fact with the King of Adarlan just made me wonder what the hell the point was? Nameless is my price was writen as if we were going to get some epic forshadowing and for it to be King Dorian sacrificing his soul? We already got closure with that character like 4 books ago girlfriend.
• Aelin losing her powers: I needed some loss in this book, so I like that Aelin lost her powerful power? However, it would have been pretty cool if instead of fire, she could wield water with that droplet she had in her bloodline. Like c'mon, you've mentioned its there several times, why wouldn't it be more significant?

I have some issues as you can tell with the story, but I would consider reading just this book again from the entire Throne of Glass series. I like a lot of the characters, mostly Manon's future and Yrene's gentleness. This conclusion wasn't nearly as disapointing as ACOWAR, but it still fell a little flat. Most of the 4 ♥'s is the pacing and the first half of the book. 

Let me know what you thought in the comments below!

*There may be spoilers in this section of the review. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading.