Kingdom of Ash Review
**may contain potential spoilers**
As some of you may remember, I had previously posted a review on Throne of Glass on the series as a whole even though I had one book left in the series to read. I have finally gotten around to reading Kingdom of Ash and will be laying out my opinions on this book.
In the grand finale of the Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas doesn't hesitate and throws out truckloads of drama and violence. With Aelin captured and locked away by the evil Queen of the Fae, Maeve, Aelin endures countless months of suffering alone and away from her friends. Aelin will not yield to Maeve knowing that her friends would die if she did but with every passing minute, Aelin feels herself breaking from the agony. As Aelin and her friends fight for their lives in different places, they each must find the ones they can trust and fight alongside each other to fight both Maeve and Erawen, the King of the Valg in order to protect their kingdom, Erilea.
Personally, I was extremely disappointed with this book. When I first started this series, I was immediately hooked despite the numerous and unnecessary romances. The quests and action weaved together beautifully and it was exhilarating to read. However, in Kingdom of Ash, it seemed that the author rushed the ending and focused too much on the scenes that were unimportant to the development of the story. In my opinion, Sarah J. Maas did not have to make this book 1000 pages long. This book did have its strong moments but it was only about 400-500 pages where I was actually into the story. I had almost given up trying to fight through the boring muck that were in between the the thrilling fight scenes. Also, I applaud the author for managing to get through almost 400 pages before there was a sex scene! Sorry, I couldn't resist - there are just way too many sex scenes (throughout the whole series) and most of them seemed like fillers to me.
However, the ending wasn't the worst. Maeve and Erawen were defeated in the most gruesome and cruel yet satisfying way possible which did make me pleased. It was also quite bittersweet despite beating Erilea's worst enemy as Aelin's friends were separated as they had found their own paths and were starting to move on. Even so, I still didn't enjoy the fact that all the main characters had found the "love of their life' and none of them had died in the battle either. Even though it's sad to see a good character go, it can also help make the plot better.
Despite all my dislikes, Kingdom of Ash wasn't the worst book I've read and since I've been reading this series since middle school, I do have a soft spot for it. Additionally, I had read through this entire series so while the ending may not have been good, the action in between was of good quality.
As some of you may remember, I had previously posted a review on Throne of Glass on the series as a whole even though I had one book left in the series to read. I have finally gotten around to reading Kingdom of Ash and will be laying out my opinions on this book.
In the grand finale of the Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas doesn't hesitate and throws out truckloads of drama and violence. With Aelin captured and locked away by the evil Queen of the Fae, Maeve, Aelin endures countless months of suffering alone and away from her friends. Aelin will not yield to Maeve knowing that her friends would die if she did but with every passing minute, Aelin feels herself breaking from the agony. As Aelin and her friends fight for their lives in different places, they each must find the ones they can trust and fight alongside each other to fight both Maeve and Erawen, the King of the Valg in order to protect their kingdom, Erilea.
Personally, I was extremely disappointed with this book. When I first started this series, I was immediately hooked despite the numerous and unnecessary romances. The quests and action weaved together beautifully and it was exhilarating to read. However, in Kingdom of Ash, it seemed that the author rushed the ending and focused too much on the scenes that were unimportant to the development of the story. In my opinion, Sarah J. Maas did not have to make this book 1000 pages long. This book did have its strong moments but it was only about 400-500 pages where I was actually into the story. I had almost given up trying to fight through the boring muck that were in between the the thrilling fight scenes. Also, I applaud the author for managing to get through almost 400 pages before there was a sex scene! Sorry, I couldn't resist - there are just way too many sex scenes (throughout the whole series) and most of them seemed like fillers to me.
However, the ending wasn't the worst. Maeve and Erawen were defeated in the most gruesome and cruel yet satisfying way possible which did make me pleased. It was also quite bittersweet despite beating Erilea's worst enemy as Aelin's friends were separated as they had found their own paths and were starting to move on. Even so, I still didn't enjoy the fact that all the main characters had found the "love of their life' and none of them had died in the battle either. Even though it's sad to see a good character go, it can also help make the plot better.
Despite all my dislikes, Kingdom of Ash wasn't the worst book I've read and since I've been reading this series since middle school, I do have a soft spot for it. Additionally, I had read through this entire series so while the ending may not have been good, the action in between was of good quality.
Sarah
Great review! I liked how you were concise and provided a summary was spoiler-free. You pointed out some of the flaws of the book while complimenting parts that you thought the author did well. Your opinions on the various aspects of this book were insightful, and I will keep them in mind for the future. Overall, wonderful review!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have reviews like this on our blog, but I'm sorry that this book was somewhat disappointing. It's common for people to dislike the end of a series so I liked that you went into detail about how the book could have been better. Lastly, I like that you acknowledge that you have a "soft spot" for this book since that likely impacted some of your opinions.
ReplyDeleteThis was a well thought out review and it seems like you put a lot of detail into your review. I can relate about how sometimes the final book of a series can be rushed and crammed with extra filler the author wants to stuff in before ending the series. I like how you didn't pull any punches when criticizing the book and I really liked the detail you went into. Good review!
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