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A review by theinquisitxor
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
4.0
Reread: February 2022. All of my thoughts and feelings from when I first read this book stand the same today. Check out my review below!
I thought this was a satisfying end to this series, that kept me entertained and turning each page of this almost 1000 page book. Even though I didn't care for Empire of Storms much, but loved Tower of Dawn, I was quite excited to read this one. Between all the hype, the beautiful cover, the detail on the front of the hardcopy, and what I knew would be an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, I was ready. SJM did give a thick, action packed book that is the result of the 6 previous books. I think back to the very first two books and look at all the little hints and clues SJM gave us about the future books, and I wonder if she had almost everything planned out from the beginning, or if she is just really good at weaving stories.
By the last book, SJM had so many characters and storylines that I wondered if she'd be able to spend enough time on each and not push any to the background. And while this series has always been centered around Aelin, SJM does a good job of balancing everything out. I feel like the characters had their equal proportions and page time. I can definitely see this as a woman driven installment, and while the men do very important and good things, I feel like the women really shine through. I wouldn't go so far as calling this a feminist book but it definitely was centered on the women of the story.
Looking at the characters, Aelin and Rowan haven't been my absolute favorite characters, but I'm glad they got the ending they did. But for how much I never really connected to Rowan and Aelin, I got so many other awesome characters who I do love so much: Manon, Abraxos, Elide, Lysandra, Yrene, the Thirteen, Aedion, and more. They made up for some of the cringy and eye rolling type purple prose about how 'Aelin is so awesome', 'Aelin is the most special person to ever walk the earth'. Another thing that has bothered me in this series is the fact that SJM can't seem to write a whole paragraph?! So many things are just one line, or just one sentence for dramatic effect that it got quite tiresome by the end. If Maas didn't do this, her page count would probably be a lot lower.
Either way, I wanted a high fantasy story about good vs evil with sweeping world building with daring quests, plot twists and huge battles, and I was not disappointed. The world building was probably one of my favorite parts of this series, and this is a book universe that I wish I could go in and explore myself. I would love to see Terrasen, the Staghorn Mountains, Wendlyn, the Southern Continent and sail farther on to discover the other countries and lands that were only ever hinted at. SJM has some special talent at creating a land like Terrasen (and the Night Court from acotar) about a northern land of mountains and snow that I can't help but love and feel just a little bit at home with. This just makes me look forward to her future books and series in the hope that she continues to not disappoint. I read this series in a little less than a month and now I already want another high fantasy with just the same level of development and stakes.
I thought this was a satisfying end to this series, that kept me entertained and turning each page of this almost 1000 page book. Even though I didn't care for Empire of Storms much, but loved Tower of Dawn, I was quite excited to read this one. Between all the hype, the beautiful cover, the detail on the front of the hardcopy, and what I knew would be an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, I was ready. SJM did give a thick, action packed book that is the result of the 6 previous books. I think back to the very first two books and look at all the little hints and clues SJM gave us about the future books, and I wonder if she had almost everything planned out from the beginning, or if she is just really good at weaving stories.
By the last book, SJM had so many characters and storylines that I wondered if she'd be able to spend enough time on each and not push any to the background. And while this series has always been centered around Aelin, SJM does a good job of balancing everything out. I feel like the characters had their equal proportions and page time. I can definitely see this as a woman driven installment, and while the men do very important and good things, I feel like the women really shine through. I wouldn't go so far as calling this a feminist book but it definitely was centered on the women of the story.
Looking at the characters, Aelin and Rowan haven't been my absolute favorite characters, but I'm glad they got the ending they did. But for how much I never really connected to Rowan and Aelin, I got so many other awesome characters who I do love so much: Manon, Abraxos, Elide, Lysandra, Yrene, the Thirteen, Aedion, and more. They made up for some of the cringy and eye rolling type purple prose about how 'Aelin is so awesome', 'Aelin is the most special person to ever walk the earth'. Another thing that has bothered me in this series is the fact that SJM can't seem to write a whole paragraph?! So many things are just one line, or just one sentence for dramatic effect that it got quite tiresome by the end. If Maas didn't do this, her page count would probably be a lot lower.
Either way, I wanted a high fantasy story about good vs evil with sweeping world building with daring quests, plot twists and huge battles, and I was not disappointed. The world building was probably one of my favorite parts of this series, and this is a book universe that I wish I could go in and explore myself. I would love to see Terrasen, the Staghorn Mountains, Wendlyn, the Southern Continent and sail farther on to discover the other countries and lands that were only ever hinted at. SJM has some special talent at creating a land like Terrasen (and the Night Court from acotar) about a northern land of mountains and snow that I can't help but love and feel just a little bit at home with. This just makes me look forward to her future books and series in the hope that she continues to not disappoint. I read this series in a little less than a month and now I already want another high fantasy with just the same level of development and stakes.