The Finale: I did it, I finished Kingdom of Ash

Title: Kingdom of Ash

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #7

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Published by Bloomsbury YA on October 23rd 2018

Pages: 984

“Aelin Galathynius has vowed 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. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve is unraveling with each passing day…

With Aelin captured, friends and allies are scattered to different fates. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever. As destinies weave together at last, all must fight if Erilea is to have any hope of salvation.

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas’s New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an explosive conclusion as Aelin fights to save herself―and the promise of a better world.” -Goodreads

My Review:

Here it is…

The long awaited post.

The Throne of Glass series was one of the first books I heard raved about when I began this book blog and getting started in the Book community. And here it is, I have finished the final book in this series.

It has taken me a while.

I stopped reading the series for awhile and then I picked it back up but I had to restart. But, here I am. I have finished. It has been a lot of focus and sweat and tears and just everything to get this series done.

And when I say crying, I mean CRYING.

To put into perspective the last few hundred pages I had to read of this book, I cried for 5 hours the night that I finished. I had 300 pages left in the book and I just decided to finish it one night. I meant to read a little, but once I had read the first 100, I was already in tears and knew that I just needed to keep going. I finished it in a few hours and just tears.

I mean I had to drink so much water for how much I cried.

UGGGHGHGHGHGFfke;lfrefhaeorgklhdaklgf (sorry I got crazy)

This was such a good book. I have so many feelings about it.

First thing is first. This was the best way to end this series. I think that it was a really really good book. It made me so happy and so sad at the same time.

Second thing, I am looking back through my notes on the book and the biggest thing I wrote about in the beginning was how my Mom bought me a bootleg copy of this book. I swear. The pages are not the same quality and the binding was so bad. but, I still read it and I am pretty sure I am reading the right book.

So, I am going to try and make this into a spoiler-free review but I can not 100% guarantee. This will most likely have a few spoilers that I will forget to not mention. But, I will try to list a warning.

The story started off a little confusing but I think I just forgot a few things form the ending like names and such from EoS after reading ToD. I just was very excited to see when Chaol met up with the group again and dropped the hugest bomb on them.

Then there was a lot of sex, like right off the bat. I do not think that the other books had NEARLY as much sex as this one did. I mean there were a few heated moments in the others but this book had more sex scenes than all the others combined, I swear. And Maas kept putting them right in between really intense action scenes which really tickled my funny bone.

I also hate it when the POVs get interrupted during the action scenes. I get that it builds suspense. But, some of the POV changes just hurt my brain. There was one point where we had three storylines going and three chapters in a row left off with a cliffhanger and when we got back to the original chapter, I did not care anymore because I wanted to learn about the last one and I forgot all about this other storyline.

Maas does have unique way of using POVs and I really do like her use of them. I have read other multiple POV stories that just confuse the hell out of me. I think that Maas makes a great use of them, other than what I just stated above. I like to see how everyone’s story comes together in the end and where they all end up.

Two of the characters are in captivity together. While most books would probably put two characters who are friends or have a strong well built relationship together, Maas puts two characters who barely know each other. It then grows these two people closer together and makes a strong trauma-bonded friendship. I think that was a cool aspect because it was not just two friends suffering it was two strangers who became friends.

Aelin is such a strong character. Before I read this series, there were not a lot of strong female leads in the books I was reading. But, now I think this really opened the way for even stronger female leads and more badass women in fantasy. Aelin has been a near and dear friend to me these past years reading this series so I am really glad that I was able to read about her and hear how her story ended. I cried a lot about the ending. well actually, I cried a lot throughout the whole book for her. I felt as though she was a real presence in my life. I am really sad to see her go but thankful for everything she has taught me about being a woman and being a queen.

Rowan, Chaol, and Dorian have been the most amazing co-main characters in the world. They have al taught me about love and loss. I felt strong connections to them all. (If they were real people, I would consider polygamy). I think everyone they ended up with in the end was spectacular. All of their journeys really teach you a lot about the world.

Manon will always hold a special place in my heart. She went from someone who felt as though the world was rotten and dark and hating everyone, to learning to feel feelings and to have love for those surrounding her. She also rides dragons, (which let me just say Maas, I almost threw your book in the garbage when that one part with Abraxos came up).

Yrene, Lysandra, and Evangeline were phenomenal. Lysandra really held her own and is trying to make her way in a male dominated society. Evangeline melted hearts and showed strength even though she was young. And Yrene showed how women can save the world.

The plot of this story was really good. I think the story was really long and drawn out but it was not a bad mix. The only storyline that seemed too drawn out and almost unnecessary was Lysandra and Aedion’s POVs. Mostly because they kept losing battles and it was just the same thing every time we focused on them. I think Maas could have played with the impersonation storyline a bit more. I am really upset that Nox Owens and Aelin did not meet up at the end.

As you all know, I cried a lot during this. I strongly felt as thought Maas was going to pull a Divergent on us. SPOILER ALERT: but she did not and I am so grateful. I would not have been able to handle that loss.

Ugh, I have so many things to talk about with this book. I loved so many things. I think that if you have not started reading the series yet, you need to. It is one of the best stories that I have read in a long time. I dream to read the series again like it is my first time. Who knows, maybe in a year I will go back to reading it and not remember anything.

Anyways, I do want to put this series behind me. I think this review was a little jumbled. I have been writing my thoughts down into the a journal when I read. But, I am not sure if that is helping since I do not put spoilers in my reviews. I think I am going to start doing review/discussions. Like an overview at first but then a deep dive later so I can talk about what I liked. We shall see…

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie