The End of an Era

I finally got around to reading and finishing Kingdom of Ash. I actually had to take a couple of days to process before writing this post. Kingdom of Ash was a novel of epic proportions, similar to Game of Thrones but infinitely better (and without blatant incest, unless you think Rowan and Aelin being together is incest when they're like cousins 5 times removed). The story kept me on my toes, and I really felt like we got to delve deeper into everyone's characters.

*Spoilers from here on*

I'll start with the good stuff. I loved Aelin's internal struggle while in the iron coffin. I loved the repetition of old lines, such as "You do not yield", and "Once upon a time, there was a princess who loved her kingdom...". I loved that Maeve didn't just make Cairn beat her senseless, but also tried to play mind games with her to get her to reveal the keys' location. I also loved Lorcan's self loathing throughout the search period, albeit I feel like it was more because of Elide rather than Aelin's suffering. I also loved the way we got to understand Fenrys's character with Conall's death, which I felt was both a great addition to the story and a horrible waste of a character. As a writer, I feel like it was a necessary sacrifice to make Fenrys suffer and get into the good stuff. As a reader, I wanted to get to know Conall more.

The final battle was really awesome. I felt like it was really well written yet easy to follow. I loved watched Aedion with his men, and even when he was stripped of rank he had earned their respect in other ways so people kept following him. Darrow continued to be a thorn in the side for the entire book, and I felt like his total turn around happened a little too quickly, but I liked his interactions with Evangaline. I also liked that Manon allowed Asterin the killing blow on the Matron.

Now for the not-so-great stuff. I felt like Chaol's chapters were dull. He felt really unnecessary, as if he was only there because he's an original character and he was obligated to be there. Yrene solely existed to have sex with Chaol and kill Erawan, and her being pregnant felt really stupid. She's the Heir Apparent to the Healer on High, and she can't be bothered to take a tonic every morning? She just wanted to get pregnant when they didn't know if they'd win against Erawan? Seems stupid, and Yrene shouldn't be.

Listen. I love Manon. I love the Thirteen, and I even almost got a tattoo of "From now on until the Darkness claims us." So you may be wondering why I'm writing about her under the section "not-so-great stuff". I felt like her chapters went from amazing and interesting to boring and repetitive. She has sex with Dorian, talks to Glennis, wonders if she can win the Crochans over, rinse, repeat. Dorian has some very deep manly feelings about sneaking into Morath to steal the key, Manon doesn't want him to go, cue the same argument 3x a chapter. I also hated that the Thirteen died. Especially when SJM almost killed Asterin like four times in previous books.

The number one thing I hated was Aelin losing the majority of her power. I know she had the power to forge the lock, but I felt like her being the Queen Who Was Promised now having a commoner's fire gift is really just a waste. She spend three books learning how to master her power, only to be left with just a lame party trick of a gift. She can't even shift! What use is she, other than being able to fight with steel? She can't defend Terrasen, and now potential threats have nothing to fear from her if they have the numbers to fight against them. She can't burn her enemies to the ground, what do other kingdoms have to fear? I feel like 99% of the previous books of her learning to control and love her power are totally wasted now that it's all gone.

All in all, this book was the end of an era for me and many other readers. I'm still left wondering what Terrasen would look like 40-50 years down the road, maybe even 100-200 years, now that Aelin is immortal. I really loved this book and this series, and it'll definitely be on the reread list for years to come.

-Love and good books,

Lexi

#YAfiction #YAfantasy #bookreview #YA #throneofglass