Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Kingdom of Ash

To be honest, less people died than I thought they would! I thought either Lysandra or Aedion were goners for sure, along with either Borte, Nesryn, or Dorian himself. I feel like it was a little too much of a happy ending despite all the loss, because there weren’t really a lot of deaths I could connect to. The rest of the Thirteen dying was sad, and I cried for Asterin, but I didn’t really know any of the others other than Vesta and Sorrel. I feel like a little more loss would have been effective (in making me sob), but I am of course happy that it did not end that way. I would get annoyed with how often the pov’s switched, because I’d get so invested in what was taking place in one storyline that I’d get frustrated at having to leave it behind. But that frustration would soon be forgotten as I was sucked into the new perspective, so I wasn’t too upset. I thought that the storyline progressed well, even if it stressed me out to no end that nobody was aiding Aedion and the Bane and how badly I wanted to slaughter the old Terrasen Lords. Aelin’s time being tortured and her recovery were some of my most-anticipated things to read about in this book, and they were written very well. It was very sad and heartbreaking, especially the parts with Fenrys, but it was powerful. I’m so glad that they had each other both through it and afterwards, and I thought that their unspoken language was so powerful as well. I really enjoyed all the action and adventure in this book, but I was definitely frustrated with certain points. I thought it was BS how Aedion was treating Lysandra, and how she just ended up forgiving him. And I agree that it was important to have those effective final battle scenes with Maeve and Erawan, but I thought it was BS that the gods just didn’t follow through with their bargain and even more BS that Aelin tried to save Elena, who’d had a thousand years already, like wtf? I’m very disappointed that she and Dorian lost most of her powers but oh well. I loved Dorian in this book, especially how he slayed and played Maeve at Morath, even if I thought he was being an idiot in how he was frolicking about in his different forms and in letting Maeve free when he left. My favorite parts of these books have been badass Aelin kicking ass and taking names and looking amazing while doing it, wielding schemes and plans and powers like no other. It was disappointing that we didn’t get a lot of those this book, but it made sense with the whole tortured deal. I still have a few questions about things, such as whatever happened to Dorian’s mom and Hollin? Also, who is that other member of the cadre that was ever so briefly mentioned, and how will he come up again in the future SJM universe?? Oh yeah, and Aelin totally saw Rhys and Feyre when she was falling through worlds, so that was pretty cool. All in all, I think it was almost too happy of an ending, but I’m glad there was no pregnancy trope with Aelin.

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charhollyx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wow.
All I keep saying is wow. I finished this series like 6 hours ago but I still haven’t left this world. I think this story will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Yrene is the GOAT of this book, Aelin a close second. I knew about the losing powers trope beforehand but I’m glad she at least kept her immortality.
The thirteens sacrifice killed me off the most, I felt my heart break for this team of loyal warriors who gave their lives for their wing leader. I’m welling up even writing this and thinking about it all over again.
Manon and Dorian deserved a proper ending, but I don’t mind the openness. In my mind, they continued meeting up and she eventually removed her immortality to be with him.
Fenrys. Sweet baby fenrys. The most underrated character.
The keys really felt pointless in this book, the only annoying part with the 8 book build up of importance. They could have waited and stored the keys somewhere safe, killed them both and idk, whatever afterwards😂
Special shout-out to another underrated love, Elide. Bold, brave, loyal, fearless… and she even made me love lorcan a little too.
Aedion ruined this book for me, my love for him vanished when he had the audacity to do Lysandra dirty. I will not forgive as easily as she did.

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kat1105's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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alexz_miller's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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madisonvee11's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love to read fantasy and it had been a long time (almost 15 years) since a book series made me fall in love with it so thoroughly. I have not cried this much over the ending of a series since Harry Potter in 2007.
This was a beautifully written ending to a stunning, complicated, well rounded and overall spectacular set of stories. I cannot wait to start my reread in a couple of months in preparation for the next of SJMs books to come out.
I am so thankful for these characters and their stories. I am thankful that I got to take all of this in the way that I did, it was magical.

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andrikkk's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This series have a special place in my heart even if it's objectively bad.

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