Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

230 reviews

molliewallace337's review

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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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oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What an emotional and fitting end to an epic fantasy series. TOG was my first high fantasy series so I didn’t know much of what to expect but I am so glad I undertook this adventure. I became so attached to Aelin and her band of heroes throughout the eight books. Though this final installment is almost 1,000 pages, they seemed to fly by as we jumped from battle to battle, from one part of the kingdom to another in massive clashes of good versus evil. At every moment I was surprised and intrigued. This book really beautifully brings back plots and characters that Maas expertly introduces books earlier - I was so impressed when something came up that I remembered from an earlier piece of the story and think that it’s the hallmark of a great writer to be able to make these sorts of callbacks. This book had some truly heartbreaking moments that were befitting of the finale of such an intense series but each one felt meaningful and instrumental to the storyline. I definitely found myself tearing up quite a bit at times and thought the overall arc of this novel was beautifully done. 
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marianarmmb's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mayjoyce's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I have never felt such a volley of emotions. I loved this book so much. I'm sad to let it go, but I know it will live in my heart forever. 
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anguawolf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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dalek_caan's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. What an ending. This is a series I would happily start over from book one having just put down the final book. I cried several times. Great writing.
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jsteinle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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? No

4.25

This was a mammoth of a book, yet I expected nonetheless for the grand finale. Suuuper emotional first third of the book. I cried maybe every other chapter. Slower paced than the other books in the series at times but that may have been because it’s such a long read and we are in battle for a very long time. I cannot believe I almost didn’t read Throne of Glass in general and am so happy that I did after ACOTAR. I’m really sad about saying goodbye to these characters. Satisfied with some parts of the ending yet underwhelmed with others. I’m exhausted.
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chapters_and_pages's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-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

Oh my goodness, what a phenomenal ending to such an incredible series! I put off reading this book for years because it was so long (980 pages…) but I’m so glad I’ve finally read it!

I won’t be going into the plot of this book, being that it’s the last in a long series but I absolutely loved the storyline and the ending. My favourite thing about this series is without a doubt the characters! The fact that Maas can create all of these incredible characters and make them all so unique and well written is astonishing, to be honest. Sometimes it can feel like an author introduces too many characters and they all start to feel very basic and similar but that’s never the case with Sarah J. Maas. 

Aelin continues to be one of, if not my favourite book characters of all time. Honestly, I don’t understand how anyone couldn’t adore her!

Overall this series was outstanding and I’m glad I’ve finally completed the series!
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rainydays191's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-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? No

5.0

I'm quite literally speechless. I have never cried more, never smiled more, never felt more deeply for a set of characters. Nothing can top this.

It was truly devastating at the start with aelin captured and being tortured. I was sobbing. And then I'd remember Sam and sob even more. I didn't think I could possible cry more until Asterin and the rest of the thirteen came along. 
And Elide's cunning throughout the book and with the plan at the end, Yrene's courage, lysandra's strength to keep giving and take on the burden (even when Aedion was being an ass), Manon's character growth into becoming a queen of two peoples and taking them home, Asterin and the Thirteen's heartbreaking sacrifice to buy Manon and the witches a chance to go home - she deserved so much more that this world could give her and i hope shes happy in tbr Afterworld, (wish we saw more of Borte), Ansel of briarcliff's return and her companionship with both Aelin and Manon, Nesryn growing into the empress she will become, Evangeline melting Darrow's old heart. This is a tale of women supported with the magic of the old fae bastards who gave good comic relief. 

But Fenrys stole my heart in those first few chapters and the way he would've sacrificed himself twice for aelin. Their blinking communication still kills me. Gavriel was also such a sweetheart, helping elide during their journey. I'm devestated that aedion didnt get a chance at all to know him and the other way around too. Lord Lorcan Lochan finally stopped being an ass. 

I really wish we had more ilias and the silent master though (that was one thing I was disappointed with but honestly I didn't even miss it that much because so much was happening already). And the final goodbye to galan was pretty touching too - I'm intrigued by his character.

In fact that entire goodbye sequence was bittersweet. 

I love the little fledgling court.
The only thing that irks me is the fact that Aelin lost so much of her power, and Monon lost the Thirteen (each other's strengths). Why do the female characters always loose their power. I guess Dorian did too, but still, it's annoying. 

And finally chaol and Dorian. No words. I'm so glad we got to see their growth during the series, how they grew into their roles. I will always love them. My golden trio.

(And aelin, no character could ever top her. She bears it all no one else has to 😭)

I will always admire the way SJM was able to make us empathize with a fall in love with every single character regardless of how many pages we see them in. I'm still a little bitter that we didn't get to see Roland come back again.
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sacredgriefsociety's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

this book WRECKED me. it’s been awhile since a book had me crying ugly tears (snot bubbles & all). i was surprised at what exactly brought those tears on. 

i loved this book despite its length and often vivid descriptions of gore. this definitely should be presented with a content warning so that others have a chance to fully understand what they’re getting into prior to picking it up. i understand the point of it (kind of) but there could have been less IMO.
i really didn’t need close to a quarter of the book to contain vivid descriptions of aelin’s torture and time locked in what was essentially a coffin


while i have some
gripes this is absolutely a 5 star read thanks to the emotions it elicited. it was worth the slow start of the series and the slower starts to each book to make it here. 
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