Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

103 reviews

maggies's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

A suitable conclusion to the series, if long. My main critique of the series as a whole is that the timeline is way off. Everything, from Throne of Glass through Kingdom of Ash, takes place over roughly one year. Ridiculous. The character development, the training montages, the evolution of the plot, it would all make way more sense if it occurred over several years, at least. Not to mention the sheer length of the novels. However, I can pretend the timeline isn't bonkers—

sorry, how many couples met, fell in love, and married in just 12 months????

—so I'll just say the end had me in tears.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Gore, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death of parent, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

thamual's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

i feel like i have been on a life-changing journey with Alien and her court. i feel as if i was a member of The Fellowship and just witnessed the end of Sauron once and for all. but i didnt. i witnessed Aelin Galathynius be unafraid in the face of certain death. i witnessed characters i have grown to love, fight and die and give their all for their world. and it was beautiful, and heartbreaking, and sometimes, a little funny. SJM, this 

was a masterful ending. thank you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, War, Violence, Murder, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Confinement, and Animal death

jesserae17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

4.75

This was a great conclusion to a wonderfully epic series. My only complaint is the battle scenes started drag a bit towards the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Torture, Sexual content, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, and Cursing

Minor: Suicide attempt, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, and Confinement

ashleynp24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

This was the perfect ending to the 8 book series. All of the plot lines finally converging, the battles, it was all done so well. Highly recommend doing the tandem before this. It felt like it trickled into this perfectly. 

I spent so much of the end crying, but the worst deaths for me were the thirteen. Their sacrifice had me sobbing for an hour. The character growth for all of the characters was such a fun thing to read.

I’m truly sad the series is over but the happy ending was worth it. One of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Murder, Kidnapping, and Death

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.5

I feel like this is a pretty satisfying ending, but I do still have many questions. For a book that was almost 1000 pages, I felt the pacing was pretty decent, though it could have been shorter. I found some parts to be very repetitive, especially the battle scenes.

Pretty much every time they are close to being beaten, somehow another group of allies show up at the perfect moment to save them. Every Time. It makes it a little less exciting to read.

Aelin:
I haven't been a huge Aelin fan throughout this series. Just when I was starting to like her, she has to make probably the dumbest choice -

trying to bargain to save Elena. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! She spends this whole series trying to defeat Erawan, only to get to the moment when she finally can and decides that saving Elena's soul is more important? THIS MAKES NO SENSE. The whole point of sacrificing herself is to save her people, now she decides to leave them to try to defeat Erawan on their own? Thousands of people could have been saved.

I am so glad that she was able to find her strength and escape from Maeve without having to be rescued by Rowan. How she has the will to live after enduring all of that torture is beyond me.

Lysandra and Aedion:
Lysandra is badass and probably my favourite character. She had one of the best redemption stories in the series. She is such a powerful and strong character. I really liked Aedion until

he turned on Lysandra. How is she responsible for Aelin's choices?! He treated her with such malice and distain, when she did nothing wrong. He chooses to further abuse a woman who has been through so much trauma and abuse, rather than show compassion and understanding. I don't feel like he fully redeemed himself enough for Lysandra to take him back. I kind of wish that she had ended up without him at the end.

Chaol and Yrene: 
I feel like the whole "Chaol and Yrene" are tethered thing fell by the wayside. You would think that with as much power she was expelling, Chaol would be basically paralyzed the whole time, yet it seemed like he was hardly effected. I really want to know what comes next for Yrene, she is obviously incredibly powerful. 

Lorcan and Elide:
Honestly, this relationship didn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't think that their relationship had the impact that it was meant to. I think that some sort of familial relationship (maybe instead of Aedion?) would have helped her heal. 

The witches: 
I love the witches! They are my favourite group in this book. These women are so badass. I think that Manon and the Thirteen have one of the best arcs in this series.

It absolutely crushed me when the Thirteen sacrificed themselves.

Dorian: 
I love how Dorian has come into his power. He is incredibly powerful and determined to help protect and save his people, even if that means sacrificing himself. Thought the book, his power continues to grow and change

(He can shift!). I like that he has a resolution when it comes to his father. That said, I think it was a bit of a cop out for his father to be "nameless".

I think his relationship with Manon makes a lot of sense. Both are still healing and have a lot of work ahead of them. Having them jump into a relationship wouldn't make sense with what they both need to do in the future. I like that it was left a bit open ended. 

Gavriel and Fenrys:
I adored these two!

I am devastated that Gavriel didn't get the chance to get to know and form a relationship with his son. Sacrificing his life to protect him was an honorable final act befitting The Lion.

Fenrys suffers horribly under Maeve.

She forces him to endure watching Aelin being tortured and kills his twin in front of him. He experiences so much pain, yet somehow manages to push through it to break the blood oath to Maeve to help save Aelin. It makes sense that he would want the blood oath from Aelin, given how loyal he already is to her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, Animal death, Confinement, Death, and Kidnapping

laura_nel13's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, Confinement, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

livinlavidalo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Ugh I am so glad I finally jumped into this book. I am obsessed, while this book ripped my heart out it was like reading about old friends. I will never recover from this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Torture, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Blood, Grief, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Gore

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was an amazing end to a brilliant series. I am in awe of the world that Sarah J Maas has created and the characters that have stolen my heart. I cried reading the ending because Aelin was a character that I came to know and love. After reading through all of her heartbreaking experiences, finally seeing the end is bittersweet. The ending was much better than anticipated and I cannot wait to read Sarah’s new book in January! Sad that the throne of glass series is over but it will forever be one of my favorites. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Death, Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Cursing, Grief, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, and War

britwalsh16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I have no words good enough to explain how amazing this book is!!! This book ripped me apart, and left me in pieces. But then made my heart soar! So much sacrifice! So much loss! And then sooo much love!!! These characters & the love they share for one another is pure magic! More magical then any of the magic in the book!! 

But spoiler alert.. fuck the gods! They don’t deserve any fucking sacrifices!! They piss me the hell off & I could have done without their holier then now attitudes! lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, War, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Colonisation, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Excrement, Misogyny, Vomit, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Cursing, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Alcohol, Physical abuse, War, and Death of parent