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delaneybull's review against another edition
2.0
Heavy on the exposition, not so great on actual action and plot. I think the Gavril ending was SUCH A COP OUT, but a sort-of-satisfying one. Eh.
audiobookmel's review against another edition
4.0
Review originally posted at RabidReads.com.
I’ve been struggling with reading books lately. My attention span is very low for some reason. I can’t really sit down and read for more than an hour before I start finding something to distract myself. So, I decided to try the last book in the Age of Legends series on audio instead of reading, like I did with the previous two books. This worked out really great. I was able to finally finish this trilogy without having to sit down and read in little bits.
If you’re not familiar with this series, it is a fun one. It is set in a world that does have magics and spirits, among other things. The stories are told from the point of view of sixteen-year-old twin sisters, Moria and Ashen. They have the abilities to calm spirits and even banish them. Moria is known as the Keeper. She helps protect the empire from angry spirits. She also has a bond-beast that is a wildcat named Daigo. Bond-beasts are warriors that have died and come back to help the Seeker and the Keeper. Ashen is the Seeker. He has a hound for her bond-beast, named Tova. Moria is the one that has always been more outgoing and popular with the people. Ashen has always been a little more introverted. The two girls have been separated for a long time now as they try to solve the issue of Shadowstalkers and find the missing children from their town.
There are also three guys who’ve been part of the story from the beginning, or almost the beginning. The first one that we met in the first book is Ronan. He is a fugitive from the empire. He is also castless, which is very important in this world. It also makes him keep his distance from Ashen, even though he has quite the crush on her. He doesn’t feel that he’s good enough. He also uses little brother and sister as an excuse to keep his distance. He is responsible for them, since they have no one else. But at the same time, he feels he needs to protect Ashen.
There is also Gavril. He is quite the magician, though not as strong as his father. He has also been branded a traitor. His father is not a good man has done many horrible things (I won’t go into details to avoid spoilers). There are several times where you can’t tell which side Gavril is on. He and Moria have become very close friends. She has even been branded a traitor because of her ties to him in friendship.
Lastly, there is Tyrus. He is the emperor’s bastard son. He is also the emperor’s favorite child. He has also been branded a traitor because of events that happened in the second book (once again, I won’t give further details). He has been traveling with Gavril and Moria.
This story continues where the second book left off. We go back and forth between Ashen and Moria telling their tale. Both are witness to horrors along the way. You can really see the two girls, and also the boys, all grow up and leave childhood behind as they face things that even humans shouldn’t have to face. There is betrayal from family members, witnessing the aftermath of horrible murders (truly, these murders were awful. The kids didn’t witness it, but they came across the bodies and even that was bad enough), dealing with the zombie-like shadowstalkers. They even had to deal with the idea of raising dragons from a magical induced sleep. Yep, you read that right, dragons have made an appearance (and no, neither of the girls went into a bonfire with eggs LOL).
I’m a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong. I think she writes amazing characters. Now this series is one that isn’t as fast paced as some of her other stories, but the characters and the world she has built is still pretty great. I like how she kept me intrigued with trying to figure out who is betraying whom and never knowing what type of horrors the girls would come to next. I will say that end the end, I enjoyed the overall series, more than I enjoyed each book. I think part of that is that Armstrong ended the first two books with cliffhangers (grrr), but this being the final book, that didn’t happen here. I thought the story wrapped up pretty well. I liked how the people whose names were cleared were able to convince the emperor of their loyalty without having the emperor lose face. I will say that there is a bit of a love triangle, but not a strong one. Moria had always knew the choice she wanted, though she did second guess herself from time to time. If you like high-fantasy YA stories, this was a fun trilogy.
Narration
I think this was my first time listening to Therese Plummer. I know I recognized her name. I would’ve sworn I had listened to her before, but I can’t find anything that could’ve been the book. Anyway, I thought she did a great job with narration. I loved how she was able to make the kids sound like the teenagers they were and the adults sound like adults. I thought she did a great job with the male and female voices and that you could really feel the horror some of the kids experienced through their voices. If you haven’t tried Therese Plummer, I highly recommend her. I will looking for more books by her.
I’ve been struggling with reading books lately. My attention span is very low for some reason. I can’t really sit down and read for more than an hour before I start finding something to distract myself. So, I decided to try the last book in the Age of Legends series on audio instead of reading, like I did with the previous two books. This worked out really great. I was able to finally finish this trilogy without having to sit down and read in little bits.
If you’re not familiar with this series, it is a fun one. It is set in a world that does have magics and spirits, among other things. The stories are told from the point of view of sixteen-year-old twin sisters, Moria and Ashen. They have the abilities to calm spirits and even banish them. Moria is known as the Keeper. She helps protect the empire from angry spirits. She also has a bond-beast that is a wildcat named Daigo. Bond-beasts are warriors that have died and come back to help the Seeker and the Keeper. Ashen is the Seeker. He has a hound for her bond-beast, named Tova. Moria is the one that has always been more outgoing and popular with the people. Ashen has always been a little more introverted. The two girls have been separated for a long time now as they try to solve the issue of Shadowstalkers and find the missing children from their town.
There are also three guys who’ve been part of the story from the beginning, or almost the beginning. The first one that we met in the first book is Ronan. He is a fugitive from the empire. He is also castless, which is very important in this world. It also makes him keep his distance from Ashen, even though he has quite the crush on her. He doesn’t feel that he’s good enough. He also uses little brother and sister as an excuse to keep his distance. He is responsible for them, since they have no one else. But at the same time, he feels he needs to protect Ashen.
There is also Gavril. He is quite the magician, though not as strong as his father. He has also been branded a traitor. His father is not a good man has done many horrible things (I won’t go into details to avoid spoilers). There are several times where you can’t tell which side Gavril is on. He and Moria have become very close friends. She has even been branded a traitor because of her ties to him in friendship.
Lastly, there is Tyrus. He is the emperor’s bastard son. He is also the emperor’s favorite child. He has also been branded a traitor because of events that happened in the second book (once again, I won’t give further details). He has been traveling with Gavril and Moria.
This story continues where the second book left off. We go back and forth between Ashen and Moria telling their tale. Both are witness to horrors along the way. You can really see the two girls, and also the boys, all grow up and leave childhood behind as they face things that even humans shouldn’t have to face. There is betrayal from family members, witnessing the aftermath of horrible murders (truly, these murders were awful. The kids didn’t witness it, but they came across the bodies and even that was bad enough), dealing with the zombie-like shadowstalkers. They even had to deal with the idea of raising dragons from a magical induced sleep. Yep, you read that right, dragons have made an appearance (and no, neither of the girls went into a bonfire with eggs LOL).
I’m a huge fan of Kelley Armstrong. I think she writes amazing characters. Now this series is one that isn’t as fast paced as some of her other stories, but the characters and the world she has built is still pretty great. I like how she kept me intrigued with trying to figure out who is betraying whom and never knowing what type of horrors the girls would come to next. I will say that end the end, I enjoyed the overall series, more than I enjoyed each book. I think part of that is that Armstrong ended the first two books with cliffhangers (grrr), but this being the final book, that didn’t happen here. I thought the story wrapped up pretty well. I liked how the people whose names were cleared were able to convince the emperor of their loyalty without having the emperor lose face. I will say that there is a bit of a love triangle, but not a strong one. Moria had always knew the choice she wanted, though she did second guess herself from time to time. If you like high-fantasy YA stories, this was a fun trilogy.
Narration
I think this was my first time listening to Therese Plummer. I know I recognized her name. I would’ve sworn I had listened to her before, but I can’t find anything that could’ve been the book. Anyway, I thought she did a great job with narration. I loved how she was able to make the kids sound like the teenagers they were and the adults sound like adults. I thought she did a great job with the male and female voices and that you could really feel the horror some of the kids experienced through their voices. If you haven’t tried Therese Plummer, I highly recommend her. I will looking for more books by her.
landscapesofink's review against another edition
5.0
Woah. This was just as good as the previous two :D Can't believe it's over though! I was so excited to read this one, and it didn't disappoint. I'm glad for the and the shocks and twists that happened, particularly and Oh and also Sad the series is over now :( Hopefully she writes more, because I'll definitely be keeping up to date with Kelley Armstrong's books :D
Spoiler
lack of romance,Spoiler
Edwyne not actually being her grandfatherSpoiler
Gavril dying for Tyrus.Spoiler
then finding the kids the way they did!kkrs28's review against another edition
4.0
it was good... glad Moria ended up with Tyrus and not Gavril... cause Tyrus is a whole mans!!!
zoemig's review against another edition
Forest of Ruin by Kelley Armstrong is another book I had been reading for far too long and was excited to finish up this month--seriously, finally making a really good dent in my unfinished book stack. This is the final book in a trilogy, so I won't say much to avoid spoilers, but I've got reviews of the first book, Sea of Shadows, and the second book, Empire of Night, already posted.
This young adult fantasy trilogy is told from the perspective of twins, each with an important role in the empire to help keep people safe. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of danger going around and in Forest of Ruin it is finally time for the last battle. Armstrong's writing is always really easy to read, and even though I don't often reach for fantasy novels I really enjoyed this series, it's just a little less intense at moments than her novels normally are, probably because of all the world-building required. Still, especially the last quarter of this book I just devoured. In terms of how things ended, while it wasn't exactly how I wanted, it was certainly still satisfying.
I definitely recommend the Age of Legends series if you are looking looking for a young adult fantasy novels with all kinds of creatures, a whole cast of great characters and in particular, two really tough--but different--twin heroines.
This young adult fantasy trilogy is told from the perspective of twins, each with an important role in the empire to help keep people safe. Unfortunately, there's been a lot of danger going around and in Forest of Ruin it is finally time for the last battle. Armstrong's writing is always really easy to read, and even though I don't often reach for fantasy novels I really enjoyed this series, it's just a little less intense at moments than her novels normally are, probably because of all the world-building required. Still, especially the last quarter of this book I just devoured. In terms of how things ended, while it wasn't exactly how I wanted, it was certainly still satisfying.
I definitely recommend the Age of Legends series if you are looking looking for a young adult fantasy novels with all kinds of creatures, a whole cast of great characters and in particular, two really tough--but different--twin heroines.
auroranoir's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the storyline was good and I certainly did keep reading. However I have to say that a lot of this series felt like the Moria Saga. Supposedly she and her twin are equally as important just in different ways however I felt like throughout the series Ashyn's chapters were consistently underwhelming and Moria's were oh so badass (supposedly). Most of the story revolved around Moria's character while Ashyn was given a few minor things to keep her alive in the story but not really all that important. The girls' bond was supposedly strong but we rarely get to see them have any real moment of bonding here. It seems the series started off strong with their relationship and then it just falls off the wayside when romance gets in the way. Did I say romance? Oops my mistake. Because Ashyn didn't even really get a proper romance did she? No what we get is Moria and the Prince kissing all over the place and hinting at more because Moria's comfortable with that but Ashyn's a prude so Moria gets the action and Ashyn gets to have a hot and cold relationship with Ronan that isn't even done justice. Also, the author reaaallllyyy pushes Tastu x Moria on us. Like the first book set up Moria and Gavril indirectly...then it's like she changed her mind and went from that to leaving Gavril looking on while Moria and Tatsu get together all of a sudden. He was clearly uncomfortable then at the end when Ashyn asks about Moria he claims she's a friend like Tatsu. Yeah right, I call bs. He may be emotionally stunted but not that much, although it seems like he regressed from the first book to now. Aside from at the end Gavril really served no true purpose in the story really.
I also felt while reading this that Ashyn was a sideline character and it's justified in the story as 'some people not having to be the hero' but you know, that can be done just as well without sacrificing her importance. I was quite often annoyed at the portrayals of both of them. Moria is the strong badass warrior female and Ashyn is the timid bookish feminine one. Guess who gets all the attention and praise? Certainly not Ashyn, who has to hide and leave the other's to the fighting because she's the 'damsel in distress' and don't worry big bad sister will save you. I was actually glad for the one moment Tyrus said in the novel that Moria would not like something but that he trusted Ashyn's judgement. Somebody needed to. Ashyn was the more intelligent of the two supposedly but we never really get to see that. They certainly weren't equals in this story. And the sisterhood that existed was almost nonexistent in this book, which is quite disappointing.
I also felt while reading this that Ashyn was a sideline character and it's justified in the story as 'some people not having to be the hero' but you know, that can be done just as well without sacrificing her importance. I was quite often annoyed at the portrayals of both of them. Moria is the strong badass warrior female and Ashyn is the timid bookish feminine one. Guess who gets all the attention and praise? Certainly not Ashyn, who has to hide and leave the other's to the fighting because she's the 'damsel in distress' and don't worry big bad sister will save you. I was actually glad for the one moment Tyrus said in the novel that Moria would not like something but that he trusted Ashyn's judgement. Somebody needed to. Ashyn was the more intelligent of the two supposedly but we never really get to see that. They certainly weren't equals in this story. And the sisterhood that existed was almost nonexistent in this book, which is quite disappointing.
nyxgoldstone's review against another edition
4.0
Almost made it to 5 stars. The problem is I feel a character's sacrifice was cheapened in the end.
Otherwise it was a strong end to the trilogy.
Otherwise it was a strong end to the trilogy.
shunt0007's review against another edition
5.0
I have loved this series and I’m honestly sad to see it finished. To think back and realized i almost missed the whole series is scary. I am grateful that I got the first book in a Reddit Gift exchange and am grateful a stranger new me better than I knew myself.