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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This was the first series I have read by Kelley Armstrong and I absolutely loved it. I was not disappointed and I highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys fantasy with a bit of romance.
Ashyn and Moira are still battling the evil Alvar Kitsune with the help of some old friends and some new ones. Once again separated from each other; the sisters search for the missing children and each other. Moira is asked by the Emperor Tatsu to partner with Gavril to defeat his father while Ashyn finds her long lost grandfather and becomes part of a ritual to awaken a dragon to help win the war. But lies and betrayal are never far behind the young women as they fight to save their people. MS HS Fantasy, War, Sisters, Dragons
3.5 STARS!!!
Forest of Ruin is the epic conclusion to the "Age of Legends" series. Moria and Ashyn, and their little band of merry warriors (literally...) are trying to figure out how to beat the evil Alvar Kitsune, whose powers grow stronger every single day. Emperor Tatsu asks Moria to set aside past grievances and accompany Gavil on a journey to hopefully end Alvar Kitsune once and for all. Meanwhile, Ashyn is united with a long-lost grandfather who has a very special task of his own for her which could turn the tables of the war in their favour.
I struggled a lot with this series, and I still definitely don't consider it one of my favourites, but I will say, I am pleasantly surprised with this conclusion. Kelley Armstrong created a world, albeit not very well at first, that I ended up rooting heavily for by the end, and I do commend that, especially considering how many qualms I had with this series from the beginning.
PROS:
~Cover - Although it has nothing to do with the story, this may be one of the prettiest covers I have ever seen on any novel on my bookshelf, and there are quite a few... like seriously, I spent a few minutes ogling at it before I would read almost every single time I picked the book up.
~New Characters (particularly Sabre) - I thought Armstrong really broke my heart when she ended up ... but she easily redeemed herself with characters like Dalain and Sabre, who I may have a slight crush on, like seriously, why couldn't she have been there from the start??
~Ashyn - This is probably the biggest shock of all for me, my newfound love and appreciation for the Seeker of Edgewood. Seriously, she was one of the dumbest main characters I had ever read about, not even 48 hours ago, but now she's like a new woman. She made decisions based on maturity, not her own feelings, which I love to see in any character, but she seemed much more on her game this time, and maybe because she wasn't being overshadowed by Moria, but I really don't know.
~Friendship - I love that
~Ending - Without giving any spoilers, I will say this ending went in a very different direction than what I had anticipated, but in the best way possible, like seriously, I cried, and I haven't cried for a book or characters in a book in the LONGEST time... and even though this series is very meh for me, the ending somehow really got me and I felt feelings I haven't felt in so long for the ending of a series.
CONS:
~Plot Twists - It is pretty obvious from the get go of a few of the plot twists that are supposed to leave you agape. Unfortunately, I can't say anything without spoiling the big plot twist toward the middle, but if you've read it, hopefully you understand what I'm saying.
~Shadow Stalkers - I'll admit, I do love the ideas of shadow stalkers, and honestly, their execution is really well done, but do they have to be EVERYWHERE?? Alvar Kitsune conjured up all sorts of beasts that we see in the first novel and even some slightly in the second novel, so why couldn't we have a reappearance of those?? They had to have been brought back for a reason.
Ashyn and Ronan - The back and forth between Ronan and Ashyn grew boring in the second book, so I was really hoping for something to happen with them this time, and
~Sex - I know, sex did not happen, but we did get a very weird description of Moria's exploration of herself and her body with her handsome warrior prince Tyrus, and the whole scene, where some may see it as sweet, fell flat for me. I don't even know why the scene bothered me, genuinely no idea, but it may have something to do with the fact that he had to explain to her what orgasms were... I probably could have handled life without that, however brief it was.
~Daigo and Tova - I have been trying for three books to give these beasts a chance to show what they're actually useful for, and sadly, now that the series has ended, I can safely say, I still have no fucking clue. They were crutches the whole time. Ashyn and Moria couldn't do anything without their bond beast or at least knowing if they're ok, and when they do have to, they are always talking about them. But, when they're back in each others' company, the bond beasts do absolutely nothing!
Deciding what to rate this book was truly a task, because yes, I did really enjoy the ending and overall I did feel like this was an improvement from the last book, but I still felt like I had too many issues with the book to raise the rating up to 4 stars, so I unfortunately am left with no choice other than to rate it 3.5 stars.
Forest of Ruin is the epic conclusion to the "Age of Legends" series. Moria and Ashyn, and their little band of merry warriors (literally...) are trying to figure out how to beat the evil Alvar Kitsune, whose powers grow stronger every single day. Emperor Tatsu asks Moria to set aside past grievances and accompany Gavil on a journey to hopefully end Alvar Kitsune once and for all. Meanwhile, Ashyn is united with a long-lost grandfather who has a very special task of his own for her which could turn the tables of the war in their favour.
I struggled a lot with this series, and I still definitely don't consider it one of my favourites, but I will say, I am pleasantly surprised with this conclusion. Kelley Armstrong created a world, albeit not very well at first, that I ended up rooting heavily for by the end, and I do commend that, especially considering how many qualms I had with this series from the beginning.
PROS:
~Cover - Although it has nothing to do with the story, this may be one of the prettiest covers I have ever seen on any novel on my bookshelf, and there are quite a few... like seriously, I spent a few minutes ogling at it before I would read almost every single time I picked the book up.
~New Characters (particularly Sabre) - I thought Armstrong really broke my heart when she ended up
Spoiler
killing off my favourite new character (RIP Guin) in "Empire of Storms"~Ashyn - This is probably the biggest shock of all for me, my newfound love and appreciation for the Seeker of Edgewood. Seriously, she was one of the dumbest main characters I had ever read about, not even 48 hours ago, but now she's like a new woman. She made decisions based on maturity, not her own feelings, which I love to see in any character, but she seemed much more on her game this time, and maybe because she wasn't being overshadowed by Moria, but I really don't know.
~Friendship - I love that
Spoiler
Gavril stays strictly as a friend. If Armstrong had decided to hurt Tyrus in any way, this book would have seriously lost two stars~Ending - Without giving any spoilers, I will say this ending went in a very different direction than what I had anticipated, but in the best way possible, like seriously, I cried, and I haven't cried for a book or characters in a book in the LONGEST time... and even though this series is very meh for me, the ending somehow really got me and I felt feelings I haven't felt in so long for the ending of a series.
CONS:
~Plot Twists - It is pretty obvious from the get go of a few of the plot twists that are supposed to leave you agape. Unfortunately, I can't say anything without spoiling the big plot twist toward the middle, but if you've read it, hopefully you understand what I'm saying.
~Shadow Stalkers - I'll admit, I do love the ideas of shadow stalkers, and honestly, their execution is really well done, but do they have to be EVERYWHERE?? Alvar Kitsune conjured up all sorts of beasts that we see in the first novel and even some slightly in the second novel, so why couldn't we have a reappearance of those?? They had to have been brought back for a reason.
Ashyn and Ronan - The back and forth between Ronan and Ashyn grew boring in the second book, so I was really hoping for something to happen with them this time, and
Spoiler
I had to wait SO LONG for it to happen... like seriously, they clearly wanted to rip each others' clothes off for 84% of the novel, so why not??? Just stop with the back and forths and express true feelings and move on from there.~Sex - I know, sex did not happen, but we did get a very weird description of Moria's exploration of herself and her body with her handsome warrior prince Tyrus, and the whole scene, where some may see it as sweet, fell flat for me. I don't even know why the scene bothered me, genuinely no idea, but it may have something to do with the fact that he had to explain to her what orgasms were... I probably could have handled life without that, however brief it was.
~Daigo and Tova - I have been trying for three books to give these beasts a chance to show what they're actually useful for, and sadly, now that the series has ended, I can safely say, I still have no fucking clue. They were crutches the whole time. Ashyn and Moria couldn't do anything without their bond beast or at least knowing if they're ok, and when they do have to, they are always talking about them. But, when they're back in each others' company, the bond beasts do absolutely nothing!
Deciding what to rate this book was truly a task, because yes, I did really enjoy the ending and overall I did feel like this was an improvement from the last book, but I still felt like I had too many issues with the book to raise the rating up to 4 stars, so I unfortunately am left with no choice other than to rate it 3.5 stars.
Originally reviewed at The Book Adventures.
Forest of Ruin picks up where Empire of Night left off: the empire is on the verge of war, Moria and Ashyn are separated and those that they care about are in imminent danger. Having LOVED Empire of Night, I anxiously awaited getting my hands on the final book of the Age of Legends trilogy. Did Forest of Ruin live up to my expectations? Well…no, no, it did not.
As soon as I cracked open Forest of Ruin it seemed that something was different. The tone seemed off and everything I liked about the second book seemed to not work for this time around. What I loved about Empire of Night was the author’s use of multiple perspectives. Both Ashyn and Moira get equal page time and readers are immersed into the twin’s perspectives and their very different personalities. I really appreciated this narrative style in the first two books, but I didn’t find either sister that interesting this time around. For me, the problem lays in the fact that Ashyn and Moira didn’t really seem to change that much in the final book. Ashyn continued to be reserved yet quietly strong, and Moira continues to be brash and impulsive. There was very little progression in either girl’s character development that reading their separate narrative felt like a re-hashing of Empire of Night.
Another disappointment for me was the depiction of the Ashyn and Moira’s relationship. These sisters are purportedly close despite their differences. However, for the majority of Forest of Ruin Ashyn and Moira were separated and when they do come together there is very little evidence of their bond. Rather, readers are told that they have a bond but readers never really see that bond in action, just several moments where the sisters get together for “girl talk”. Personally, I was hoping for a more complex relationship between the sisters. Instead, readers are treated to each sister’s focus on their respective romance.
I’m not usually a reader to complain about the romance plot, but again I felt the romance, like the character development, was rather lackluster in Forest of Ruin. The budding romance between Moira and Tyrus and Ashyn and Ronan was fantastically depicted in Empire of Night, yet when it came to book three, the charm of those romances seemed to fade. Again, the same romantic difficulties that were apparent in Empires of Night were once again explored and little new ground was covered, simply a resolution was put forth by the end.
Due to repetitive nature of the final book in the trilogy, I felt that Forest of Ruin was kind of an unnecessary conclusion. Yes, the greater conflict involving Alvar Kitsune needed to be addressed, but when it came to the lives of the characters themselves, little new ground was broken making for a somewhat tedious read.
Forest of Ruin picks up where Empire of Night left off: the empire is on the verge of war, Moria and Ashyn are separated and those that they care about are in imminent danger. Having LOVED Empire of Night, I anxiously awaited getting my hands on the final book of the Age of Legends trilogy. Did Forest of Ruin live up to my expectations? Well…no, no, it did not.
As soon as I cracked open Forest of Ruin it seemed that something was different. The tone seemed off and everything I liked about the second book seemed to not work for this time around. What I loved about Empire of Night was the author’s use of multiple perspectives. Both Ashyn and Moira get equal page time and readers are immersed into the twin’s perspectives and their very different personalities. I really appreciated this narrative style in the first two books, but I didn’t find either sister that interesting this time around. For me, the problem lays in the fact that Ashyn and Moira didn’t really seem to change that much in the final book. Ashyn continued to be reserved yet quietly strong, and Moira continues to be brash and impulsive. There was very little progression in either girl’s character development that reading their separate narrative felt like a re-hashing of Empire of Night.
Another disappointment for me was the depiction of the Ashyn and Moira’s relationship. These sisters are purportedly close despite their differences. However, for the majority of Forest of Ruin Ashyn and Moira were separated and when they do come together there is very little evidence of their bond. Rather, readers are told that they have a bond but readers never really see that bond in action, just several moments where the sisters get together for “girl talk”. Personally, I was hoping for a more complex relationship between the sisters. Instead, readers are treated to each sister’s focus on their respective romance.
I’m not usually a reader to complain about the romance plot, but again I felt the romance, like the character development, was rather lackluster in Forest of Ruin. The budding romance between Moira and Tyrus and Ashyn and Ronan was fantastically depicted in Empire of Night, yet when it came to book three, the charm of those romances seemed to fade. Again, the same romantic difficulties that were apparent in Empires of Night were once again explored and little new ground was covered, simply a resolution was put forth by the end.
Due to repetitive nature of the final book in the trilogy, I felt that Forest of Ruin was kind of an unnecessary conclusion. Yes, the greater conflict involving Alvar Kitsune needed to be addressed, but when it came to the lives of the characters themselves, little new ground was broken making for a somewhat tedious read.
Let me start by saying I love Kelley Armstrong. I love that she is a Canadian author, that she experiments in many different genres, and that she just keeps writing. She has so many books to her name and her stories are loved by many readers, including me.
What I don't love about Kelley Armstrong are her series. But that isn't completely true either.
I started reading books by Kelley Armstrong in high school when her Darkest Powers series began being published. It was a time when Paranormal romances were what Thrillers are now, and vampires and werewolves reigned. I'd never read a book about a Necromancer before, which is why that series piqued my interest. I loved it, and it's sister series Darkness Rising, but with both series I felt the same: they were rushed.
This feeling didn't change with Forest of Ruin, the last book in the Age of Legends series. I know that Kelley Armstrong has written numerous series, but I don't understand why she limits her series to only three books when they could be expanded to at least four or five books. From my experience, the first book is always the strongest and well plotted out, but when the second comes along all this new information is dumped on the reader that has to be resolved in the third book, which it is but very quickly and often in an unsatisfactory way.
Don't get me wrong, I liked Forest of Ruin. I liked getting back into this high fantasy world I didn't know Armstrong could create, and I liked getting back to Moria and Ashyn's story. As a twin, I like to read stories about twins (though I'm getting really tired of them all being identical, there are more than one type of twin!) and I loved to see Moria and Ashyn's relationship in the story and reading in their different perspectives. I've always preferred Ashyn's to Moria's, (while Moria is the more action packed character I'm more like Ashyn, quiet and studious) and was really disappointed by the lack of Ashyn in this book. Usually the point of view chapters between Moria and Ashyn were pretty evenly dispersed, but Moria's chapters really outweighed Ashyn and Ashyn became a pretty useless character. At one point Ashyn even recognizes that she will go unremembered in history in comparison with her sister, and I took that to be foreshadowing that she would do something big in the story to be remembered like die or kill Alvar Kitsune
Spoiler
(SPOILER: She did neither, and she wasn't even present for Alvar's death!)I also disliked the ending, because like most Armstrong trilogies it was fast and unsatisfactory. Everything was quick, easy, and resolved much to simply after what seemed like such a long journey. And, without spoiling anything, I hate this trope authors have begun using of bringing characters back from the dead. Some characters need to stay dead. For once I'd like to read a book where an important character died, was mourned, and stayed dead, because while it's not only unrealistic to keep bringing these characters back it's boring. I want to see how the other characters react to another's death, I want to see them mourn, because sometimes when you try your hardest things don't turn out right and people get hurt and die, and that is a theme that needs to be better explored in literature.
Overall, the Age of Legends series is enjoyable and fun. I really liked the world Armstrong created and would like to see her write more high fantasy novels, perhaps even more in this world. But I hope she expands her worlds and series better in the future.
Full review at https://crosbybookpleasure.wordpress.com/2016/07/21/forest-of-ruin/
http://nationalreadingcampaign.ca/critique/childrens-book-reviews-forest-of-ruins/
OMG THIS BOOK. I CAN'T EVEN. IT WAS SO GOOD. SUCH A PERFECT ENDING TO THIS TRILOGY.
LOVES:
- Gavril really redeemed himself at the end.
- Moria/Tyrus is OTP.
- I didn't like the emperor in the first two books, but that opinion kinda changed. The emperor was pretty awesome.
- DRAGONS. FREAKING DRAGONS. I LOVE THE DRAGONS.
Dislikes:
- So the trilogy had been building up to this great big battle....and...IT. DIDN'T. HAPPEN. Okay it did, but it wasn't as big as it should have been. It was underwhelming. But then, what it lacked in scale it made up for in death, so I'm not to upset.
LOVES:
- Gavril really redeemed himself at the end.
- Moria/Tyrus is OTP.
- I didn't like the emperor in the first two books, but that opinion kinda changed. The emperor was pretty awesome.
- DRAGONS. FREAKING DRAGONS. I LOVE THE DRAGONS.
Dislikes:
- So the trilogy had been building up to this great big battle....and...IT. DIDN'T. HAPPEN. Okay it did, but it wasn't as big as it should have been. It was underwhelming. But then, what it lacked in scale it made up for in death, so I'm not to upset.
This was a good ending to the Age of Legends trilogy. It was not exceptional and was definitely a little unbelievable in certain areas, but it did the job.
My only serious complaint is the fate of the infamous love triangle. For Kelley Armstrong to write off Moriah’s affection for Gavril was insulting PERIODT.
I will forever ship Moriah and Gavril; their chemistry was too evident. That is not to say Tyrus wasn't good for her, but Gavril was made for her.
My only serious complaint is the fate of the infamous love triangle. For Kelley Armstrong to write off Moriah’s affection for Gavril was insulting PERIODT.
I will forever ship Moriah and Gavril; their chemistry was too evident. That is not to say Tyrus wasn't good for her, but Gavril was made for her.
4.75/5 Stars
The ending was a tinyyyy bit lacking... But still AMAZING
The ending was a tinyyyy bit lacking... But still AMAZING