A review by morgankailackerman
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense 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? Yes

5.0

I loved Kingdom of Ash. Although I was overwhelmed by the length of the book, it flew by because of how interesting it was. I just kept wanting to know what would happen next. Every time something would happen to a character, I had to keep reading to know if they would be okay. Sarah J Maas did an amazing job at creating such an exciting world and the end of the series did not disappoint. This is an “epic” and probably the most epic epic I’ve ever read. I stuck with this series so long because of how good it is. There aren’t a lot of other series that I would read eight books in - but for SJM, I will. 

I have to admit, especially at the end of the series, how incredible SJM is at creating loveable characters. Even the minor characters, I feared for their life. I was attached to SO many characters - and the end of the book made me ecstatic to see where they ended up. 

~Spoilers~

My critique is that some of the ending felt too easy. It just took Yrene and Erawen being in the same place for him to be defeated? And Maeve? The big bads came in the last 100 pages, and it felt slightly anti-climatic. I was more interested in Aelin’s sacrifice than the final fight with Maeve and Erawen. I wish it would have been as epic as Aelin facing the Gods. (So fucking amazing wow). 

My other critique is that I’m mad that SJM still does not have LGBTQIA+ representation. There are so many goddamn couples in the book (which I love!!). I love all of the romance. Aelin and Rowan. Dorian and Manon. Yrene and Chaol. Aedion and Lysandra. Elide and Lorcan. Nesyrn and Sartaq. Borte and Arcas. But…. NONE of those couples are queer. Hasar is a queer character but is ~ barely~ in the books and does not show off her queerness all that much. (Also let’s be real - she’s kinda a rude person and not always portrayed well). I’m sorry, SJM, you could have let one of your eight main couples be queer. I’m just asking for ONE here. She’s going to have to do it eventually - stop fighting it! 

Regardless, I still loved KOA. I loved when Aelin called herself a God and fought against Maeve (such an interesting villain - one of the best throughout the Maasiverse). I also loved Dorian finally getting his father’s name as him and Yrene defeated Erawen. I also loved how much epilogue we got, and it really set up the future of the kingdom.

I kept rolling my eyes over how long the series was and wished that the book I just finished was the last one. But now? I’m lowkey so sad the series is done.