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A review by freadomlibrary
Forest of Ruin by Kelley Armstrong
4.0
Actual rating 4.5 stars
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Check out my series review here: https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/series-review-age-of-legends-by-kelley-armstrong/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
This book is set at a steady, medium pace but the action keeps going. There’s also some mystery in this one, revolving around dragons which is pretty cool. There’s a lot more focus on romance in this one as well and it’s so much easier to understand than the rest of the books have been. There’s twists and turns and lots of violence (it can get graphic) but I feel like the ending was very solid and conclusive.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
The writing style as always is descriptive and detailed. There’s a steady pace that flows with the plot and I really enjoy that the POV’s are very distinct. The characters speak with big words and it’s all very old fashioned in style. It’s easy to read and I ended up enjoying it much more as the series continued.
Characters – 4 out of 5 stars
Finally, one of these books where I don’t have some huge complain about the characters. They will never become favorites of mine but I have to say that they definitely improved as the series went on.
Moria is a freaking badass lady. She’s so logical, smart and crafty. She’s gotten better at working through her emotions but it doesn’t stop her from continuing to be brave and fiercely protective and strong. She’s super blunt and is always looking at things in a different perspective than other people. Though she had a lot of development, I think it was more of building on who she already was and making her even better.
Ashyn on the other hand had the most extensive development out of everyone in the series. She started out really shy and timid and pretty much scared of a bunch of things. But as things progressed and she started to become more confident, she blossomed. She’s passionate, determined and smart. She’s kind as always but much more blunt and honest with herself and others. I love how self-confidence helped her become a much more well rounded person and someone that can kick ass in her own way.
All the side characters now feel much more three dimensional and fleshed out. They’ve always been complex but since there were so many, I never felt like I got to know them as much as I wanted to but that was definitely fixed in this book.
Emotionally
This third book is definitely the best one of the trilogy and I think it was the perfect ending for it as well.
The plot is intricate. We follow Moria and Ashyn, twins separated while their kingdom is in the brink of war. One is implored to ally with the enemy while the other is confronted with mythical creatures and her potential power to wake them. I really had no idea how the author was going to pull off a complete ending to a trilogy with all the new plot lines that she introduced in the second book. This idea with the dragons came kind of out of nowhere (but I should’ve known considering the cover of the third book) so I didn’t really know how things were going to wrap themselves up. It just felt like there was a lot of stuff left undone and with the potential to blow up and it worried me a little bit. I didn’t want this book to have an incomplete ending or a lackluster one because I felt that the series was improving with each book and I would’ve been really disappointed with either of the two things I just mentioned happening. However, I am very happy to say that neither of those things happened! There was a lot of action and a lot of back and forth with the way things were playing out which kept me engaged with the story and continually wanting to get back to it. There were a lot of things that surprised me and that I wasn’t expecting which is pretty cool for me. Unlike the other two books, this one focused much more on the character relationships while not taking away from the pace and action of the story. I really liked that a lot and it endeared me much more to the characters, specially after seeing all they’ve been through in their separate relationships. The last few chapters had me freaking out and on the edge of my seat. Everything that happened felt completely crazy and intense. I liked the epilogue the author shared but I think the last few lines were really weird.
Moria is much more level headed and emotionally open. She grew so much from the first book to the second book. I liked that the romance she was involved in was the easiest to develop I guess, because it showed how much she was really learning about life and about herself. Ashyn grew on me, specially with all she deals with in this book. She’s brave and passionate and determined. I like how she’s now not afraid to speak her mind and to make herself be heard.
I usually talk about the side characters now but I honestly just want to say that I like the way the two separate romances developed in this book. They were very unique and very different from each other and I liked their development for different reasons. I got nervous for a bit there in the second book because of some triangle kinds of hints but I’m glad it ended up not happening that way.
Overall, I ended up liking this series. It’s definitely not my favorite that the author has done and I had a lot of issues with the way she did her world building and the kind of world that it was. However, I really liked the character development throughout the whole series and I feel like enjoyed it that much more because of how well I think it was done. I like the way everything concluded and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I pick up from this author.
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Check out my series review here: https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/series-review-age-of-legends-by-kelley-armstrong/
Critically
Plot – 4 out of 5 stars
This book is set at a steady, medium pace but the action keeps going. There’s also some mystery in this one, revolving around dragons which is pretty cool. There’s a lot more focus on romance in this one as well and it’s so much easier to understand than the rest of the books have been. There’s twists and turns and lots of violence (it can get graphic) but I feel like the ending was very solid and conclusive.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
The writing style as always is descriptive and detailed. There’s a steady pace that flows with the plot and I really enjoy that the POV’s are very distinct. The characters speak with big words and it’s all very old fashioned in style. It’s easy to read and I ended up enjoying it much more as the series continued.
Characters – 4 out of 5 stars
Finally, one of these books where I don’t have some huge complain about the characters. They will never become favorites of mine but I have to say that they definitely improved as the series went on.
Moria is a freaking badass lady. She’s so logical, smart and crafty. She’s gotten better at working through her emotions but it doesn’t stop her from continuing to be brave and fiercely protective and strong. She’s super blunt and is always looking at things in a different perspective than other people. Though she had a lot of development, I think it was more of building on who she already was and making her even better.
Ashyn on the other hand had the most extensive development out of everyone in the series. She started out really shy and timid and pretty much scared of a bunch of things. But as things progressed and she started to become more confident, she blossomed. She’s passionate, determined and smart. She’s kind as always but much more blunt and honest with herself and others. I love how self-confidence helped her become a much more well rounded person and someone that can kick ass in her own way.
All the side characters now feel much more three dimensional and fleshed out. They’ve always been complex but since there were so many, I never felt like I got to know them as much as I wanted to but that was definitely fixed in this book.
Emotionally
Spoiler
I’m a fan of Kelley Armstrong and I’ve really loved some of her other series but this one definitely isn’t the best and it definitely doesn’t come close to being a favorite.This third book is definitely the best one of the trilogy and I think it was the perfect ending for it as well.
The plot is intricate. We follow Moria and Ashyn, twins separated while their kingdom is in the brink of war. One is implored to ally with the enemy while the other is confronted with mythical creatures and her potential power to wake them. I really had no idea how the author was going to pull off a complete ending to a trilogy with all the new plot lines that she introduced in the second book. This idea with the dragons came kind of out of nowhere (but I should’ve known considering the cover of the third book) so I didn’t really know how things were going to wrap themselves up. It just felt like there was a lot of stuff left undone and with the potential to blow up and it worried me a little bit. I didn’t want this book to have an incomplete ending or a lackluster one because I felt that the series was improving with each book and I would’ve been really disappointed with either of the two things I just mentioned happening. However, I am very happy to say that neither of those things happened! There was a lot of action and a lot of back and forth with the way things were playing out which kept me engaged with the story and continually wanting to get back to it. There were a lot of things that surprised me and that I wasn’t expecting which is pretty cool for me. Unlike the other two books, this one focused much more on the character relationships while not taking away from the pace and action of the story. I really liked that a lot and it endeared me much more to the characters, specially after seeing all they’ve been through in their separate relationships. The last few chapters had me freaking out and on the edge of my seat. Everything that happened felt completely crazy and intense. I liked the epilogue the author shared but I think the last few lines were really weird.
Moria is much more level headed and emotionally open. She grew so much from the first book to the second book. I liked that the romance she was involved in was the easiest to develop I guess, because it showed how much she was really learning about life and about herself. Ashyn grew on me, specially with all she deals with in this book. She’s brave and passionate and determined. I like how she’s now not afraid to speak her mind and to make herself be heard.
I usually talk about the side characters now but I honestly just want to say that I like the way the two separate romances developed in this book. They were very unique and very different from each other and I liked their development for different reasons. I got nervous for a bit there in the second book because of some triangle kinds of hints but I’m glad it ended up not happening that way.
Overall, I ended up liking this series. It’s definitely not my favorite that the author has done and I had a lot of issues with the way she did her world building and the kind of world that it was. However, I really liked the character development throughout the whole series and I feel like enjoyed it that much more because of how well I think it was done. I like the way everything concluded and I’m looking forward to seeing what else I pick up from this author.