The Kingdom of Ash - Sarah J Mass

"The final battle is here.

Aelin Galathynius has vowed to save her people―but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve is unraveling with each passing day…

With Aelin captured, friends and allies are scattered to different fates. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever. As destinies weave together at last, all must fight if Erilea is to have any hope of salvation."

Wow this has been a long series, and a long journey. Emphasis on the long. I'm still perplexed as to why this book got so long in the end. Kingdom of Ash has some really strong moments, not to spoil anything but I cried in the Thirteen's and Manon's plot arch and Gavriel's too. Both where hard hitting emotionally and the writing was well executed. 

However there's so much filler and repetition that you have to fight through the boring parts to get to them. This is, at most, a 500-page story, extended with long, slow stretches of the characters journeying from one place to another, and repetitive scenes of battle.

The first 100 pages and last 150 pages were the most gripping, for me. The conclusion is suitably dramatic and the beginning details the horrific torture Aelin suffers at the hands of Cairn-- it's not a book for the squeamish. The disgusting scenes of torture also become a little repetitive after a while, but it starts very tense. How will Aelin get out of this?? The answer is really quite satisfying, too.

I also loved the strength of the women and the sheer grandeur that Maas can invoke in to her work but I do feel like this is a very long epilogue. There's battle scene after battle scene but not much of a plot. It's mostly about wrapping things up, tying up any loose ends and neatly establishing Aelin's awesomeness (which started to get frustrating). The way each of the main characters has to be perfectly settled into a hetero pairing is a little forced, too, I still don't and will never understand or like Manon and Dorian's romance.

The way Aelin is described in this book is strange to me, the amount of times she is described as skinny, thin ect is uncountable. I understand she is malnourished and what have you. But her appearance isn't really commented on as she starts to get better and considering the physicality of her role in this book, she really should have muscle mass. Fighting and being whip thin don't really go together, especially if you insist (as this character does) on taking on bigger opponents. Even if you're skilled, there's a thing called gravity and momentum that will make life hard for you. That's why wrestling and boxing have different weight classes.

Also a small pet peeve I have is that the Wolf Tribe is introduced so late. I mean, how awesome, humans and fae riding giant wolves. But they get no dialogue and a few lines of explanation. Could they not have been introduced earlier in this long book so we could learn more about the culture and their story? Missed opportunity. 


I also thought it was really gross when Dorian shape-shifts into a female form (an actual real women's form not some made up face) and even though they're in the middle of war, he's like, "I wonder if I have time to go to my tent and find out how to make women 'purr with pleasure.'" By which he means, of course, sneak off and masturbate. First of all, 'purr with pleasure' sounds like the sort of dirty talk a creep at a bar would use (you know, the ones with the pencil 'staches). Second of all, gross. You're in the body of the opposite sex and your first thought is, "Let's objectify it!" Oh Dorian, what happened to you? You used to be cool.

Well, I'm glad I read it to the end, and I do feel sad that it's over. Maas might not be my favourite writer, but any author who can keep you reading for more than 4,000 pages must have something good going on.

As the years of reading these book have gone on my patience with them has also been stretched thin. However I am impressed that Sarah J Maas was able to turn a normal YA, love triangle, pretty ball book in to a full on empire vs empires/ Lord of the rings rip off scenario. 

Age Rating 15+. As I said the torture scenes are graphic and there is quite a bit of stupid magic sex scenes but those mostly happen off page which is a small relief.