Aelin has risked everything 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. Aware that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, though her resolve begins to unravel with each passing day…
With Aelin captured, Aedion and Lysandra remain the last line of defense to protect Terrasen from utter destruction. Yet they soon realize that the many allies they’ve gathered to battle Erawan’s hordes might not be enough to save them. Scattered across the continent and racing against time, Chaol, Manon, and Dorian are forced to forge their own paths to meet their fates. Hanging in the balance is any hope of salvation―and a better world.
And across the sea, his companions unwavering beside him, Rowan hunts to find his captured wife and queen―before she is lost to him forever.
As the threads of fate weave together at last, all must fight, if they are to have a chance at a future. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever in the explosive final chapter of the Throne of Glass series.
Be warned … This review is full of SPOILERS!
I usually avoid spoiler filled reviews but I am making an exception this time because... well, I just do not have enough words otherwise.
The first thing that you will notice about the book is its size! It is huge. Now, like any other bookworm, I love big books; but only if they are written well. Kingdom of Ash is not. It is slow and a drag. Most incidents were written from multiple POVs – about a dozen. That kind of dragged the reading experience as nothing in the book is ‘deep’ enough to call for multiple POVs. Add a number of scenes in the book that were absolutely unnecessary and the reading the book became more of a chore for the sake of finishing the series.
Then there is the fact that everything was just so convenient. For instance, Gavriel & Rowan goes to a Fae military camp and skins one of Maeve’s general alive. How is it possible? Yes, Rowan and Gavriel are powerful warriors, but two against a whole camp! Then again, all it took was a couple of letters from Aelin for the Fae to revolt against Maeve…! Maeve, the all so powerful one, who changed history time and time again, was done in by a couple of letters. It was so… EASY! Erawan was a disappointment too! An eleven year old hatched the plan that took down Erawan. In the end, Maeve put up a stronger fight than Erawan. Also, can we just talk about how five hundred (or more) years old Fae warriors act like lovesick teenagers? I mean, it’s just something that I have come to expect from this series… But when Lorcan almost dies in the battlefield because he was thinking about Elide, it was too much. I mean… it is Lorcan - the fae warrior blessed by Hellas! And he takes a fatal blow in the battle just because he was lovesick … EH!
Also, why doesn’t anyone important ever die in Sarah J. Maas’s series? She did it in the ACOTAR series and now with this one too. They are supposed to be facing, not one but two major foes with armies and magic. Yet, everyone – who is anyone – survives! Anyone who knows about wars and has atleast read basic history of the world knows that not one family remains untouched by war when it happens. Yet in the world of ToG death seems to touch only the pawns. Who doesn’t like a happy ending? But even in fictional worlds, not everything can be so perfect and aligned.
Okay, I do have to give credit where it is due. There are three scenes/scenarios in the book that absolutely took my breath away. First, when Fenrys breaks his blood oath for Aelin. It was amazing. Then, the build up and the final scene where The Thirteen perform the yielding was just mind-blowing. I was expecting a yielding scene in the book and my bet was on Asterin, since Manon is just too important. But all Thirteen? I did NOT see that coming. And then there’s the game that Dorian plays with Maeve. I was confused when they met and what went on at Morath. Never in a million years did I imagine Dorian playing and winning such a mind game with Maeve. It was just genius and magnificent.
I think I have been outgrowing the series for a while (I may write a separate post on it). There are lot of things I have been overlooking about the series because Maas did give us a kickass heroine to root for and a plot that really keeps a hold on the readers. But after KoA and ACoFaS, I am just done!
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