Kingdom of Ash

By: Sarah J. Maas

Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans

Length: 33 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas's number-one New York Times best-selling Throne of Glass series draws to an epic, unforgettable conclusion. Aelin Galathynius's journey from slave to king's assassin to the queen of a once-great kingdom reaches its heart-rending finale as war erupts across her world....

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.

©2018 Sarah J. Maas (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Well, too much torture for me; I'm out.

While I would have liked to have finished this series, there was so much time spent on descriptive torture that I had to keep skipping ahead by chapters. And really, it dragged so much that I gave up. This series had so much going for it in the beginning, but I can't get behind torture for no reason. It really didn't seem to assist the story at all. And I stopped caring what happened to anyone due to how slowly the novel progressed.

Immensely satisfying and brilliant!

I waited almost 2 days before I finally settled down to do a review for the last book in my favorite series. I was left stunned, speechless and sobbing tears of joy and sorrow. I think I cried about 80% of the time during this book because it's just so heavy with action, romance, suspense and heartbreak. Sarah J Maas just kept me on the edge of my seat and even though I had so many theories of how the book was going to go down she just kept blind siding me with twists and turns I had never even imagined would happen! I won't go into detail because i don't want to spoil anything for anyone but if you're a lover of the series you will thoroughly enjoy this but you will also have a wicked book hangover. I want more and not because SJM let me down but because she blew this one right out of the water. I'm so incredibly happy to have an ending to the series but I so want a spinoff for some of the other characters. I never wanted this journey to end.

Good narration but story too drawn out

Unfortunately this last book was a let down, it ended as we thought but was mostly drawn out and in some ways a little predictable. I enjoyed the other books and looked forward to an ‘epic’ ending but was left a little dry. It is definitely still worth reading/listening to though!

Intense and heavy series, but much too drawn out.

While I've really enjoyed this series, it is heavy and dark. Sarah J. Maas draws it out much too long which makes it difficult to start the next book or finish the series. This is not a series that once completed, you will ever reread or start again. It's a one-time read/listen that is also too winding and complicated to fully remember the intricacies and interwoven sub stories tied to the characters. The drawn out nature of the writing urges the reader to skip ahead, but if you do, you will be too lost or have missed too much to understand. It's a frustrating experience and not in a good way when you internally are urging both author and narrator to "get to the point" of a chapter and move on. The narrator - Elizabeth Evans - did a good job given that these worlds are fiction as are the accents and dialects of the (too) many complicated characters. I'm not sure I will pursue or endeavor to read any other titles by this author as it is a commitment and feat to complete without the reward of truly remembering and wanting to relive the facets of the worlds created within the pages.

Not as good as the rest of the series

I have read the fantasy genre since before it was cool to read. And Maas had a really stellar series going with several smashing female protagonists (though the main character feels a bit like Nicholas Cage - has about three basic expressions). I was really looking forward to the final book...annnd....nope. The first third of the book does well, but after that it feels as if Maas just needed to get the thing written and done. The plot twists and reveals she's had in the other books are just not there. This is pretty straightforward vanilla by comparison. Having said that, it's still very satisfying to see most of the loose ends tied up. It just can't measure up to the rest of the series for excitement and innovation. #ChosenOne #FemaleProtagonist #Magical #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Absolutely Amazing

An absolutely amazing final installment in the Throne of Glass series. I cried I laughed I had so many feels during this book. I can not recommend it enough.

Not my favorite and not a great ending...

I'm a little torn about the last installment. I knew it would end in a predictable manner and I was expecting it. Overall, I felt it was rushed, no major plot twists, and monotonous at times.

As far as the narration performance, I still feel that Evans is inconsistent. She's good at keeping her voices consistent and gives them enough distinction, but she has random pauses. I don't know if it's just the way she reads, if it's the input from the audio director or if it's the editing, but there are random pauses and her words get cutoff. It's like this in all of the Throne of Glass Novels.

**Spoilers throughout review**

Like others, I think the last installment would have benefited being split into two separate novels. There was too much going on, not enough character development, and it was difficult keeping track all the different time frames/character stories in perspective. I love Elide's and Lorcan's story, but you barely saw any of the development; the southern royals played a huge part strategically, but were hardly mentioned; and we should have seen the much anticipated weddings of Lysandra/Aidion and Elide/Lorcan. Perhaps Maas could write a novella like she did for the A Court of Thorns and Roses series?

There were a handful of times that I had an emotional response, but overall it was just meh. The only part my heart was truly racing and I was yelling at my car stereo was when Elide was looking for Lorcan on the battlefield... that was good. Perhaps my favorite part of the entire book. On that note, there were not many memorable moments. They all blend together. Besides the one I just mentioned, I can't highlight any other one moment that I thought: damn, I need to replay that again! The story just seemed a little formulaic.

The battles were too drawn out, LOTR and GOT-esque. I'm a fan that most of the main character-cohort survived, but a death to one of the main characters would have put a good plot twist in that would have probably put some spice in the story.

I've said this in previous reviews of the Throne of Glass novels and I'll say it again: I'm not a fan of Aelin's self-righteousness nor her fake-ness. She reminds me of the people that I disliked in high-school who did charity work just to get public recognition and to have it look good on their college resumes, not because it was out of the goodness of their hearts or did they care about the organization. I didn't listen to the books because of her, I listened to them despite her.

Thank goodness Dorian grew a pair! He was so pathetic in Empire of Storms that it hurt. I looked forward to his development both magically and personally. The Roan-Gavriel-Lorcan-Elidearch before Ailen's rescue I enjoyed, again I wished there was more story development. Seriously, there could have been so much to write about with a mortal female traveling around with 3 male, Fae warriors. Honestly, I was waiting for culture-shock and embarrassing situations.

Read the book to get closure, it's by no way the best of the series. I'll listen to it again whenever I get around to doing a re-listen of the whole series, but it won't be one of the ones that I say: Yeah I could listen to that on its own.

My favorite by far is still Tower of Dawn followed in a tie between Empire of Storms and Queen of Shadows, all 3 of which I could easily listen to on their own in no particular order.

My taste isn't everyone's, so don't take my word, judge for yourself.

P.S. I appreciate that Maas has different writing styles for her series. Keep it up and I look forward for what's to come!

The emotions

The amount if times I cried in this book is astronomical. I have never felt such an attachment to characters as I do when I read a book written by Sarah J. Maas. An amazing end to an amazing series.

Least favorite of the series!

This was a struggle to follow! I was expecting a “Big Bang”, which never really happened. Boring compared to the last 6.

Anticlimactic Ending

While I realize that I'm a bit older than the target demographic for this series, I can say that the Throne of Glass series started out really strong for me; however, the last 2 books really felt like the author was just looking to provide readers with an ending for the story.

The surprising twists & turns, the shocking losses of key characters & the intricate worlds that were the greatest parts of the first books of the series gave way to focusing on the romantic well being of the main characters & making sure that everyone was in love with a bright future ahead. Having the chaos & hardships endured by these characters finish up with everyone living happily ever after was unrealistic & very disappointing... it left the story with a falseness at the end where you were waiting for that one last challenge from the pervasive evil of Morath... but it never came.

A solid final instalment

No time is wasted in recapping what has gone before . Do not attempt to read this if you haven't read all previous books in the series.

There are three distinct groups / story arcs travelling towards each other for the final big show-down. There is no treading lightly around a big ending, and nothing held back in the violence of the battles. It's a well conceived final instalment, with very few loose ends.

I did find the writing a little uninspiring at times. The same descriptors repeated over and over (up, up, up and dive, dive, dive), and the sex scenes a little gratuitous and samey, and a good editor might have been able to tighten it all up. However, despite these few gripes (I know I'm of the fussy variety), the plot is still good, and although the final outcome is not unexpected, it doesn't all go to plan and therefore it keeps it interesting.

It's been a good series, and one I've enjoyed from start to finish. It didn't lose any momentum in this final instalment, and in the end, it was all quite satisfying. It helps that I've always enjoyed the heroine - and her character development is solid and consistent throughout the series.

Narration is ok - occasionally jarring, but on the whole it's alright (but that might be more the writing not being up to par in those places, than the narration's problem).

Perfect ending for a fantastic series

I truly didn't want this to end and would love a novella follow up of each of the power players maybe 5-10 years in the future

Brilliant finale

Fantastic narration of wonderfully emotive and dramatic writing. Perfect combination of storytelling to bring this story to a satisfying ending.

LOVE

Stop what you are doing and read this book now! I love this series and this book is perfect!

Amazing work

I just finished all the books and I am speechless I must say the story all the characters are just fantastic.
Elizabeth Evans 😊 have amazing voice and made all the characters more a life. I can't believe is finished now . 🤷‍♀️

Brilliant, would totally recommend!

This is an amazing book, but not appropriate for 13s and under. A few racy scenes, overall, 20 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟!!!

beat for last

a brilliant end to the series, a very edge on your seat story. The performance as with the other books is an excellent one.

Highly recommend

I have followed this whole series and read many of Sarah J Mass other books. This is truly one of the best YA series I have read (Shadowhunters aside).

Aelin (Celeana) is a well developed and well rounded character and there are some plot twists you don't see coming. I particularly loved how the story didn't just form around a romance and will they won't they saga.

I recommend this if you like well written, good quality YA fantasy fiction 👍

Wonderful!

I enjoyed everything about this book series! Amazing characters.
I honestly couldn’t stop listening to it!

This was the ending we deserved!

personally I loved the way this story came to its climax! I would have enjoyed having a bit of a cheeky look into the futures of some of my favourites but hey, I can imagine that for myself....
this series is well worth the commitment if you like strong female leads and a little bit of everything from romance to heart wrenching sorrow!

loved it!!! well done Sarah j Mass!