Book review: Kingdom Of Ash by Sarah J Maas

This week I am doing a book review and it is the seventh and final book in the Throne Of Glass series called Kingdom Of Ash.

First thing to say is that this will contain spoilers, so if you have not read the book and plan to I suggest reading it first.

This book leads on from Empire Of Storms and Tower Of Dawn bringing the characters and events together to conclude the epic series in a mammoth 980 page book with so much going on. This book does not introduce any new characters but rather focuses on the changes some of the characters experience in the lead up to the final battle.

This book is told from the point of view of the most characters yet, we have Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, Rowan Whitethorn Galathynius, Dorian Havilliard, Manon Blackbeak, Chaol and Yrene Westfall, Elide Lochan, Lorcan Salvaterre, Aedion Ashryver, Lysandra and Nesryn Faliq like in previous books we also gain Fenrys Moonbeam and Evangaline's points of view, that makes thirteen.

Kingdom Of Ash opens a few months after the events of the previous two books Aelin is a prisoner of Maeve and is being mercilessly tortured, Rowan is searching for Aelin with the help of Lorcan, Elide and Gavriel. Dorian, Manon and the Thirteen are searching for the Crochan witches and the third Wyrdkey, Chaol, Yrene and Nesryn accompanied by the Khagan's forces are sailing to join the war. Aedion, Lysandra and Ren Allsbrook are preparing Terrasen for battle with the help of their allies and their armies Ansel Of Braircliff, Ilias and the Silent Assassins, Rowan's cousins Endymion and Selene and Gallan Ashryver Aelin and Aedion's cousing from Wendlyn, while awaiting word from Captain Rolfe of finding the Mycenian fleet.

Part One: Armies and Allies

While Rowan, Lorcan, Elide and Gavriel search for Aelin she is enduring horrific physical and mental torture while Fenrys is forced to watch and the two form a bond. The group discover Aelin is being kept in Doranelle and lure Maeve away to launch an escape, while they do so Aelin gets free with the help on Fenrys who breaks his blood oath to Maeve, ensuring his death. When all are away from Doranelle Aelin offers Fenrys the blood oath to save his life. They are helped to evade capture by the little folk through a river system under Wendlyn, then travel across the sea to join Terrasen, while they travel Aelin trains and offers Lorcan the blood oath to prove his loyalty. 

Dorian and Manon finally find the Crochans with the help of a shape shifting Stygian spider, who Dorian learns to shape shift from and then kills, meanwhile Dorian confirms that the final Wyrdkey is in Morath. The Crochans allow them to travel with them but will not accept Manon as their Queen although she gains their respect through various events, she also tries to convince a group of 300 Ironteeth witches, lead by Petrah Blueblood, to join them. This causes the Ironteeth matrons to attack the Crochan camp, Manon fights them alone killing the Yellowlegs matron but spares the Blueblood matron and the Blackbeak matron flees. Manon is then crowned Queen of the witches. Dorian has mastered shape shifting and flies off to Morath. 

While the Khagan's army travel North to Terrasen Nesryn and Sartaq discover a large army marching on Anielle, Chaol's home and a strategically advantageous city. They decide to go and defend the city, the Rukhin go ahead with Chaol, Yrene and several healers while Hasar will follow with the troops but will arrive after the attacking army. Chaol discovers that Yrene is pregnant just before the fighting begins. After a couple of days of fighting Hasar arrives and takes the attacking army by surprise, Aelin and group also arrive having discovered what was happening. They destroy the army however Anielle's dam was damaged and an evacuation starts, Elide goes out onto the battle field to retrieve Lorcan as he has not returned from fighting. The dam breaks and Aelin creates a massive wall of fire to obliterate the water and save the city, soon after Kashin arrives with the rest of the Khagan's forces. The Khagan's army march with Aelin to Terrasen.

Aedion and Lysandra receive word of an army of 5000 troops having destroyed a city called Eldrys and march to fight them, they destroy the army and are then ordered back to Orynth (the capital of Terrasen). Aedion decides to ignore the order and takes the army to Terrasen's border, they meet Morath's forces at Perranth but after already being the losing side Ilken and Ireonteeth witches with witchtowers join Morath's forces, Aedion calls for retreat after Lysandra is badly injured. They continue to be pushed back in retreat to Orynth but cannot dross the river to the city, Aedion asked Ren to call for help while they make their last stand. Captain Rolfe arrives with the Mycenians and fire lances saving what is left of the army and getting them to Orynth.

The call for help reaches Manon and she calls all Crochans to war and they follow her.

Part Two: Gods and Gates

Darian arrives at Morath just as Maeve has arrived to join Erawan, due to the Fae ousting her due to Aelin revealing she is Valg to them. Maeve offers six of her Karankui as hosts for the remaining Valg princesses and Erawan reveals he plans to bring his brothers back. Dorian follows Maeve but she discovers him and they make a deal, she helps him find the Wyrdkey and he will give her Adarlan to rule once Erawan is gone. Maeve distracts Erawan while Dorian steals the Wyrdkey, she then betrays Dorian and tries to take control of his mind, he turns it back on her blocking her ability to make portals and destroys Morath as he leaves.

In Orynth they are faced with Morath's 100,000 strong army containing three witchtowers, Aedion, Lysandra, Ren and a small group set a trap for the witchtowers, they destroy two and cripple the third. Another portion of the Ironteeth force arrives 1000 strong, just as Manon arrives with 5000 Crochans. While the battles ensues Manon fights Iskra Yellowlegs whose Wyvern badly injures Abraxos causing Iskra to nearly kill Manon, until Petrah arrives with her 300 witches and save them, Petrah kills Iskra. The witchtower gets repaired and is being sent to destroy Orynth at close range. Manon cannot help but Asterin and the rest of the Thirteen attack the tower themselves, making the sacrifice of the Yielding which destroys them, the witchtower, the Blackbeack matron and a large chunk of Morath's army, leaving a burned patch of land. Soon after Murtaugh Allsbrook leaves the safety of the castle where the other lords stay to rally the men on the western gate, he is killed when overwhelmed by Valg soldiers, this leaves Ren as lord of Allsbrook.

Dorian finds Aelin, Chaol and the others revealing he has the three Wyrdkeys. Soon after they decide to forge the Lock together hoping that the shared burden will save them. They were wrong and while they are being drained Dorian's father appears offering himself in his sons place, Aelin releases Dorian and takes the King's hand. The king is drained to nothing as the God's arrive, Aelin offers a deal if they spare Elena's soul they can leave Erawan behind, they refuse destroying Elena but also leaving Erawan, so she changes their destination to a hell realm. Mala gifts Aelin some of her power back so that she can survive the forging of the Lock. She survives with a small amount of magic but also as Fae, her human part burned away in the Lock. They continue their march to Orynth.

The forces at Orynth are failing and estimate four days until defeat, however hours before their defeat Aelin arrives with the army to save them, they destroy the remainder of the forces during which Gavriel reunites with Aedion but is killed soon after while defending the gates. 

Maeve and Erawan arrive with the remaining troops from Morath, including the rest of the Ilken and Ironteeth witches plus the Karaknkui hosting Valg princesses. Erawan goes to find Yrene who, with the help of Dorian's magic, destroys him using her healing power. Meanwhile Aelin, Rowan, Lorcan and Fenrys fight Maeve, eventually Fenrys stabs Maeve with a sword imbued with Aelin's fire while Aelin puts a healing ring on her finger, which burns her, then beheads her.

The Valg forces drop dead upon the deaths of Erawan and Maeve, Aelin enters Orynth triumphant and is crowned Queen, Aedion finally takes the blood oath and Ren joins Aelin's court. Manon travels the the wastes to rebuild the allied witch kingdom and Dorian is finally King of Adarlan properly with Chaol and Yrene to support him. Elide and Lorcan get married, while Aedion and Lysandra prepare to marry. Nesryn returns to the Southern Continent with Sartaq (to become his wife and Empress), Hasar and Kashin. The book ends with Aelin and Rowan looking out over their country and the kingsflame blooms, proof that she is a worthy Queen.

Wow! What a book to finish the series, there were a lot of surprises and twists making for a truly epic conclusion to the series. The story line worked brilliantly bringing everything from the previous books together and tying up all loose ends and rounding out the characters stories while presenting them with a new avenue for the next chapter in their lives. I really enjoyed how everything came together with each twist and turn, with each battle lost or won and all the bits in between it was exciting and flowed so well, had it not been for the bulk and weight of the book it would not have felt nearly a thousand pages long at all. I also really enjoyed how the characters development over the course of the other books continues here and took them all through some tough situations but ultimately came through and have a future because of what they did and achieved. With regards to how the story played out it was really interesting how for a large chunk of the book they were still spread thin while still all fighting for the same goal and aiming for one thing destroy Erawan and Maeve. This made it even better when they gradually combined in Orynth for the final big battle, it was more realistic that they didn't all arrive at once but in stages albeit at just the right time, making for a much more thrilling continued battle. 

The deaths, while only a few, were very poignant and sad to read even though I was expecting deaths and plenty of them the situations made them effective in tugging at the heartstrings. The first big death was Manon's coven, the Thirteen, from the beginning of the book I had thought a couple of the Thirteen may die, may Asterin as she has nearly dies several times, or the shadows because they were often sent to scout situations, maybe even Vesta because she was taking a shine to Dorian and split attention to protecting Manon and Dorian could get the better of her. Alas I was wrong and they all died, not just died committed the valiant act of sacrifice to destroy the biggest threat at that moment in time and buying the army another week or so, meaning they survived long enough for Aelin to arrive. When it comes to the individuals of the Thirteen we already knew a lot about Asterin from previous books making her a main character in her own right and we had learned enough about Sorrel, Ghislaine and the shadows Edda and Briar to have an idea what they were like as individuals, plus there was never any question about how loyal they all were to Manon. We also got a bit more of a look into each of the others as we saw them through Dorian's eyes and how they interacted with the Crochans and other members of the army, making it even more sad when they all died because they were individuals who believed in a cause and were willing to die for it. Next we come to Murtaugh who being an old Lord was staying in the safety of the castle so that should they win they would have nobility to help run the kingdom. However when the western gate is starting to weaken Murtaugh decides to go down and fight with his people to rally them round and prevent the breaching of the gate, he succeeds but is killed in the process another sacrifice for the cause he believed in. Then we have the second death of the King of Adarlan, in a final chance to save his son he sacrifices his immortal soul and it works, the most significant part about this death isn't what he did or why but the effect it has on Dorian. He finally sees his true father, the man he needed and couldn't believe existed, to the point when he discovers that Erawan stole his name he pauses Erawan's death to find it out, upon discovering it is his own he feels whole again. Finally the last good guy killed was Gavriel, I had guessed he was going to die but not after reconciling with Aedion and providing the promise of a future as father and son, once again his death was a sacrifice to save his son, as every single thing he did in this book was for his son. These deaths turned out to be essential and if not for them the war almost certainly would have been lost, what makes these deaths even sadder is the effect they had on the people left behind not only did they impact those closest to them (with Manon becoming a shell of herself for a bit, Ren weeping for hours at his grandfather's side and Aedion struggling to accept at first) but the whole army who honoured those deaths. Therefore in memory of those deaths here they are again, The Thirteen, Asterin second-in-command, Sorrel third-in-command, Vesta, Edda and Briar the shadows, Faline and Fallon the demon twins, Thea, Kaya, Lin, Ghislaine and Imogen, Lord Murtaugh Allsbrook, King Dorian Havilliard I and Gavriel the golden lion of Doranelle. 

This lead nicely onto the last thing I want to talk about, the character development of the main characters over the course of this book, I am going to take each one at a time;

Aelin - From the start it was clear she was going to be different during this book, the months of brutal torture have broken her spirit and at one point she eventually gives in to the possibility of dying, after being saved she is still subdued for a while. Although as she opens up and starts down the path to saving her home she starts to come back and after forming the lock and surviving she is almost back to her former self with an edge, she is still willing to die for her home no matter what. The ending where she has survived and become Queen is particularly telling of how she has settled after the events of the books.

Dorian - He starts by continuing to be a bit of a shell of himself thinking his only purpose is to find the Wyrdkeys and die forging the lock, however after seeing his father and having him take his place he seems to become more of the King he wants to be. This is concluded when he assists in killing Erawan and finding out his fathers name, her ends holding his head high and ready to bring Adarlan back to glory.

Rowan - While he is fiercely loyal to Aelin no matter what and loves her more than anything he goes from the single mindset of saving her from Maeve, to the single task of figuring out how to keep her from dying forging the lock, to getting by her side during the final battle with Maeve. In the end he is by her side as her King helping to repair the damage from the war.

Manon - While trying to accept that she is a Queen she has to get her former enemies to accept her as a Queen, eventually managing to do something that has never been done, unite the Ironteeth and Chrochan witches as one people. Losing her Thirteen took a massive toll on Manon to the point she didn't care if she survived however in the end she is shown the proof that she is worthy and the Thirteen died so she could live and rule.

Chaol - Learning that he was to become a father was the big turning point for him, while he had always intended to survive with his life force being connected to Yrene's, it made him even more sure of the future he was fighting for and despite the problems he has with his father in the end he reconciles with his mother and brother regaining the family he had lost for over a decade.

Yrene - This woman just grew from strength to strength while being pregnant she still managed to keep going and healing more than any other healer, discovering that she could be powerful enough to destroy Erawan with her healing magic. In the end she proves how brave and powerful she is when taking on Erawan with the help of Dorian's magic.

Aedion and Lysandra - These two begin the book almost hating each other and over the course of the battles and the near death experiences finally admit how they feel and fight together out of love not just loyalty.

Elide and Lorcan - This is an interesting one as Elide started off hating Lorcan following the events of Empire Of Storms while Lorcan still loved Elide and wanted to prove it to her, despite many arguments in which Elide left Lorcan feeling like nothing. Then a shift came when he nearly died she rode into almost certain death to get him back, she then confessed her love to him and they finally became the couple they were meant to be. In the final battle they now had something more to fight for with Lorcan being instrumental in the death of Maeve and Elide being so in the death of Erawan, they finished being Lady and Lord of Perranth together, making one of the funniest names in history Lord Lorcan Lochan.

Fenrys - We got to see him develop into a key character as a member of Aelin's court and key in killing Maeve, getting revenge for the death of his twin brother.

Evangeline - We see her develop from a strong willed girl to a fierce young woman who convinces an old man that there is more to Terrasen than tradition and the people fighting are the true heart of the country, helping Aelin get her crown. 

To conclude then I loved this book and think it is a perfect ending for the series, one which I will definitely read again and have already got one of my best friends reading, I may even get my son into it when he is older.

My rating for Kingdom Of Ash is 9.5/10