KOA
Kingdom of Ash took me a while to get through, at first I thought it was because I had other things to do and didn't have time to read but I think I genuinely just didn't want the series to end. With finishing this I have read the three main series by SJM and am patiently (read impatiently) waiting to hear if Crescent City 3 is coming out this year as rumoured.
KOA wasn't a slow read but there are a lot of moving parts and story lines being threaded back together to bring us to the full conclusion.
If you haven't read it and plan to without spoilers stop reading now.
When the Cadre and Elide go off to rescue Aelin after she's been kidnapped by Maeve I enjoyed how it wasn't just a straight forward rescue and viewing everything that Aelin went through while being a captive really made me appreciate her inner strength a lot more.
I did find it a little anticlimactic how the final sealing of the Wyrd keys happened, I don't really know what I wanted from that section of the book but I just feel like it fell a bit flat. The gods utter disinterest and contempt for the people of Erilea and that world was really made clear there and I fully appreciate Aelin for how she reacted by opening a portal to hell in to their world once she had sent them home. I did however love when she was falling through the worlds to return to her own and having read the other series by SJM I have a good hunch who the Fae male standing on a balcony was that used his magic to slow her down.
The final battle against Morath was overall really well done. I do tend to get a bit bored with battle scenes on the whole but I think the fact we had so many narrators to view it from really helped to keep me engaged and there was just the right amount of description to maintain the excellent word building without it getting too dry.
I audibly gasped when I thought the final battle between Aelin and Maeve had been an illusion and she was actually still trapped, a bit of a cheap trick but it definitely worked to drag me back in for those final chapters.
Overall KOA was a really good conclusion to the series and I loved seeing what happened to all the characters we were introduced to throughout the books.
Thoughts on the series as a whole
It did take me longer to read the whole series than I had originally hoped and with some gaps in between but I do really think it has earned its place alongside SJMs other works. To think she started writing this series when she was 16 blows my mind! There's so much depth and development in these novels and I really wish more people would take the time to read and appreciate them. There isn't really any Smut in them (some mild references but no real sex scenes) which I know is something a lot of people either love or hate about SJMs writing, so if you're not into smut or looking for a bit of a softer introduction to her work then this is definitely the series for you.
It has excellent world building, character development, plot, humour and storylines, some of the key building blocks of an epic fantasy read.
After reading her main three series' I can definitely see how she has developed as a writer and look forward to reading even more of her work that's to come!
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