At a WHOPPING 980 pages, this is officially the longest book I have ever read, but oh my gosh I am so happy I finally sat down and read it. I have been slowly reading the Throne of Glass series for about 4 or 5 years now, and I have finally finished this epic fantasy series, including the spinoff and the prequel. Let’s be honest, there is a lot to unpack with this book, so let’s get going. 

 

Let me just start by saying that I fell wholly and completely in love with this book. There is not a single point in this book that I wished it was shorter or that I felt was unnecessary. The journey that this book takes you on is so fulfilling and satisfying as a finale to this series. Everything that happens in this book just makes so much sense to have in the finale, and I am so glad that this story was completely told in just one book and not split between multiple. 

 

Kingdom of Ash also has the honor of being on the very short list of books that have made me ugly cry, and it also happens to be the only book to make me cry MULTIPLE TIMES. The journey that this book takes is insane and feels like a roller coaster of emotions. The action in this book is also super suspenseful, and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was so much so, that I managed to read this monster of a book in less than a week. 

 

One aspect of this book that I particularly enjoyed is seeing the female friendships bloom. Seeing Yrene, Elide, Manon, Nesryn and Lysandra band together to fight for what they believe in was incredibly empowering and made me so happy. I found it truly empowering though that these ladies kicked ass without expressly bringing to attention the fact that they were female. Having a female fight well simply because they are a female is nowhere near as exciting to see as females who are actually taking names because they have the skills, capabilities and know-how. This isn’t to say that I don’t love all female team stories, but it just feels so much more empowering when it is a truly badass female team. 

 

An interesting aspect that I found as well is that the locations and overall layout of Erilea became so much more clear to me reading this book; much more so than in previous books. This final book in particular does an amazing job of taking you on the journey that these characters take without confusing or overwhelming you. In the beginning, there are a lot of different characters’ perspectives that we follow, but Sarah J Maas does an impeccable job of making it flow and keeping the reader engaged. 

 

All in all, this book is without a question my favourite in the series. This is also my favourite finale to any series I have ever read, which is a difficult category to win. I can honestly say that the Throne of Glass series just gets better and better with every book. Looking back to the first book in the series is so wild because this series ends absolutely NOWHERE near where it starts. I am so happy that I read these books and this series has absolutely earned the #2 spot on my favourite series list. If you can, I would so highly highly recommend taking this incredible journey with these characters. An obvious 5/5 stars to Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas.