Kingdom of Ash - by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Kingdom of Ash

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Published: 23 Oct 2018

Series: Throne of Glass #7

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas’s #1 New York Times bestselling 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.

I listened to this as an audiobook.

This book was so gods damned good! However, there will also probably be a lot of spoiler-y content at the end of this review because of that.

I love that women getting their cycle is actually mentioned occasionally in this series and it's the first time I've read about women getting their cycles in a book. It's refreshing to read about, oddly enough. 

Women are sometimes the ones to get pushed down - to stand and look pretty and not fight back. but sometimes they're also the ones that are the strongest fighters - that will fight you to their last breath and protect what they love. This entire series has been mainly about of Aelin and Manon and Lysandra and Irene and Kaltain. The ones who held the world together when it was falling apart around them. The ones who were able to overcome their problems and protect what they loved and build a better future together.

I was sobbing my little heart out when Aelin was panicking and clawing at the mask and when all she was doing was sobbing and screaming "take it off, take it off, take it off"! I felt that in my heart - right down to the core. I'm sure we've all had at least one day within the span of our lives when we just want to curl up and be done with the world. To forget about what's happening in our lives and you just need a good cry to get all the pent up emotions out...

All in all, a very thick book - but definitely worth it. This entire series was one of the best series I've read!

Spoilers!

Aelin Whitethorn-Ashryver-Galathinius. Prince Rowan Whitethorn-Galathinius, consort, mate and husband of the queen of Terrasen. I love that their string of names and titles is mentioned.

I did guess that Irene was pregnant the second that her hand drifting across her abdomen was mentioned! I absolutely love this idea!

I'm pretty sure that I was in tears when Fenrys was fighting back against the blood bond and managed to get to his feet.

The fact that Fenrys and Aelin were able to create their own unspoken language while she was trapped and being tortured and that she was able to communicate with him too when he was so badly hurt when no one else could. Not even the cadre. Gods, my heart...

It was beautiful that Aelin finally managed to reclaim her throne and that Fleetfoot was able to join them in the kingdom.

That ending with the King's Flame flowers though. That was amazing. I think we almost need some of those flowers in the real world too.

After that mammoth of a book, I have important questions! Do Manon and Dorian get together? What is the name that Irene and Chaol gave to their child? Was it a girl or boy? Do Aedion and Lysandra have children? Who proposed to who? What was the wedding like? Do Aelin and Rowan manage to have a family together like in Rowan's hallucination?

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

0.1 | The Assassin's Blade (The Assassin and the Pirate)

0.2 | The Assassin's Blade (The Assassin and the Healer)

0.3 | The Assassin's Blade (The Assassin and the Desert)

0.4 | The Assassin's Blade (The Assassin and the Underworld)

0.5 | The Assassin's Blade (The Assassin and the Empire)

    1 | Throne of Glass

    2 | Crown of Midnight

    3 | Heir of Fire

    4 | Queen of Shadows

    5 | Empire of Storms

    6 | Tower of Dawn

    7 | Kingdom of Ash

The Dark Unwinding - by Sharon Cameron

Title: The Dark Unwinding

Author: Sharon Cameron

Published: 27 Aug 2012

Series: The Dark Unwinding #1

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London. Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity. As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.

Lane: Do you want to quit?
Katharine: No.
Lane: Good. Because you haven't really tried yet. Come on

I listened to this as an audiobook.

This book was actually sort of a surprise to me as I did think I'd like this one, but I liked it even more than I thought. I liked how things looked like magic but were most definitely science and mechanisms, even if you didn't know the intricate details of how they worked.


Davey was my absolute favourite character (plus Bertram, of course). Plus Mariana even though she has been long since dead at the start of this book - just because of what she did. Lane seemed like a fairly nice guy though, apart from his temper.

I hate to be that person, but I still think that Lane and Katharine would make a cute couple, even thought they're not even a couple.


Neither does your uncle belong in a lunatic cell merely for the crime of being created differently from his fellows

I loved Katharine's strength, courage and confidence when she called all the men over for an emergency meeting. Especially when the doctor can't seem to meet her gaze.

It's good that Mr Tully finally learned to change a little bit, but still mostly within his comfort zone. Also when Lane and Katharine taught Mr Tully that when people 'go away' then sometimes they only want to remember them in their head, but they taught him in a way that he would understand.

I like that in the end Katharine became a little less strict about certain things in life. Reading about Aunt Alice breaking all the things inside while Katharine and Mr Babcock sat out on the front step was quite amusing though!


And as surely as I had understood not five minutes earlier that our game was over, I now knew with just as much certainty that Lane had never been playing game at all. he had not been pretending. And God help me, neither had I

Spoilers!

I loved that Davey could read and talk, just that he was unwilling to when other people were around. It took the entire book, but I also loved that we got to find out that the laughter at the start was probably Davey.

It was sad when Katharine and Lane were up at Davey's grave in his secret spot though. Davey held so many secrets about so many things that I felt bad for the little boy. Especially when he lost Bertram. But the way that Little Davey shows her that she's been being poisoned was sort of cute.

I'm interested to know if Mr Babcock loved Mariana when they were younger and when she was alive? That would have been kinda of cute, I think - to have seen them interacting and working together.

I had a guessing spree in the span of maybe one minute where I thought Mrs Jeffries, Mary Brown and Ben Aldridge could all be the poisoner. Turns out I was right about Ben in the end though - except that I didn't guess that he wanted to blow up the ships - I believed his lies too.

End Spoilers!

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All books in this series:

    1 | The Dark Unwinding

    2 | A Spark Unseen