I’m not going to on and on about this. I finished Kingdom of Ash and have been crying for 30 minutes now. A truly heartbreakingly beautiful end to a stunning and life altering series. I feel blessed to have read every dark, joyful and inspiring word on the page.
A better world is all we can hope and strive to achieve.
Hi all! After much consideration, I’m going to be avoiding Tumblr for the next 2 weeks, because I’ve don’t want any spoilers this time. I’ve enjoyed them previously, but this time I want to feel all the shock & surprise as I read. Plus, I want context so I can make my own opinions of what’s happening rather than react without the whole picture.
To all the fabulous fanfic writers out there, keep tagging me because I still want to read your amazing work.
Love you all and see you on the other side in late October.
HOW DARE YOU WITH THIS? THE PART HE SAW THAT FAMILY IN HIS DREAMS??? I HAVE NEVER CRIED SO MUCH IN MY LIFE JUST JUST…. hOW DARE U DO THIS TO MY FEELINGS
That’s it - I have finished it. All 121 chapters of Kingdom of Ash within 24 hours. So if anyone wants to message me and have a chat, please do, because I have so many things I want to say and talk about. I’m literally bursting at the seams (and sobbing. Literally sobbing).
@queenyrene I cried many times, particularly during the last quarter of the book and after reading the acknowledgements to the readers. I really just loved it. No book is perfect, and there are a few things I feel like I missed (where did the fae army from doranelle go and where the f is the owl) but it’s so minor in the scope of what was accomplished in the book. I’m so happy with where it ended, and yet so sad right now. It’s the bittersweet cry, you know?
@wolffrising I won’t mention any specific scenes just in case anybody who hasn’t read it sees this, but I completely get it. I kind of sat there feeling a little empty after I’d read it, and I’ll have a little cry if I start thinking about it, because it’s all over. I started these books when I was eleven, which is crazy. Much like the Harry Potter Series I feel like they’ve helped shape me as a person. Also, I felt the dialogue was a little forced in places. I don’t know whether that’s because I’m looking at it with a more critical eye as I’ve gotten older, but it didn’t seem to flow so easily as it has done in previous books. However, I felt the sex scenes were a bit more mature in terms of how they were described, like they were a little more sated, more was left to the imagination kind of thing. To me, it showed more of an emphasis on the emotional bond rather than the physical, and also placed more emphasis on the friendships around them too.
@queenyrene I agree with you about the flow at some points, but it didn’t take away from what was happening for me. I was so pleasantly surprised by the sex scenes, and you nailed it. It was about the emotional connection, and it worked. I found these books when I needed inspiration and a reminder to look for hope in all things. They’ve given me so much strength. Damnit, I’ll miss them.
@wolffrising I’ve hit that point where I sort of don’t know what to do with myself. We’ve waited for this book for what seems so long now, and it’s over within a matter of less than 24 hours. It seems unreal. Six years ago I didn’t think I’d be sat here crying over the end of this series. I didn’t even think there’d be six years of Throne of Glass. It was all so simple in the first book. It’s expanded so much, and you’re right, it’s so bittersweet.
@queenyrene well, The only solution I have is to go back in. I’m going to do a re-read, but slower. See what I might have missed or not grasped, because there was so much action. Plus, I can be more prepared to be at peace with it. Then, I figure out what’s my next big release in the book world. I know I’ll read Crescent City when it comes out, and I loved the ACOTAR series that has another book in 2020. Add in the last in the Ember in the Ashes series, the dark artifices series, another shatter me series book and Leigh Bardugo is revisiting the Six of Crows books. Plus, I’m a crazy reader as it’s what I like to do with my limited freetime, so I know I’ve got lots ahead. Who knows what my next new book obsession could be? Or maybe I’ll finally try to write something… who knows?
That’s it - I have finished it. All 121 chapters of Kingdom of Ash within 24 hours. So if anyone wants to message me and have a chat, please do, because I have so many things I want to say and talk about. I’m literally bursting at the seams (and sobbing. Literally sobbing).
@queenyrene I cried many times, particularly during the last quarter of the book and after reading the acknowledgements to the readers. I really just loved it. No book is perfect, and there are a few things I feel like I missed (where did the fae army from doranelle go and where the f is the owl) but it’s so minor in the scope of what was accomplished in the book. I’m so happy with where it ended, and yet so sad right now. It’s the bittersweet cry, you know?
@wolffrising I won’t mention any specific scenes just in case anybody who hasn’t read it sees this, but I completely get it. I kind of sat there feeling a little empty after I’d read it, and I’ll have a little cry if I start thinking about it, because it’s all over. I started these books when I was eleven, which is crazy. Much like the Harry Potter Series I feel like they’ve helped shape me as a person. Also, I felt the dialogue was a little forced in places. I don’t know whether that’s because I’m looking at it with a more critical eye as I’ve gotten older, but it didn’t seem to flow so easily as it has done in previous books. However, I felt the sex scenes were a bit more mature in terms of how they were described, like they were a little more sated, more was left to the imagination kind of thing. To me, it showed more of an emphasis on the emotional bond rather than the physical, and also placed more emphasis on the friendships around them too.
@queenyrene I agree with you about the flow at some points, but it didn’t take away from what was happening for me. I was so pleasantly surprised by the sex scenes, and you nailed it. It was about the emotional connection, and it worked. I found these books when I needed inspiration and a reminder to look for hope in all things. They’ve given me so much strength. Damnit, I’ll miss them.
That’s it - I have finished it. All 121 chapters of Kingdom of Ash within 24 hours. So if anyone wants to message me and have a chat, please do, because I have so many things I want to say and talk about. I’m literally bursting at the seams (and sobbing. Literally sobbing).
@queenyrene I cried many times, particularly during the last quarter of the book and after reading the acknowledgements to the readers. I really just loved it. No book is perfect, and there are a few things I feel like I missed but it’s so minor in the scope of what was accomplished in the book. I’m so happy with where it ended, and yet so sad right now. It’s the bittersweet cry, you know?
And when they were alone on the silent battlefield, Manon’s great-grandmother put a hand on her shoulder and said quietly, her voice somehow distant, “Be the bridge, be the light. When iron melts, when flowers spring from fields of blood—let the land be witness, and return home.”
Manon didn’t hear the words. Didn’t notice when even Glennis returned to the city looming at her back.
For hours, Manon knelt on the battlefield, Abraxos at her side. As if she might stay with them, her Thirteen, for a little while longer.
And far away, across the snow-covered mountains, on a barren plain before the ruins of a once-great city, a flower began to bloom.
@alwayssara thank you for bringing this passage to my attention, and I’m sorry for saving this as a draft, then burying it under about ten others for a month.
“Be the bridge”
Feyre and Rhys’ bond bridge of adamant.
The only bridge of connection, that knife - Elriel and Truth-Teller.
“Be the light”
Could the Archeron sisters be Starborn fae, and each represent a different form of light (hereandhere)?
Other characters probably descend from the Starborn fae, too, such as Helion and Rhys.
“When iron melts”
“If Elain was a blooming flower in this army camp, then Nesta … she was a freshly forged sword, waiting to draw blood.” - ACOWAR, chapter 51
Nesta forged and Made her own weapons trove, and became a Valkyrie/warrior, in ACOSF.
“Elain was just blinking, wide-eyed, at the camp. The army. Devlon let out a grunt at the sight of her. But Elain wrapped her own blue cloak around herself, averting her eyes from all of those towering, muscled warriors, the army camp bustling toward the horizon … She was a rose bloom in a mud field. Filled with galloping horses.” - ACOWAR, chapter 51
“Let the land be witness”
Elain’s doe eyes peered across the world to See the Suriel, but how? Through the murky, shadow realm, or can she also use the land?
“This time, you sent the trembling fawn to find me. I did not expect to see those doe-eyes peering at me from across the world.” - ACOWAR, chapter 58
The Prison mountain has eyes and ears, but to whom does it report?
“And return home”
“When knife and sword are reunited, so shall our people be.” - HOSAB, chapter 23
The Dusk Court and the Starborn / Avallen fae.
“And far away, across the snow-covered mountains,on a barren plain before the ruins of a once-great city, a flower began to bloom”
Obviously this sentence is referring to the Western Wastes, but could it also be indirectly referring to the Mother’s (Urd’s?) strength returning across all of the worlds, providing much needed balance between forces?
The Prison island, Ramiel and the mountain in the Middle are barren, each with tunnels hewn into their depths. Were these ancient cities?
There’s almost certainly more going on, but I can’t think of it off the top of my head, and this post has been languishing in drafts for too long now. I don’t know, it’s probably not a coincidence that so many similar themes are being repeated throughout ACOTAR, CC and TOG, especially after HOSAB confirmed that the extent of the crossover would be significant.
I’m going to tag @wingedblooms in this post, too, because I know she’ll have thoughts to contribute.
Aaaaah just finished Kingdom of Ash and had to draw SOMETHING to get rid of the immediate hangover. This was probably the most defining scene in the book for me. Aelin’s arc was pretty much expected, but Manon and Dorian’s arcs were the most surprising events of the book. Dorian especially – every chapter I yearned that he could some how find his self-worth after working tirelessly to sacrifice himself at every turn - and this is the scene when he does.
I don’t usually sketch in color too often, but these two deserved it. So much.
