Just finished Kingdom of Ash and there's a void in my chest! (spoilers)

I just read the last book of the series over the course of three days, and honestly, I have the memory of a goldfish and can hardly remember what took place in the first 1/3 of the book, so please forgive how scattered and out of order my thoughts might be lmao

(Writing this AFTER I wrote a few of the paragraphs below) I liked this book a LOT! This is not a negative post towards the book, and I feel the need to point that out after writing the below paragraphs of criticism.

So first of all, Fenrys. One thing I do remember from, I suppose the middle of the book, is Fenrys breaking his blood oath to Maeve to save Aelin. I knew this would result in his inevitable death, but since SJM is infamous for never killing off main characters (except RIP gavriel, probably the saddest part of the book for me), I was wondering what kind of plot armor would save him. I was hoping SJM would actually just kill him off, because I was so sure there was nothing that could save him. To my surprise, I was not expecting him to be saved by taking another blood oath, and it honestly made sense to me and I wasn't upset about it. But, with that being said.. I feel like that could have been the end for Fenrys and it would not have changed any later part of the book whatsoever (unless I'm forgetting something critical? again, goldfish memory)

Next, I said it in a previous post after I'd finished one of the other books, and I'll say it again after finishing the entire series: Dorian and Manon are still the weirdest, most forced "thing" in the book imo. It doesn't even feel right to call them a couple. I'll honestly just leave it at that.

Chaol and Gavriel. Omg? They had such a brief moment but it really did something to me. Chaol telling him to give Aedion time, reassuring Gavirel that Aedion for sure yearns for a relationship with his father, and even going as far as saying that Chaol wishes he could have someone like Gavriel as his father. This whole interaction made complete sense considering Chaol's own relationship (or lack thereof) with his own father, and Gavriel's guilt of being absent to his son.. which by the way... Gavriel had NO clue he had a son, Aedion's mother did her best (and clearly succeeded) to keep Aedion far away from him, and.. idk, how could anyone be so upset at Gavirel for that? He had ZERO CLUE that he had any offspring, but he says time and time again that Aedion's reactions towards him were deserved. Idk.. All this to say, I would have LOVED to see a relationship between them, but at least Rowan told Aedion stories later on.

Okay. Now, I just have something to say about a recurring theme I've noticed, specifically in this book but I suppose in all of SJM's series. When coming close to a near death experience, suddenly that's when not only Lorcan to Elide, but Aedion to Lysandra, decide to confess that they're in love with the other. And I get it! You're nearly DYING/think the end is near, the least you could do is let the other know that you truly LOVE them. But after so many times, it just felt corny, because I knew what was coming next. I knew Lorcan wasn't going to die, as well as Aedion/Lysandra. Inevitably, when everyone is fine, it's always this whole "....did you mean it? What you said earlier?" and suddenly all is well and fine. Sunshine and rainbows, peaches and cream. Despite Elide absolutely loathing Lorcan before this, and Lysandra similar towards Aedion for all that he had said to her (calling her a useless b*tch), everything was just... fine. And he was hers, and she was his. Mates. He was her mate. And she, his. The end. Happily ever after. Sunshine and rainbows. LOL. I just feel like across ACOTAR/CC/TOG, I've read this happen like 6 times over and I just felt the need to point it OUT! I know that mates are SJM's thing in the maasverse, but.. jeez

Dorian and Maeve. But first, just Dorian. What on earth is he? Sure, at the end, he says "human" and his all-knowing sword heats up in confirmation. But.. what are these powers that he has? It started with ice, and then he was able to summon flame, and then tear morath down completely. On top of all of this, he randomly perfected the ability to shapeshift... Huh? I feel like Dorian really get the short end of the stick in character development. Hell, even Chaol (and Yrene/Nesryn) had an entire book dedicated to him (might be my fav book of the series). But with Dorian, in my opinion, it felt like he was easily stronger than Aelin, and potentially even Erawan. And I felt like we weren't there for any of it. You mean to tell me he not only shielded himself from Maeve entering his mind, but also trapped her and immobilized her and her power? And not only that, he completely removed her ability to be a world walker? How? What? Idk. Him learning how to shapeshift as well as just having these mighty powers under control just came out of nowhere to me. We know that Rowan taught him as much as he could/knew how, but even Rowan said he wasn't familiar with Dorian's type of magic and would have to find someone better suited to teach him. Did I completely miss a critical part of one of the books where someone properly trained Dorian? Or was he just this strong after Rowan's minimal training? Regardless, with all of this said and done, I feel like Dorian's strength made a big portion of this book very easy, and a bit unsatisfying for my liking. But maybe that's just me.

Okay, hopefully this is my last critique, and hopefully I don't get too many tomatoes thrown at me for this, but.. I really didn't care all that much for Nesryn/Sartaq. Individually, and relationship wise. Good for them, though. They'll be the new leaders of the southern continent in due time.

Oh, the random wolf people that we'd never heard of coming out of some portal as they were getting ready to put an end to Maeve. Not sure what any of that was about, to my remembering (again, goldfish memory), I don't recall ever hearing anything about these people that had such a bone to pick with Maeve. By the end of the book, these people didn't seem to have much impact at all.

Onto a more positive note

Loved the way Erawan was taken out. I truly thought Erawan had encountered Yrene and had her right where he wanted her, and was stunlocked to find out it was Dorian. The wyrdmark trapping Erawan? Genius. Yrene calling Erawan pathetic? Fantastic. The whole plan being Elide's idea? Amazing. Dorian figuring out his father's name? Great!

(ACOTAR SPOILER) When Aelin was traveling back to her world and came across Rhysand and Feyre? I was so giddy! It was a nice, short encounter that I welcomed with open arms. I think I saw someone somewhere say that this was mentioned in ACOSF and Aelin was "a red star" or something. I read ACOTAR first, then CC, now TOG, so I wouldn't have understood that reference when reading ACOSF, but I love the crossover moments.

I loved that Chaol got a letter from his mother. His father can burn in hell, but at LEAST he confessed to Chaol's mother what he had done with her letters to Chaol. I actually really needed this closure lol.

I enjoyed Darrow's development with Evangeline. I'm glad he came around in the end, the stubborn bastard.

Manon... Hmm! I honestly don't know where I stand with her and her story. DON'T get me wrong, she/her story mattered a lot, and in the end, she was rightfully recognized as the crochan queen, and the ending of her thirteen was very tragic for sure. She easily had the most character development throughout the series. But for some reason, I just wasn't floored by her. From her very first appearance in whatever book it was, to the very end of KOA, I didn't really look forward to her chapters when I read the first sentence and knew it was all gonna be about the witches. At work, I listen on audible, and whenever her chapters came up, I'd 2x it. Hold your tomatoes, I don't hate her/wish she wasn't here! But like I said earlier in this post, I feel like Dorian truly did not get any screen time compared to Aelin/Chaol/Aedion, and I feel like Manon got 3x as much as Dorian.