[Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas]

"Heir of Fire"
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #3
Pages: 565
Genre: YA, High Fantasy
Date Published: September 2nd, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childerns
Format Read: Physical ARC provided by publisher for honest review

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Summary:

Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy.

While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?

-Goodreads

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My Thoughts:

An Open Letter To Heir Of Fire,

Book, I don't even know how to calibrate my thoughts on you. It took some getting used to you, because your format was different and you showed us a lot of different places and people, but once I got a hang of it, I couldn't put you down. You turned the characters that I've grown to love into people who I could really root for, even though I've been rooting for them from the beginning. You also threw new characters at me that I can say I love just as much as all the others! Thanks for being a book that both progressed the plot and gave us a ton of character development. It's a really special thing!

-The White Unicorn

Maas has done it again. She's taken the world that she brought us in the two other novels in her series and expanded on it! Heir of Fire is full of world building and character development that will have you cheering, squirming and possibly crying your little eyes out. It's delightful to see a series of books that progresses so aggressively as it builds. Even though this book was very different from Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, it worked. Maas had more time to let us in on her story from different fronts, while still keeping us in touch with our favorite characters and adding new ones that will make a lasting impact on the story. 

Something else I love about the way this book is written is the power that people's memories of the dead play in the story. We get to really see what happened to Celaena growing up and characters that we've lost over the course of the series come back, not in physical form, but in the form of memories and promises. It's wonderful that the fallen are not forgotten and that they surround the characters in a way that propels them to be the people that they were meant to be.

Maas split the trio of Celaena, Dorian and Choal up in the last pages of Crown of Midnight and it gives all the characters a chance to breath on their own. Because of the events in Crown of Midnight, they're all left reeling in different ways and it was a smart move on Maas' part to drag them into different story lines. Celaena grows in ways that you can't even begin to understand until you read the book. She's slowly shaping into a Queen instead of a thief and it's an interesting progression to watch. We see Dorian learning about himself and his abilities with the help of Sorsha (I pray that's a Willow reference). I was glad to see that he found someone to connect to and that she actually had a lot to do with his Kingly inklings as well. Choal is just trying to figure out who he needs to be loyal to. I found his story line to be very interesting, but I also wish he would have picked a side long before he did.

Of course, since our leads are split up Maas needed to bring new players into the game and I have to say that I'm a fan of all of them. Rowan is just what Celaena needs and I ship their really weird friendship with all of my heart. It's kind of hard for me to believe that there is nothing sexual between the two of them, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Aedion comes alongside Choal as he tries to figure himself out and brings more Celaena history with him. And of course we've already talked about Dorian and Sorsha.

Perhaps, because of my deep love for the anti-hero, my favorite addition was Manon, a Blackbeak witch with a bad temper and decently sweet, dragon type, creator, named Abraxos. The addition of the witch clans was something that I came to love. Their so evil and yet there is something so interesting about Manon and her moral code of non-ethics. I can't wait to see what Maas does with her character as the story moves along, because I have a feeling that I'm going to come to love her even more.

This book is one heck of an adventure and I highly suggest that everyone, and I mean everyone read this series! There is something so wonderful and powerful and evil and hopeful about it. It makes you shy away, while also pulling you in. And really, what more could you want from a series?

Rating:

5 Unicorns = Get your hands on this NOW!