Review: Heir of Fire

Heir of Fire
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication Date: September 11th 2014        
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

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?

 

I am speechless. I have never been more impressed with a series since Harry Potter and Vampire Academy.  Freaking amazing world aside, these characters. They make me love them, hate them, they make me angry and frustrated with them, they make me care and then, then they make me fucking proud of them, the growth of our cast from the beginning are so different from the ones we began with, you can still recognise them, they're still there, they're still them, but they've grown, and you don't see much until Heir of Fire, the strength and will they have to do what they have to do. Even our new additions fit in so well, and again, are different characters from when we first met them, every angle of them explored.

Fantasy is not my favourite genre, and it's hard to talk about what route the plot in Heir of Fire goes down and expands, without spoiling some revelations in here, and of the previous Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, so I won't go down that road, but all I'll say is, Heir of Fire is definitely character driver and then plot driven, not that it isn't very plot driven either, but let me explain. Continuing on a little while after Crown of Midnight finished we're left with certain broken characters, and it is completely heart-breaking at times to see them at their absolute low,  but slowly, you see those pieces getting stitched back together only to get ripped open again, to let them heal properly, to let them learn from them. The plot is driven and determined by the way the characters go, if that makes sense. It's not a plot you can see happening from the beginning, it isn't predictable, it isn't one you can say you know where it's going because it depends on those characters, and a very unpredictable Celaena. And you can argue, isn't that how it always goes? No Not in every case, in most cases you see the plot driving the characters where they need to go. This series, and in Heir of Fire especially, the characters are driving the plot where it needs to go and not the other way round.

I loved the new additions! That doesn't often happen with me, I usually hate being introduced to knew characters halfway through a series, when you've just gotten to know the case you have now, but again, these characters. Why hello, Aedion, Manon and Rowan.

Okay, I am a Chaolaena shipper, and some of you might know where I'm going with this, but hear me out. For the most part of Heir of Fire I pretty much hated Chaol because he needs to sort his shit out. I am a Chaolaena shipper, but...Heir of Fire made me want to jump ship a few times, and I did, because of this one scene, and you know what scene with Rowan I'm talking about if you've read it. Now, I'm not saying I'm shipping them together romantically (and I don't think there's any romantic feelings between them anyway) but I'm shipping them together. Rowans everything Celaena needed, and he wants her to stop pretending and be who she is, just to be herself. He's not afraid of her, and he wants her to not be afraid of herself.

The Throne of Glass series is honestly one of the best series I've started in a long while, but now the wait for the next one, I'll cry. :(

 

 

Rating: 5/5