Heir of Fire

Book Title: Heir of Fire

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass #3

Date Started: September 11th 2014

Date Completed: October 10th 2014

Genres: Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance

Rating: Five stars

Review:

Heir of Fire hasn't been my favourite instalment in the Throne of Glass series so far, but I still loved it. For me, it was a filler book, which is something I am not a fan of, but Maas managed to create enough plot to get the characters where they needed to be so it was still entertaining to read.

Celaena Sardothien has to finally stop running from her past, and face the responsibility resting on her shoulders as her birthright. As instability ravages the world and the assassin hides across the sea it becomes clear that Celaena must fight for her life and her people to prevent the King from overtaking everything. While Chaol and Dorian struggle with the balance of power in Adarlan, Celaena must learn to control her powers to unveil the secrets hidden around her.

I still love Maas' writing, and there isn't much I can say that I haven't praised before. There's a brilliant perception of characters and human nature in these books which allows Celaena's character to become even more realistic and dark, setting it apart from the majority of Young Adult novels on offer in my opinion. But there's always something more going on than just the main story for the characters; politics is a driving influence, and smaller issues play on their minds and change the way they think. The world just comes to life when Maas describes or orchestrates anything.

Heir of Fire was not my favourite book in the series because it was a filler book. If you read my reviews you know that I hate the idea of books being there mainly for the purpose of putting characters into places for future events - any reader should be able to pick up any novel and entertained at least without knowing all the little details around it. However, though I was conflicted on the rating for this book, I believe that Maas did honestly create an engaging story in the process of getting the story where she wanted it to be. I will also forgive it because you can tell the next book is going to be groundbreaking for Young Adult.

One of the things that didn't really work for me was the fact that there were various little stories running through the novel to show where each character was, but sometimes they just weren't necessary. Others also felt neglected and underdeveloped to focus on the main plot lines. It also because a predictable at times.

On the other hand, once I made it through the first part of the novel, things really kicked off and I started reading very quickly just to know what happened next. This was what I was used to from the Throne of Glass story, and it was just a shame I hadn't still been as excited as I was when I first picked the book up.

Finally, the ending of the book was far more dramatic than I could have imagined, even though I saw some of it coming. Though the climaxes were weirdly structured (with one story's climax finished, then another one, followed by the last one when more tension could have been made by having them simultaneously) it definitely left an impact on me and completely changed the direction of the books.

The characters were the one thing that really secured the five star rating for me. I was disappointed in most other areas, and though there were still a few little holes for me in this department, the people of this book are still the shining element to the series.

If it's possible, I think I grew to love Celaena even more in this book. Her character arc becomes so complex and dark, and for some reason that let me connect with her even more. How she develops with her experiences, how she acts with new characters, how she struggles with her past and future - it's all just so interesting to me and it's so nice for there to be a female character that has so many sides and such depth and isn't actually a 'good' person.

Rowan is definitely one of my new favourite characters. Right from the beginning I knew he was going to be fascinating and have a huge impact on the plot. But my absolute highlight for him would have to be his relationship with Celaena. Again, I adore there being such a close, intimate relationship between the two without it having to be romantic, or have the awkward 'do you like me?' moment.

I was a little disappointed about how Chaol's story slowed way down compared to most of the others, but I still was interested in how he progressed and affected the story.

Aedion is the character that I'm most looking forward to in the future. When he was first introduced I wasn't sure whether to trust him, and there's still that danger around him now. But I think he's going to be a big part in future story lines and I'm very curious as to how he changes the other characters.

My least favourite characters this time had to be Dorian and Sorscha. I wasn't really a fan of Sorscha when she was first introduced, but I appreciated the diversity of characters. But when Dorian's story started to become only about their relationship I got more annoyed and I was disappointed that Maas didn't twist my predictions and catch me by surprise like she usually does.

This book took me forever to read, mainly because of the fact I started college and the workload is quite frankly terrifying. However, I do think that because of the very slow start at the beginning of the book until around halfway through, I wasn't unable to put it down. While the whole book was a filler, the first part was even more of a filler for the second part - so all in all it became a lot of information you needed to remember given in not the most interesting way.

However, Throne of Glass remains one of my favourite book series' of all times. It combines all my favourite genres (fantasy, action, adventure, mystery) with amazing characters that go through some really impressive story arcs. I can tell the next book is going to be absolutely amazing now that everyone's in their carefully placed positions. If you haven't started this series yet, do, because it's only going to get better.

Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20617636-heir-of-fire