Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

 

My Rating: 9.5/10

This book was definitely a lot more emotional than the previous two, and made me go through such a rollercoaster of feelings while reading it!

This is really the book in which Celaena reaches her lowest point and explores a dark period for her. She is completely overwhelmed with loss and pain, she feels alone and has almost locked herself off to any contact with the people around her. Her spirit has almost completely been destroyed, and she is clearly depressed. But this is also the book where she finally reaches her turning-point when she embraces who she was, what she has done and who she is meant to become, and decides to rise from her loss and grief. This is also mirrored in the fact that the book is split into two halves: Heir of Ash and Heir of Fire. This is a really fitting illustration of Celaena’s own personal journey in this book. She goes from being a shell of her former self, to someone who is now willing to fight for her kingdom and has finally accepted her own magic and heritage.

Rowan was definitely an interesting new character who was introduced in this book. His own story of loss and trauma mirrors Celaena’s in some ways, and seeing the two of them come closer together – as friends, not as lovers (yet, maybe?) – was really something quite sweet and magical to witness. Although I didn’t like the way he treated Celaena at the beginning (I mean, him biting her out of anger was just WTF for me), it’s somewhat understandable considering his own path of pain, as well as the fact that he was blood-bound to Maeve. Their slow friendship was very sweet and nice.

One of the things I really love about this series is the richness of the history and the depth of the lore that Maas has crafted. With every book we get more and more smaller flashes and glimpses of the magic of this world – be it the Fae, the Valg or magic – which makes the people, the country and the stories feel alive and real.

But oh my goodness, Celaena/Aelin was such a badass in this book. Her learning to shift, hone her magic and finally, her epic battle with the Valg at the end was just so incredibly awesome. I really hope we get to witness more of her magic soon!

In this book, we are also introduced to two new characters that I’m sure will play important roles in the books to come: Manon Blackbeak and Aedion Ashryver. Manon Blackbeak is an Ironteeth witch,  which is honestly not a POV that I was expecting. Despite her alliance with the evil witches, I did end up really liking her character. Seeing her claim Abraxos as her own and win to be Wing Leader was something that I found incredibly fascinating. She is clearly evil and ruthless, but we do see glimpses of a changing heart within her, which is especially shown in her reflections at the end of this book. I hope that eventually she will end up teaming up with Aelin and her court.

Aedion on the other hand, is Aelin’s cousin who has put up a masquerade in order to fool the King. We didn’t see very much of character in this book, aside from his conversations with Chaol. I really do hope that he doesn’t end up being executed, which the King is planning.

The most heartbreaking thing was definitely Sorscha’s death at the very end. I honestly did not see that coming. I was actually hoping that Dorian had now found a life-long partner in her now that he had lost Celaena, which now will obviously not happen. Although we didn’t see very much of her, Sorscha was a very sweet character that didn’t deserve to die. I’m sure his grief – and the fact that he is now literally being manipulated by his own father will have an impact on his growth and development over the next couple books.

I’m very excited to see what will happen next, now that Celaena is on her way back to Adarlan. There will doubtless be a confrontation between her and her old assassin’s master, Arobynn. Also, I’m intrigued to see where her and Rowan’s relationship will lead to now that they are blood bound. I really do like them together, and hope that they will end up as a couple, but if they don’t, their friendship is also very sweet. Also, I desperately hope that Celaena will be able to save Dorian from the King and team up with Chaol again.