YA Review: Heir of Fire

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, 3) by Sarah J. Maas, September 2, 2014. 562 pages. Published by Bloomsbury USA Children's. Source: Library.

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?

First Sentence:

Gods, it was boiling hot in this useless excuse for a kingdom.

Well... Heir of Fire was really quite slow for the first two-hundred or so pages...which I was totally not expecting after the quick pace of Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight.  Even though it felt like it took ages for the book to truly get going, it was still quite the thrilling read.

Alright, so, I am both happy and disappointed to have started this series this year. Happy because I have discovered an incredible series and an author whose writing I have really enjoyed; disappointed because the series is still ongoing and I'm really impatient to see what will happen next. My inability to wait is generally why it takes me longer to start new series as I prefer to have all the books at hand. So, imagine how the ending of Heir of Fire is messing with me and my need to know what is going to happen next, Oh my heart!

Heir of Fire, while it was the slowest in the series, thus far, it was definitely an incredible read as I felt the characters evolved quite a bit from the previous two books. Character arc-wise, I really liked seeing Celaena take control of the power she wields and face the past that haunts here. Even though some of the reveals concerning her past were no surprise to me, I enjoyed it because there's just so much to her character and I wanted to know how she would handle things when forced to remember all she's been through, I know, that sounds somewhat mean since Celaena has been through so much, but she'll never be able to move forward until she faces it.

While Heir of Fire was an excellent book, I did find myself puzzling things out long before they were revealed. So, while certain character arcs were not surprising, I really enjoyed seeing the way all the characters, both minor and main cast, story-line came together to create a truly trilling read. Really, I just like seeing how Sarah J. Maas brings all the elements together into one cohesive story-line. Love the world and character building that goes on within her books. Just when you think you understand a character, her writing shows you a whole new side of them. and you know what, I like that.

Even though I ended up really enjoying Heir of Fire, there is just one more thing I would like to say about it. When Rowan was first introduced a disliked him...a lot. Why, well, the simple answer is that I was afraid that it was going to be love interest the third and I just did not want that from this otherwise phenomenal series. Yet, the more his past was revealed the more I liked him. It was also really interesting to see the way Rowan and Celaena played off of each other. I'm sorry, but that is all I'm saying on the Rowan aspect of this book.

Final Verdict: Heir of Fire- First half was so slow, yet well worth it because the rest of the book was breathtakingly epic.

Heir of Fire earns