Review: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Heir of Fire
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Paranormal, YA
Series: Throne of Glass (#3)
Page Count: 562
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsberry

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?

“She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.”

I'm not going to lie; I actually had really high expectations for Heir of Fire and Heir of Fire met them, but in a different way. It was my least favourite book in comparison to the first two book of the series, but Heir of Fire is so different, it is practically impossible to compare to the other novels. There are so many elements in the novel that the first two books don't focus on, primarily the sacrifice and weaknesses.

In Heir of Fire, Celaena spends her time away from Rifthold, and because of that, romance was not a big aspect of the novel. There are times where we have those "mourning moments" for Chaol and Celaena, but eventually those feelings dissipated for me because oh god, there was ROWAN.  Let me just get into more detail about Rowan Whitethorn. 

“I claim you, Rowan Whitethorn. I don't care what you say and how much you protest. I claim you as my friend.”

Rowan is so awesome. He is a freaking awesome FAE warrior. He is hot. He is broken. He has faults. and he's not perfect (which makes him just perfect!). HE IS SO ADORABLE!! It was so cute to see Celaena and Rowan getting along together, and my favourite part was when Rowan saw Celaena's scars. I never expected Rowan to be so fierce and protective! I have officially switched to team Rowan, because let's face it:

Chaol was an ass in Heir of Fire. He wasn't there for Dorian when Dorian needed Chaol the most, and he didn't do anything admirable in the book, so gradually, he dulled to me, especially when Rowan came in. Until Chaolaena get back together, or IF they get back together, I'm on team Rowan. I know Rowan is more of a loyal friend to Celaena as opposed to a lover, but MAAS CREATES SO MANY HOT GUYS! Throughout the book where Rowan and Celaena started up I was literally dying for the Rowlaena parts ;)

“What are you doing?”
“What?”
Emrys didn’t raise his voice as he said, “To that girl. What are you doing that makes her come in here with such emptiness in her eyes?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Emrys pressed his lips into a tight line. “What do you see when you look at her, Prince?”
He didn’t know. These days, he didn’t know a damn thing. “That’s none of your concern, either.”
Emrys ran a hand over his weathered face. “I see her slipping away, bit by bit, because you shove her down when she so desperately needs someone to help her back up.”

The quote above is from my favourite part, where Celaena truly fell apart. I loved Heir of Fire because we are exposed to the weaker sides of our beloved characters, and we don't only see the sides of our characters that we want to see. We can so easily forget that we can't always see the hilarious, brave and loveable Celaena. Like in one of the quotes in Heir of Fire, even we as the readers can't pick and choose what parts of the characters to love, and Maas did an outstanding job at getting the message across in the third instalment to the Throne of Glass series.

As I said in the beginning, Heir of Fire is so different, especially the writing style. The writing became so much more descriptive and detailed, and it's noticeably differs from the first two books. Maas's writing really improves as she writes, each book's writing getting better and better, creating beautiful imagery of scenes.

“They have made you into monsters. Made Manon. And we feel sorry for you.”

I found the parts that focused on Manon a little boring in the beginning, but as we progressed to the climax, things picked up and I started to really like Manon's story when the Witch Games happened. There was always something happening with the witches, and I loved the action during Manon's story. I can't wait to see when and how Manon and Celaena's path's cross in the next few books!

Sorcha's death. I was a bit glad that she died, which again, is utterly selfish of me, but I wanted Dorian to end up with someone more admirable, a girl who actually deserved it, not just some girl who got really lucky and was sought out by a prince. Dorian is the sweetest, most humblest guy who pulls on your heart strings no matter whether you're on Team Chaol or Rowan (or even Aedion, since cousin love is fine...right?). Dorian is just that kind of character, and he deserves a better queen than someone so perfect and innocent. That would be a fairytale and I am goddamn sick of fairytales.

Heir of Fire focused so much more on the dark magic, the malicious king, and rebellion against Erilea. We explore the world of Erilea in so much more depth and we learn so much more about the characters. It is a beautiful novel with so much meaning, redeeming one's self, and despite the fact that the book may have been a bit slow, it truly blossomed beautifully in the middle to the end. I'm dying for more Rowan!