Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Published by Bloomsbury on September 2, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 565

Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak―but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth . . . a truth about her heritage that could change her life―and her future―forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?

Upon finishing this book I wasn't sure what to think, there was so much in 565 pages. So many events, characters, and places. However, Heir of Fire gave me things I wanted and even more that I wasn't expecting.

“There was nothing left in her, not really. Only ash and an abyss and the unbreakable vow she’d carved into her flesh, to the friend who had seen her for what she truly was.”

By the end of Crown of Midnight, we knew Celaena was in route for Wendlyn. We also know her fury and hatred has grown for her the king of Adarlan. What I wasn't expecting was what would lay underneath those emotions: loss, pain, regret, fear and grief. She is not the hardened, kickass assassin we glimpsed in the second novel, but a young woman who has lost hope. Heir of Fire hits us in the face with the knowledge that we truly don't know our heroine; the first two books were only a taste of her development. This novel allows us to see how broken and relentlessly self-blaming she has become as she hides from the aftermath of loss and death. 

For the first time, we also witness her true past and how she came to be Celaena Sardothien, the best killer in the Assassin's Keep. We discover just exactly why she has come to know only fear and death, and we see her struggle to not only face those revelations but use them to become someone much stronger and dangerous than ever before. She reaches a point in her development that creates an all new depth. However, this could not have been done without a prince by the name of Rowan Whitethorn.

Rowan is a warrior prince, bound to Queen Maeve. He is cunning, sarcastic, ruthlessness, and one of the few people that understands Celaena on a level that no one has because he has felt much of what she has felt. He has experienced things similar to her, and for a much longer time. This gives him the ability to handle Celaena's moods, her self-loathing, her recklessness and help her move forward and be something more. He is a character with depth and secrets that we discover more and more of as we read. Something tells me, we will most definitely get to see more of him as he becomes Celaena's friend and right-hand.

“Because she was Manon Blackbeak, heir to the Blackbeak Witch-Clan, and she had been here for weeks, pretending to be a Crochan witch in the hope that it would flush out the real ones.”

 As fierce as we think our protagonist is, there is actually a female that cold soon rival her. Manon. This woman is cunning, dangerous, lethal and I can decide if she will become an enemy or one day be a great alliance for our other characters. I can, wholeheartedly, say she is by no means a one book character. We see her ascend to Wing Leader, lead multiple covens under the watchful eye of the vicious elder witches, including her grandmother, and seemingly fall into agreement of the king of Adarlan's vicious plans. However, we also watch as she does all of these things while hiding her own thoughts and feelings - thoughts and feelings that do not adhere to witch standards. I found this made Manon an incredibly interesting and slightly unpredictable character because she herself senses but does not understand the change. I cannot wait to see more of her. 

As far as changing characters go, Dorian surprised me more and more. He officially grows from a prince to a king. We see him go from hiding and fearing his power to trying to utilize it and lead others. He grows into a mature, self-sacrificing, brave, powerful character. These changes occur over the entire novel, unlike Chaol. 

“Your prince has moved on, my queen has moved on. But you have not. And it will cost you in the end.”

This line was the epitome of Chaol's frustrating existence in this book. The man is stagnant until almost the end when there is nothing but chaos around him and nothing to lose. Nothing to lose because he waited so long and everyone makes sacrifices before him. I was so glad to finally see a bit of movement on his end of the story, to see him actively make choices and take a stand rather than playing it safe and leaning both ways. What was incredible was the character that called attention to his lack of choice was not only Dorian but Aedion Ashryver, new to the series, but quickly a showstopper. Aedion is a war general with questionable loyalties to the king, fae blood, love for his missing queen Aelin and a dangerous taste for rebellion. I found him to be an incredibly captivating character and I highly doubt this will be the last novel we see him in. 

Overall, Heir of Fire was quite the undertaking. There was incredible development of established characters woven through the introductions of new individuals. Not to mention new creatures of myths and legends to create atmosphere and more of a well-rounded and developed world outside of the few cities and territories we have encountered in the first two novels. Sarah J. Maas expanded the world-building of the novel into something even more incredibly epic than what had previously been created. If I had any doubts of the series truly being high fantasy, this book quashed them. I will not lie though, with as many characters as there were I would sometimes lose track of them and would need to pause and think. Despite this, Maas weaves a masterful tale full of ups and downs between fast paced action and slow burning drama, not to mention the exploration of emotions and memories. Slower moments could be dull at times, but the conclusion of the novel was worth the wait. 

5 out of 5.