Heir of Fire

This is a Miniature Character Collection, the book size is 145cm x 98cm with a reading font size 5 - 6pt definitely pocket-friendly but if you're to read this in a moving vehicle it's not advisable. I received it in a protected packaging, delivery took 2 weeks as estimated.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. MaasSteph's Rating: 5 starsOverall Rating: 5 starsSteph's Review: *the review itself is for the most part non-spoiler, but the area for my predictions is packed with spoilers for Heir of Fire*What better way to get back into blogging than with a book that also ended with a bang? I think I've read Heir of Fire three or four times over the one month period that it's been out--in other words, I've just been reading some sort of page from this pretty much every day. Still not over it either. The pretty hardcover is still sitting on my nightstand even though I've got other selections I'm reading. The books in this series release pretty far apart from each other so this obsession is really not good seeing as I've got at least another eleven months to go before book four rolls around.Celaena has been cast away from Adarlan for her own safety by none other than Chaol Westfall. She's ignoring her duty to the King while she's slumming it in the streets of Wendlyn. She is approached by a menacing Fae warrior, who leads her on orders to the her aunt, and Fae Queen, Maeve. Celaena knows Maeve knows the information that she dearly needs to accomplish solving the mystery of Adarlan's seemingly overnight triumph, but Maeve is withholding that knowledge with a series of conditions. She is sent back to the peaceful demi-Fae town of Mystward, to master her heritage and the magic that has quietly dwelled within her for over ten years. If she proves successful and rediscovers her conscience, she may become the biggest living threat that Adarlan has ever seen. If she fails...everything is over for Terrasen.Now, I've read tons of reviews for this one. Many people give it five start but then go onto say that it wasn't their favorite book in the series since Crown of Midnight is still their absolute fave. I too, and giving it those five big, obnoxious stars but Heir of Fire is my favorite book within this series so far. I love Crown of Midnight, I do, but I still felt like Crown of Midnight is a "thriller" book of sorts. It's a roller coaster that is exciting and something you'll always remember (at least for me), but once it's over, it's over. Heir of Fire is a much deeper book because of its fantastic character development. In fact, I think this entire book is pretty much dedicated into recreating Celaena's character that will define her for the rest of the series. Heir of Fire is an intermission of sorts, but at the same time also the bridge that is going to connect two vastly differing parts of this series--and I love the new Celaena. HoF also is just a big staging book; its triple POV/triple setting sets up lots of great subplots that will definitely become major contributions to the rest of the story.There's a lot of mystery shrouding the whole series, but I'd like to think some of that is made known to us with this novel. Along with Celaena's character development, Maas gives us a lot of flashbacks to Celaena's childhood that tell us why Celaena is how she is. The background is a heartbreaking tale and I have to take back every bad thing I said about Celaena--her arrogance, brattiness, and selfishness--that I said about her when I wrote my first thoughts on Throne of Glass. Troubling times are ahead for her, but as long as she stays on the course that she's paved anew, she is going to reach the goal she seeks.While there is a large focus on Celaena herself, Maas also starts brewing trouble in places Celaena is not even in. Chaol begins to question everything he's ever been trained to know about Adarlan--and also wonders if he's going to follow through with the deal he made with his father to return to his homeland and become the Lord of Anielle whilst giving up his honorable position as Captain of the Guard. Dorian is wondering how much more of his father's dictatorship and oppression he can take, especially when he has two secrets that are imperative to keep hidden from him. Either one of them could ruin him and earn him exile at the least-- and at worst, he'll be digging his own grave if either one is found out.I feel like with every book, Sarah J Maas improves her writing to be ever more meticulous than the preceding installment. Her craft is expanding, and I love absolutely everything about it. Can't wait for the next book and also, her new series, A Court of Thorns and Roses!From Here on Out, There WILL be spoilers for Heir of Fire. These are my predictions for the book 4 that I wrote a while back after my first round of reading. Read at your own risk!******************My thoughts and predictions based on what happened in Heir of Fire: If somehow you didn't get the message earlier, there will be some spoilers from here on out for HoF!!!1. Manon Blackbeak.I enjoyed reading her POV. This girl is a badass, and she needs to show all the other witchies who's boss. She was such an underdog at the start of the book I feel like (because she chose the "injured" wyvern), but in the end she showed them she was better than everyone else.So my prediction for her: I think she will clash with Celaena at first, (somehow I feel like it might actually be in book 5, I'll get to the why for that later) but begin to understand that the King is just using them, and who knows, might not actually keep his end of the bargain. If Celaena continues to represent the freedom she is so far, I think Manon and her crew will eventually side with her for the big showdown.2. Chaol:I'm sorry, I am no longer on board the ship Chaolaena (rd to #4 as to why :D). I think after Chaol's errr falling out with the King, he will find Celaena and reconcile what happened between them in CoM. I also think Chaol isn't going to be as supportive of the growing Terrasen uprising as we want him to be, since he is still from Adarlan, but in the very least he isn't going to be fighting for the king. As said in the book, he'll fight for Dorian (who I hope will eventually side with Celaena)3. Dorian.No. NO NO NO NO NO NO. I'm terrified that Dorian might end up dead, now that he's got that stinking collar around his neck. Since Celaena had to kill the Valg princes (and those collars STILL weren't broken even then)…I just have a bad feeling. But IF everything goes well and Celaena and Chaol can save Dorian from his father's clutches, I know Dorian will be on Celaena's side.4. Rowan WhitethornMy fave new character. I really wish he and Celaena didn't separate at the end of HoF, after all Rowan said that Mala thinks they make a good pair. I totally ship Rowan + Celaena now….but I also feel like this isn't ever going to happen. Maas made it clear several times in the book that Celaena / Rowan only felt platonic love for each other and only have the urge to protect each other because they have the carranam bond. Plus, Rowan's already lost his mate and it's also been said that mating bonds go beyond death. A girl can still hope though ;) As long as this book has MORE ROWAN, I'm satisfied. I wonder if we are still going to have a little bit of his POV, seeing as the duo is separated now.Now for less explanation predictions:5. I think Celaena is going to return to Rifthold to find Arobynn at the Assassin's Keep and demand for the Amulet of Orynth, which he probably refuses to give her. He probably won't be surprised that she shows up, and probably already knows her heritage at that. I doubt that he knows about the Wyrdkeys though. I hope she kills him, and doesn't fall for any of his sweet talk.--This is the 'why' for Manon's prediction. If more of the book is going to focus on Celaena's return to Rifthold, I can't see Manon and crew attacking her yet. Maybe at the end of the book, or in book 5?6. Maeve is going to come back to haunt Celaena. Maybe not in the next book, but when the "revolution" gets bigger, I feel like Celaena is going to be on the verge of victory to have her plans foiled by that Fae Queen.7. Do I smell and Celaena/Ansel alliance coming?--On that note in general, maybe the Silent Assassins from the prequels?8. Please let them save Aedion (or have Aedion break himself out). I feel like if Aedion dies, all of the character development in HoF might crash into bits and pieces. I need to see a reunion between these two.9. I think the King might find out about Celaena/Aelin in the next book, but as much as I want to see him dead, I don't think he will be AT LEAST until the end of book 5 at the soonest.I'll update with more predictions as I think of them, and I also feel like these are my predictions for the overall rest of the series instead of solely book 4 :)--Steph @ A Walk on Words

This month, I started a reread of the series to prepare for the upcoming and highly anticipated release of Kingdom of Ash, the conclusion to Aelin’s (Celaena’s) story.At one point during my initial read of Throne of Glass, I was contemplating giving up on the series, and might not have picked up Heir of Fire at all. After reading ToG and CoM, I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, since this series was a favourite of so many people I knew. Honestly, I didn’t like them that much at all the first time I read them. The writing was poor, especially the excessive use of exclamation marks which made me pause and cringe every time I came across it. The overused addressing of Celaena as “the Assassin” or Dorian as “the Prince” and Chaol as “the Captain” too was terrible, as if shoving their titles in my face repeatedly would make them seem more important and powerful. It just ended up annoyed me. And I didn’t feel particularly connected to any of the characters (I did love Celaena though) or invested in the story.But I gave this series one last chance to redeem itself, and it did not disappoint. Heir of Fire pulled me in like none of the other books had, and carved itself a special place in my heart. From here onward, the Throne of Glass series too a major turn, a turn that set it on the course of becoming one of my favourite series’. It was the book that made you either more interested and invested in the story, or hate it with all your heart. There is no in-between. I’ve read reviews that call it slow or boring or downright awful, stating that the series took a wrong turn and went in a direction that completely veered off from what it started out as. Fortunately, it was just what I needed.Heir of Fire is the story of Celaena Sardothian on her journey to becoming Aelin Ashryver Galathynius. It’s Celaena healing from her past, from all the atrocities she’s witnessed, from believing shes worthless, from what she was forced to endure. It’s her coming back, from that edge she was about to tip over, when Nehemia says “don’t let the light go out”. Celaena and Aelin are two distinctly different people. And her transformation is one of the best written I’ve ever encountered. It’s so realistic and portrays her struggles in such a way that you are stunned by the depth of what you have read. She has to accept herself and forgive herself for her past. She has to shoulder her responsibility. She has to claim her birthright."She was Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, and she would not be afraid"Rereads add something to the story that is lost the first time. Maybe you just pay more attention, maybe the details stick in your mind better… But the feelings invoked are stronger, and you appreciate the story more. I’m still in awe over how Aelin’s journey was handled, and I don’t think that was too important to me the first time I read it. Heaps of information I’d forgotten were brought back, which is not particularly important or integral to the story but what I find rather interesting such as the crossing the witches made from the wastes across the White Fang mountains and Ruhnns after magic disappeared. The loss of magic meant their brooms didn’t work anymore and they started to age again, so they couldn’t survive in the wastes. I loved these little details that added so much depth to the story, as it built up the world beautifully.Another thing that was amazing was Aelin’s and Rowan’s friendship. It does develop into a romantic relationship I know, but it was just so pure and refreshing here. Both of them, broken and scarred people, finding happiness again by helping each other… And I’m glad that it’s not that insta-love rubbish, because nothing, nothing, puts me off more. True love after you just meet a person? *scoffs* This is how it’s supposed to be. Respect and friendship. It seems perfectly reasonable that they should fall in love in the near future, after truly knowing each other.Rowan is the most stubborn, arrogant and prideful idiot in the whole of Erilea, and I love him to bits. I don’t think anyone else could have helped bring Aelin back as well as he did, especially because he is probably the only person who went through something that was somewhat similar (though not even close to what Aelin did). He understood her, and gave her just the amount of space she needed, but also knew when to step in and help. They make such a good team, honestly. Under all the “I don’t care about anyone, and I don’t need any friends” attitude, he’s an actual cinnamon roll who desperately wants to be understood. He’s also the most responsible and level-headed person Aelin knows, so it’s probably a good thing they’re a team as he’ll balance Aelin out nicely.Parallel stories are another thing that made the plot more interesting and intricate. We have Aelin’s healing arc, Dorian’s magic and Sorscha arc, Aedion and Chaol’s rebellion arc, and finally Manon’s introduction arc.Aedion. AEDION. AEDION. I think I may be just melting into a puddle by just thinking about him. I’m so glad to finally have him back in the story! He’s the sweetest, most brilliant and kindest people ever. And my heart breaks for him every time he thinks he’s not worthy of serving Aelin, or that he would do anything to see her one last time. These two are goals I swear. Aelin and Aedion could do anything together, burn the world down for all I care, and I’d be crying with pride seeing my beautiful, stabby children together. Cause that’s all they want. To be together again. I AM CRYING NOW. *sobs*Manon’s story was WONDERFUL. Because, dear god, I love that witch. She is cold, brutal and gloriously, fiercely wicked. Tell me why I’d ever want anything else. Sarah J Maas could write about how Manon brushed her teeth and I would pay every cent I had to read it. Coming to think of it, it would be interesting to learn how Ironteeth Witches keep their iron teeth from rusting… Magic I suppose. ALSO, I NEED A WYVERN. Preferably one that’s called Abraxos and has spidersilk wings and likes to smell wildflowers. I’d like that very much!This book was very centred on characters, and it built their stories very well! It turned the Throne of Glass series around, and made it what I really love. I can’t wait to get to Queen of Shadows now. All I say is, DO NOT GIVE UP ON THE SERIES BEFORE READING HEIR OF FIRE."She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one"

I can safely say Heir of Fire is my favourite of the series thus far. It was so much fun, so much more than I had anticipated. Honestly, I cannot begin to explain all of the feels I’ve been left with. Even though I know this review will end up rather lengthy, I fear I will forget to mention some things. I really do have that much to say, it really did leave me feeling so much.I don’t even know where to start. So many things, with no idea of where my starting point will be. Due to this, I apologise if the following review seems to jump around somewhat.After finishing the second book, Crown of Midnight, I wasn’t overly crazy about where things were going. I enjoyed the second book and yet everything seemed far too predictable. I still wished to see where things were heading, but I feared there wouldn’t be much by way of surprise. I had this terrible sensation that the series would be like every other young adult fantasy series out there. Fortunately, my fears were ridiculous. This book turned out to have so much more than the two prior books, bringing together so much and leaving me at a whole new level of excitement about where things were to go.This book continued in the same way of Crown of Midnight, continuing to deal with the aspect of the first book that I wasn’t crazy about. Our main character continues to grow into her role of assassin, showing us why the first book was filled with so many references of how amazing she truly is. More importantly, for me, was the way people reacted to her. This time we have views that are more in line with how I feel towards her. People were sceptical of her role. People questioned whether she is as great as she claims. There is still the underlying aspect of her being so much better than everyone else is, but this time we get to see more of her. The second book showed us – to a degree – her role of assassin, and this third book showed us how some people deal with her role of assassin. In fact, through giving us a whole new cast of characters we got a lot of new fun interaction to watch.Personally, I adored the new cast of characters. They offered us so much more, in terms of both the people we are following and the storyline. They were all a lot of fun. Some grew on me more than others did, but I enjoyed where each of their storylines went. They all opened up so many different aspects to the overarching story, each promising something new for the future books. Moreover, through having the characters in difference places it meant they were all given an equal amount of attention as the chapters changed from one to the other to keep us in the loop of what was going on.Through flickering from one character to the other, however, it did mean the story was quite slow in places. The slowness has been a consistent throughout all of the books, though, so I wasn’t as bothered about it as I could have been. In fact, through the regular changes of perspective the book felt quicker than the prior books. There were still some moments in which the story felt as though it was lagging, but it was to a much lesser degree than the last book.Furthermore, the romance wasn’t as overbearing as it was in the prior books. There was more focus on friendship than romance, which was nice to see. There was still romance to be seen, but it wasn’t screaming in your face on every single page. Mostly we dealt with the emotions relating to what had happened in the prior books, hence the focus upon friendship rather than romance. There were some annoying aspects relating to the romance, but I was so happy with how much the focus had declined allowing for the characters to develop so much.Honestly, there really was so much development in this one. The characters all develop in so many ways – both the old and the new ones introduced to us – ensuring that the story moves forward. There really is so much promise as to what is to come in the future books. We’re given so much information, so many questions are answered, and yet we’re still left wanting more. We have ideas of what is going on, we know certain things will come to pass, and yet there are still so many possibilities for the future.For me, this really was the strongest book so far because it gave so much. Characters. Story. Promises for the future. Development of the fantasy aspect. Compared to the first two books, this was such a strong four star read. The first two books were four stars, but low to mid four stars. Book three, on the other hand, is a strong four star. I was so pulled in, completing it in less time than it took me to finish either of the first two books, finding myself unable to put it down. Everything meant something. Everything worked. It really was wonderful in so many ways.The trepidation that had developed when reading Crown of Midnight has evaporated. Heir of Fire has left me positive that this series is worth the hype. This one has left me so excited about what comes next. I need to know where the story heads next. I need to know what plays out for the characters. I really cannot put into words all the promise in this book. There really was so much. I know I’m missing out so much of what I want to say in this review – but it was just so good. I want to share each and every feeling, and yet to do so I know I would start getting too specific. It’s too good to go into specifics. You just need to read it, to experience it, and then you will understand.As I’ve said already, my favourite thus far. I have high hopes of what else is to come.

Heir of Fire is the third novel in the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. This book picks up where Crown of Midnight left off at, so if you haven’t read up to that book in the series, then I would recommend not reading this review. I try not to spoil, but I always warn just in case.Storyline/My Thoughts: Celaena has survived a brutal contest that the King put on in the first book. She has survived a betrayal that broke her heart in the second book. She is now on a mission to Wendlyn to find out the truth about herself and find out more about the Wyrdkeys. In the meantime, though, the place she just left is having its own troubles. Chaol has found out the truth about Celaena and who she really is and will team up with some people he never thought he would help. Dorian has to find a way to hide his abilities and ends up getting help from one of the healers. There are a few new POVs also in this book that readers will find fascinating. There’s a witch named Manon Blackbeak, who is not someone you want to mess with at all. She and her team of witches have a mission to tame flying beasts that the King has created for them. There’s also a Fae Prince who has a blood oath to Celaena’s Aunt Maeve, and his name is Rowan Whitethorn. Maeve has tasked him to train Celaena in her Fae powers before Maeve gives out any truths about Celaena and the Wyrdkeys. Another POV Aedion is a General to the King, but he’s also Celaena’s cousin. He is one character I was hesitant of liking at first because he’s working for the King, but then things fall in place why he is where he is, and he finds out that his true Queen is alive and well.This book will make Celaena realize that she can’t hide from her past once and for all that she needs to embrace her future. She needs to win against the evil forces that are brewing that the King has on his side, and she also has to battle her Aunt Maeve. She first has to get through Rowan, who is not nice at all to Celaena. He’s a complicated character to like at first. I know it took me a while to like his character. He was harsh, but the truth of what happened to him in his past came out, and now I knew why he acted the way he did, and it is heartbreaking. Celaena is starting to grow more in this book because she’s finding out the truth about her past and what is happening. At the end of this book is what kept me on the edge of my seat. Sarah J. Maas will have everything crumble back in Rifthold with Chaol, Dorian, Aedion, etc. Celaena will not be happy, but she’s ready for anything now that she knows the truth.I love Celaena’s character because she has grown so much since the novellas and the first book. She’s been a fighter, and now she’s becoming a Queen. She wants to fight for her people and her country.This series from Sarah J. Maas is one I can’t get enough of because of the world-building and the character development. Each character is growing, and some are realizing they are on the wrong side. I’m a little wary of Manon’s character, but I know she will grow on me, too. I remember when I read this book the first time, I didn’t like her at much.Overall, this book receives 4.5 stars from me, and I can’t wait to re-read the next book.Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Throne of Glass series. I highly recommend reading this series in order.Cliffhanger: Yes.Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you are a fan of Young Adult Fantasy with the Chosen One trope, you may enjoy this book. There is no romance in this book, but a lot of action-packed scenes and truths being revealed.

I was honestly ready to walk away from this series. This book was going to be the make or break point for me, and (thankfully?) I’ll be sticking around a bit longer. I guess I should have believed everyone that kept telling me the third book was when things really picked up and things started happening. Which isn’t to say that some of my issues from the start of this series weren’t present—they were—but they were easier to forgive with the introduction of my new favorite character(s), as well as the growth Celaena/Aelin undertook that finally started endearing her to me as a character.I will start by saying that pretty much all of Choal/Dorian/Aedion’s chapters were the least interesting. There just wasn’t much going on there, and the biggest conflict for them was STILL the fact that none of them could just talk to each other. So much time could have been saved, lives too, if they could have all stopped pouting and just been honest with one another. The miscommunication trope in YA just happens to be one of my least favorite tropes, so while there aren’t many chapters with just the boys, they just stick out more to me because of my personal tastes. I also still think Chaol gets done so dirty by pretty much everyone… It looks like that’s finally changing, but it took way too long in my opinion.The book was slow though. So much of it was a training montage and an introspection of grief and survivor’s guilt, and a study in self-loathing. However, I did really enjoy seeing Celaena/Aelin going through those issues, because I just personally found her to be irritating a great deal in the first two books, so it was really nice to see that façade drop and real growth occur. But it did get a bit repetitive at times… And while I know what purpose Rowan ultimately fulfills in this series, a lot of the intensity of them together, or just them being together sometimes, felt forced at this point. But the slowness, and the kind of repetitive nature of Celaena/Aelin’s grief was forgiven by Manon and Abraxos (even if their story lines right now are pretty disconnected from the main characters), and the sheer insanity that was the last 20% of the book.Whereas Celaena/Aelin’s attitude in the first two books irked me, something about Manon’s murderous arrogance felt more natural, more deserving of that character. It was more an unknown mask that this character doesn’t know she has been wearing for her long, long life than a mere simple act like how our main girl put on. Her chapters were easily my favorites and I wish there were more of them, I also wished Manon's story arc was a bit more connected to what was happening with the rest of the story, but whatever, I still enjoyed it. I wanted to see more of the witches and their mounts in general, and for a character that is supposedly heart and soulless, Manon’s chapters had me feeling the most, hands down. I also really enjoyed when things finally started coming together; the King of Adarlan’s hand was finally shown, and these warrior main characters began actually standing up, and fighting back. The monsters were interesting (even if I could have used more fleshing out of the world they inhabited), the magic intense, and Maeve is a particularly slick kind of manipulator that I personally love in fictional adversaries. The King of Adarlan is billed to be this master manipulator, but honestly he always felt one dimensional to me; evil for evil’s sake, power hungry simply because. Whereas Maeve is a different beast all together, and I liked that more and am eager to see what happens on that front.So yes, I’ll be sticking it out with this series a bit longer. Manon was the MVP for me this time around, and I am very worried about Chaol and Dorian, even if Dorian didn’t really have the same swagger that he did in the previous books. Things finally feel like they are happening, and I am intrigued and excited about where they are headed, which is why this book gets 4 stars from me. I know this is an older series so some things are naturally spoiled with fan art, but please don’t tell me specifics! I’ll eventually find out for myself…