Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Steph's Rating: 5 stars
Overall Rating: 5 stars
Publication Date: September 2nd, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury Books
Pages: 565
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads Synopsis:
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?
Steph'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 Whitethorn
My 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
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