Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass, #3)

by Sarah J. Maas

[girlinthepages]

I never thought I'd be a Sarah J Maas fangirl. I read Throne of Glass and was underwhelmed. I read Crown of Midnight, and it was shockingly good, but I was suspicious that it was more due to certain plot elements rather than an overall love for the series itself. However after I discovered my love affair with A Court of Thorns and Roses, I decided it was time to give the Throne of Glass series another chance to wow me. And wow me it did. Heir of Fire was long and angsty, sure, but it was also the installment that broke down the characters to their very core and allowed me to fully empathize with them. It was, in one word, epic.

Heir of Fire is very much a bridge book, in the sense that it is much more about exploring the depths of Celaena's personality, peeling back the layers of her self-hatred and guilt, than it is about plot momentum. Embarking on a literal hero's journey, Celaena spends this book away from Dorian and Chaol, off in Wendlyn, facing the truth of her heritage, confronting her inadequacies and fears, and dealing with the memories of her past that she's repressed for the past decade. I adored this change of setting. I loved learning more about the Fae world that runs like a dangerous, mournful current under the evil King of Adarlan's reign. I love learning about the systems of oppression that exists between the Fae and demi-Fae, and how the political nuances exist in their world even in the face of extermination by the King. Until I discovered Sarah J Maas I thought it was impossible for me to like a book about Fae, but she entices the reader with the ancient, mysterious, and yet vulnerable qualities of the Fair Folk, and its impossible not to be drawn to their lore and hidden worlds.

There's no denying that Heir of Fire is a long read at over 500 pages, and much of that can be attributed to the introduction of several new POV characters (always a dicey occurrence in the middle of a series). Personally, I felt that Maas accomplished the task of weaving in the new characters to the narrative, and making them integral and integral to the plot. Aedion proved to be an important part of the story, as the only POV character who knows Celaena before she was Adarlan's most feared assassin, and brings a fresh perspective to Aelin. His devotion and commitment to her is really honorable and is probably what kept me reading whenever the narrative switched back to Chaol (who I'm sorry, is really just sort of boring in this book). Then there was Manon, whose chapters I expected to hate (because it deviated so much from the other things going on in the book) but whom I grew to love because her relationship with Abraxos was just SO heartwarming (and also those ironteeth witches are pretty badass). The only new character who didn't work for me as a reader was Sorscha, as she really rubbed off on me the wrong way (I found her to read sort of holier-than-thou and sanctimonious) and I felt like her relationship with Dorian was for plot convenience more than anything else. And then there's Rowan...

ROWAN. The only character who eclipses my love for him at the moment is TAMLIN from Maas' ACOTAR series. I love him. He is the one true bae. I didn't think it was possible that he'd grow on me, because he was so wicked and nasty at the beginning of the book and I thought to myself "I know what you're trying to do Maas, you're going to try to make me think he's a jerk and then slowly fall in love with him but it WON'T WORK." Well, I must eat my words because not only did it SO TOTALLY WORK but it runs deeper than him and Celaena being my one true Throne of Glass ship (bye, Chaol). I loved how Rowan was so layered, so ancient and tormented by what it means to be immortal and the multiple lifetimes worth of tragedies that one accumulates after living so long. Rowan and Celaena really were mirror images to one another, one young and one very, very old, and there bond grows into something so much deeper than a potential romantic pairing by the end of the book. Rowan and Celaena, in my opinion, epitomize the idea of a soul mate, wherein you are inescapable tethered to a person through a deep, unyielding understanding of that person's self regardless of if you're lovers or even friends. I love that Maas was able to show such a strong connection outside of a standard romance story line although I WILL THROW EVERY PART OF MY BEING HOPING THIS SHIP SAILS.

While this book brings about so many new character and elements to the series, it also circles back to plot points from much earlier on and ties their significance into Celaena's-Aelin's- existence even more strongly. What really resonated for me as a reader was the reflection on Celaena's time at Endovier, how it haunts her not by reliving her own pain, but by forcing her to ruminate on the torture and slaughter of so many others that she witnessed. How those stuck in the salt mines drive her more than anything else, and the shame and pride she carries in her ruined back as a sign that if anything ever motivates her to ascend to her throne, it will be the helpless soles in Endovier, rather than a sense of duty or pride or birthright or even her people. It's powerful and painful and beautiful all at once.

"...I also think you like to suffer. You collect scars because you want proof that you are paying for whatever sins you have committed. And I know this because I've been doing the same damn thing for two hundred years. Tell me, do you think you will go to some blessed Afterworld, or do you expect some burning hell? You're hoping for hell- because how could you face them in the Afterworld? Better to suffer, to be damned for eternity..."-375

Overall: Heir of Fire is a long read that focuses on character development and the introduction of new players to the plot, but what it lacks in quick paced action in more than makes up for in gut-wrenching feels and insight into Aelin's past. Even with this being a more insightful installment of the series, there's still momentum, such as watching Aelin develop her affinity for fire and an epic battle at the conclusion of the novel. Heir of Fire is the kind of book I needed to fully become invested in this series, and I'm so glad it's taking its time in developing across multiple books so I can soak in the nuances of this fantasy world, as new elements are introduced at every turn in Heir of Fire. It's immediately onto Queen of Shadows for me!This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages