[arc review] Heir of Fire

Title: Heir of Fire
Author: Sarah J Maas
Series: Throne of Glass, book #3
Bloomsbury USA
565 pages
Goodreads

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?

I'm still not sure if I'm entirely up to the task of reviewng this book - first of all, because it basically killed me while I was reading it. I'll try as much as possible to not tell any spoilers - and here it goes.

This book is as amazing as the last one - I'm not kidding. If Crown of Midnight gave you feels, Heir of Fire will give out as much as the last one. This book is brilliant - and this time, we follow Celaena's journey into Wendlyn and even more especially, her acceptance towards her destiny, the destiny she's wanting to hide from. All of this is written beautifully, I got so emotional with Celaena, her feelings just blossomed out of the page, and her character arc in this book is so thrilling and deep and joyful and so simply brilliant. Celaena just shines through the pages - if you didn't like her before, you'll definetly like her now. It's very very good - we have her conflict, her destiny, people trying to manipulate her, her fears... Sarah handled it so well that I barely have words for it.

The worldbuilding remains as amazing as always, I must say - this time, we get a lot of background on the Fae and their powers, and even more flashbacks of what happened 10 years ago in Terassen. I really liked the coming back and forth of it, and it gives so much life to the setting. This book I think finally ends what I'll call the 'introductory' part of the series - by the end of this book, we have all important characters and all plots settled, and by the next one we shall be moving to the actual plot. Not that this doesn't have a plot - it does, of course, but it's a much more internal journey of the characters than action. Mind you, there's a whole lot of action still - especially as new  characters are introduced.

What can I say about the new characters except that I've fallen in love with all of them? Manon's beautifully written and painful and very deep, her character is intriguing. Aedion and Rowan are two other characters introduced to the series and I'm not ashamed to say that I've fallen in love with both - their relationships and feelings are just so well marked. To be quite honest, I think I'm in love with all of this characters. Dorian and Chaol do not fail to disappoint - each must walk his own path, and it's very interesting how both of them are facing the same thing as Celaena: finding what they believe in.

All in all, this book gave me a lot of feelings - I was bursting out laughing in some parts, ugly sobbing in others, but it gave me the general feeling of hope and brightness. It's like a beacon was lit in me, and I'm amazed by Sarah's writing and how she managed to do it. I'm anxious to discuss this book more openly and tell you what parts exactly made me feel like this, but few books have made me more happy and sad and believing in something again. It's just that kind of book. Needless to say that I'll wait very impatiently for the next book in the series.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Quote: "It would not take a monster to destroy a monster - but light, to drive out the darkness."