Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Heir of Fire

I found this book dragged at times and the inclusion of the Manon subplot didn't help. It's very much a middle of the series, let's drop some lore, book.

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_bailey_reads_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this book. It’s so far my favorite out of the series. I’m looking forward to starting Queen of Shadows.

Celaena (Aelin) really grew a lot in this book! My love and respect for her grew so much more than it did in the last two books (haven’t read Assassins Blade prequel yet).

This book flips between following Celaena, Dorian, Chaol, and two new characters Manon and Aedion. I really enjoyed all of the different journeys they went through and felt more and more invested as the book progressed.

I thought the world building in this book was a big step up in comparison to the two previous books. I am a huge ACOTAR fan for the romance and Feyre’s personal journey but I feel the world building in this world is better than the ACOTAR series.

****spoilers for people who want to know about the romance***

Okay so spoilers for romance readers:…. The romance in this is so slow burn it barely burns…. It’s like a simmer. By simmer I mean, towards the ending of the books there are some embers of affection and romance between Rowan and Celaena. No kissing or any spice. Personally I am into it. I read ACOTAR and loveddd the spice in that and I heard TOG has spice but in like the last couple of books. So the slow burn is really building anticipation. I also didn’t expect to be as invested as I am in Celaena so I am sticking to the journey!

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micaelamariem's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It was time for my annual dive into the Throne of Glass universe.

Seriously, I'm averaging a book a year in this series, oops.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas, published by Bloomsbury, is the third book in the Throne of Glass series. As such, I won't be able to talk about this with some spoilers for the first two books so be warned!

In Heir of Fire, Celaena goes to Wendlywn but ends up in the land of faerie, facing her aunt and her magic, Dorian begins to understand his powers, and Chaol struggled to pick a side.

I had a really good time reading this, much better than the first two books! I don't know if it's because I didn't much like my last two reads so this was better by comparison, or that the writing style got a lot better. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

What I think made Heir of Fire a good read was that the story could finally progress because we are now acquainted with the world and characters. The first two books were really just a set up. Now, we're getting into the beginning of an epic war. The multiple points of view added a lot of depth to the story, too, and was done in a fantastic way that kept the plotline still straightforward. We also learn a lot about Celaena's past, that connects us to her powers, her birthright, and her trauma, and makes her past actions make sense.

I was also stoked to meet a couple of characters I heard about in social media but hadn't yet seen in the books. First and foremost, Rowan. I started out hating him, but over the course of the story, loved him. A slow burn for the reader. A lovely sarcastic asshole. And the other character was Manon, terrifying yet also might be the catalyst for change the witch covens need to see. I'm excited to see how her storyline will cross with Celaena (who after this review, I think I can start calling Aelin, if only because the spelling is easier).

I really enjoyed Celaena's pov chapters--it's mainly her story, after all. I also adored Dorian's. I didn't like him until he got magic, but now I like how his arc is progressing. He really doesn't deserve the tragedies that happen. Chaol, while once being my favorite, had the most boring POV's, but maybe that was because it was very military-like, which befitted his character.

Despite the slight boredom with him, I still really loved this book. I daydreamed about it driving and missed my turn. Any book that can have me do that has to be five stars right?

Guess I'll be back next year for Assassin's Blade, because I really need to read that prequel before continuing with the series, much as I want to!

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