Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

 

Goodreads summary:

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?

My thoughts  (non spoiler)

Right now I am looking at the screen of my laptop and thinking of the right way to tell you how much I love this book. It is so simple yet I can´t find the words to describe it.

I have read a lot of books and a lot of series and some were greater than the others but this one... This one is at the top. Sarah J Maas has made the top of my list of favorite author’s right next to J.K Rowling and Cassandra Clare. She writes in the most beautiful way. The way she builds that whole world fascinates me. That is the reason I admire authors. When they can make a whole world, a history of that world feel like something real.  And not many authors can do that. 

This is the third book in The Throne of Glass series. It starts where we left off in the Crown of Midnight. Celaena is traveling to Wendlyn to find a way to stop the brutal King. After she leaves, Chaol finds out the truth about her. That she is the lost princess of Terrasen. She is Aelin Galathynius. Celaena tries to find her aunt, Queen Maeve to find the answers about the wyrdkeys but before she gets them she needs to become worthy,in other words she wants her to start using her magic. Queen Maeve makes her practice with one of her princes, Rowan Whitethorn. The problem is that Celaena is afraid because she thinks she won’t be able to control that magic. Rowan is the one who helps her with that fear.

On the other end in Rifthold Chaol makes an alliance with Aedion ( Aelin´s childhood friend) to find a way to set magic free in the kingdom. He struggles with his loyalty to his people, to the kingdom and his best friend and his loyalty and love for Celaena.

And Dorian has his own problems to deal with. He is trying to keep his magic under the radar from his father, King of Adarlan. He doesn´t know what his father will do to him if he is to find out, since the king is cruel and he is the one who sealed the magic in the kingdom, and ordered the killing and enslavement of the people who had anything to do with it.

Will Celaena overcome her fear of magic, will Chaol find a way to destroy the wyrdkeys and free magic, and will Dorian be able to hide from his father forever? For all of those answers you will have to read the book.

This was the non-spoiler part of the review so if you don´t want to be spoiled don´t continue reading. I do recommend you to go and grab a copy of the book and read because you really won’t be disappointed.

My thoughts ( Spoiler )

Rowan/Celaena

First of all I have to talk about Rowan/Celaena relationship. This is one of my favorite parts of this book. They had a pretty rough start. I think they actually hated each other. Celaena was really reserved towards him since he has to do all that Maeve asks him to do because he is bound by a blood oath . And Rowan probably thought of Celaena as a spoiled brat. But as the story progressed they start to learn about each other and as he finds out more things about her past and vice versa they start to build their friendship and genuinely start to care for each other. Rowan is the one who helps Celaena accept who she is and to overcome her fears. And Celaena finds a friend. I think she really wants and needs true friendship in her life even if sometimes she may act like she doesn´t care, so it was nice to see her finally trust him and find comfort in his company. I loved that by the end of the book Celaena helps Rowan, because she frees him from the blood oath to Maeve and after that he promises his loyalty only to her. It was a beautiful moment when they swore their loyalties to each other. They really have one of the most amazing relationships I have ever seen in a book.

Chaol/Aedion

Chaol and Aedion also had a rough start in the beginning, but eventually Chaol finds out that Aedion is Celaena´s childhood friend. In the process he tells Aedion that Celaena is alive which makes Aedion happy because he was hoping all this time that she was ok but he never had the proof. They start to work on finding a way to destroy the wyrdkeys and free the magic in the kingdom. 
I don´t know what to think about Aedion´s feelings for Celaena though. I don´t know if he is in love with her or not. He does see that Chaol is in love and even though he may not see a future for them, since Celaena will be the future Queen of Terrasen and Chaol is the captain of the guard, he still respects him in a way that at the end he was willing to sacrifice his life and any chance of ever seeing her to help Chaol escape from the king.

Dorian

We actually don´t see much of Dorian in this book. Not in  way that his character was present in the first two books. He is dealing with the problem of his magical ability , and the problem with his best friend, Chaol. Chaol is keeping Dorian in the dark for the most part of the story because he tries to protect him, but Dorian is afraid that Chaol doesn´t trust him anymore. I don´t see it that way. Maybe Chaol did have a hard time with coping with the fact that his friend, the prince and the heir of the kingdom , has magic but I do believe that he accepted it. He did try to set magic free so he could help him. Dorian in the other hand finds an alliance, and love, that he never even dreamed of. He falls in love with Sorscha , the healer from the castle who finds out about his magic and is willing to do anything to find a way to help him control it ( not to mention that she was in love with him since the first day). They have a really cute relationship. I really wanted a happy ending for them. He was more real with her than he ever was with Celaena ( I did not like them together, at all ). And that is why the ending of the book had me in tears. 
By the ending king sets a trap for them because he suspects there is a traitor in the castle but he doesn´t know who it is. That is when Sorscha, Dorian, Chaol and Aedion were brought in front of the king and when Aedion sacrificed himself by saying he is the traitor. But the king didn´t stop there. He kills Sorscha and Dorian reveals all of his power to his father. Chaol escaped but Dorian was left in the mercy of the king who strapped him with a necklace that has the same effect as the black rings that king uses to control the people around him.  

The Ironteeth Witches

There is a part of the book where another story unfolds. It is the story about the Ironteeth witches who have made a deal with the king to help him with the fight against the rebels for exchange of returning to thei homeland.

We follow three clans The Bluebloods, Yellowlegs and Blackbeaks who are in fact rival clans but they are working together to reclaim their lands. Most of the story evolves around Manon, who is the head of the Thirteen, and the heir to the Blackbeak clan. She sort of struggles with her relationship with her grandmother who is one of the High Witches and expects Manon to bring glory to the Blackbeak clan. Manon and the other witches are working with the kings men who are teaching them how to fly on wyverns. They will be their transportation in the fights. 

Everyone, including her grandmother, was expecting from Manon to choose the most cruel and bloodthirsty of the animals but she surprised them and chose the one who looked like the weakest. But that wayvern saved her life and she saw something in him that she didn´t see in any of the others, and that is the will to live, to fight for his chance to survive and that is why she chose him.

I found this story very interesting. I don´t doubt that it will be significant for the general plot but I really wouldn´t mind it as a spinoff , even this early in the series. It´s interesting to see the way they interact among each other, even when the witches are a part of the same clan. They are cruel but they gave me , especially Manon and her Thirteen , the vibe of loyalty and friendship.

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In the end I really loved this book. This is one of my all time favorite series. I have to admit that I was expecting a lot from this book since the first two were amazing, and I even though I wasn´t surprised that my expectations were met I was surprised when it was even better than I expected. because I really thought that it couldn´t get any better, but The Heir Of Fire is a whole new level of awesomeness.

I gave the book 5/ 5 stars. And as I said, if you haven´t read this series yet click on the link on the picture and buy this book. If fantasy is something you enjoy reading you will love it, if fantasy is not something you enjoy this will definitely change your mind and make you fall in love with this genre. 

Happy Reading Bookworms <3