Review: Heir of Fire

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can safely say Heir of Fire is my favourite of the series thus far. It was so much fun, so much more than I had anticipated. Honestly, I cannot begin to explain all of the feels I’ve been left with. Even though I know this review will end up rather lengthy, I fear I will forget to mention some things. I really do have that much to say, it really did leave me feeling so much.

I don’t even know where to start. So many things, with no idea of where my starting point will be. Due to this, I apologise if the following review seems to jump around somewhat.

After finishing the second book, Crown of Midnight, I wasn’t overly crazy about where things were going. I enjoyed the second book and yet everything seemed far too predictable. I still wished to see where things were heading, but I feared there wouldn’t be much by way of surprise. I had this terrible sensation that the series would be like every other young adult fantasy series out there. Fortunately, my fears were ridiculous. This book turned out to have so much more than the two prior books, bringing together so much and leaving me at a whole new level of excitement about where things were to go.

This book continued in the same way of Crown of Midnight, continuing to deal with the aspect of the first book that I wasn’t crazy about. Our main character continues to grow into her role of assassin, showing us why the first book was filled with so many references of how amazing she truly is. More importantly, for me, was the way people reacted to her. This time we have views that are more in line with how I feel towards her. People were sceptical of her role. People questioned whether she is as great as she claims. There is still the underlying aspect of her being so much better than everyone else is, but this time we get to see more of her. The second book showed us – to a degree – her role of assassin, and this third book showed us how some people deal with her role of assassin. In fact, through giving us a whole new cast of characters we got a lot of new fun interaction to watch.

Personally, I adored the new cast of characters. They offered us so much more, in terms of both the people we are following and the storyline. They were all a lot of fun. Some grew on me more than others did, but I enjoyed where each of their storylines went. They all opened up so many different aspects to the overarching story, each promising something new for the future books. Moreover, through having the characters in difference places it meant they were all given an equal amount of attention as the chapters changed from one to the other to keep us in the loop of what was going on.

Through flickering from one character to the other, however, it did mean the story was quite slow in places. The slowness has been a consistent throughout all of the books, though, so I wasn’t as bothered about it as I could have been. In fact, through the regular changes of perspective the book felt quicker than the prior books. There were still some moments in which the story felt as though it was lagging, but it was to a much lesser degree than the last book.

Furthermore, the romance wasn’t as overbearing as it was in the prior books. There was more focus on friendship than romance, which was nice to see. There was still romance to be seen, but it wasn’t screaming in your face on every single page. Mostly we dealt with the emotions relating to what had happened in the prior books, hence the focus upon friendship rather than romance. There were some annoying aspects relating to the romance, but I was so happy with how much the focus had declined allowing for the characters to develop so much.

Honestly, there really was so much development in this one. The characters all develop in so many ways – both the old and the new ones introduced to us – ensuring that the story moves forward. There really is so much promise as to what is to come in the future books. We’re given so much information, so many questions are answered, and yet we’re still left wanting more. We have ideas of what is going on, we know certain things will come to pass, and yet there are still so many possibilities for the future.

For me, this really was the strongest book so far because it gave so much. Characters. Story. Promises for the future. Development of the fantasy aspect. Compared to the first two books, this was such a strong four star read. The first two books were four stars, but low to mid four stars. Book three, on the other hand, is a strong four star. I was so pulled in, completing it in less time than it took me to finish either of the first two books, finding myself unable to put it down. Everything meant something. Everything worked. It really was wonderful in so many ways.

The trepidation that had developed when reading Crown of Midnight has evaporated. Heir of Fire has left me positive that this series is worth the hype. This one has left me so excited about what comes next. I need to know where the story heads next. I need to know what plays out for the characters. I really cannot put into words all the promise in this book. There really was so much. I know I’m missing out so much of what I want to say in this review – but it was just so good. I want to share each and every feeling, and yet to do so I know I would start getting too specific. It’s too good to go into specifics. You just need to read it, to experience it, and then you will understand.

As I’ve said already, my favourite thus far. I have high hopes of what else is to come.

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