Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas is the third installment in the Throne of Glass series. This review will contain mild spoilers for Heir of Fire, but numerous spoilers for the first two books in the Throne of Glass series.

If there is one thing that Celaena is good at, it’s surviving. But now that her secret is out, how will she face the truths she spent so many years running from? Lethal competitions and lost love didn’t break her, but the deadly forces she has to face now might not be so easy to defeat. The next set of monsters she faces are determined to enslave the world, but Celaena might be the only one who can stop them. Will she find the power within herself to save her loved ones and her kingdom or will the power swallow her whole?

“She was the Heir of Ash and Fire, and she would bow to no one.” -Sarah J. Maas

Heir of Fire delivered so much more than I expected it to. Based on the way Crown of Midnight ended, I know this book was going to be full of a whole new world and I was excited to get to see the other side to Celaena. But I was not prepared for what was going to happen.

There were so many new characters in this book and so many POVs. We followed Celaena, Chaol, Dorian, and the new girl Manon as they each faced what life had in store for them. But we also had snippets from at least three other people. I am all for numerous POVs in a book, but there was so much going on in this story and Maas didn’t always tell me right off the bat whose head I was in. It made it difficult to connect with and understand certain chapters and events.

With that said, I loved most of the new characters that we met. Rowan. Manon. Aedion. They all played into the story seamlessly. I wanted to know more about Rowan. I felt like he was present for quite a bit of the book, but I didn’t learn that much about him. I felt the same way with Sam in The Assassin’s Blade. So I’m hoping this is not a trend.

Manon was a really nice touch to the story. I think that Maas could have easily left that storyline untold and the reader would have never missed it. But I loved it. The worldbuilding that was done in those chapters was flawless. It showed so much of what has been going on behind the scenes.

This book brought out a lot of emotion in me. Or maybe that’s not the best way to phrase it. It wasn’t necessarily emotion as much as the book overwhelmed me. I felt like so many pieces were falling into place. I had to actually put the book down and walk away at one point because I couldn’t handle anymore. (I saw this, but I mean it in the best way possible.)

As for the writing itself, I have gotten so used to Sarah J Maas’s writing style that it doesn’t even phase me anymore so I don’t feel like I am the best person to comment on it. I will say that there was nothing that stood out to me as significantly good or bad.

I think my biggest disappointment with this book was that I still don’t feel captivated by it. I have heard so many good things about this series and so many people rave about it. People tell me that they were absolutely enthralled by it or destroyed by it, but all the emotions still feel very surface level to me. I’m hoping that the next book will do a better job of weaseling its way into my heart.

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I feel like if it had just been able to grip my heart it would have gotten 5 stars from me, but sadly, it didn’t. I still definitely recommend this series to anyone that is looking for a good YA or NA fantasy series.

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